Page 27 of Back To Our Beginning

“Good to see you, Drake.” Beau smiled.

They stood there, not moving. Drake didn’t invite Beau in. He stayed in place, blocking the doorway.

“Drake, get out of the way and let Beau in,” I admonished. I sniffed the air. “Do I smell a waffle burning?”

“Nope.” Drake didn’t bother turning around.

“Waffles?” Beau said. “Guess we don’t need these,” he said, holding up a pink box that I recognized from Down Home Diner. My mouth started salivating. I hip-checked my brother and grabbed the box from Beau.

“We most certainly do need these.”

Drake looked down at me. “You don’t even know what’s in the box,” he muttered.

“It’s from Down Home,” I countered. “Come on in, Beau. Maybe if we feed the beast, he’ll be in a better mood when he starts to cross-examine you.”

“Don’t count on it,” Drake muttered.

Drake followed me into the kitchen, where I took down three plates. “Here, take these into the dining room.”

“I don’t trust you with the pastries,” my brother said.

“So, send Beau in to watch over me.” I goaded him.

He plucked the pink box off the counter and grabbed the plates out of my hand. I grabbed three glasses down from another cupboard and turned around to find Beau behind me. He was smirking. “Seems to be going well.”

I shook my head. “Just you wait,” I warned him.

“I’ve already been through a Drake Avery talk once in my life, and that was when he was a senior in high school, and I was in seventh grade. I think I can handle anything he dishes out today.”

My mouth fell open. “You never told me about that.”

“There was no point. What’s more, he did the right thing. He was worried about you. It was when he was leaving for the Navy. He wanted to make sure that I would treat you the way you deserved to be treated.”

“But we were just friends,” I protested.

“That’s not the way it looked to him. He was worried, baby. Looking back, I can’t blame him. If I had been in his shoes, I would have done the exact same thing.”

“What’s taking you two so long?” Drake bellowed from the dining room. “If you don’t come out in the next two minutes, I’m eating all the cinnamon rolls and leaving you two with just the glazed donuts.”

Beau raised his eyebrows.

“He’s serious.” I turned to the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk and a container of orange juice and pushed them at him. “Go protect our food. I’ll bring glasses and silverware.”

“Bossy.”

I smirked. “You like bossy.”

He bent close to my ear. “You can be bossy everyplace but one,” he whispered.

I frowned in confusion. “Where’s that?”

“My bed.”

He turned before he could see the blush that suffused my face. Shit, that was hot. I stood there thinking of us in bed. Him holding my hands above my head. A slow shiver worked its way down my back, spiraling low in my stomach before I could stop it.

“Where are the glasses, Mads?” Drake hollered.

I grabbed the roll of paper towels and put that under my arm, nabbed some silverware and picked up the glasses, and brought them into the dining room. The heavenly smell of sugar, cinnamon, and cream cheese pulled me into its orbit as I saw the plates on the table. The empty chair with a plate in front of it had two cinnamon rolls.