“Shane, make yourself at home,” she calls out to him as she bends over to pull something out of the oven. It smells delicious, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the curves of her ass to see what it is. She has on a pair of tight black leggings that hug her like an old friend and a gray cropped sweater that leaves the toned expanse of her stomach exposed. Damn, I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and watch her melt into me.

I make my way over to her just as Shane pops into the kitchen.

“I don’t think so. You cooked so put me to work. What do you need?” he asks, his eyes shooting over to me in amusement.

“Let me grab you a beer, man.” I grab a beer from the fridge and uncap it. Olivia isn’t drinking a lot of alcohol or caffeine during her recovery, so I pull out the pitcher of iced tea from the fridge, pour her a glass, and place it on the counter by her. I tug on her elbow slightly and am satisfied by the goose bumps I feel on her skin before I brush past her and slap the bottle into Shane’s hand. “Go sit the fuck down,” I whisper to him.

He looks past me to where Olivia is. “I’ve been told I can’t be helpful, beautiful, but I want you to know I do have impeccable manners.”

I’ve decided I’m going to kill him. I’ll miss my friend but he’s gotta go.

He laughs the whole way to a seat at the small dining room table.

I make my way over to the kitchen cabinets to grab a few plates while Olivia silently slices the lasagna she made.

“You know, we used to be best friends before we dated. Do you remember that?”

She’s hesitant at first, but she finally turns toward me after a moment. “Your point?”

“We didn’t use to need buffers between us to eat dinner together.”

She maintains eye contact with me as she grabs the plates out of my hand and then turns away to start scooping servings onto each one. “Yeah, well, until you learn to keep your lips to yourself, maybe we do.” She walks back over to the cabinet to grab glasses for water and I follow her.

When she turns around to face me, she jumps when she sees how close I am. Before she can skirt around me, I place my hands on the counter behind her, boxing her in.

She refuses to meet my eyes but I’m a patient man, so I wait until she finally does before I speak. “I could’ve saved you the effort, then. You were right. I stole a kiss from you and that was wrong. But I won’t be stealing another one.”

“Good.”