style="font-size:15px;"> Aiden set two plates with napkins, coffee mugs and place settings on the breakfast bar. Minutes later, he ladled fluffy scrambled eggs onto the serving platter with strips of bacon, triangles of golden buttered toast and then filled the mugs with steaming black coffee. The bowl of grits and serving pieces were placed next to the platter.
“Do you want cream and sugar for your coffee?” he asked Taryn.
“Yes, please.” Taryn stared at the dishes Aiden had prepared quickly and with a minimum of effort. “It looks too good to eat.”
Aiden set a container of cream and the sugar bowl on the countertop and then sat next to Taryn, their shoulders mere inches apart. “You can sit and admire the food, but don’t blame me when I eat up everything before you.”
Taryn picked up a serving spoon and scooped up a serving of grits. “I did not sit here just to watch you eat.”
Aiden speared several strips of bacon with a pair of tongs. “I love breakfast.”
She gave him a sidelong glance. “Then we have something in common, because it’s my favorite meal of the day. Unfortunately, I don’t get to have a full breakfast until the weekends.”
“That will change once you move in. Most times, I use egg substitutes for omelets and frittatas because I don’t give the girls whole eggs more than twice a week.”
Taryn resisted the urge to moan when she swallowed a forkful of grits and eggs. “I’m looking forward to having you cook for me. The grits are delicious.”
Aiden leaned closer, their shoulders touching. “Do you like shrimp and grits?”
“Does a cat flick its tail?”
Throwing back his head, Aiden laughed loudly. “Should I take that as an affirmative?”
“It is,” she confirmed. “Whenever I go to Charleston, South Carolina, to visit a cousin, I order it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I had to request a last meal, then it would be shrimp and grits.”
“I had it for the first time a few years back, and I’ve tried recipe after recipe until I finally decided to use tasso instead of cured ham to give the dish a smoky taste.”
“What’s tasso?” Taryn asked.
“It’s heavily cured ham that’s smoked with a tremendous amount of seasoning. The result is dry, very salty, peppery and smoky. I only use a little bit because it can easily overwhelm a dish.”
“Do you smoke your own meats for the restaurant?”
Aiden nodded as he took a sip of coffee. “Yes. Tomorrow, after we come back from Beckley, I’ll take you to the Wolf Den and introduce you to my uncle and brother.”
Taryn concentrated on finishing the food on her plate and she thought about how her life was going to change within a matter of weeks. She would leave New York and go from teaching in a classroom filled with twenty-two third-graders to homeschooling a four-and five-year-old. Instead of getting into her car and driving fifty-five miles to a school building, she would get up and walk to her classroom.
And living under Aiden’s roof was definitely going to be an adjustment for her. The last and only man she’d lived with was James Robinson. When first introduced to each other, they had felt their meeting was predestined, the reason being that they shared the same surname. When she moved in with James, it was as a girlfriend. And once she moved in with Aiden, it would be as his daughters’ teacher.
“Leave everything,” Aiden said, as he clapped a hand on Taryn’s shoulder when she reached for the platter. “I’ll clean up later. I want to show you where you’ll set up your classroom.” His hand went from her shoulder to her arm and assisted her off the stool. “Right now the girls use the space as their playhouse. If you want, I can store their toys, dolls, bikes and dollhouse in the shed.”
Taryn didn’t know what to expect but the area down the hallway off the kitchen was much larger than she had anticipated and comparable to the average Manhattan studio apartment. It was at least five-hundred square feet. She walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows with built-in pale-gray woven blinds. They were raised, allowing her a glimpse of an expansive backyard beyond the patio and outdoor kitchen. It was the perfect place for recess, where the girls could run around.
“What do you think?”
She shivered slightly when Aiden’s breath feathered over her ear. He hadn’t made a sound when he came to stand next to her. Taryn had a mental picture where she would place desks, bookcases, worktables and set up art, science and music corners.
Taryn turned to face Aiden. “It’s perfect. Do you know the exact dimensions for this room?”
He nodded. “It’s four-hundred and seventy-five square feet. Why?”
“I don’t know if you have a set budget for furnishing the classroom, but I want to order a rug that’s no larger than eight by twelve for my reading and library corner. My students always enjoy sitting on the floor whenever we have read-aloud.”
* * *
Aiden stared at the terra-cotta floor. He had debated whether to cover the floor with indoor/outdoor carpeting once the sunroom was installed, but then he’d dismissed the idea when the floor installer suggested the stone because it was maintenance-free.
“You can buy whatever you need. Come with me and I’ll show you your bedroom.”
The salary he’d earned when employed as a private military contractor allowed him to pay off his mortgage, upgrade and enlarge the house, and put money away for his daughters’ college education. He didn’t think of himself as wealthy, but financially comfortable.
“How many bedrooms are in this house?” Taryn asked.
“Five. And that’s not counting the one in the attic that doubles as my home office. When I first bought this place, it was only twelve-hundred square feet. Before Livia was born, I had a construction crew expand it on both sides, add the sunroom, mother-in-law suite, raise the attic ceiling, finish the basement and install central air and heat. Allie and Livia play in the sunroom whenever it’s too hot or cold to play outside.”
“Did you live here during the renovations?”
“No. We stayed with my aunt and uncle. It was a little cramped but we pretended it was an extended sleepover.”
“How many bathrooms do you have?”
Aiden paused, counting. “Five. A half-bath off the kitchen, one in the basement with a vanity and commode, a full-bath in your suite, a bathroom in the attic with a commode, vanity and shower stall, and the original full-bath on the second story.”
Taryn gave him a sidelong glance. “Should I assume you spend most of your free time in the basement?”
He smiled. “How did you know?”
“If you finished your basement, then it’s obvious it would double as a man cave.”
“Dudes need a place to drink beer, watch sports and trash talk without being censored.”
“You
