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Jenny moved Brax’s arm, attempting to sneak out of bed.

“Where’ya going?”

“Just need to go to the bathroom,” she lied.

“’Kay.”

He rolled over and went back to sleep. She wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t so much the fact that they had made love three times the night before, but she knew how on edge he had been since the attempt on her life. He’d hardly been getting any sleep. It amazed her that he’d been asleep last night when she’d gotten up with Faith.

So far Brax had done all of the cooking, but this morning she wanted to surprise him. It wasn’t that she couldn’t cook, it was just that her job kept her so busy that cooking a meal for herself was usually the last thing on her mind.

She headed to her bedroom and put on leggings and a long tee, then went to the bathroom across the hall and washed up, did her business, and brushed her teeth. Back to her bedroom, she took her phone off the nightstand. It still had a pretty good charge, which she’d need to find the perfect recipes for special breakfast dishes. After all, she’d have to work with what Brax had on hand. She absently patted Faith’s head as she headed to the kitchen.

“You were a good girl last night, weren’t you?”

She found Faith’s food and filled up her bowl, added water to her water bowl, then checked out Brax’s fridge and pantry. She started scrolling through fancy French toast recipes until she found one that would work with what she had on hand.

“Perfect,” she mumbled.

Even after using the four eggs necessary for the casserole, there would be plenty left over for the egg dish she intended to bake. Jenny grinned. After all of Brax’s hard work last night, the least she could do was reward the man.

Whoops!

She leaned against the counter. How in the hell could she get all tingly and achy just by thinking of what they had done? Her stomach clenched again.

Whew-wee . That man was powerful, even when he wasn’t near.

She giggled, then stood back up straight. Time to get cooking.

Brax rolled over and reached out for Jenny, only to find her side of the bed cool . What the hell? She said she would be right back, hadn’t she? Brax shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs.

Damn, last night had been something else. The phone on his nightstand vibrated again. That must have been what woke him. He snatched it up and looked at the display. It was Gideon.

“Good morning,” he said, then promptly yawned.

“You sound tired. I would have thought that by taking time off, you would be more rested.”

“I’ve been fixing things up around the house. It’s been hard work.”

“Are you sure that’s the only thing that has you tired?” Gideon asked.

Brax frowned. “What’s with all the questions?”

“Just wondering if Jenny is tired this morning, too.”

“Don’t tell me you geniuses have a bet going on as to when we’ll sleep together. That’s just wrong.”

“Seems to me you won the bet about Ryker and Amy, so I don’t know why you’re bitching. Now spill.”

“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell. Now why are you calling?”

“Jada and I want to come over. We have some information and some questions for Jenny.”

“Tell me first.”

“Jada won’t let me. She tracked down a lot of it, based on information that Jenny gave her last night.”

“What did Jenny tell Jada?”

“Just tell me, are we good to come over, or not?”

Brax rubbed his stubbled chin. “Yeah. It’s good. But give us a half hour.”

“That’s how long it will take for us to get there, so you’re good.”

Brax hung up and grabbed the same pair of jeans he wore last night and yanked them on. It was time to find out what Jenny had been up to before he’d found her stealing chocolate from his pantry.

As soon as he opened the bedroom door, heavenly smells hit him. What in the hell were they?

“Jenny?”

“I’m in the kitchen.”

“I figured that,” he mumbled to himself.

When he got to the kitchen, he saw her in the process of taking one casserole pan out of the oven and putting another one in. She was doing it at the same time, one in each hand. He winced. He stopped short and didn’t say a word so that she wouldn’t drop one.

When she made the switch and closed the oven door with her hip, he spoke up.

“What in the hell do you think you are doing?”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Cooking.”

“How about doing it a little more carefully. You could have easily dropped one of those pans, and if it was the hot one, you would have been badly burned.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Hold on there, Mr. SEAL, I’ve been cooking for myself since I was sixteen. I know what I’m doing. I’m a big girl.”

“You’re a big girl with cracked ribs. Are you even wearing your bandage?”

She bit her inner lip. “You know, you’re a lot less adorable when you’re being overbearing. I’ll grant you the bitching about the bandage, but cut it out about the pans. I know what I’m doing.”

“When you’re injured and not at full strength?” he asked in a softer tone of voice. He knew he’d blown it charging in like an asshole, but she’d scared him.

She blew the hair out of her face. “I see your point,” she admitted. “But I don’t appreciate the delivery.”

He walked into the kitchen and brushed his knuckles over her flushed cheek, happy when she leaned into the caress. “I’m sorry, Jenny. You scared me. I don’t like the idea of you being injured.”

“Okay, I can see that. And you’re probably right. I’ll take it easier.”

He sniffed the air. “Care to tell me what you made? It smells delicious.”

“You didn’t have challah bread, but the loaf of French bread you had was good in a pinch for this French toast casserole. Also, it calls for blueberries, but I used your strawberries.”

“Good, I like strawberries,” Brax said as he peered into the casserole pan and took a deep breath. What did you put into the oven?”

“That’s a cheese and egg casserole with some crumbled bacon.”

“Thank God, Jada and Gideon are coming over. There is no way we could have made a dent in all this food.”

“I would have screwed up the recipes if I tried to cut them in half. I suck at math.”

He kissed her self-deprecating smile. Then kissed her deeper for good measure.

She pushed him away. “When are they going to be here?”

He glanced at the clock on the microwave. “About twenty minutes from now.”

“I need to shower. Keep your kisses to yourself. Can you take the eggs out of the oven when the timer rings?”

“Aye-aye.”

He watched as she hustled down the hallway, then pulled a fork out of the silverware drawer and took a big bite out of the French toast casserole and groaned.

So good.

Jenny gave Jada a hug when she came through the door. She still didn’t feel comfortable enough with Gideon to do the same. He must have sensed it, because he didn’t offer one.

“Come on into the kitchen, Jenny has cooked up a feast.”

“You cooked?” Jada asked. “What’s that?”

Jenny giggled. “I just threw a couple of things into the oven. It was no big deal.”

“Wait til you taste them. It’s a big deal.” Brax grinned.

Jenny noticed that Gideon brought his tablet into the kitchen with him, and Jada carried her beautiful leather purse with her as well. Weird.

Brax pointed to Gideon’s tablet. “No work during breakfast. We’re going to savor this meal, got it?”

Gideon’s lip twitched. “Got it.” He sat down and turned his tablet upside down on the kitchen table. Jada put her purse down underneath the table. Now that Jenny thought about it, she’d bet that her purse contained her tablet as well.

“Did you find something out with my username and password?” Jenny asked.

“Uh-uh-uh,” Brax admonished. “Food first, then talk. I’ve been dying to try this.”

“What are you talking about? I saw how much of the casserole was gone before I put it in your serving dish. You devoured at least two pieces.”

“What can I say, I worked hard last night.”

Jada snickered.

“Shut up, already,” Jenny said as she rolled her eyes. Brax took a big scoop of the eggs, then passed the dish to Jada whose eyes widened.

“You made this?” she asked Jenny.

“Sure.”

“This is like something from a restaurant.” She took a big scoop. Not as big as Brax’s, but big. They passed around both dishes, and the bowl of melons that Brax had cut up. Pretty soon everybody was quiet as they dug into their food.

Jenny was itching to hear what Jada found out, so she’d taken just a little bit of the food and was done first.

“So, Jada—” she started.

“Not done,” Brax said.

“You don’t know what I was going to talk about,” Jenny protested. “I wanted to know where she got her purse. It is crazy cute. I want to see what else they have.”

Jada looked up and grinned. “I got it online. Kate Spade. Love their stuff. You need to shop their outlet. Lots of deals to be had.”

“I’m going to be on their site today.”

“Oh God, not another one,” Gideon groaned. “Please don’t say you like shoes,” the man begged.

“Sure, I like shoes.” Jenny smiled. She turned to Jada. “You, too?”

“Oh, do I ever. That was one of the worst and best things about the house blowing up. I lost all my shoes. But then I got to start replacing them all. The insurance adjuster had a hard time believing how much all of my shoes were worth.”

Gideon shook his head. “ I had a hard time believing how much those shoes cost. Shit, Jada, you could have bought a new car for the price of all of those shoes.”

She looked over at her fiancé and batted her eyes. “A small economy car. One of those ones without the backseat.” She turned back to Jenny. “Let me know when you want to go shopping. I’m there.”

“Uhm, I’m not sure that you and I are on the same wavelength when it comes to shoe shopping. I’m thinking about a collection that will equal the amount of a used laptop. You know, maybe a five-year-old used laptop.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Brax crowed.

“You lucky bastard,” Gideon muttered.

“Oh, quit your complaining. You have never had to pay for anything of mine, you big oaf. My consulting gigs are making money hand over fist, and you know it.”

Jenny was impressed with the pride in Jada’s voice.

Gideon reached over and put his arm around Jada’s shoulder, then tugged her close for a kiss. “You are amazing. Have I told you that lately?” he asked quietly.

“You forgot to this morning, so thank you,” she whispered back. “Love you, Gideon.”

He gave her a light kiss. “Love you more.”