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“Last night was incredible.”

“It was.” I pressed a soft kiss to her lips, keeping bad breath in mind.

“What is your family going to say about you staying over?”

I rolled my eyes. “They’re probably going to throw me a party. They’ve been encouraging me to go after you forever. They knew how much I liked you.”

She gasped. “Why Honey, are you saying you like me?”

I smacked a kiss on her forehead. “Yes, Bren. I like you. Alot.” My chest thundered with the realization that I was lying.

I didn’t like her a lot.

I loved her. I truly loved Bren Hendrix, and I had for a while.

Ohshit. Here I’d just barely convinced her to try a relationship with me and I’d had to go fall in love with her.

Ellie had been right, but she’d be insufferable if I told her.

“What is it?” Bren asked.

“Nothing. Just thinking about work.”

Bren nodded and kissed my cheek, licking it and making me giggle.

“Stop it!”

“You know, I’ve been wanting to taste your dimples since the first day I saw you.”

I made a face. “Why?”

Bren shrugged and I loved seeing her like this. So relaxed and warm and with her hair all over the place. Sure, sex was great, but this? Seeing her the way no one other than her cat did? This was priceless.

“I wonder what my family is doing for breakfast right now. I usually cook it. And if someone doesn’t gather the eggs, I’m going to be pissed,” I said, but Bren put her finger to my lips.

“Don’t worry about that right now. You have too much on your shoulders, Honey Bea.” I knew that, but hearing it from Bren made it more obvious somehow.

“I know I do. It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done.”

Bren studied me for a moment and then sat up, dragging a hand through her hair.

“Maybe we can sit down and think of some ways that you could do less. Or I could yell at your family and stop relying on you so much. There are a range of options.”

I snorted, imagining Bren yelling at my siblings to do their chores. They might actually listen.

“I do have to handle the financial stuff, though. My parents really can’t handle that. Trust me, I let them do the taxes one year and it was a bad idea.”

Bren nodded and I could tell she was having a problem understanding why I was so adamant about helping my parents, given that they were both grown adults.

“I’ve been thinking about hiring an accountant, at least for the tax stuff.”

“That’s a great idea. And if you’re okay with it, I might be able to look through everything you have and see if there might be ways you could cut or streamline or outsource some things to free your time up,” she said.

She did have a degree and I’d learned everything on my own. I wasn’t opposed to using her expertise and her incredible brain to help my family.

“Okay. But let’s not talk about business right now. I’m hungry.”

Bren smiled and then her eyes went wide. “Oh god, I don’t think I have much food in the house at all. I was planning on making you breakfast.”