Page 43 of Take the Blame (Seaside Mergers #3)

Chapter Twenty-Three

AUGUSTUS

An angel was cooking in my kitchen, in my clothes, covered in my scent.

She’d fallen asleep last night trying to ask me about my tattoos but ended up nodding off instead. Leaving me with the foreign feeling of being both content and disappointed simultaneously.

Not to put it the wrong way, nothing about what we’d done last night was disappointing. It was so much the opposite, in fact, that I think she re-wired my nerve endings to automatically react whenever she was within a five-foot radius—said my dick as it stood on end watching her make eggs.

But something awakened in me after having her in my space.

Like now that she was here, I didn’t want her to go.

I wanted to do everything with her. I was so ridiculously excited to have her put on a movie as she sat with me on the couch that I was already planning our next one before it was even over.

We could play a board game, or do a puzzle, or even just keep talking throughout the night.

Though it was cute the way she instantly passed out when she nestled up against me too, I was slightly disappointed when her warm breaths started to get deeper against my neck and her head threatened to pull her whole body forward as she popped in and out of sleep.

I was getting selfish with her. Needy. I’d already convinced her to stay the night, but I was brainstorming ways to get her to stay the entire weekend. Truth was, I’d propose a way to have her stay forever if I didn’t think it would spook her.

For now, I continued to play it cool as I watched her from afar.

Voices blasted out the speaker of her phone as it sat in a bowl on the counter.

She was listening to a podcast while mixing something in a sizzling pan on the stove.

The words ‘ marketability ’ and ‘ net 30 ’ were all I needed to hear to know this was not something I wanted to be tuning into, leaving me wide open to tune into her and the smell of whatever deliciousness she was whipping up half-naked in my kitchen.

She was an early riser. When I first woke up wrapped around her like she was some kind of pillow, my first reaction was to jerk away, giving her space to breathe.

“Oh shit, sorry,” I’d rushed out. “I didn’t mean to crowd you like that.”

She was already awake. Her pretty eyes open and alert, her face relaxed as she looked at me. “It’s okay. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

I wiped my eyes, then stretched. “Really? Why?”

“Can I use your kitchen?”

I blinked, surprised by her sudden forwardness. “Hungry?”

“Starving,” she admitted .

Sitting up on my elbows, I tried to force myself to be more awake.

That was hard to accomplish when I felt like someone had hit me with a truck.

A beautiful truck that gave me multiple orgasms and felt like a dream wrapped around me, but a truck, nonetheless.

It was safe to say I hadn’t used the special muscles it took for a sex marathon in quite some time.

But she was awake, so I wanted to be awake too.

“I can make you something. Or we can order something,” I offered quickly. “No need for you to cook.”

She shot up, “That’s alright. If it’s okay with you, I’ll just make something. I think I saw enough ingredients when you got me water last night. You can stay here, I’ll call you in when it’s ready.”

So much energy .

I wondered where it all came from as she bounced out of the room. I also wondered if she asked me to stay behind while she all but booked it out of there because she needed some space.

I gave her some just in case. Taking my time brushing my teeth and washing my face, then pulling on some warm sweats and digging through my clothes to find her something other than that long sleeve she’d found of mine.

There wasn’t much, which was better for me anyway.

It meant I could see her toned legs on display as she sauntered around in my clothes.

Not long after getting dressed, I found myself watching from the doorway as she handled my kitchen like a pro.

Onions, pepper, garlic, and cilantro were all chopped up expertly and set aside.

Sizzling in the pan was the spicy sausage stuff I liked to pick up from the market down the street, and I think there was some kind of sauce she was fixing to add too.

There was even the smell of coffee in the air.

The scent was usually magic to my senses, but it left me feeling uneasy as I finally walked in after her.

She’d done everything already. What could I offer now to make her want to stay ?

Coming up behind her shoulder, I gave her space as I approached. “Can I peek, or will that bother you?”

Looking over at me, I saw a lightness I didn’t know I was missing back in her eyes. “Sure, just pause my show real quick, please.”

I did as she asked, pausing the voices before coming back around to view her concoction. “Whatcha making?”

“ Chilaquiles con chorizo ,” she said.

“Con?” I asked, wanting to understand.

“With,” she supplied

“Chorizo?” I asked.

She gave me a look, her mouth splitting in an amused smile. “Harper, you had it in your fridge.”

I winced. “I just grab stuff out of habit.”

“It’s basically a spicy sausage.” Ah, see I thought I smelled that . “Go sit down and I’ll let you try some before everything’s done.”

I grunted, hesitating, but ultimately sauntered over to the dining table and took a seat. Minutes later, she stood over me. I probably needed to get her some socks soon. If she kept walking around in my way-too-big slippers she would fall, though it was really cute to look at.

“Here,” she said, holding out meat on a folded up napkin. “Taste.”

I did, even though I knew what it tasted like. It somehow tasted better coming from her. On top of adding new flavor, she’d added something else intangible to it too. It made my swallow go down hard and my smile turn wary. “Really good.”

She frowned. “What’s wrong?”

I watched her hand, grabbing onto it and playing with her fingers as I stalled. Just ask her, Aug . “Do you need any help?”

“Not really,” she said slowly. My silence must have caused her to dip her head sideways, searching for my eyes. I gave them to her willingly. I’d give her a lot, I was finding. “Harp? ”

“I want to help,” I admitted. “I don’t want to sit off to the side.”

She smiled easily, her hand turning in mine and giving it a squeeze. “Okay.”

Why was she acting like this was so damn easy after a year of making it so damn hard? Did I dare ask for more?

She moved, using our connection to pull me with her, but I stopped her and turned her back my way. Tucking her in between my spread legs, I brought my hands behind her thighs, keeping her near me. I was happy to meet the storm of her brown eyes looking down at me with that slightly furrowed brow.

“I want you to stay too,” I added. “Here. After breakfast, I mean. For the weekend, maybe. If you can… If you want .”

“Okay.”

I didn’t think I had trust issues. But the easy look that once again fell over her features seemed too good to be true.

“You don’t have to if you have other things to do?—”

Cool lips that tasted like mint and citrus touched my own. Did I even have oranges? Her kiss proved I did. It also proved I’d had a concerning amount of hope thrown into that request, judging by the immense relief her agreement washed over me.

As a whisper on my lips, she insisted, “I’ll stay, Harper.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” she said with a smile. “Now, unhand me this second. You’re letting our hard work burn.”

After breakfast, Energizer Alta insisted on needing to move. And by move she meant go on a four-mile run in the freezing cold.

“You said it would be short!” I huffed as we finally made it back up the beach to the townhouse.

“That was short!” she said. “I usually do seven, and anyway, I thought you said you could run.”

“I said I could do a short run,” I said, cold hands feeling numb as I attempted to stick the key in the door for the third time. “I run a mile tops before I lift. No muss, no fuss. ”

She snorted, following in after me looking like a spring chicken in her black leggings and long sleeve workout top that she pulled from the gym bag in her car.

I’m glad someone was feeling good. I was feeling like I’d need to be wheel-barreled anywhere further than the living room, where I promptly collapsed onto the rug.

A cautious foot toed at my leg and I peeked up to see her looking down at me.

She was a dream even now, her sweet face red from being windblown, hair flying away from her high ponytail in every which direction.

If I had the energy to move, I’d pull her on top of me and kiss her senseless.

But my body protested that before my mind even proposed the idea.

“Out of my sight, monster,” I groaned before she could ask me to have a sit up competition next.

“Shower with me?” she asked, sounding coy.

Well, that was one way to get me up. Apparently I hadn’t lost all my strength as I was able to carry her up the stairs to my room with no problems. She just laughed in my arms the whole way there.

Unfortunately, as soon as we landed upstairs she promptly remembered that showers were ‘a lot less sexy when you actually had to wash yourself,’ according to her.

I couldn’t have cared less but gave her her space and waited my turn as she washed her “light jog” away.

And when she appeared in the doorway like an angel with blooming steam around her, she told me to go ahead and wash up while she braided her hair.

“I left the water on for you, so it’ll be warm,” she added as she passed me in a towel only.

I wrapped my arm around her middle, kissing her shoulder before she could get by me. “You’re an angel, thank you.”

Famous last words .

One foot in the shower and I felt like my skin was being melted off my bones.

“Holy fuck!” I yelled, jumping straight out of the scalding hot water .

“What! What?” She was frantic as she ran into the steamy room. “What’s wrong? What happened?”