Page 62 of The Flirty Forward

I shrug, totally unrepentant. “That’s just how I am; if you can’t handle me, there’s the door,” I say, jerking my thumb towards the door.

Sebastian’s gaze runs over me, and my body turns warm. “Oh, I can handle you, Doll.”

“Don’t call me that.” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.Shoot. I hadn’t meant to say that. I take a sip of my coffee, hoping he’ll let it go.

“You don’t like it when I call you Doll?”

So much for letting it go. “Never mind. Just ignore me this morning.”

He walks over to the table and slides a plate in front of me. “Well,that’snot going to happen.”

I stare down at the plate, mildly impressed. There’s scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, and something that looks like a rolled up cinnamon roll. The scent of all that good food hits my nose, and my stomach growls. “I can’t believe you made all this.”

“You don’t have to look and sound so surprised, you know,” Sebastian says dryly.

My eyes meet his. “Iamsurprised. Most guys can’t cook.”

He frowns. “Hey now. Way to stereotype a whole people group.”

“How many of your teammates can cook?” I ask him.

“Okay. Fair point.” He puts his plate down and sits across from me. “But my mom made sure we knew how to cook; I already told you that.”

Not wanting to think about my own lack of culinary training, I pivot. “What is this?” I ask, pointing to the rolled up food.

He grins. “Taste it.”

I’m pretty curious, so I take a bite. I resist the urge to groan. “That’s surprisingly fantastically good.”

“Again, with the surprise, Babe. You‘re killing my ego here.”

“What is it?” I ask, ignoring his precious ego.

“I don’t really know what you call them, but they’re French toast roll-ups. My mom made them all the time growing up.” His grin grows sheepish. “They’re stupidly easy.” I notice he doesn’t have any on his plate, but that doesn’t surprise me. I’m pretty sure the guys stay on a strict diet during the season.

I try the eggs next. “These are amazing.” I try to keep the surprise out of my voice this time; the shake of his head tells me I was unsuccessful.

Chapter 23

Stephanie

“You’re wounding me,” he says, putting his hands over his heart.

“You’ll be fine,” I say dryly. It’s quiet for a few moments while we eat. It’s surprisingly...not uncomfortable. “How are you feeling?” I ask after I finish my plate of food. I take a sip of my coffee and wait for his answer.

“So much better. I think I’m finally past the headache.”

I look up. “Are you sure?”

He grins slowly. “You still worried about me?”

“Nope,” I say, popping thepas I stand and take my plate to the sink. “Just wondering when I'm going to get my house back.” I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth.

“Well lucky for you then, I’m planning on going back to my place today.” His easy words reassure me that I didn’t hurt his feelings; still, I wish I hadn’t said it that way. I rinse my plate and put it in the dishwasher.

“How are you?” he asks, from right next to me when he moves in to rinse his plate. “Are you okay after you got knocked over last night?”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

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