Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 93400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
After the produce, I made my way to the meat department and bought chicken for chicken salad, as well as ground beef. I could easily whip Hudson up some lasagna or taco meat for him to make taco salads.
“My God, woman, how much more stuff are you going to get?” Hudson asked as we walked down the paper product aisle.
“Just need a few more things and then we can leave.” I grabbed paper plates, napkins, toilet paper—which was an argument in itself. Hudson tried to grab the cheapest toilet paper, and I said the only toilet paper anyone should have in their home was Charmin. I won and grabbed the largest pack I could find, along with paper towels.
“Oh, they have my protein bars here!” Hudson grabbed the entire box and dumped them into the cart.
“So that’s where you get your protein from?” I asked dryly as I picked up one of the bars and read the back of it. When I glanced at him, Hudson was looking at me in a way that made my entire body tingle. Then he smiled. I loved when his dimple popped out and those dark, cognac-colored eyes sparkled.
“You’re a health nut, aren’t you, Greer?”
“No,” I quickly defended.
“Do you realize how many things you’ve taken out of my cart that I wanted to buy?”
I felt my cheeks warm. “Not many?”
He nodded, then leaned in closer. “Why, Ms. Larson, are you concerned for my health and well-being?”
I licked my suddenly dry lips, watching how his gaze flicked down to my mouth and then back up to my eyes. Lord, did I want him to kiss me. Right here in the middle of the grocery store.
“Of…of course…I mean…I don’t want you going into a sugar coma or anything.”
A slow, easy smile spread over his handsome face. “Of course not.”
I wasn’t sure how long we stood there staring at one another before a female voice from behind me cleared her throat. “Don’t mean to break this up, but I need to get that peanut butter right there.”
Both Hudson and I jumped out of the woman’s way as she gave us a smile and then walked away.
When we finally got back to the cabin and unloaded everything and put it away, I got straight to browning the hamburger and making the filling for the lasagna and the pasta sauce. Normally, I would cook the noodles first, but went with the non-cook ones since I was short on time.
“What are you doing?” Hudson hopped up and sat on the counter across from me.
“Well, first I’m going to get a lasagna going for you. I’ll cut it up into slices, so you can pop one into the oven whenever you want to eat some.”
“Where’s the microwave?”
“There isn’t one.”
He jerked his head back as a look of horror crossed his face. “That’s the only way I know how to heat anything up.”
I smirked. “Not in this house. If you want to heat something fast, you’ll need to use that.”
Following my gaze, he asked, “What is it? It looks like a mini oven.”
“It’s like a small oven, yes. You can bake, air fry, toast, heat things. It’s a godsend.”
Hudson studied it for a moment before he looked back at what I was mixing in the bowl. “Greer, you don’t have to make all this for me, you know.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “I know. I love to cook, but I never get the chance to make anything for anyone else. Besides, I’m only making a few things. Since you have bread, you can make chicken salad sandwiches.”
At that moment, his stomach growled. “Oh my gosh, we never ate dinner!” I said.
“No worries, I’ve got us covered.”
He opened the freezer and took out a frozen pizza I had forgotten he snuck into the cart. “How about I try out this fancy, oversized toaster oven.”
“It’s not a toaster oven. It can do more than toast. You can even bake a cake in it.”
“Cake?” Hudson asked, his eyes wide. I ignored the way my lower stomach tightened. Lord, the man was adorable when he was kidding around.
“Yep.”
“Shit, I didn’t buy any cake. Why didn’t I at least buy any chocolate? Oh, that’s right, you were micromanaging everything I put in my cart.”
I leaned back against the counter, my mouth dropping open in surprise. “I beg your pardon. I was doing no such thing.”
Hudson let out a bark of laughter. “I tried to add beef jerky, and you took it out.”
I huffed, took the hamburger meat off the stove, and drained the fat before pouring it into a bowl. “’Cause it’s beef jerky! Do you know how processed that stuff is? It’s terrible for you.”
“Do you know how damn good it is, Greer?” He tilted his head as if daring me to say I’d never had jerky before. The corners of his mouth twitched with a hidden smile, and I felt my heart squeeze a bit.