Page 30 of Sparrow's Grace

I shrugged, “He wasn’t really home a lot to ever really notice.”

“Well, you have me,” he said with every ounce of conviction.

In a whisper, as I tentatively laid my head on his shoulder, doing something I'd never done before, I said, “By the way, I like that you’re ready to defend me.”

I heard his smile in his voice as he said, “Good.”

And just like that he switched from eating with his left hand to his right, and that caused a giggle in me.

He didn’t say a word as he finished eating, and then kept his plate on his legs and settled to watch the movie with me.

I hadn’t realized I had fallen asleep.

Not until the next morning when I woke up in an unfamiliar room.

It took a minute for my eyes to compute with my brain what I was seeing, and then it hit me.

I was in the room that Zeke had instructed me to have.

I stretched and then smiled.

And then frowned.

I missed the feeling of him carrying me to bed.

Damnit.

Savannah Marie Calder, next time, wake yourself up so you can experience it.

Getting out of bed, I rubbed my growling tummy and then smiled. “Let’s get some food in you, bruiser.”

I walked to the bathroom, did my business, and changed my clothes into a hoodie and some comfortable shorts.

I didn’t get fully dressed yet, hair, makeup, all that because I wasn’t sure what was happening today.

Carefully, once I was ready, I opened the door.

I knew it was kind of early to be up, so quietly, I crept down the hall and had to bite back a moan at what stood before me.

Zeke, with his back to me, was standing in front of the stove, shirtless, and… oh my, gray sweatpants hung low on his hips.

Wanting to enjoy the vision before me, I leaned against the wall to my left.

He was singing an old classic rock song softly as he scrambled eggs. And in another pan I could just make out peppers, onions, and ham.

The toaster chimed, and he pulled two slices of bread from it and slathered butter on them.

Then, while the eggs and veggies were cooking, he poured two glasses of orange juice.

Once the eggs were done, he separated them into two plates, topped it with the veggies and ham, then sprinkled cheese over it all. And holy Moses, that smelled so good.

I jumped when I heard, “Do me a favor, Angel, take your cute ass back to bed. Your first morning in my house, you’re getting breakfast in bed.”

He still had his back to me, so how the hell did he know? But that didn’t stop the smile on my face.

All the way back to my room, I wore the biggest smile that ever graced my face.

Once I was on the bed, I sat crisscrossed and waited.

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