Page 107 of Firecracker

“Seriously.”

It didn’t take much to get him hard again, and they enjoyed another delicious round of sizzling hot sex.

A while later, Arden slid out of bed to carry their coffee mugs and plates to the kitchen. She didn’t bother putting anything on. As she set the dishes on the counter above the dishwasher, Tyler followed, also naked, stretching his gorgeous body with his arms above his head.

She ogled him. She fully admitted it. She could look at him for hours…his broad shoulders, heavy biceps, and sculpted chest and abs. Even his legs were worth looking at.

Her apartment door opened, and Mila appeared.

Arden froze. Tyler dropped his arms and froze. Mila’s eyes darted from naked Arden in the kitchen to naked Tyler at the island facing away from her, then shot open wide. “Oh shit.”

Arden slapped both hands over her mouth, squeezing her arms together over her breasts. For some reason, she just wanted to laugh. The expressions on both Tyler’s and Mila’s faces were comical.

“I’ll go! Sorry!” Mila backed out and slammed the door shut.

Tyler’s eyes were closed. “Tell me that didn’t just happen.”

“It happened.”

“Jesus.”

Arden did laugh now. “It’s not the end of the world. She got a view of your world-class ass, that’s all.”

“You think my ass is world-class?”

“Without a doubt.” She moved closer, leaned across the island, and kissed him. “She knows we’re sleeping together.”

He opened his eyes and stared into hers, his blazing hot. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I talked to Jamie last night. About us.”

“You did?”

He nodded. “He’s not sure about us, but he says you’re an adult.”

“Okay. Well. I guess it’s out there, then.”

Tyler nodded. “Probably also time for all of us to make a rule about walking into one another’s apartments unannounced.”

She winced. “I guess so.”

Rather than upsetting her, the fact that Jamie and Mila both knew what was going on between her and Tyler actually felt like a relief. Even though she wasn’t exactly sure herself what was going on between them.

They went to the farmers’ market again, and Arden paused to talk to more of the vendors, getting business cards and telling them about the breakfast meeting she was catering and that she was including some of their products. She got into a lengthy chat with a young woman who made specialty mustards using locally sourced ingredients, not sure if she could use mustard in any of her breakfast plans, but hoping she could somehow support the business. She smiled when Tyler ended up buying a jar of the beer chipotle mustard.

They stopped for lunch on the way home at a small café with an outdoor patio, then returned to their separate apartments to unpack their purchases. Although the flowers Tyler bought ended up in her place again. She arranged them in a vase with a smile and a fizzy, warm feeling in her chest.

Tyler walked in a while later, now dressed in a pair of ripped, faded jeans and an old T-shirt she recognized as one of his work shirts. “What are you working on today?” she asked him.

“Hoping to finish up the drywall.”

It was a slow process, with letting the mud dry and sanding it, then repeating it. She was seeing what a perfectionist Tyler was when it came to the work he did.

“Here. I picked up this for you today.”

She took the small jar from him with a faint frown. “What is it?”

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