32
Zoë slid full plates onto the breakfast bar just as Ethan entered the room, smiling inwardly at her impeccable timing, serving his meal just when he’d finished his morning chores. He appreciatively eyed the sundress she’d donned after the shower she’d taken when he left to tend to the livestock. After washing his hands, he perched on a stool and then, grabbing her by the waist pulled her into his lap. Straddling his lap, she kissed his nose affectionately, drawing a chuckle from him.
“How am I supposed to eat in this position?” she complained.
“This is the best seat in the house.”
“Regardless, my breakfast is behind me.”
“I’ll feed you,” he offered.
“No way. I detest being fed like a baby.”
“Then I won’t feed you like one,” he countered.
Wrapping an arm around her, he leaned forward, and then straightened up, a breakfast sausage pinched between the thumb and index finger of his free hand. He held it above her lips and she made an exaggerated motion of wrapping her lips around it, covering his finger and thumb as well. She sucked as she moved her mouth back down to the sausage.
“That’s hot,” he said.
She viciously bit off the end of the sausage.
“That wasn’t,” he added.
Grinning, she then sucked the rest of the sausage from his grip and proceeded to chew and swallow it as sexily as she could. Rubbing against the growing bulge in his lap, she kissed him deeply, and then straightened up.
“Seriously, I’m hungry.”
When she made to move off him, he grasped her hips tightly, then reached behind her. Bringing her plate around her, he smiled when she took it from him. She began to eat the pancakes she’d prepared and then stopped to address him.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I’m waiting for you to feed me.” When she rolled her eyes, he chuckled again. As she resumed eating, he raised a brow. “I was thinking about taking you out to dinner tonight. There’s a nice Italian restaurant in Lethbridge I think you’d enjoy.”
Stifling her near-panic at the thought of going to a more populated area, she shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. “There’s no need for you to drive that far. I enjoy your cooking so just make dinner, lazy.”
“Lazy?” he opened his mouth in mock-indignation. “You’re calling me lazy?”
She laughed softly. “Okay, you’re not lazy, not by a long shot. Seriously though, why drive all that way? We could just eat dinner at the diner, or at The Scruffy Goose.”
“The diner’s only open for breakfast and lunch, and then on Saturday night for ice cream. We could go to The Goose though.”
“All right, then let’s do that.” After eating another large forkful of the extremely fluffy pancakes she’d made, she tilted her head. “Speaking of The Goose, I was thinking it would nice if we gathered a bigger group of people to go there next Saturday.”
“Okay, that sounds good.”
They remained silent as she finished her breakfast. He took her plate from her and then handed her his. She cut a forkful from the stack of pancakes, held it out to him, and then waited for him to chew and swallow his mouthful before continuing their conversation.
“So, who are you going to invite?”
“Well, Rory and Boone, of course. I’m sure Skip will want to go again, Murray and Jeff probably, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure Murray behaves this time. The pancakes are awesome, by the way.”
“Thanks. Who else?”
“You do want a crowd there, don’t you?”
“Yes, I want to meet your friends. I already invited Zandra, but I don’t know anyone else. Myles, kinda, but given Zandra’s reaction to him—”
“It’s best we leave him out,” he finished and then nodded. “Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Okay, so, I could invite the Carsons, or maybe Sawyer.”
“How about Cole?”
He raised a brow. “Why Cole?”
“Oh my God, are you jealous?”
“Of Cole? Hardly.”
“Only of Boone then,” she teased.
“I’m wary of Boone, not jealous, and apparently I have to keep an eye on him, at least where you’re concerned.”
“Nonsense. I only have eyes for you.”
He looked to the plate and then to her, silently asking for another mouthful. She cut one and then held it up and away from him.
“So, Cole?”
“Are you withholding food from me until I agree to invite Cole?”
“Depends. Are you going to invite him?”
“Why Cole?” he asked again.
“Zandra has a crush on him.”
“No shit. Those two can’t keep their eyes off one another.”
She fed him the forkful and waited while he chewed. “So, if you’ve noticed Cole checking out Zandra, is it safe to assume he’s interested in her?” When he crinkled his brow, she shrugged. “Zandra mentioned he might be seeing Faye. Is he?”
He grinned. “Are you honing in on town gossip?”
“Hardly. I’m just looking out for my girl. So, is he dating Faye?”
“I have no idea.”
Cutting off another helping of pancakes, she held the forkful away from him again. “You could ask him, when you invite him to The Goose.”
“Are we back in middle school? No way am I asking him that. If he’s dating Faye, then he’s dating Faye. If he isn’t, and he’s interested in Zandra, then he can ask her out. He’s a big boy, I’m sure he doesn’t need my help arranging dates.”
Agreeing that his questioning Cole about his love life would be juvenile, she fed him the pancakes. Spearing another sausage, she again held it up. He sighed deeply.
“Now what?”
“Are you going to ask Cole to come to The Goose?”
“Fine, I will, but only because I’m hungry. For the record, I think you playing matchmaker is a bad idea.”
She allowed him to have the sausage, even if she didn’t agree with him. The next generous heaping forkful of pancakes had syrup running down his chin. Ducking her head forward, she licked his chin clean, feeling his slight shiver under her tongue. Straightening up again, she fed him the rest of his breakfast. After he placed the empty plate on the breakfast bar, she ground against his erection.
“I still hated being fed, but I liked feeding you,” she informed him.
“Me too, even if eating with a hard-on was kinda weird.”
“Well, you wanted to be fed.”
“I did.” He kissed her deeply, bucking his hips up as he did. Pulling back, he flashed his crooked smile. “What are we going to do for the rest of the morning?”
“Well, I have laundry to do.”
“Do it in the afternoon.”
His intense and decidedly hungry look had her rubbing against him. “You don’t have anything to do this morning?”
“Nope. I’m going to inspect the fences with Skip this afternoon, but until then, I’m all yours.”
“Well then, in that case, this might be a good time to tell you I’m not wearing panties.”
“Are you just teasing me again?” he asked cautiously.
Reaching behind her, she shifted the plates to one side, and then, propping her hands on the breakfast bar, pulled herself up until she sat on its edge. Ever so slowly, she raised the skirt of her dress until she revealed she wasn’t teasing him at all. He licked his lips.
“Damn, turns out I’m still hungry.”
The deep rasp he employed had her instantly wet. As she slowly reclined back, she thought Sunday mornings might just become her favourite.