Page 180 of Finding Us

He stops. “You already started it.” He glances down at his tented pants. “And I can’t walk around like this.”

I laugh. “Nobody’s here. And for the record, I didn’t do anything. I just gave you a kiss.”

“That’s all it takes. And for the record, you did more than that.” He unties my robe, then shoves his pants to the floor.

“Wait. We’re doing this here?”

He picks me up and backs me into the wall by the kitchen.

I tighten my legs around him. “Don’t you want to go to the bedroom?”

“No. Here is good.” He hoists me up a little.

“But the bed’s right—”

“Jade.” He kisses my neck.

“What?”

“Stop talking.”

Before I can utter another word, his lips meet up with mine and we kiss in a hot, urgent way. He brings us together and we do it, hard and fast against the wall.

When we’re done, he sets me down and puts his pants back on. “I made you pancakes.”

“Yeah, I see that.” I tie my robe, laughing at the way he just goes back to what he was doing, like we didn’t just have smoldering hot sex against the kitchen wall. “Your pancakes smell delicious.”

“Theyaredelicious. I got the recipe from Charles.”

“When did you do that?” I follow him to the sink to wash my hands.

“He emailed it to me yesterday.” Garret grabs a towel and dries his hands, then dries mine as his face dips down to give me a kiss. “I’m starting a new tradition.”

“What’s the new tradition?”

“Sundays at Garret’s Pancake House. It starts today.”

“So you’re going to make pancakes every Sunday?”

“I don’t have a choice. They don’t have a decent pancake place in this town.”

“Will there be different types of pancakes? Or just basic buttermilk?”

“The menu here isn’t as extensive as Al’s, but it’s not bad.” He hands me a sheet of paper. It looks like an actual menu with ‘Garret’s Pancake House’ written at the top. Below it he’s listed five different types of pancakes. The first one is buttermilk and next to it he’s written ‘Five Kisses.’

“What’s with the five kisses?” I ask him.

“That’s how much it costs. This is a restaurant, Jade. You don’t eat for free.”

He’s very serious and it makes me laugh. I review the menu again. Blueberry pancakes are listed next, with the payment being sex.

“You go from kisses to sex? That’s a huge price increase from buttermilk.”

He shrugs. “Blueberries are expensive and they’re hard to work with. You have to be careful not to squish them when you stir the batter. Otherwise you get those blue streaks in your pancakes.” He points to the skillet. “And just so you know, those are blueberry pancakes.”

“You didn’t even let me order.”

“Not this week. Next week you can.”

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