Page 96 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

And suddenly, her blue eyes looked misty. “I just can’t... I can’t remember the last time somebody cooked me breakfast.”

“Well, it was my pleasure.”

And he meant it. All the way down to his soul. He meant it.

She took a sip of coffee and sighed, and he watched as her eyes lingered on the Christmas tree.

“Did you do Christmas with him yet?”

She shook her head. “I thought I’d wait and see what Carter got him for Christmas. Is that petty?”

He shrugged. “Does it matter if it is?”

“For the first time in years, thanks to McCloud’s, I can actually spend big on Christmas, and Carter took him, so...”

“You’re going to make sure that you get him the best gift. Makes sense to me.”

“It isn’t honorable.”

“Who cares? I mean, seriously, who cares? You aren’t going to tell Benny that’s what you’re doing. And it isn’t the only reason you want to get him a nice present.”

She wrinkled her nose. “No. Of course not. Of course it isn’t.”

By the time breakfast was completely ready, they were both on their second cups of coffee. Sitting around the tiny table in the space between the kitchen and living room. It was a strange kind of intimacy he had never engaged in before. Mornings. He didn’t do them. Never had. And this was something even more different, because it was more than an awkward see-you-later.

More than he had imagined a morning with a woman could be. It was companionable. Which was a really strange thing. But it was... Nice.

Or maybe that was the bacon. It was tough to say.

“Do you have any plans for the rest of this...time?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “It turns out I don’t actually have a life. I mean, not outside those regular things that I do. Work. Benny. I’m either busy being an equine therapist or I’m busy being a mother. I don’t know what I’m going to do, being not busy.”

She took a sip of coffee. “We can’t just have sex,” she said.

But it was almost question.

“I mean... We could,” he said.

“I think at a certain point it becomes a chafing issue, Brody. Though I’m not an expert.”

“Chafing. Please. That feels like an alarming lack of faith in my skill level.”

“Far be it for me to impugn your masculinity. Which I am happy to report is healthy. Extremely healthy.”

“Well. Glad you realize that.”

“I had this conversation with a friend. I mean, I told her that she should cook dinner for herself. Whatever she wanted. And she had such a hard time with that, because thinking around the restrictions that had been imposed on her life by her ex-husband were difficult, even though she wasn’t with him anymore. I don’t know how to think around the restrictions that I’ve put on my own life. The things that I let myself do. The things that I let myself be...”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Sounds like life to me. In that... We all put limits on ourselves, don’t we? It’s what makes you not a giant asshole. My dad didn’t have any limits on himself as far as I can tell. He did whatever he wanted, hurt whoever he wanted... He was just... I’ve always put limits on myself. I work when I’m feeling restless and... Go out when it’s time to do that.” And he put limits on the interactions that he had with women... Except this one. Right now.

It had a time limit though. He didn’t even have to impose one. He didn’t have to worry about it. Because Benny would be back just after New Year’s, and everything would end organically. This was it. This was the chance. And yeah, maybe after that, they could have some other school breaks. But it would probably be easier to just let it go. After they had this time.

Made perfect sense to him.

“Well, since you’re skeptical about the sex-all-day thing... We could go do something.”

Also, she could do things without him. He didn’t know why he was inserting himself into this.

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