Page 31 of Ashes

“Oh, I’m hungry,” he whined. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Pancakes. Make yourself useful and get everything else set up.”

“I thought you said no one else could cook in the kitchen.”

I glared at him over my shoulder. “That’s not cooking.”

He laughed. “Okay, grumpy.” He got up and walked over to the fridge to grab an assortment of berries. Moving over to one of the cabinets next to me, he picked up three separate bowls to fill them with each kind. “You know your mood has been more sour since she showed up,” he said, his tone teasing.

I flipped over the pancake cooking in the pan. “No, it hasn’t.”

“She’s affecting you.”

“No, she doesn?—”

Someone cleared their throat behind us. I swung around to find Sienna standing a few feet away, wearing the same yoga pants she was wearing yesterday that hugged her body perfectly.

Even in the morning, she was quite the sight.

When we both didn’t say anything, her mouth hesitantly lifted at one corner. “Um, morning.”

Words continued to elude me, but Kai intervened, cutting the awkward tension.

“Good morning, Sienna,” he said, his voice a little too cheerful for my liking. “How did you sleep?”

“It was fine,” she answered, shifting on her feet. “I’m surprised to see you guys here. I didn’t think anyone else would be up yet.”

The smell of something burning brought my attention back to the stove. “Fuck,” I muttered, cursing under my breath. I hadn’t burned anything since my early days of learning how to cook, but apparently, that was another thing Sienna disrupted.

Kai brushed past me and murmured, “Told you,” only for me to hear.

“We have an early work meeting, but what are you doing up so early?” Kai answered for both of us.

I hated that it was so easy for him to talk to her when she wasmywife. I’d never been good at talking to people, much less to strangers. I wanted to, but it was like something physically stopped the words from coming out of my mouth.

And the only ones I managed to get out were aimed to rile her up.

“I’m using the free time I have before my shift later today to do some research for a presentation I have,” she explained, leaning her elbows against the kitchen island.

“What do you do again?” Kai asked as he filled the bowls with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

Before I could hear more of their conversation, I turned off the stove and stacked the last batch of pancakes to the side. Then I washed my hands and tossed the towel resting over my shoulder aside.

“There’s pancakes and a separate pot of decaf coffee for you,” I said to her before leaving them and retreating to my office.

Being married to her might be the death of both of us.

CHAPTER 8

SIENNA

Being marriedto Jamal was like having psychological whiplash.

My poor brain was running in circles, scrambling to land on whether I should give him a chance or shut him out like I knew I should.

I was still trying to grasp how he knew I only drank decaf and what they were talking about before I walked into the kitchen when I remembered Kai had asked me a question before my husband rushed out of here.

I looked over at him, finding him perched at the kitchen island. “Emergency Medicine,” I finally replied with a small smile. “Is he always like this?” I asked, pointing to where Jamal had disappeared to.