CHAPTER 32

The next morning, Niles was singing in the kitchen while cooking a lavish breakfast for the Sheffields.

"Oh, Niyals!" Fran said. "That woman of yours is doin' ya good! I didn't know you could sing like that. Did she keep ya up last night?" She winked suggestively.

He smiled and decided not to correct her and turned back to his waffles.

"Ooo, waffles with maple syrup, berries and banana slices? I think I might love this girl more than you do!" She licked her lips.

As Niles began serving the family, CC waltzed into the dining room singing her usual greetings. Niles's heart jumped. He didn't know she'd be coming over to the mansion this early. She slats keeps him guessing.

"Good morning, CC. Niles made the most brilliant waffles this morning. Would you care for some?" Maxwell offered.

"Sure! Why not!" She was already placing a napkin over her lap and salivating at the aroma whisping through the air.

Niles plated a portion and moved to her side, placing it in front of her.

She squealed when she tasted it. "Oh, this is just like the one I like to order at The Loeb Boathouse restaurant in Central Park!"

"Yes, Niles is familiar with one of the chefs!" Maxwell said.

"He gave me a few pointers," Niles confirmed. He neglected to mention that he'd actually also asked the waiters what the Bitch of Broadway liked to order when she went there.

She took another bite. "Mmm... So warm! It's goes down amazingly well when it's snowing outside!"

"It is delicious! Probably my new favourite breakfast of yours, Niles!" Maggie complimented him.

Niles smiled in humble appreciation at the kind words. "Yeah, mine too," CC said to her plate. "You can add it to the top of our list, Niles." He nodded.

"I'm glad you two seem to be getting along better, CC," Maxwell said.

"Sir, it's easy for her. Look at me? Who can't love this face?" Niles smiled sweetly. "I'm the one who should be complimented, I mean... ahem..." He gestured towards CC, contorting his features in mock disdain. CC gave him a dirty look.

"Haa! Spoke too soon!" Fran laughed and smacked Maxwell lightly on the forearm

Niles smiled and returned to the kitchen as the table began to empty after their plates had.

When he made his way back into the dining room, CC was standing at the serving table at the wall. "Looking for seconds?"

"Thirds, actually..."

He walked up to her and spooned the last of the berries onto a small waffle for her. She watched his hands as he did so.

She knew neither of them was going to mention the kiss that had happened the night before. They'd both avoid talking about the obvious tension between them because that would come too close to defining their relationship - the last thing they wanted to do.

"Oh, I have something for you!" CC said as she pushed her plate back into his grasp and rummaged through her purse. She withdrew an envelope. She had written his name across the front.

He looked at her and she took her plate back from him and returned to her seat to finish her meal. He opened the envelope to find a key and a credit card. He searched her eyes for an explanation.

"I can't have you waking me up at all hours every morning so I made you a key for you to let yourself in. The card is for groceries. You need to sign the back. It's got your name on it."

He looked back at her. "I feel like a kept man." He said. He hid his pleasure of feeling that she was giving him a little more lead into her life.

"What other kind could you be?" She laughed. "It's just a key and card. It'll make things easier for the both of us."

He nodded and stuffed the envelope into his pocket.

"I noticed you didn't barge in at 6 am this morning. What happened?"

"It was hard to get up," he said, and before she could say anything about trying Viagra for that, he added, "Someone force-fed me wine last night."

She laughed. "Well, at least now we're on the same page about how it feels."

"And yet you still do it. Masochist."

She ran her tongue over her teeth hiding a smirk and then took another bite of her waffle.

"About last night, Miss Babcock-"

Her cell phone rang suddenly. She was afraid to let it go to voicemail. She didn't want to discuss what had happened. She didn't want what was happening to end or to change. Talking about it would change things.

"Um, hold that thought." She pressed the answer button and put the phone to her ear, still looking at Niles. "This is CC..."

She looked a little embarrassed when she looked down and said in a high-pitched voice, "Oh! Damon! Nooo, I didn't forget about yoooouuu." Niles felt himself smile as he began writing something in his notebook. She often dragged out her words in a high pitch when she was lying. He knew her too well.

She listened as Damon spoke and then she lifted her eyes again to see Niles placing his notebook in front of her. He'd written: lunch preference? And underneath that, listed: lamb stew & brown basmati rice; prawn & avo salad; grilled chicken & steamed baby potatoes; the usual corpses at the graveyard.

She stifled a laugh at the last one but the grin made its way onto her face.

She grabbed the pen from him and added: Your ass on toast if you don't watch it! She looked up at him and smirked and then she moved her pen to begin circling the lamb stew option but her pen halted halfway through as she responded to Damon, now devoid of the grin. "Today? For lunch?" She asked.

"Oh. Um..." She licked her lips, imagining the lamb stew and then sighed.

"Yes, I suppose I do owe you one." She smiled, spiritless, and set the pen down.

She looked up at Niles and he shook his head. She did the same and he nodded his understanding, picked up the book and walked into the kitchen.

CC listened as Damon rattled off ideas of where they could dine and the hordes of influential people they could bump into at said locations. While he spoke, CC kept thinking about how he would bring up Niles's name in her company and suggest she shouldn't put up with the servant's comments. He had told her that if she wanted him to, he'd support her in convincing Maxwell to forbid that kind of behavior from the butler. She hadn't taken him up on that offer because, frankly, she didn't think it was that big a deal. That, and she sort of enjoyed the banter. It made her crazy but kept her sane.

When the call ended, CC entered the kitchen with her empty waffle plate and called for his attention as she placed it in the sink.

"Yes?" He said, his head in the subzero.

"You wanted to discuss last night?" She asked.

He didn't turn to face her. "Uh, no, I just... wanted to know what you'd like for lunch. Seeing as last night you had said you wouldn't want lasagna twice in a row." He hoped that would be believable enough.

He didn't want her to know just how much he hated that she was seeing someone. Damon wasn't as bad as Collin, who would say the kinds of things it had always been Niles's place to say, but he was still seeing CC. The fact that it had been lasting a while now made it almost unbearable, especially CC and Niles had been sharing almost as many touches and kisses as they had insults lately.

He didn't want to fight another man for her only to find she didn't want him at all. He wanted to find out a little more about how she felt before he took that leap.

She seemed to accept it. "Oh. Okay. So um..." She fiddled with a mug someone had left on the countertop. "It seems I'll be out all day today from lunch time... but we can do lamb stew for dinner, right?"

"Sure." He said, still not turning around. She couldn't tell what he was thinking because she couldn't hear it in his short answer.

"Right. Tonight then," she said and left the room when she got no response.

The waffles with berry compote from The Loeb Boathouse restaurant in Central Park really do exist! I was fortunate enough to spend some time in New York City and tried them on a snowy day. It was heaven!