Page 48 of The Disputed Legacy
When I stepped out of my room and into the small living room before the kitchen, I saw how that wouldn’t be an issue at all.
It wasn’t a matter of when and where I’d see Saul next.
Because he hadn’t left. He was still here. Shirtless and wearing only his pants, he moved around my kitchen like he’d always been familiar with the space. The white of the bandage wrapped over his gunshot wound stood out in stark contrast to the inky black of his tattoos and the bronzed gold of his tanned skin. Moving smoothly, he gave no indication that he was in pain. Not as he managed a skillet with one hand and reached over to pluck the slices of toast out of the toaster with his other.
I blinked again, wondering if I was still asleep and dreaming.
He was still here.
He hadn’t left. And while I’d slept in, he took it upon himself to make breakfast.
Oscar smiled at me, already dressed and seated at the small table. “Mama!”
I would never get tired of hearing his little boy voice, so happy to see me and exclaim it like that. Too soon, he’d get older and I’d beMominstead, and it would mark the first move from being a sweet little boy toward becoming a big boy.
“Good morning,” I replied, going toward him as I let out the surprise of seeing this sexy man in my kitchen, making us food.
“Hi,” Saul said, giving me that secret smile he saved just for me.
Oh, God.
He’s too much.
I would be swooning if he kept this up.
I swallowed past the clog of emotion in my throat and nodded. “Hi.”
“Saul said that since he was a guest of honor last night and had a sleepover on the couch, that it was his duty to make us breakfast. Look!” Oscar pointed at the plate for me. “Eggs and toast the way you like it.”
Eggs and toast had never looked this good before, primarily because I didn’t have to make them. “I see that.” I looked up at the man and refrained from sighing like a fool at the sight of all those muscles I’d felt last night.The couch?
He grinned, catching the silent question in my arched brow. “Don’t let it get cold,” he advised.
Cold? He was making me feel too warm and flustered with this show of goodwill. Making me breakfast? And feeding my son while I slept in? He was pampering me, and I wasn’t sure how to accept that.
No one had pampered me before.
I sat, admiring this new experience, but at the same time, as I bit into my food, I cautioned myself from getting too attached. He couldn’t want to stay. I hadn’t really asked him to stay for thislong. I’d been so sure that he would’ve taken off in the middle of the night, so it was with great confusion that I tried to guess why he hadn’t.
We’d had sex—twice.
He got what he’d wanted from me.
So, why would he linger?
He sat with us and ate, and Oscar prevented anything from getting awkward. First, he asked if Saul’s arm felt okay. It did. Then he said he was really brave to get us to safety. He was. And then all the way until I had to encourage him to get ready to leave for school, he asked us both questions about why the diner had been shot up and what would happen next.
Saul and I hadn’t discussed the incident last night. We’d been too busy finding solace in each other’s arms.
Neither of us dismissed Oscar’s questions, but we didn’t elaborate on any answers. It wasn’t only a matter of secrecy between us as we both had yet to share our pasts with each other. We didn’t know all the details.
“It happens,” Saul replied with a one-armed shrug, the only way he’d babied his wounded arm.
Oscar didn’t need him to explain that. He knew New York City was a place prone to crimes and violence. It was a fact of life.
“I’ll call my boss after I take you to school,” I told him. “They’ll be busy cleaning up and figuring out how to get back to business.” At least, that was my guess. I really hoped the cops wouldn’t show up and ask questions later.
With that on my mind, I watched Saul, eating without a care in the world, like we were a family and always did this.
