“Brr, is it me or is it extra cold today?” Ella said as she entered the Hall’s cheerful kitchen, a gust of cold air blowing past her to prove her point.
“The temperatures dipped way down overnight. Another day or two of this and it will be great skating weather.” Regan carried a plate of bacon into the dining room. Sarah followed her with a pitcher of orange juice. She was beginning to feel at home here on the ranch, and she enjoyed the camaraderie among the women here.
“Today’s a good day for staying indoors.” Ella hung up her jacket, washed her hands, and moved straight to the cutting board where Regan had left several oranges. She got to work slicing them up.
“Don’t forget poker and pool tonight at the Cruz ranch,” Regan said.
“What should we bring?”
“I thought I’d bake some brownies,” Sarah put in. She’d felt so included since she’d come to Chance Creek, she wanted to give back a little, and brownies were her specialty.
“We bought some wine to take along, too,” Regan said.
“Sounds good.”
“Smells good, you mean,” Dan said, coming into the kitchen. “Gotta love the breakfasts around here. No cold cereal at Crescent Hall.”
“That’s for sure,” Regan said. “We all work hard so we get to eat real food. Sit down and help yourself.”
The meal was as noisy an affair as usual as the men all filed in to join them, and Sarah enjoyed the banter as she ate her French toast and bacon. She felt Dan’s gaze on her and did her best not to catch his eye. She felt sure she’d give herself away if she did. The previous day in the bath had been… amazing. Her whole body buzzed with longing every time she allowed herself to think about it—which was about every fifteen seconds. She wanted to be with Dan again. Wanted to feel his touch.
But overnight she’d realized that was a very bad idea.
In a few days she’d return to the military and Dan would move on to start his new career. Despite all their time together they hadn’t once had a real conversation about his plans. He hadn’t asked her if she was interested in his venture, or for her advice—or for her money, as an investment. She was separate in his mind from his future business. Which meant she was probably separate from his future, period.
She was very clear that she wanted more than a fling with Dan.
“I guess you two will have to call off your competitions for the day, won’t you?” Ella asked, shaking Sarah from her reverie.
“I guess.” She caught Dan’s eye and the look he gave her told her he was thinking about their bathtub escapade too.
“Not necessarily.” He reached out and grabbed the butter dish, pulling it closer to his plate so he could butter a piece of toast.
“What are you going to bet on? Monopoly or tic-tac-toe?” Mason asked.
“I’m not into games like that.” Dan shrugged.
“We don’t have video games,” Regan said.
“You could bet on who’s better at washing dishes,” Ella suggested.
“Or mopping floors, for that matter.” Regan smiled.
“How about who’s faster at cleaning toilets?” Austin’s tone told Sarah he’d been stuck with that particular chore one too many times.
“How about who makes better brownies?” Ella said with a smile at Sarah.
“I’d win that hands down.” Her brownies were top notch.
“You gonna take that sitting down?” Austin nudged Dan.
“SEALs don’t bake.” Mason passed the plate of bacon to Regan.
“Maybe SEALs should bake once in a while,” she said.
“I’ll have you know SEALs are very good at baking.” Dan took the plate of bacon from Regan and helped himself to several pieces. “Game on, Metlin.”
“How are we going to judge the winner?” she said. “No fair getting all the men to vote for you.”
“We’ll have to have a blind taste test,” Ella said. “We can do it at Ethan and Autumn Cruz’s place tonight. People will take turns being blindfolded and eating your brownies, and they’ll say which one they like best. We’ll let Autumn tally up the votes—she doesn’t know either of you so she won’t be biased.”
“Won’t she be upset if we take over her party like that?” It sounded rude to Sarah.
“Are you kidding? She’ll love it. Those Cruz ranch people get up to weird stuff all the time. It’s practically joke central over there, from what I hear. We’ve only gotten to know them in the last few months, but I like Autumn a lot. You will, too.”
“And they’ll all like my brownies,” Dan said with satisfaction.
“Do you know how to bake brownies?” Mason asked Dan later when he caught him hiding out in the barn searching for recipes online on his phone.
“Not a clue.”
“Doesn’t look too hard.” Mason peered over his shoulder at the recipe Dan had pulled up. “I’m sure Regan has all the ingredients in her kitchen. She’s got everything in there.”
Dan just nodded. He was reading the recipe over again.
“What are you doing?”