Page 54 of Before Eve

He looks over at me. “Sleep okay?”

I nod and get a little lost in his still drowsy eyes.

Vianca rolls into the room. “Everyone’s having fun without me,” she playfully pouts.

Maria pokes West in the ribs, and he jokingly flinches. Giggling, she climbs over West topoke me.

“Well, isn’t this just fun?” Gramma says from the doorway. “Pecan pancakes. Everyone up and at ‘em.”

“Pecan pancakes are my favorite!” Maria darts from the room.

Vianca spins in her chair and follows Maria out, and West props his cheek in his hand as he turns to me.

“I like your family,” I tell him. “Thanks for inviting me.”

He slides across the small space. “You’re very welcome.” He nuzzles a nibbly line from my ear down the side of my neck. It’s the first time he’s done that since our kiss behind the soundboard.

All kinds of wonderfulness tingles my skin. “Your family.”

“Don’t worry, they won’t come back. And if they do?” He goes back to nuzzling. “Oh, well.”

“West…”

“Shh.” He brushes his lips across my ear, and I almost whimper.

A little girl’s giggle fills the air. Maria stands in the doorway with both hands planted over her mouth. She giggles again and points. “You’re kissing.” West growls and lunges for her, and she leaps out of his reach and sprints toward the kitchen. “They’re kissing, they’re kissing, they’re kissing, they’re kissing.”

I groan, “I am so embarrassed.”

West pulls me to my feet. “Come on.”

“You’re kissing, you’re kissing, you’re kissing,” Vianca teases when we walk into the kitchen.

Everyone snickers and I proceed to turn extremely red.

“Oh, don’t mind them,” Gramma tells me.

“I’m hitting the shower. Do I have time?” West asks, and his dad waves him on. West gives me a poke in the side. “We’re kissing,” he teases and headsoff.

I can’t help the smile that spreads as I turn to Gramma. “What can I do to help?”

She puts me to work cutting fruit. The bathroom door opens, and West emerges holding a towel around his waist.

“Don’t mind me. Forgot my razor.” He walks over to his suitcase propped in the corner of the living room.

In all the time we’ve known each other, I’ve never seen him without a shirt. I’ve seen him in running shorts, jeans, T-shirts, long shirts, and a variety of other clothes, but never almost naked. I tell myself I shouldn’t stare, but I can’t tear away from the muscles defining his abs, the striated curves of his biceps and shoulders, the winding tattoo that I discover has a rose at the top, and from the light dusting of dark hair across his pecks to the line that starts at his navel and disappears down below.

He leans over then to grab his razor, his towel opens, and I nearly cut my thumb off.

Then he’s back in the bathroom, and I stand in the kitchen trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing.

“Cutting fruit,” Gramma reminds me with a knowing look.

I dive into the oranges. Breakfast comes and goes and all I think about is West’s body. Now that I’ve had a glimpse of it, I want more.

CHAPTER 28

After dinner that night,West jumps up. “Mind if we take a rain check on coffee?”