“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She knew him well.
Maddie made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a snort. “Bull. Your dick is doing the thinking again, and we both know it. But if you want breakfast before you leave, it will have to wait because it’s getting late.”
He didn’t have to like it, but she was right. Even if Salty ordered pizzas later, he needed something to eat before he headed out this morning. Before his hands found their way south again, Keith dropped his arms by his side and stepped away.
Although he didn’t prepare complicated meals, he could handle the basics. “I’m going to make eggs. Do you want some?”
“Nah, I’m going to have a bagel with peanut butter.”
A bagel with peanut butter was more a snack to hold you over between meals than breakfast in his book. “Can you pop one in the toaster for me too?” He’d need something to go with his eggs and bacon.
Nodding, Maddie sipped her coffee before grabbing the bagels from the breadbox.
“What are your plans for today?” Keith asked, cracking three eggs into a bowl and beating them.
Maddie shrugged and sliced an everything bagel in half. “Getting the stuff to make dinner and reading my new book.”
“Why don’t you come with me instead?” The more people helping with the move, the faster they’d get it done.
“Salty didn’t ask me to help.”
It was one of the lamest excuses he had heard in a long time. After pouring the eggs into a pan, he grabbed the bacon. He preferred breakfast sausage with his eggs, but he’d eat what Maddie had on hand.
“He would’ve asked you too if you’d been there when he brought it up. And you know it.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But I don’t want to ruin guy time with your friends.” She patted his cheek before getting out the peanut butter. “Don’t worry about me; I’ll survive while you’re off having fun.”
She made it sound like they were going to Shooter’s and playing pool.
“What time do you think you’ll be home, so I know when to have dinner ready?”
Home.He liked the sound of that. Even before Maddie gave him a key, Keith felt as if he was home whenever there.
Unlike his apartment, Maddie’s house was more than a place where she kept her clothes and slept. Her personality filled the rooms, and although it looked nothing like his parents’ house, Maddie’s place gave off the same vibe. Not that he’d ever tell the guys he worked with that because they’d laugh their asses off. However, as much as Keith loved it here, Maddie was the real reason he always felt he was home. And he’d been hoping for weeks she’d ask him to move in. He’d even held off signing a new lease agreement, whereas last year, he would’ve done it right after getting the reminder email.
“Beats me. If it helps, I can let you know when we’re heading over to the storage facility to unload the truck.”
“I thought you guys were just moving everything to Kenzie’s?”
I wish.
“Kenzie can’t fit all of Salty’s furniture, so they’re both putting some stuff in a storage unit.”
Maddie spread a thick layer of peanut butter over each half of the toasted bagel and then covered it with an equally thick layer of Nutella. “I didn’t think of it, but that makes sense. They can’t fit two houses’ worth of furniture into one.”
Rather than add the knives to the sink, Maddie removed the remaining peanut butter from one with her finger and then licked it off. Although an innocent action, it immediately brought to mind where her tongue had been last night, and it had Keith reconsidering how badly he needed breakfast before he left.
“I have an empty bedroom, but there’s still not going to be enough room for everything in your apartment, so we’ll have to do the same thing.”
The smell of bacon filled the kitchen, and his stomach sent a message to his brain, demanding food and putting his body’s other wants on hold. “I was thinking about that while I made coffee. When I’m over at the storage place, I’ll see about renting a unit.”
About an hour later, Keith walked outside and wished his motorcycle was parked in the driveway. While there was no law against using it when snow covered the ground and the temperatures plummeted to below zero, Keith never did. With winter closing in on them, today might be the last opportunity he got to use it. Unfortunately, it remained in the parking lot at his apartment complex. If his place were on the way to Salty’s, it would make sense to stop and switch vehicles, but his apartment was in the opposite direction. If the weather was similar tomorrow, he’d see if Maddie wanted to go for one last ride before he put it to bed for the winter.
By the time Keith pulled up behind Spike’s car, a rented U-Haul occupied Salty’s driveway, and his front door was open. And as he pulled the keys from the ignition, Connor parked behind him.
“Remind me again why we agreed to help with this?” Connor asked as they crossed the lawn toward the house.
“Because you’re both good friends,” Kenzie answered as she headed down the walkway carrying a cardboard box with the word “bedroom” written on the side. And rather than head for the truck or her house, she stopped alongside them.