Just One Kiss (Whisper Lake #4) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,17
once more, he opened his eyes and was relieved to see light coming through the curtains. It was morning, and the wind had died down. He decided to get up and make some breakfast with what was left over in the fridge. One thing he knew about Hannah was that she was always starving in the morning.
He smiled to himself, thinking about all the times he'd picked up a muffin or a donut on his way to school and surprised her in first period math. She'd always scarfed it down as if she hadn't eaten in a week.
His smile faded as a new thought occurred to him. Maybe Hannah had been hungry because she hadn't had breakfast. He'd never dug too deep into her life when they were young. She'd rarely spoken about her mom, and when she did, it was usually dark stuff, like her time in foster care. He didn't know how to handle those conversations. He'd tried to comfort her or offer helpful suggestions, but she'd usually just apologized for bringing it up and then changed the subject, and he'd let her.
Now, he wondered how much he'd missed, how much she'd suffered through that she hadn't told him about. It had probably been far worse than he'd ever imagined. And then he'd dumped even more heartbreak on her.
He felt physically sick every time he thought about what he'd done with her. He would have thought that the guilt would fade after twelve years, but while sometimes it lived in the back of his mind, it was never completely gone. He was the kind of person who hated to make mistakes. Failure was not his thing, and that had been a big fail.
There had been extenuating circumstances, things that Hannah knew nothing about, but none of that mattered. He'd hurt her, and then he'd left town to move on, to forget about her. But he hadn't forgotten. And even though he didn't deserve it, he wanted her to forgive him.
It was her forgiveness that had become his steepest mountain to climb. He hadn't gotten too far, but he might be one step higher than he'd been yesterday.
He swung his legs off the couch and then headed into the kitchen.
Hannah was relieved to wake up to sun peeking through the windows. It felt like it would be a better day already. And the squirming little boy next to her, who greeted her with a happy smile, made her heart squeeze with instant love. "Good morning," she said. "Did you sleep well?"
He nodded. "I'm hungry."
"I'll bet you are. I always wake up hungry, too. Shall we get some breakfast?"
He was already scrambling off the other side of the bed. She got up and followed him into the living room. She thought she might find Jake asleep on the couch as it was only a little past seven, but he was at the stove and he was cooking. She wanted to feel some anger for the kiss that shouldn't have happened, but it was hard to hang on to that when he looked so ridiculously handsome in his jeans and long-sleeve sweater. He must have snuck in a shower while they were asleep as his brown hair was still damp.
"Just in time," Jake said, giving her a cheerful grin. He'd definitely never been a moody guy. He was usually happy, positive, and looking forward to something. She'd always liked that about him. When Jake was around, it felt like her world was a little bit better. But she wasn't going to tell him that.
"You're making scrambled eggs," she murmured, her stomach rumbling in appreciation.
"Courtesy of your sister. Have a seat."
"I have to go to the potty," Brett said, running toward the bathroom in the hallway.
"I guess I should have asked him about that when he first got up," she said.
Jake grinned. "Seems like he's on it. Do you want eggs? Or do I even need to ask?"
"I'd love some." She avoided the knowing smile in his eyes by moving over to the coffeemaker, which was thankfully full. She poured herself a mug and took a sip, feeling instantly more alive. "How did you sleep?"
"Not very well. How about you?" he asked, as he scrambled the eggs with a spatula.
"Better than I thought I would. My mind was racing with questions, but eventually it got tired of trying to find answers that weren't there, and I was able to sleep."