He would have snatched her up if she didn’t have a hot pancake turner in her hand. Because she did, he settled for what he could get. “What’s for breakfast?” He was getting spoiled, and more than likely, he’d need a very long hike after he ate.
“Bacon, eggs, and double chocolate pancakes with Reese’s chocolate syrup.” She waved her pancake turner and gestured for him to sit as she loaded a plate for him.
Jason salivated. “They have double chocolate pancakes?” He hoped she wasn’t messing with him.
“It’s a recipe I got off the Internet. It’s decadent, but knowing you and chocolate, I think you’ll like it,” she teased as she set a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. “Eat these while I finish up the pancakes.”
“You’re ruining me,” he told her honestly as he dove into his bacon and eggs, famished.
He knew she wasn’t joking with him about the pancakes. He could smell the chocolate now.
“It’s nice,” she replied, her back to him at the stove. “I like to cook, but it’s more fun when I have someone to share it with.”
Her comment sucker punched him straight in the gut. He couldn’t see anything but her backside, but he could hear the vulnerability in her voice. There was no way she wanted him the same way he had to have her, but his heart soared at the thought that she wanted to be with him, liked being with him outside the bedroom. He wanted her to share every space in his life. “Baby, have all the fun you want. I’ll be here,” he replied roughly as he realized how much he wanted to be everything to her. His life had been just as lonely as hers, maybe more, and only Hope had taken away the restlessness, the emptiness that consumed him sometimes. He needed her more than he needed to take his next breath, and he knew it.
She took his empty plate and slid another one in front of him. His stomach rumbled as he eyed the stack of chocolate pancakes that dripped with chocolate syrup, topped with tiny bites of Reese’s on the top. After she set two mugs of coffee on the table, she sat across from him with a much smaller stack for herself.
“Holy Christ. Are these for real?” Jason could smell the tantalizing scent of chocolate and peanut butter, and his mouth watered.
“Let me know if you like them,” she said with a knowing smile. “It’s the first time I’ve tried these.”
Jason didn’t hesitate to pick up a fork and dig into the chocolate fantasy, and groaned as he took his first bite. “Amazing,” he said between bites, nearly inhaling the stack of pancakes.
Hope ate hers slowly, appearing to savor each bite. “Mmm…almost better than sex,” she purred as she licked her fork.
Jason glared at her. “Sweetheart, these are incredible, but nothing is better than sex with you.” Okay, she had said “almost” but he still wasn’t mollified. He paused, his fork halfway to his mouth, to watch her pink tongue lick the chocolate from the utensil.
Jesus! When did watching her lick chocolate become an erotic experience?
She swiped her tongue over the fork one more time, and closed her eyes, a blissful look on her face. “I’m done,” she declared and dropped the fork on her empty plate. “I really like the syrup.”
Jason shoved the last bite of pancakes into his mouth as he watched her. Damned if she didn’t swipe her index finger across the plate, place it in her mouth, and sucked hungrily at the chocolate-covered digit slowly.
His dick pulsated, strained against the denim that kept it confined. “Sweetheart, if you do that one more time, I’m going to give you something else to put in your mouth covered in chocolate, something a hell of a lot bigger than your finger,” he growled. His imagination ran wild.
Her eyes flew open and she gave him an innocent look. “Chocolate-covered Jason?” Her eyes grew sultry and met his with a bold look. “Yummy.”
She’d gotten him hot and bothered on purpose, and Jason loved it. The fact that she was becoming a damn seductress, so blatantly sexual with him, made him crazed. She trusted him.
Jason’s heart pounded as she rose from her chair; her hips swayed as she moved to the cupboard, lifted a bowl from the countertop and slid it onto the table as she stood right in front of him. “Leftovers,” she told him in a low, I dare you voice that had Jason on his feet in less than a second.
He yanked at her t-shirt and pulled it over her head. The garment had barely hit the ground before he divested her of the rest of her clothes, frantic to have her naked.
“Jason, I don’t think—”
“Don’t think,” he demanded as he surveyed her standing in front of him, naked. “And don’t play with a fire unless you plan on putting out the flames, woman.”