She grins and leans toward me. “Are you trying to win brownie points with me or something?”
I shrug. “Maybe.”
“What was on Star’s menu this morning?” She takes the box from me and opens it. “Did you know she was going to have the chocolate peanut butter this morning? These are my kryptonite, Jake. You practically have to be at the door at six a.m. to get them.”
“Lilly’s going to try out for Charlotte’s Web,” I say, as if that has anything to do with me standing at Star’s door before she turned on her open sign. I’d happily do backflips to feed Ava her favorite foods.
“That’s great news!” She lifts a chocolate-frosted donut from the box and takes a bite. She closes her eyes and lets out a long, low moan that makes blood rush to my dick.
Shit. Ava in bed, moaning. I don’t know if bringing her breakfast in here was the dumbest idea ever or a stroke of genius.
Star works voodoo with her food. It’s all delicious, but once a week she makes donuts that make all other donuts seem boring. This one, Ava’s favorite, has chocolate ganache frosting and peanut butter cream filling inside a flaky dough that’s closer to croissant than yeast donut. The only thing that’s more enjoyable than having one myself is watching Ava eat one.
Her tongue darts out to catch the spot of peanut butter on her lip. She only gets half of it, and I swallow hard to keep my hands at my sides.
“She’ll shine on stage.”
It takes me a minute to remember what we’re talking about. Lilly. My niece. Children’s theater. My excuse for bringing Ava donuts in bed.
“Is Ethan okay with it?”
I nod, trying and failing to keep my gaze off her mouth. “She wanted to know if you’d listen to her audition before the big day.”
She smacks my arm. “Of course I will! You didn’t have to bribe me for that.”
“You have . . .” Oh, hell. Reaching forward, I wipe the spot of peanut butter cream from her lip, and she stills, her eyes meeting mine.
I’ve spent a lot of the last seven years wondering how it could be possible to feel something so intensely for a woman who doesn’t feel anything beyond friendship for me, but every once in a while, like this moment, with my thumb on her lip and her eyes on mine, I know that Ava has to feel something. She just doesn’t want to admit it to herself.
If it weren’t for moments like these, maybe I would have made myself move on long ago. Then again, I didn’t move on when she married someone else, so the chances of me successfully letting her go when she’s single are slim to none.
I pull my hand away before the heat in her gaze can morph into anxiety over what she’s feeling.
She turns her eyes down to the donut in her hand.
“Lilly wants to join the swim team too,” I say, brushing past the moment as if it wasn’t even there. “She’s six years old, and I think her social calendar is busier than mine.”
Ava grins. “She’s an amazing kid.”
I nod. “Some days I think she’s handling Mom’s cancer better than the rest of us.”
Ava looks up at me through her dark lashes, her expression soft. “She might be. Kids can be more resilient than adults.”
“She certainly is,” I whisper, thinking of my niece when she was three and holding her dad’s hand as he watched them lower his wife’s casket into the ground. “She hasn’t had it easy.” I hear footsteps in the hall and turn to the door.
“What the hell, Jake?” Colton asks. “Would you mind getting the fuck out of my sister’s bed?”
“Colton,” Ava says with her teacher voice—equal parts patience and authority. “Jake brought me breakfast.”
“He shouldn’t be in your bedroom, and certainly not in your bed.” His chest is all puffed, his dark eyes full of fury. Someone’s in a mood and looking for a fight.
He’s probably right, and not because anything inappropriate is happening but because it puts ideas in my head. But if it puts ideas in her head too, this slow death by lust might be worth it.
“Good morning, Colt.” I stand. “You want a donut? They’re from Ooh La La!”
Some of his bluster falls away.
“Chocolate peanut butter,” Ava says, hoisting the box in the air like an offering.