Page 35 of Time Out

“Thanks.” She rolled her eyes but reached for the plate. “And thanks for breakfast.”

I needed to eat before I left, which needed to be soon. It hadn’t been any more work to make a little bit more food. “Is that enough? I can make you something else?”

“No. This is great. Thank you so much. And, Davis?”

“Yeah?” I was halfway to the door, figuring she’d want privacy to do whatever she needed to.

“Thanks for staying. That was nice of you.”

“I’m a nice guy. And you’re welcome.”

I headed back to the kitchen repeating friends friends friends in my head. It was all she wanted.

I got it. We had a kid involved.

Didn’t mean I was willing to be only that for her forever, but for now… it’d work. I’d take my time with the rest because when she’d said that word, she hadn’t seemed too happy about it either.

She’d soon learn that this morning might have been the first time I took care of her, but it wasn’t going to be the last.

Not by a long shot.

I used the bathroom outside her bedroom quickly, running water through my hair to tame it and splashed more on my face to wake me up. My hips were sore from the couch, but I’d work them out when I got to practice. Take an appointment with our team’s massage therapist.

After I was cleaned up and gargled with some of her mouthwash, I was back in the living room sipping on a cup of coffee from her one-cup maker I’d found in the cupboard. She came out of her room dressed in cutoff sweat shorts, an oversized T-shirt that looked well-loved and had a faded peace sign in tie-dye colors on the front.

“Here’s your shirt.” She draped it over the chair. “Thank you, again, for breakfast. It was the best I’ve had in weeks.”

“Good.” Her living room was small enough I barely had to push to my feet to grab my shirt, and her eyes dropped to my bare stomach as I did.

Of course I stood to my full height. Tightened my abs.

She could look all she wanted. I understood the concept of friends, but there was no way we’d stay in that lane.

Not with the way she licked her lips as I lifted my arms. I couldn’t remember the last time I put on a show while getting dressed, but with Maggie’s eyes widening as I slipped on the shirt, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let her look all she wanted.

I tugged down the shirt, covering my body and her gaze was now lower—zoned in on the bulge she’d caused to grow behind my gray sweatpants.

I cleared my throat. “Hey, friend? My eyes are up a little higher.”

A furious heated blush rose to the apples of her cheeks.

I spared her further embarrassment. “I set your phone on the table next to your bed. Didn’t know if you had any alarms set or anything. Do you want me to go get it?”

“My phone?”

She was still a little dazed. Kind of liked that look on her.

“Yeah. Last night you’d said you had your upcoming appointments on there?”

“Right. You didn’t look?”

“Didn’t want to be searching through your phone while you were sleeping. Didn’t feel right.” Although I’d been tempted to check out her recent texts. Pictures. Get a glimpse into how she lived her life, who she was.

“Oh. Thanks. That was—”

“Nice of me. I know. We’ve already established that I’m a nice guy.”

But if she kept pointing it out, I had no problems showing her exactly how not nice I could be as well.

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