Page 57 of Natural Passion

Then we did it again.

Our morning sex might not have been the most creative ever, but it got our day off to a blissful start. By the time I'd gotten dressed and walked into the kitchen, Val was busy preparing breakfast—for an army.

"What's all that?" I asked as I perched on a stool at the island.

"Breakfast for the guests and your family."

"Making breakfast is my job, not yours. Guests don't do manual labor."

He paused in stirring scrambled eggs in my largest frying pan and glanced over his shoulder at me. "I thought I was more than a guest by now."

Had I hurt his feelings? I hadn't mean to, but it sure seemed like he was wounded by the fact I'd called him a guest.

I rubbed my forehead. "All I meant was that you are paying to stay here. You shouldn't be making breakfast for everybody. I get paid to do that."

"You need employees, Eve. Since you won't hire any, I'll fill in until you change your mind."

"Until you go home, you mean."

He was staring down at the eggs again, stirring them with a wooden spoon while they gradually congealed into fluffy masses of sunny-yellow goodness. His shoulders bunched the tiniest bit.

Why did I get the feeling I'd hurt his feelings again? I couldn't figure it out. Yes, I'd realized I liked being with him for more than sex. He'd told my sister something similar. But he hadn't expressed any interest in staying beyond the two weeks he had originally booked. I didn't know if he meant anything by the statements he'd made to Krista yesterday, or if holding hands meant anything to him either. He was a self-professed player who'd assured me he didn't want a relationship.

Since when did I sit around contemplating the status of my relationship, or lack thereof, with a man? Something about this thing between me and Val, whatever it might be, had turned me into a frazzled mess.

Until this morning. Today, I felt much calmer and more like myself.

I pushed off the stool and sidestepped the island to stand beside Val. "All I meant was that you had planned to stay two weeks. Are you changing those plans? Do you want to stay longer?"

He froze, his gaze nailed to the eggs. "Would you want me to stay longer?"

"Yes."

Only his eyes moved, his gaze homing in on mine. He didn't blink.

"Are you going to make me beg?" I asked. "I'll probably do that if you don't say something in the next three seconds."

He dropped the wooden spoon into the frying pan of full of eggs, whirled toward me, and hauled me snug against his body with his big hands spread over my buttocks. "Yes, Evie, I want to stay longer. Much longer."

"Like another week?"

"As long as you'll have me."

My pulse sped up, and I couldn't help grinning.

He grinned too.

I patted his ass. "Why don't you get out the breakfast sausages while I whip up some biscuits."

"Already did that. The biscuits and sausages are staying warm in the oven." He turned around to pick up the frying pan by its wooden handle. "I'll put the eggs in there too, while we eat the breakfast I made for you."

"How did you whip up a meal so fast? It didn't take me that long to get dressed."

Those luscious lips of his curved into a sexy smirk. "I got up before you. The biscuits were cooking while we were in the shower."

I hadn't smelled them cooking, but then, I'd been a little distracted by hot shower sex.

"You didn't have to do that," I said. "But thank you, Val. I really appreciate it."

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