he looked just as good as he always did. Taking the mug he offered, she eyeballed his clothes and raised her brow in an unspoken question.
“I went down to the truck and raided my go bag.” When she arched her brow higher, he frowned. “You don’t keep a go bag in your car? Basic medical supplies, water, gear, nonperishables, toothbrush…no?”
“Not unless you count my stash of Swedish Berries and my Swiss Army knife as supplies,” she said, heading toward the bathroom with her coffee. “Are you ready to do some power shopping today?”
“Yeah, sure, of course.”
“Really?”
“No, not really. Can’t think of a single thing I’d hate more.”
Ellie was still laughing at him half an hour later as they headed out the door. She tried to convince him that he didn’t have to come with her, but she wasn’t going to lie; she was happy he did. If they only had a week left, she’d take as much of that week as she could, and she didn’t care if that was selfish.
And with their time as limited as it was, she was glad she’d booked herself into the fair for only the one day instead of all weekend. She asked at the desk about extending her stay in the hotel, but they were already overbooked, which Brett insisted was for the best.
He followed her to each of the appointments she’d set up with suppliers, and then around all the booths throughout the convention center, where she scooped up samples and business cards from any and all that looked even slightly interesting. She’d only ever done this with Regan, so it was both interesting and amusing to watch his reaction to different pieces; some things she really liked he was iffy on, and with some of the things she never would have looked twice at he almost knocked his head off nodding so hard—like the racks of glasses.
“Not a chance,” she said with a snort. “Women come into Pandora’s to find something that’ll make them feel sexy, and in all the years I’ve worked retail, that has never included glasses.”
“That’s only ’cause they’ve never seen you in yours.”
Ellie almost bought the whole rack right there and then.
For dinner he took her to a tiny vine-covered steak joint tucked between a parking garage and a Starbucks, and then they walked up to the Marble Slab for ice cream. They laughed, they argued, they talked about everything except the fact that he was leaving. It was always there, in everything they said, in everything they didn’t say, but Ellie wasn’t about to ruin a perfect night by mourning something they couldn’t have.
They had right then: that night, that weekend, that week. That was what mattered. And every time her eyes started to itch or the ache in her chest started to grow, he’d say something to make her laugh.
“I’ll be on nights tomorrow,” he said as he walked her into her house, “but before shift we could—”
“Sure.”
His smile started slowly. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“Does it matter?” She tipped her head a little and shrugged. “In case I didn’t make it clear last night, Ponch, I’m up for pretty much anything when it comes to you.”
That made his smile widen, but he didn’t come any closer, didn’t make any move to kiss her good night, and when she started to step toward him, he almost tripped over his own feet trying to get out the door.
“Pick you up about nine,” he said, chuckling at his own clumsiness. “Lock up behind me.”
And then she was alone again, staring at another door separating them. This time she did lock it, but only after his truck disappeared down the road.
—
Brett had to give Ellie credit: almost the whole next day she kept a smile on her face, as though she’d applied it with her lipstick. It was some kind of cruel torture being with her and knowing that he could touch her, but only so much; he could kiss her, but not like he had in the hotel room.
That had been…holy shit…that was amazing. And stupid.
Besides the risk, he’d driven himself crazy all night imagining what it would have been like to learn every curve of her body, to find out where she liked to be touched and what would make her breathe his name. But it was more than that—more than wanting to spend days buried deep inside her, easing them both up to the edge of insanity before letting them