Free A Tempting Dare by Cathryn Fox

they connected, and his heart squeezed. Jesus, he wanted so much more from her. The toast popped, and he inched back and slapped her ass.
    “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” he said. “What was it you wanted to say?”
    She put on a smile, but he knew her well enough to know she had something on her mind. “Nothing.”
    “Is everything okay?”
    She nodded. “Work stuff.”
    “Okay, good. Grab the butter.”
    She reached into the fridge, pulled out the butter, and set it beside the plates. 
    “Knife,” he said, enjoying the warm familiarity between them.
    She opened the drawer, grabbed the knife, and buttered the toast while he flipped the eggs.
    “Plate,” he called out.
    She lifted the plates and held them out. He slid the eggs onto them.
    He winked at her. “What a team.”
    She grinned. “Its just breakfast.”
    He nodded. “You’re right.” He gestured toward the table. “Let’s eat.”
    He followed her to her small dinette table and set his plate down. “Coffee?” She nodded, and he hurried back to the kitchen to pour them each a mug. He sat across from her and dug into his eggs, starved from all the physical activity last night. 
    “How does your day look?” he asked.
    She lifted her head, a surprised look on her face.  “What?”
    “What? Has no one ever asked you how your day looked before?”
    She wiped the comer of her mouth with a napkin. “Actually, no.”
    “Assholes. Every last one of them.”
    She chuckled. “Yeah, I know. I’m like a regular old asshole magnet.”
    “Hey, I take offense to that.” He took a sip of coffee and she shrugged.
    “You shouldn’t. You’re not my boyfriend.”
    “No, I’m not. I’m just some random guy you’re sleeping with.”
    She sipped her coffee and glanced at him over the rim. “I’d hardly call you random, Sebastian. We’ve been friends forever.”
    She was right, he wasn’t some random guy, but dammit if he didn’t want to be more than her friend, her two-week lover.  “So, are you going to answer the question?”
    “Day is busy. I have to go in early, actually. I didn’t get any work done this weekend.”
    He grinned. “My fault?”
    “It takes two.”
    “Dinner tonight?”
    “After work I have to pick up my dry cleaning and a few groceries, and I won’t be home until late.”
    He stabbed his egg. “I can do all that for you.”
    Emotions played on her face, everything from confusion to appreciation. “Why would you do that?”
    “To help you out. Just leave me your dry cleaning slip and text me what you need at the store. I don’t mind.”
    “Oh, okay. If its not out of your way.” She looked at her eggs, moved them around on her plate a bit, then said, “Sebastian…”
    “Yeah?”
    “How does your day look?”
    The normalcy in this twisted his head. He’d never woken up with a girl and stayed for breakfast before,  but Christ, now that he had, he wasn’t sure how he could go back to his empty condo. Some might think his need for her was quick—his desire to make her his and only his lightning fast—but it wasn’t. What he felt for her was ten long years in the building. But how did she feel? She’d come to him for sex and agreed to a two-week fling. If she actually wanted more from him, that changed everything, right? Then again, going for what he wanted with her could mean losing everything else close to his heart.
    How could he have it all?
    “If you’re running late, I can cook dinner,” he said.
    “Since when did you start cooking?” she shot back, the smirk on her face touching him in deep places.
    “I can cook.”
    “Are you forgetting the time you nearly burned down our kitchen making mac and cheese?”
    He laughed. “I was fourteen. I’m not a kid anymore.”
    “No, you’re not. And neither am I.”
    “Yeah,” he said, his cock thickening. “You haven’t been a kid in a very long time, Kat.”
    Warmth moved into her cheeks. She had to be thinking about last night. He hoped she