Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
“Hey, do you have a gym membership?” I ask, curious if I’m right.
He shakes his head as he washes a red pepper. “No, are you looking for one?”
“I was just wondering.”
I knew it. He got those big muscles the old-fashioned way. Somehow, that makes them even sexier.
We start to make some omelettes together. I chop the veggies while he cracks the eggs.
“You eat that many eggs?” I say, shocked at what he’s doing. I usually have two, maybe three, but this guy is cracking the whole carton.
“You’re working me too hard,” he says with a grin. “I need to recoup some energy.”
Before I can respond, there’s a loud knock on the front door, followed by the unmistakable sound of Arabella’s voice calling, “Cara! Are you home?”
I drop my head and groan. “It’s my neighbor,” I say as I head to the door. “She’s sweet, but she’s got the worst timing.”
I open the door and Arabella is bouncing around with nervous energy as her five-year-old son, Daniel, clutches her hand. Her dark curls are frizzier than usual, and she looks frazzled. “Cara, I’m so sorry to do this, but my babysitter canceled again. I have to be at work in thirty minutes and you know how my boss is. Can you watch Daniel? Just for a few hours? You can just plop him in front of the TV.”
I glance back at Graham who’s walking over, buttoning his shirt up that he wore last night.
Oh no! Not his shirt. Damn it.
“Oh, you have company?” Arabella says when she sees him.
I usually don’t mind babysitting Daniel. He’s a cute kid, but I doubt Graham is going to want to spend our first morning together with a cockblocking five-year-old lingering around.
“Of course, we can watch him,” Graham says with an easy smile. He crouches down to Daniel’s level. “Hey, buddy. I’m Graham. We’re making omelettes, do you want to help?”
“I don’t know how to make omelettes,” Daniel says, looking at him wearily.
“It’s easy,” Graham says. “First, we have to crack the eggs. That’s the fun part. When I make omelettes for the firemen at the station, I have to crack about thirty eggs.”
“Thirty?” Daniel says, wide-eyed. “You’re a fireman? Really?”
Graham nods. “I am.”
I glance at Arabella and she looks impressed that I bagged a fireman.
“Can we put cheese on mine?” Daniel asks as he steps into the house, looking excited about my visitor.
Graham glances up at me. “Do we have cheese?”
I can’t help but smile at him. “Yes, we have cheese.”
Arabella looks so relieved. “Thank you so much, guys. I’ll be back by lunchtime, I promise.”
She kisses Daniel on the head, waves at us, and hurries off before I can change my mind.
Daniel stares up at Graham as I close the door. His little face looks skeptical. “Are you really a fireman?”
Graham grins as he looks down at him with his hands on his hips. “I am. Chief of the fire station, actually.”
“Whoa,” Daniel breathes. “Do you drive the firetruck?”
“Sometimes,” Graham says with a shrug of those sexy shoulders. “But only if I’ve had my omelette first.”
Daniel giggles and runs into the kitchen to get started.
I grab Graham’s arm before he can follow him in. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s all good,” he says, kissing my cheek. “He looks like a cool kid and it’s nice to help your neighbors out.”
I watch him in awe as he enters the kitchen. He really is the perfect man.
“The key to a great omelette is to keep the eggshells out,” he says as he rolls his sleeves up his thick forearms. Daniel is sitting on the stool at the counter, staring up at him in wonder.
I grab my coffee and sit beside the little guy, staring at Graham in wonder too.
This is what I want. To spend every morning like this with this incredible man. If I can have that, I’ll be happy forever.
Daniel peppers Graham with questions the entire time he cooks. “How many fires have you put out? Do you have a dog at the fire station? Have you ever saved a cat from a tree?”
Graham patiently answers each question, making us both laugh and ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ with his clever answers.
“A lot of cats,” he says with a laugh. “You have to make sure you’re wearing a coat or they’ll scratch your arms up. I learned that my first week and never forgot it.”
“What other pets did you rescue?” he asks as Graham flips an omelette in the pan.
“We rescued a pet snake once.”
Daniel gasps. “A snake? No way! Were you scared?”
“Nah,” Graham says, winking at him. “It was scared of me.”
Graham is amazing with Daniel and it’s more of a turn on than I would have thought. He even gets him to eat his whole omelette without complaining, which I know Arabella will appreciate.