would give off light, and they wanted Kurt to think they were upstairs having wild monkey sex. Instead, she rummaged around in the cupboard until she found what would have to suffice for dinner: crackers and tuna.
They ate it sitting cross-legged on the floor in the upstairs hallway while they played a couple of rounds of Scrabble under the 25-watt night-light she always kept plugged in near the top of the stairs. By the time she’d beaten him for the second time, they’d put a pretty good dent in the Scotch and while neither of them were drunk, Brett was in no condition to drive, either, so she’d set him up in the spare room and kissed him good night. On the cheek.
Lord have mercy, she wouldn’t have been able to deal with another kiss like that first one. That was…Ellie blew out a long breath…oy…and then he’d stood there smiling at her like…like that. Her frazzled brain still hadn’t recovered. Neither had her ovaries.
What the hell? Between the kiss and that smile of his, he was making it really hard for her to remember that he was a cop. Not only was he a cop, but he was only doing his job, and that kiss was part of it.
Damn.
Any other morning she would have headed straight downstairs for coffee before doing anything else, but she couldn’t do that today. It was stupid, she knew, but ever since the night the cops had shown up with their warrant, catching her unawares and disheveled in her pajamas, she’d sworn she would never allow herself to appear so vulnerable and exposed again. Clothes and makeup had become her armor and she never let anyone see her otherwise.
In her pajamas and glasses, she was still that naïve woman whose life had spun out of control so fast, but when she was dressed, with her makeup on and her contacts in, she was stronger, smarter, and in complete control.
And this morning, she was going to need all the help she could get to hide how twitchy she felt with him there. Especially after she caught sight of him in her kitchen.
With his crumpled golf shirt untucked and socks dangling out of the back pocket of his jeans, all she could think was that life was brutally unfair. She could spend hours up in that bathroom employing every Revlon product she had at her disposal and she’d still never look as good as he did straight out of bed.
“Morning.”
“Hey.” It wasn’t a full-on smile, but it was enough to make her wish she hadn’t all but dared him yesterday to show it off more. And it was more than enough to leave her poor libido even more dazed and confused than it felt after the incident out in the driveway last night.
That’s what she was choosing to call it now—the incident. Made it easier to dismiss.
“I gotta go,” he said, shoving his bare feet into his runners. “Coffee’s made and I had a look around outside—nothing seems out of place, so I don’t think Kurt came any closer.”
“Can I make you breakfast?” She pointed toward the fridge but waited until he moved out of the way before going any closer.
“No thanks, I gotta get home and clean up before class.”
“Did you at least have some coffee? No? Here, take one of these. Costco sells the best travel mugs ever. Double-double, right? Or was that just because the coffee was so bad? I’ve got honey if you want….”
She sounded like an idiot rambling on that fast, especially when he just stood there staring at her.
“You okay?”
“Course.”
As soon as the word left her lips, she stopped, set the milk down, and shook her head. She didn’t lie; that wasn’t who she was. And even though she was going to have to do a lot of lying in the next little while, she’d only do it when she absolutely had to, and now wasn’t one of those times. Sure, it was going to mean eating a little crow for breakfast, but that seemed to be on her menu a lot lately.
“No, actually, I’m a little…I don’t even know. This is just really weird. I mean, it’s you and you’re a cop, and you’re here, in my house, and then that incident out there last night…and then you slept over…and ohmygod, Regan’s gonna shit a brick when she finds out….”
She didn’t realize she’d been waving the open mug around until Brett tugged it from her hand, screwed the lid