The Perfect Fit (Riley O'Brien & Co. #2.5) Read Free Page B

each other for less than twenty-four hours. In his experience, it took a while before people developed the kind of teamwork he and Margo seemed to instinctively have.
    He handled the prep work, and she cooked. Roby helped, too, hoovering the pieces of food they accidently dropped on the floor.
    After plating both omelets, she added a couple of strips of bacon and passed him a plate and fork. He started for the dining room, but stopped when she picked up her plate and fork, leaned back against the countertop, and dug into her omelet.
    For a moment, he was nonplused, recalling innumerable times when his mother chastised him for eating while standing in the kitchen. With a shrug, he propped his ass on the edge of the counter and lifted a piece of bacon to his mouth.
    “I got an email notification that the movers will be here tomorrow morning between ten and noon,” she told him.
    “Do I need to move some things around so your stuff will fit?”
    She glanced at him, surprise etched on her face. “You don’t have to do that. This is your apartment.”
    “It’s our apartment now.”
    He didn’t mind making room for Margo’s belongings. Although he’d told her that he didn’t want a roommate, that wasn’t entirely true. Because of his time in the military, he was used to sharing his space.
    He had never lived alone, and the past two months without a roommate had been kind of lonely. While he’d made a few friends at work, he didn’t have any close friends nearby. His best friends were halfway around the world, wearing fatigues and driving Humvees, and the majority of his family lived in North Carolina.
    Margo shook her head slowly. “I left most of my stuff in Ithaca. My furniture was old and cheap, and I thought it would be smarter to just replace it than ship it across the country. I only shipped my mattress, bedroom furniture, clothes, and a few boxes. I donated the rest.”
    “Did you grow up in Reno, too?” he asked before taking a bite of omelet.
    Margo looked at him blankly. “Reno?”
    “Yeah. Your uncle is from Reno. Is that where you grew up?”
    She laughed. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Uncle Dave isn’t from Reno. If you pick nicknames based on hometowns, his should be Wyandotte.”
    “Where’s Wyandotte?”
    “Just south of Detroit. A lot of auto and steel workers live there.”
    Zeke had never been to Detroit, so he wasn’t familiar with the surrounding suburbs. “Is that where you grew up?”
    She nodded. “My mom was a third-generation auto worker. Uncle Dave didn’t want to work in the auto plants, so he joined the Army.”
    “What about your dad?”
    “He died when I was three. I don’t remember him. It was always just me and my mom.”
    “Does your mom still live in Wyandotte?”
    “No.” Her glow seemed to dim a little. “She died when I was a sophomore at Michigan State.”
    Except for her uncle Reno, Margo had no family. She was all alone.
    A fierce yet unexpected feeling of protectiveness surged through Zeke. Margo wasn’t alone anymore. She had him to watch out for her now.
    “What about you?” she asked. “Where did you grow up?”
    “Asheville, North Carolina.”
    “I’ve never been there. What’s it like?”
    “It’s pretty. It’s right in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains.” He didn’t want to talk about himself or his hometown; he was more interested in her. “How did you end up in San Francisco?”
    “I’ve always wanted to live here.”
    “Why?”
    “I usually tell people that I just had a feeling that I belong here.” A tinge of peach stained her cheeks. “But that’s not the truth. It’s because of The Wedding Planner. ”
    “What wedding planner?” He frowned in confusion, glancing at her bare ring finger. “You’re engaged?”
    She laughed lightly. “No. I don’t even have a boyfriend. I’m talking about the movie with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. It’s one of my favorites. I saw it for the first time