Too late, she heard the door open behind her as she slid her arms in the tank and pulled it up over her head. It had barely settled on her when two arms came around her pulling her back against a warm chest. She let out a little yelp of surprise.
Crash’s mouth came to her ear and nipped at her earlobe. “Hungry?”
Her hands settled over his forearms as she felt him waiting on her answer. “I…I suppose. But what I’d really like is coffee.”
“Deal. I’ll make you coffee. You scramble some eggs.”
She bit her lip. “I suppose I could handle that.”
“Bacon, too,” he pushed for more.
She grinned. “Bacon, too. But I have to warn you, you’re taking a risk on how it’ll come out.”
He laughed, released her and smacked her ass. “I’ll take my chances.” He moved off toward the kitchen. “Come on, Princess. Follow me to caffeine nirvana.”
As he knew it would, the smell of bacon filling the loft worked like an alarm clock. Rolling over, Shane ran a hand through his bed head. “It smells like bacon heaven in here.”
Crash looked over from where he was doing pull ups on the chin-up bar in the corner. He grunted, “Bout time you woke up.”
Shane squinted against the morning light, following the sound of Crash’s voice. He stood up, his sweatpants sitting low on his hips. Scratching his bare chest, he yawned. Then he strolled over toward Crash. “Morning.”
Crash dropped to his bare feet on the polished concrete floor. He grinned at Shane, gesturing to the bar. “Have at it.”
Shane stepped over to the bar and jumped up, grabbing on. He began doing chin-ups in rapid succession. Crash grinned and moved over to the kitchen to refill his coffee mug. Shannon was standing at the stove finishing the eggs and getting more frazzled by the minute. Crash could tell she was worried she was making a mess of them. He moved behind her and put his arms around her. His mouth at her ear. “Baby, calm down. Take a deep breath. It’s not a big deal. Shh.”
He felt her take a deep breath, and she replied, “You’re right.” He grinned, and reaching around her, he snatched a piece of crisp bacon off the platter she had on the counter next to her.
“Hey! Wait for the eggs.”
He grinned as he chewed, then winked at her. Turning, Crash strolled over to the couch and kicked it. “Get up, sleepyhead,” he said to Jake, who squinted one eye open and looked up at him. He moaned and rolled to his feet, shoving the blanket aside. He yawned and rubbed both eyes with the heels of his hand. When he was done, the smell of bacon finally hit him.
Crash stood above him, grinning and munching on his strip of bacon. “Hungry?”
“If there’s bacon, hell yeah.”
Once they’d all filled their bellies with breakfast, and he and the guys had all had showers, Crash took them up on the roof with a second cup of coffee, giving Shannon time to use the bathroom and take a shower.
After about an hour, Crash left the boys and walked back inside to get a warm up on his coffee. Shannon was sitting on the sectional flipping through the standard channels that he got through the antenna on the roof. She stopped on an old black and white movie. She hadn’t realized he was behind her yet, and he heard her whisper, “God, I’ve always loved this movie.”
Crash raised his mug to his lips, sipping the last of his coffee. His eyes went to the screen over the rim. It was an old Clark Gable film called, It Happened One Nig
ht. The scene on the screen was the famous one where Gable is unsuccessfully trying to flag them down a ride on a country road. Crash watched the screen as Claudette Colbert walked over to the road and hiked her skirt up to her thigh, immediately getting a car to stop.
He grinned, lowering his mug and teased, “Oh, look, another spoiled little rich girl who runs away from home.”
Shannon whirled, startled to realize he was there. Then his comment referencing the plot of the movie sunk in, and her eyes narrowed. “Why do you have to be such an ass?”
“Hit a nerve, did I?”
The door to the rooftop opened, and Jake and Shane came in, stopping when they sensed the tension in the room. Crash glanced at the pair, noting they were wisely going to stay out of this.
Shannon flicked the television off and threw the remote down, standing to face Crash and recapturing his focus. “It was the only thing on. You don’t have cable,” she needlessly pointed out to him, bitchily he noted, her hands going to her hips.
“Nope,” he agreed unabashedly, moving into the kitchen.
“How can you not have cable?” she demanded incredulously, following him.
He dumped the dregs of his coffee and set the mug on the counter. Then he turned to face her, his brows raised and repeated her question back to her. “How can I not have cable?”