Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(87)
He held it in his mouth like the finest wine and slowly swallowed, reveling in the sweetness. Did Lily have any clue what such blatant reminders of home…what it meant to be home, did to him? Maybe it was time to rejoin the world of the living and leave this limbo he existed in.
He took another bite and gratefully swallowed past the lump in his throat. She had to have known how this sweet gesture would affect him. He got up and padded down the hall to the open bedroom door.
Del had given her the master bedroom since the other smaller bedroom was used for storage and more often than not he slept in his recliner. There was a deep part of him that was glad she was sleeping in his bed, even if he wasn’t in it with her.
The moon shone through the old lace window curtains, illuminating the satiny skin of her shoulder. She lay diagonally in the bed, on her side, with her arms wrapped around one of the bed pillows. Her head was nestled into it with her hair mussed and lying over her cheek.
He wanted her, that was true enough, but the feeling that coursed through him went so much deeper. The lure of Clay’s earlier words pulled at him. What if a ménage wasn’t a pipedream? What if they acted on the attraction that burned between them? Could they build something strong, or were they on the precipice of destroying a long-standing friendship? He’d believed he wasn’t the sharing kind, had said as much, but now he found himself wanting to believe that he was.
Lily shifted in her sleep and rolled to her back, revealing the curve of her unfettered cleavage through the silky material of her nightgown. He wished he’d come in sooner. He could’ve thanked her for all her thoughtfulness and care. He would’ve kissed her good night and rocked her in the comfortable confines of the recliner for a while. Maybe she might not have gone to bed alone. Next time he was going to stop and think before he screwed things up right about the time they were getting good.
He left her to her dreams and returned to the recliner and his treats before falling asleep and, for once, he slept the whole night through.
Chapter Twenty-One
Del woke early and got breakfast started before Lily was even awake. He felt like he could take on the world, unable to remember the last time he’d slept the whole night through, which had to be before he returned to the States.
The bacon was sizzling in the skillet when he heard a sleepy yawn behind him. Lily, all rumpled and sleepy, was a gorgeous sight in her nightgown and long robe as she went on silent feet and looked out the back door. She was barefooted on the frigid hardwood floor, her toes scrunched up against the cold. “It rained last night.”
“Hey, Lily Bell.” He went to her, hugged her, and swung her around in his arms. “Where’s your house shoes?”
She giggled and blushed as he squeezed her to him. “I don’t have any. I usually just wear socks.”
He sat her on the chair at the table and went in the utility room and came back a second later with a pair of his socks and knelt to slide them on her feet one at a time, enjoying the view of her shapely calves as he did so.
“What’s got into you, Delbert Cook? You’re awfully chipper this morning.”
He picked up the spatula from the plate it rested on and said, “I’m celebrating. You fixed me.”
“Huh?”
He chuckled as he scraped at the skillet, loosening the bacon. “You fixed me. I haven’t slept a whole night through in months. I had some of your sweet tea and pralines and I slept like a baby. Even the rain last night didn’t wake me up.”
Lily yawned and then giggled. “So you’re thanking me for the sugar coma?”
“Yup,” he replied as he turned the bacon. “I mean it. It’s been months since I’ve slept that well.”
“Well then I’m glad to hear that it helped. Your mom made the best pralines and I was so excited when I found the recipe in her old cookbook. I thought it would make you happy.”
“You succeeded. Were you comfortable last night?”
“Very. So whatcha got going here?” she asked, gesturing to the stove.
“Just a simple breakfast. Bacon, hash browns, and scrambled eggs, if you like them that way.”
“Sure.”
“It’ll be a few minutes so you have time for a cup of coffee and a shower if you want it.”
Lily rose from the chair, and he grinned at the sight of her in his floppy socks as she reached for a mug in the cabinet and went to the coffeepot. He felt slightly goofy as he stared at her and wondered if this was what love felt like because he never wanted the morning to end, unless it was with a return to bed. She had work this morning and so did he, so he knew that couldn’t happen.