The Bookworm's Guide to Flirting (The Bookworm's Guide 3)

Was she cooking breakfast? And, more importantly, was there enough for me?

“You are up exceptionally early today,” I said, strolling into the kitchen.

“And you are exceptionally loud this morning,” Saylor responded, beating eggs together in a jug with a fork. “Pass the pepper.”

“I smell bacon.” I handed her the pepper mill.

“Your nose is on a roll.”

“Is there enough for me?”

“No. I didn’t know you were awake. You should have sent out a bat signal or something.” She looked sideways at me. “And I see you’ve misplaced your shirt again.”

My lips pulled to one side. “Figured it was unnecessary now.”

“It’s always been unnecessary.” She grabbed the tongs and pulled the bacon out of the frying pan and onto a small plate which she shoved at me. “Put that in the oven.”

“Aw, you do like me.”

She shot me a glare as she dropped more bacon in the frying pan. “I was always making you breakfast. You’ve got a nose like a bloodhound where bacon is concerned. Even if you were asleep, I knew you’d come running the second you smelled it.”

“I didn’t smell it ‘til I was already out of the door,” I admitted.

“You’re slipping.” She poured the egg mix into another frying pan. “Spatula, please.”

I grabbed a spatula from the utensil pot and handed it to her. “Is this how it’s going to be now? You tell me what to do and I do it?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. That’s how it was anyway.”

If that wasn’t the truth.

“The only difference is that now, you’re obligated to help me unpack the boxes at the store.” She flashed me a grin.

“I did that anyway.” I laughed and flipped the bacon in the pan when she pointed at it. “Why are you awake so early?”

“No idea. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t. I figured that if I couldn’t sleep, I could eat.”

“Solid thought process.”

“Okay, these eggs are done.” She turned off everything except the ring the bacon was sizzling away on, then put her oven mitt on and bent down.

I stood back and enjoyed the view of her bending over in her small pajama shorts.

“I see you’re going to openly perv on me now.”

“I did it before, you just never noticed.” I snorted. “How much did you cook? And are those sausages?”

She peered at me over her shoulder. “No, they’re the lungs of a thousand rabbits.”

“Yum.”

Saylor choked back a laugh and closed the oven, then quickly turned off the bacon. “I know you don’t like our breakfast potatoes, so I grilled you tomatoes instead,” she said as she piled food onto the plates. “Plus your slime flowers.”

“You made me mushrooms?”

“Yes. Your slime flowers.” She shuddered. “I don’t know how you eat them.”

“They’re delicious. And healthy.” I closed the space between us as she spooned the mushrooms from a bowl onto my plate. “If I knew it’d get me breakfast like this, I’d have kissed you way before now.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I kissed you.” She hung the oven mitt over the handle of the oven.

“You’re right. You did.” I interrupted her before she could pick up the plate and turned her so she was facing me. She peered up at me through her eyelashes, and I cupped her face before lowering my lips to hers to kiss her softly. “There,” I said quietly. “Now I’ve kissed you. And I know you’ve been eating bacon while you cooked.”

She grinned, taking a step back and grabbing her plate. “I ate three bits. They were originally yours.”

I laughed and joined her at the island with my own breakfast. “What are you doing today?”

“Absolutely nothing. It’s my weekend off. I’m going to lie on the sofa, read my book, and eat my weight in candy.”

“No more yoga, then.”

She glared at me. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. I have a day off, too. Do you want to do something?”

“I just told you I’m going to lie on the sofa, read my book, and eat my weight in candy. That’s doing something.”

I fought a smile. “I meant together.”

“You can buy your own candy and join me if you really want. Doubt I’ll be much company. It’s about to get to the juicy bit.”

“I meant together, Saylor. Why don’t we go for a hike up to Peak Place?”

“There’s a huge problem with that sentence.”

“Let me guess. I said the word ‘hike.’”

She nudged me. “You’re so smart.”

“All right, fine, I get it. You want to read your book.” I sighed. “Never mind.”

Saylor set down her fork and looked at me. “Hey, I’m sorry. I just—I don’t know how we do this. New relationships are hard anyway, and that’s if you have the kind of relationship where you can spend time alone and not have to be with the other person all the time.”

Ah.

“Say, you don’t have to feel bad about wanting to be on your own and have space. If you want to read your book, read your book. I just figured that since we were both off all day and that rarely happens, we could, I don’t know. Have a date. But if you want to hang out here and do nothing, I don’t mind.”