I knock on the front door and then walk inside, following my nose to the kitchen where Brax is at the stove, making what looks like pasta.
I set my bouquet in the middle of the kitchen table.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he says with a cocky grin and walks over to kiss me. “I made you dinner.”
“I’m starving,” I reply. “Thank you for the flowers. You’re full of surprises. You don’t like to cook.”
“I like you being hungry even less,” he says and tosses a strand of hot spaghetti onto the wall, nodding in satisfaction when it sticks. “It’s ready.”
“I’m sorry, who are you and what have you done with my—with Brax?”
“With your what?” he asks after turning off the burner and walking to me.
“It was a slip of the tongue.”
He raises a brow, slides his hands around my ribs to my back, and pulls me against his hard body.
“I’ll show you a slip of the tongue.”
Before I can reply, his lips are on mine, and he’s kissing me, long and deep. His tongue does, indeed, slip against mine, and those magical hands of his roam down my back to my ass.
“Is something burning?” I ask when I can catch my breath.
“Shit! The bread.” He hurries away and opens the oven, pulling out a pan of garlic bread with a grin. “Just caught it. A little toasty but still edible.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Sit,” he instructs and points to a chair at the nearby table. “I’ve got this. It’s easy.”
“You don’t need to have dinner for breakfast.”
“I stayed up all night, so this is dinner for me, too.”
I blink at him as he plates our food and carries it over to the table, setting a plate in front of me.
“This smells amazing.”
“Bon appétit,” he says with a wink.
“You must be feeling better.”
“Yeah, I definitely turned the corner. Bruises are still dark and pretty nasty, but it looks worse than it feels now.”
“Good,” I reply with a nod and take a bite of the bread. “Oh, God, this is delicious. Have you been hiding cooking skills from me all these years?”
“No.” He laughs and takes a bite of his own bread. “I actually got the bread and sauce from that Italian place we like downtown. I only made the pasta. Even I can’t screw that up.”
“You already got a new car?”
He nods and slurps up some spaghetti. “Same as the last one. I know it looks like a soccer mom car, but it carries all my sound equipment. And it’s cool.”
“I like it.”
“I got a call today from the other guy’s family.” Brax stops eating and takes a drink of water. “They wanted to apologize and asked if I planned to sue them.”
I reach for his hand. “What did you tell them?”
“Fuck, no. I’m not suing them. They’re going through enough as it is. My insurance will take care of the car and the medical bills. I don’t need or want anything from them.”
“Wow. A lot of people would be looking for compensation.”
“You should have heard her,” he says, shaking his head. “It was his wife. She just retired and lost her husband. She has enough on her plate. I have some bumps and bruises. I’ll be okay.”
“And, knowing you, you asked her if there was anything you could do for her.”
He shovels some more food into his mouth and shrugs. “It’s no big deal to help her out now and then if she needs it. They didn’t have any kids.”
I stand and cross to him, kissing his forehead. “You’re a good man, Braxton Adler.”
“I like it when you use my full name when it’s because you’re happy with me.”
I grin and kiss him again, then return to my seat.
“My mom asked about you when I talked to her,” he continues.
“You’re just full of news today.” I reach for more bread. “How is your mom?”
“She’s taken up knitting. I told her that she could knit me scarves, but I won’t wear them on stage.”
“You could start a new fad.”
“No, not gonna happen. She’s also happy that I’m seeing you again. And she wants us to come over sometime to say hi.”
“Okay.” I finish my food and pick up the plate to set it in the sink. “I need a shower. I don’t have any clean clothes with me because I used my spare car stash the other day when I was here with you and haven’t replaced them.”
“I’m sure I have something you can sleep in.”
“Are you sure you want to sleep all day with me?”
“Honey, there’s nothing in the world I want more right now than to get you in my fucking bed.”
“You really are feeling better.”
“Come on. I’ll show you just how good I feel.”
CHAPTER 6
~JOSIE~
“I thought about offering to wash your back,” Brax says as I walk into the bedroom after my shower. I’m wearing one of his old Metallica tees and nothing else as I slip between the crisp sheets in his bed. “But by the time I changed the sheets, you were pretty much done.”