Page 21 of Before the Fall
After pouring our drinks and returning the bottles to the fridge, I start back to the patio, but Ivy stops me. It takes everything inside to not ask why she’s cooking in a bikini, but I choose to be nice and decide not to.
“You’re very lucky to have a man like Jaxon. I can tell he’s crazy about you.”
Something in the way she says that hits my ears as part jealousy and part kindness, and I don’t know which to pay attention to more. Her expression appears to say she’s flattering me, so I nod and smile.
“Oh, I know. The French toast smells incredible. I can’t wait to taste it.”
With that, I head back out to the patio where he’s enjoying soaking in the rays on this gorgeous day. I set his glass of soda in front of him and sit down.
“You know, Ivy thinks I’m lucky to have a guy like you.”
He doesn’t react for a long moment, but then he sits up and turns his chair toward the table and me. As he grabs his glass to take a sip of soda, he gives me a strange look.
“Okay. Not that she’s wrong, but she knows this how?” he asks, arching a single dark eyebrow.
“She said she can tell you’re crazy about me.”
He’s quiet for a few seconds after taking a drink of his soda, but then a smile lifts the corners of his mouth and I know he’s not upset. “I don’t know how. Maybe we give off a lovey-dovey vibe? Well, me. You’ve been pretty grim around her the whole time.”
For a bad man, he really can be quite sweet at times.
“I had my reasons, but I swear I was nice when we talked inside now.”
Jaxon shrugs and lifts my hand from the table to press a kiss onto my fingers. “I don’t care if you’re terrible to her. She’s no one to me. Not that I think you could be. You don’t have bitch in you, Tia.”
That makes me laugh, even though he’s not really wrong. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not. I can be pretty snarky when I want to.”
Leveling his disbelieving gaze on my face, he shakes his head. “Baby, what you think is snarky and bitchy is nothing compared to some people. It’s okay, though. You’re nice. Nothing wrong with that.”
I squeeze his finger tightly. “You make nice sound like a disease.”
“Not at all,” he answers with a sexy grin. “I think nice is hot.”
We sit enjoying the warmth of the sun for a few minutes, but Ivy never comes with our food. The French toast should have been done by now. What is she doing in there?
Probably dancing around the kitchen in her bikini like some adolescent girl in a fucking rom-com.
“What’s holding up the French toast?” I ask him after a while.
He looks toward the glass doors leading to the kitchen and shakes his head. “I don’t know. How were things coming when you went in for the drinks?”
“It was almost done. I think your uncle may have been more impressed with her itty bitty bikini than her talent as a chef.”
Jaxon throws his head back and laughs. “You don’t know Ryker. Since he met Kaia, he doesn’t even notice other women or their bikinis. I’ll go in and check on our food. Maybe she’s doing something special to the toast.”
I watch him as he walks inside, and I wonder what the hell kind of special things can be done to French toast. You throw some vanilla extract into the egg and milk mixture, dip the bread, and cook it. There really isn’t more to it than that.
It’s not exactly rocket science.
A strange noise inside the house makes my ears perk up. Something about that chef rubs me the wrong way. I’m not sure I’m crazy about her being alone with Jaxon, so maybe I’ll just head in and see what’s up.
No, I shouldn’t be like that. He loves me like I love him. There’s no need to be jealous.
CHAPTER TEN
Jaxon
With each step I take, I get more aggravated that this person whose only job it is to cook doesn’t seem to be doing that. If the food was nearly done when Tia was inside talking to Ivy a few minutes ago, where the hell is it? I swear to God if I walk in there to find the French toast burning on the stove, I’m going to raise holy hell.