Well, hell.From the number of times she’d said the wordfriend, he got the message loud and clear.He didn’t agree with everything she said, but he’d follow her lead.“Okay.”
“Okay.”She reached around him and picked up the plates.“It seems like Delilah’s made a full recovery.I’m glad.I don’t think it was a stomach bug or it would have lasted longer.Did she eat anything weird?Maybe it was a reaction of some sort.”She set the plates on the counter.
Apparently, they were done talking about last night—done and moving on.“I don’t think so.Maybe the hot chocolate?Usually, she doesn’t like chocolate.But Cody was having some—”
“So she wanted some, too?”Maggie started scraping plates into the trash, once more avoiding eye contact with him.
“Pretty much.”He couldn’t be upset over this.They’d been clear from the beginning about the parameters of their relationship.He might want more but that was his problem.“I really can do the dishes, Maggie.”He stood beside her, taking each rinsed plate and putting it into the dishwasher.
“Teamwork.”When she looked up at him, there was adefinite spark in her eyes.The longer their gazes held, the stronger the tension between them grew.
Braden was beyond confused.She’d just said what she wanted and he’d respect that, but…if she was going to look at him this way, it wasn’t going to be easy.Didn’t she know how tempting she was to him?That, right now, he wanted to pull her close and kiss her lips?The only thing stopping him was what she’d said to him not five minutes ago.But what she’d said didn’t match up with the fire currently blazing in her eyes or the raspy waver of her breathing.
“Ma, phone.”Cody came running into the kitchen—effectively severing the connection between him and Maggie.
Braden gripped the kitchen counter and took several deep breaths.Whatever that was, it was over.Now that it wasn’t just the two of them anymore, he needed to get his head straight.
“Here.”Cody held out the phone to Maggie.“It’s Uncle Mike.”
Braden didn’t miss the way Cody was staring back and forth between the two of them.
“Thank you, hon.”Maggie took the phone, her voice pitched higher than normal when she said, “Mike?What’s up?”
Braden had never been sized up by a nine-year-old before.There was no other way to describe what Cody was doing.He stood, his arms crossed over his chest and his brow furrowed deep, and gave Braden a full head-to-toe assessment.
“I’m fine.We’re fine.”Maggie didn’t sound fine, she sounded nervous.“Oh, stop.”There was a pause.“We stopped by Delilah’s to give her the get-well present Codygot—” She sighed heavily.“You have way too much time on your hands.”
“Braden.”Cody waved him forward before whispering, “Can we have a man-to-man talk?”
He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting but that was not it.He had to admire the boy’s confidence, though.And if Cody was coming to Braden to talk about something, he’d stop and give the boy his full attention.“Sure.”He paused.“The front porch work?”
“Yessir.”Cody nodded.
“Hold on, Mike.Cody…” Maggie stopped the two of them in their tracks.“We need to go.We promised your grandmother we’d stop by the store this morning.Remember?”
“Do we have to go now?”Cody glanced at him.“I sorta needed to talk to Braden about something.”
Braden couldn’t make out what Mike was saying, but it was so loud that Maggie held the phone away from her ear.
“For goodness’ sake, stop with the dramatics.”She shook her head.“And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t burst my eardrum, Mike.I’m hanging up now.”Maggie disconnected.“How about we plan a longer visit next time?”
“Okay.”But Cody did not look happy with this suggestion.“I’ll go say bye to Delilah.”
Maggie nodded.“I will, too.”
Braden wasn’t sure why Maggie was suddenly in such a hurry to leave, but she was.In under five minutes, she and Cody were waving goodbye out the window of their SUV and pulling away from the house.
“What did you do?”Rylee nudged him.“She practically ran out of here.”
Yeah, he’d noticed that, too.He was hoping his sisterwould have some sort of female intuition on all this.“What do you mean?”He tried to sound casual.
“I mean she was fine when we were all in the kitchen.Then you two are alone and…she’s not.”She turned to him, her brows high.“Whatdidyou do to her?”
“We talked.I didn’tdoa thing.”But he had said a few things he probably shouldn’t have.Why had he gone and brought up last night?What was he hoping would happen?That she’d throw her arms around his neck and tell him she wanted to be more than friends?
Okay, that wasexactlywhat he’d hoped would happen.
Dammit all.
