Page 87 of Wild Heart
Ava wasn’t finished. “But aside from all that, I will say that I had another motive for wearing your shirt.”
Pulling back from her neck, I asked, “You had another motive?”
Making a face that indicated she was thinking, she said, “Maybe more than one motive?”
My brows shot up. “Which are?”
One half of her mouth quirked. “Well, I thought about you possibly wearing it to work today, knowing I was naked underneath it all morning long.”
Instinctively, my hands dropped to the hem of the shirt, slipped beneath it, and drifted to her ass. It was bare, forcing the look on my face to match the mischievous one on hers.
Pressing her hips forward, leaning in close, she whispered in my ear, “That’s the other reason I wore the shirt.”
“What is?”
“That it’d give you easy access to my body when I did too much to drive you wild.”
Threading my fingers through her hair, one hand still palming her ass, I tugged her head back and noted the fire blazing in her eyes. “You make it sound like I’ve got no self-control.”
She cocked a brow. “Quite the opposite. I’m just making sure I don’t ever have to return to the time when you can easily turn me down. Do you know how difficult it has been to get you to the point where you look at me like this?”
“Like what?”
Her mouth curved into a knowing smile. “Like you’re reconsidering the idea of breakfast altogether, because you think eating me might satisfy every hunger craving.”
God, I loved her.
There was so much potential to regret the way I’d handled just about everything when it came to Ava. And if I took the time to think about it, I’d certainly want to start kicking myself for making decisions that led to losing this playful side of her. The relief I felt knowing we hadn’t lost this, that I hadn’t done too much damage to make her stop and reconsider flirting. Even if we were now on this side of it where we were both a sure thing, I loved that she wanted to keep things spicy and would continue to say things that would throw me off balance.
“Thank you, Ava, for giving me this—both the breakfast and the sight of you dancing in my shirt in the kitchen.”
“I didn’t know for sure if you’d have this kind of reaction to this, but I’m glad you did,” she said, her fingers threading into my hair at the back of my head. “I still hope you’re feeling this good about what I’ve done after you’ve had breakfast this morning. I can’t promise how much of it will be edible, and you really might have to settle for eating me.”
Like that could be considered settling. I touched my lips to hers in a chaste kiss. “Regardless of the outcome, don’t doubt that I’ll always be up for having my mouth between your legs.” Her body shivered, a soft moan escaping. “I’m sure breakfast will be fine. The kitchen itself, on the other hand…”
“Yeah, I guess it is a bit chaotic in here, isn’t it?”
“It’s fine. I just… Can you work like this?” It seemed impossible. I mean, she’d lost the bacon, for crying out loud.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me. But I know it bothers you, so I can work on cleaning up before we sit down to eat.”
“It doesn’t bother me at all.”
Ava’s head jerked back, and she eyed me suspiciously. “Are you telling me the truth?”
I grinned. “If I’m honest, I think I actually love it. You’ve brought a bit of life into the space. It’s great. “
She smiled back at me. “Well, now that I’ve got your permission to make a mess everywhere, just wait until you see what I have planned for the shower this morning. In the meantime, will you help me find the bacon?”
I chuckled. This was never going to get old. “Sure.”
After digging through every surface in the kitchen and being unable to locate the bacon, I checked in the refrigerator. Ava never brought it out. I offered to make it, but she insisted she wanted to make our breakfast this morning. So, I went around picking up and putting away the things she no longer needed.
“Please don’t think I’m complaining, but I’m curious if this is a normal thing for you?” I asked. “Do you typically dance around the kitchen when you’re cooking?”
Ava took her eyes off the contents of the frying pan and looked up at me. “Nothing that would normally be tedious ever feels like work if I’m dancing and listening to music while doing it.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”