d I don’t think you’re adorable. I think you’re a pain in the—”
“Language, Dad.” Jess tipped another steak into the pan, and Ash wagged his tail, his eyes fixed hopefully on her.
A delicious smell of cooking wafted through the kitchen, and this time when Jess turned the steak, she did it with exaggerated caution.
Ash whined and settled down on the floor, hoping for another culinary error in his favor. Luna, the better behaved of the two dogs, lay quietly under the table watching Jess.
Tyler shared salad between the plates and pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge. “Why have you never cooked for me before?”
“Because I’m still learning. Élise has been teaching me at Grandma’s. I wanted to surprise you.” Jess added steaks and a baked potato to the plates and put them on the table.
“It’s a surprise.” Tyler handed Brenna a beer. “A good one. Does this mean you’re also going to stop dropping your clothes around the house and do the laundry?”
Brenna twisted the cap off the beer. She’d been in this kitchen more times than she could count. So why did everything suddenly feel different? Her response wasn’t logical. “You shouldn’t have cooked for him, Jess. You’re reinforcing gender stereotypes.”
“I’m not. I’m making sure I eat well.” Jess sat down and picked up her knife and fork. “It’s his turn to cook tomorrow. Dad, you can’t put ketchup on that delicious steak. It will ruin the flavor.”
Ignoring her, Tyler added a huge dollop of ketchup to his plate. “If tomorrow is my night then we’re having takeout food.”
Jess glanced at Brenna. “What’s your favorite?”
“Mexican.” Tyler sliced into his steak. “Her favorite is Mexican.”
Jess gave him a long look. “You guys know everything about each other.”
“Not everything.” Brenna focused on her plate. The things she didn’t know about Tyler were the little things. Personal things. Did he sleep naked?
“You can cook Mexican from scratch, Dad. All you need is beans, tortillas—I don’t know, but I bet it’s not that hard. I’ll text Élise and ask her, and then we can go shopping tomorrow.” Jess fed a slice of steak to Luna under the table. “Brenna will be impressed.”
“Or she might be poisoned. I’m not trying to impress Brenna. She’s known me forever so she’s past being impressed. This steak is good. For this, I’ll tidy the house, but you can do your own laundry. And stop feeding that dog under the table. So how’s your room, Bren? Great view of the forest?”
He knew more about her than anyone, and yet he didn’t know the most important thing of all. The way she felt about him. “It’s beautiful, thank you, and I love being able to see the lake.”
He paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. “You can see the lake?”
“Yes. Jess put me in the room next to yours.” And she was wondering how she was going to sleep at night, knowing that all that separated them was a thin wall.
Tyler put his fork down slowly. “Next to mine?”
“Is that a problem?” Brenna tried to sound casual. “I can easily move if you’d rather I used a different room.”
His gaze locked on hers, blue and disturbingly intense. “No.” His voice was slightly thickened. “It’s a nice room.” His gaze flickered to Jess but she was absorbed in her food.
“Sorry,” she said brightly. “My mistake. I thought you said the front room. No point in moving now. It makes no difference, and Brenna liked the room. There’s more steak if anyone is still hungry.”
Hungry?
Brenna could barely force food down her throat.
She never would have thought being with Tyler could have felt this uncomfortable.
CHAPTER SEVEN
OVER IN THE main house that had been home to the O’Neils for four generations, Walter O’Neil settled himself at the scrubbed kitchen table and watched as Alice, his wife of sixty years, helped Elizabeth arrange cookie dough on large baking sheets.
“So Brenna has moved in with Tyler.”
“She needed somewhere to go.” Elizabeth removed two trays of cinnamon stars from the oven, replacing them with the next batch. “We’re so lucky Tyler has room.”