Pleasure Bound

His sandy hair was neatly combed, but a spike or two already trailed down his forehead.

“Hi. I wasn’t sure if you remembered that it’s Tuesday, with the long weekend and all. Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Oh … I didn’t know you still wanted to do that, now that my course is over and all.”

In July and August, she’d taken a sculpting class on Monday evenings which kept her out until eleven o’clock, which meant she got to bed an hour later than usual on a work night. Ty had offered to cook breakfast for her on Tuesdays to allow her to sleep an extra half hour. It had become a wonderful routine she’d looked forward to, both because of the great food—he was a sensational cook—and the great company.

“I like our Tuesday mornings. We don’t have to give it up just because your course is over.” He grinned. “And you can’t abandon me this morning. I made a variation of your favorite, eggs Benedict, but I replaced the bacon with thin slices of smoked salmon. The recipe calls it Norwegian eggs. And I made the hollandaise sauce from scratch.”

Her mouth watered. She loved anything with hollandaise sauce, and Ty’s homemade sauce was to die for.

“You had me at ‘breakfast is almost ready.’ ”

She followed him down the hall to his apartment. As always, his place was spotless. His brown leather couch and chair, solid dark oak furniture, and minimal use of bold artwork gave his apartment a masculine feel. She followed him into the dining room where the table was all set with his red and black mugs and cutlery.

A thermos jug of coffee sat on the middle of the table. He poured her a cup as she sat down. She added cream and stirred as he went into the kitchen, which was open to the dining room, and grabbed two English muffins from the toaster. He dropped them onto the two plates on the counter, then assembled the other ingredients. She watched in eager anticipation as he spooned the hollandaise sauce over the eggs, then returned to the table and placed the delectable meal in front of her.

“It looks amazing.” She cut a piece and took a bite. The textures of the creamy sauce, smooth eggs, flaky salmon, and toasty bread combined in her mouth to produce a delightful sensation.

She swallowed and smiled. “You’re an amazing cook.”

He sipped his coffee and smiled. “I aim to please.”

Soft rock music playing in the background and bright sunlight shining in the large window overlooking the city added to the pleasant ambiance.

“It looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day,” she said.

“It’s going up to seventy-eight today. Too bad the weekend’s over.” He took a sip of coffee. “Did you have a good time at the cottage?”

“Oh, yeah, it was fun.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I bet. You met someone new, I take it.”

She stopped cutting into her eggs and glanced at him. “Um, yeah, I did. He was at the next cottage. We … sort of hit it off.”

“He must be pretty special. You broke your five-date rule.”

Damn, she wished she’d never told him about that. When he’d helped her through her breakup with Everett, they’d shared tequila shots along with thoughts on romance. He had told her he hadn’t dated for a while, that he was waiting for the right woman so he could settle into a stable long-term relationship. She had told him about her five-date rule. She’d also told him that she always dated Mr.-Nice-Guy types, but there never seemed to be any passion, and she found herself longing to move on and find a guy who sent her senses—and her heart—into overdrive.

He’d patted her hand and assured her that Mr. Right was out there for her. At the comforting warmth of his touch and his intense gaze boring into her, sending her senses spiraling, she’d searched those warm brown eyes of his, overwhelmed by an almost irresistible urge to kiss him. In fact, she’d been sure he’d wanted to kiss her, too, and she’d found herself leaning in close, waiting for him to capture her lips, her eyelids almost falling shut.

But he hadn’t kissed her. He’d politely leaned back, as if not noticing her intent.

She’d almost made a total fool of herself.

“Yeah, well … sometimes rules are made to be broken. Especially when you meet a super hot guy at a friend’s cottage, with only two days to make a move.”

His eyebrows arched upward. “So you made a move on him?”

“Well, in a way. He was skinny-dipping and he … sort of caught me watching him.”

It felt weird talking with him about this, but only because of that almost kiss. Before that had happened, they’d always talked with an easygoing openness. Sometimes they’d discussed what they found attractive in the opposite sex. Like one of the times they’d gone running together and she’d pointed out the guy with the nice tight set of buns running ahead of them.

He’d point out attractive women and what he liked about them, too. She’d been surprised at first. He didn’t go for the blatantly sexy blonde who had crossed their path several times. He liked brunettes with slim figures and good muscle tone rather than bouncy and voluptuous women. In fact, women who looked a lot like Marie. She often wondered if he’d just been trying to build up her confidence. Since he’d come to know her, he’d picked up on her lack of confidence in her attractiveness.

Ty was such a nice guy. It would be just like him to do that.

“So you jumped his bones?” Ty asked, raising an eyebrow.