She put a hand on his bare chest, smiled. “What are you up to?”

“Trying to get lucky.” The grin turned wicked, and oh, things in her just melted. “But I know the true way to said luck is through your stomach. Which is why I’ve been slaving in the kitchen since I woke up.”

Instead of booking a hotel, the two of them had taken a chance and rented a small home on the outskirts of the city for the first week of their trip. They’d also picked up a few groceries from a local market.

Wanting to just nuzzle into him, she poked him in the stomach instead, her nerves getting the better of her. “Shoo. Off you go, back to the grindstone. I want my meal hot.”

“Don’t take too long.” Then he picked up the coffee and was gone.

She waited until he was out of sight to slump back on the bed. She’d forgotten how lethal Danny was to her system. Especially half-naked and with that heartbreaker grin out in full force.

Her stomach grumbled again.

“Okay, okay.” She got moving. The air was redolent with delicious smells by the time she made it to the kitchen after a lightning-fast shower. “You made pancakes?” Her stomach danced.

“Buckwheat,” Danny told her from his position at the stove. He’d added a plain linen apron to his outfit.

It just upped his hotness factor by a zillion.

“Couldn’t find maple syrup in the shop yesterday,” he added as he returned the fry pan to the stove after flipping the pancakes onto a plate, “but I did snag fresh preserves and a bottle of cream. I’ve whipped it up, chopped up a bit of fruit to go with it, and ta-da.” He came to the table with a pan on which sat caramelized bananas.

“You’re gonna get so lucky,” Catie said and grabbed a seat. “Lucky out the wazoo.”

Laughing, Danny put down the bananas, then undid the apron while Catie began to dish up plates for both of them.

“Can you put a spoonful of sugar in my coffee?” she asked. “Don’t tell my coach.”

“It’s our secret.” Seated across from her, he doctored her coffee as she’d requested.

The small table was drenched in sunshine, and it struck her then how very good he looked in the sun. A young god in the prime of his life. And the emotion in his beautiful eyes when he glanced up and caught her staring…

Unable to breathe, she looked away, began to fuss with her pancakes. Then the beauty of what he’d created hit her, and she wasn’t fussing anymore. She was biting off pieces and eating.

The sounds she made were more moans than words.

Danny’s smile grew darker, more intense, but he didn’t interrupt her food lovefest until after she was done.