Page 32 of Tripped By Love

I stuck my hand out to Jonas. He shook it, looking down at my outfit and then away.

I tugged at the apron. “Sorry for my ridiculous appearance. I was getting ready to work out but got sidetracked in the kitchen first.”

Marco’s lips twitched. An almost smile that flipped my heart.

“Cassidy owns a restaurant downtown and has some of the best food I’ve ever tasted,” Marco told Jonas, but his eyes were still on me, sending me a message I wasn’t sure he really intended.

Jonas laughed. “Wait till I tell Maliyah and Maria Carmen you said that. They’ll be pissed.”

“Language,” Marco said, and he grabbed the boy in a headlock, knuckles rubbing the top of his head. Jonas groaned and fought the steely muscles that were sealed around him.

“Get off, you big goon.”

The two struggled for a brief second before Marco released him. Jonas shoved his shoulder with a hand and then glanced at me and away again. The pink on his cheeks was still there.

“Let me get Jo-Jo settled in, and then I’ll come over to work out,” Marco said.

“Geez. Way to make it sound like I’m eight,” Jonas groused.

Marco’s lips twitched again.

“I’d like that,” I said.

Then, I backed away and headed toward my house. I felt both their eyes on me as I walked away. It was so distracting I tripped over the back step and had to catch myself on the rail. “I’m fine,” I hollered without looking back because I knew Marco would ask, but at least he wouldn’t rush over and fawn all over me like Brady or Mom would.

“You are…I mean, glad to hear it,” Marco’s voice flew through the air, and when I turned back to see him, I could have sworn it was his turn to have red littering his cheeks.

My pulse quickened to an almost uncontrollable beat.

Inside the house, I took the last batch of cookies from the oven while continuing to clean some of the mess I’d made. I was almost done when the back door creaked open.

Marco was there, filling the space with his size and his aura and the smell that was nothing I’d ever experienced before him. Like a delightful mix of spices I couldn’t quite figure out when I thought I knew them all.

The urge to hug him overwhelmed me again. To reassure him that whatever he’d been feeling over the last few days was valid and okay. I wanted him to know he didn’t have to hide those emotions from me, but I didn’t know how to take the friendly banter we’d had in our real lives and turn it into the something more that our phone calls had shared.

“I just need to glaze these real quick,” I said, waving a thumb toward the rack.

“Don’t you ever get tired of cooking?” he asked.

I smiled. “Honestly…not really.”

He leaned against the archway to the living room, watching me as I moved about, whipping the caramel glaze into shape. I tried not to let the tremble his staring caused to show in my hands. We’d stared at each other a million times across a workout mat, but after all our more recent talks, this felt different. More personal, somehow. As if his gaze was sinking into my bones and spreading through my veins.

I brushed the icing lightly across the top of the cookies before sprinkling some sea salt on them. Then, I washed the bowl and threw the towel in the hamper in the laundry room off the kitchen all while Marco watched me.

“How does Jonas feel about having to come with you?” I asked.

His eyes traveled up and down my body. The apron was still hiding my shorts and most of my tank.

“After what I saw last week…I knew Maliyah was right. We had to get him out of Austin, but he isn’t thrilled about it. I may have promised him some things I can’t really guarantee.”

“Like?”

“Time at the studio.”

I laughed, and it caused him to frown.

“Marco, Brady would do anything for you. You realize that, right? He’d give Jonas his own album even if he had absolutely no talent.”