Page 39 of Breaking All The Rules

I felt bad that I kept forgetting to replenish her stock from the one I swiped last week. It was on my to-do list with a million other things.

“How about we go to breakfast? I needed to talk to you this morning anyway. The least I can do is buy you something edible to eat.”

“Don’t you have meetings?” she asked. I could tell that she was hesitant to go.

“My first meeting isn’t until ten-thirty, and it’s with Brent. I wanted to talk with you about the Watson deal before he gets here. Plus, I owe you a granola bar, so until I can get you one, we’ll have to make do with actual breakfast.”

I waited for a minute as she sat there, staring at me without making any effort to get up. Shit, I must’ve pissed her off more than I thought.

“I’m not leaving until we go eat, and I’m starving, so...” I raised my eyebrows at her and shoved my hands into my pockets. She narrowed her eyes at me as she reached down, pulled her purse out of the drawer, and then stood up.

“Why do you owe me a granola bar?” she asked as she walked around the desk and stood next to me at the door.

“I might have stolen one while you were out sick.” I rocked back on my heels and smiled, hoping she would find it cute and that it wouldn’t piss her off even further.

After a minute, she pursed her lips and tilted her head to look up at me.

“I knew one was missing... and just for that, I’m ordering a side of pancakes with breakfast.” She turned and walked out of her office, swinging her purse up onto her shoulder as her ass swayed perfectly behind her.

I shook my head and laughed. We walked a few blocks to the diner on the corner and found a booth in the back. It was busy for a Thursday morning, and I needed to be able to talk to herwithout having to shout over everyone else. While I needed to talk to her about Brent, I really wanted to clear the air between us about Cora.

“Do you know what you want?” I asked, looking over the top of my menu to see her.

“Everything looks delicious,” she said as she looked at hers. “But I think I know what I’m getting.”

At that moment, the waitress came back and set our cups of coffee on the table before pulling out her notepad to take our order.

“What can I get you guys?” she asked, looking between us. I nodded to Eva, and she turned to her and waited.

“I’ll do the meat-lover skillet, but can I add onions and mushrooms?”

“Of course. Do you want toast or an English muffin?”

I felt Eva’s eyes dart to mine with a warning look for me not to say anything.

“I’ll have toast, please. On white bread. And a side of pancakes.”

“You got it,” she said before turning to me.

“I’ll do the same,” I replied, sliding my menu over next to Eva’s. The waitress grabbed both menus from the table and rushed off to put our order in.

“Trying something new?” I asked, fighting to keep my tone serious.

“What do you mean?” She frowned, clearly missing where I was going with the question.

“White toast?”

Her face pulled up into the cutest angry face I had ever seen.

“Ha, ha. Real funny,” she mocked as she wadded up a piece of her napkin and threw it at me. I ducked to the side, missing it before it hit the man behind me in the back of the head. He turned around and glared at us as he touched the spot where ithad hit him. She clasped her hands over her mouth, and her eyes went wide in embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry about that, sir,” I offered, turning to the side to see him better. “However, I am a lawyer, so if you’d like to discuss damages or seek legal counsel, I would be willing to help—free of charge.” I winked playfully, only to receive an eye roll from him as he muttered under his breath about stupid kids before returning to his breakfast.

“You’re gonna get us kicked out of here,” I playfully warned, leaning closer to her across the table. “You better stop, or you’ll never know what white toast tastes like.” I leaned back and laughed, watching her shake her head at me.

“I’ve had real toast before,” she countered. “I just happen to burn it more often these days. Maybe there’s something wrong with the toaster in my office?”

I stopped and stared at her.

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