smile spread across her face. She placed the bowl in front of his seat before she sat down. “That’s yours. Larger portion.”
Well shit, wasn’t that interesting. His little detective wasn’t used to common kindnesses. What kind of bastard had her ex been? He waited until she sat and helped scoot her chair in. He grabbed her bowl from the counter and placed it in front of her. He’d watched his father treat his mother like a queen his entire life. Hell, Colm McBride was the exact same way with Sean’s mom. They treated their wives like precious gifts.
He sat down and glanced at the blush that spread over Kallie’s cheeks. She was fascinating. A ball-breaker, tough-as-nails homicide detective with a laser sharp mind. When she laughed it was with her entire body, her amusement complete and compelling. She wasn’t beautiful in the classic sense, but she was striking and to him, mesmerizing.
“So…” Her face blushed darker as she stirred her stew.
“Regrets?” He leaned back in the kitchen chair, the cold, painted wood against his spine a sharp reminder that he’d come to the table half dressed.
Her head popped up. “What? No. You?”
“None.” A smile spread across his face. “You were saying?”
“Right… yeah, good. That’s good. No, what I was going to say is, I don’t really have the right to ask you, but while we’re decoding what is going on between us, could we just keep it between us?” She slathered a piece of bread with butter, studiously avoiding his gaze.
Okay, there were a couple ways to take that comment. “Just between us as in, tell no one that we’ve been together, or just between us, as in we only see each other?”
Her eyes jerked up. “Would you be embarrassed to tell people that we’ve…” She motioned between them with her knife.
“No, but I’m a stickler for details. Goes with the job description. Tell me what you meant, Kallie. I’m not going to jump up and run for the door.” He had a feeling that was what she anticipated. This uncertainty had to be the work of her bastard ex.
“I’d like to be exclusive,” she whispered to her plate. She put her bread down and squared her shoulders. She met his eyes and with a stronger voice, she continued, “Tonight when I invited you up here… I thought I could do casual sex. Hell, even lying on top of you ten minutes ago, I told myself I could, that asking you to be exclusive now would make you run for the hills, and I get that this is way fast. But see, I've experienced the disaster of a year-long adulterous relationship, one which was dissected in detail in a courtroom full of my peers. When you live through something like that, sliding into casual relationships becomes difficult. I’m sorry if that is too much for you, and I get it if you want to leave–”
He reached over and placed his hand over hers, stopping her rambling. “We’ll get a handle on what is between us, and while we are doing that, it will be just you and me.”
Tension left her shoulders, and one of those shy smiles spread across her face. “That works for me.”
He leaned back in his chair and pointed to her bread with half a pound of butter mounded on top of it. “Are you going to eat it like that, or are you willing to share some of that butter.”
Laughter filled the small kitchen and the awkward silence disappeared. They ate and talked about nothing and everything until he started doing the dishes. She picked up a towel and bumped him with her hip. “Thanks for not freaking out on me earlier.”
He rinsed the soap suds off one of their bowls and handed it to her to dry, gauging his response carefully before he spoke. “How bad was it?”
Kallie’s fluid movements stuttered at his question. She drew a deep breath and wiped the bowl carefully.
“You know, looking back, I could see signs about him. He was abusive, mentally more than physically, and there were nights when he said he was at work that didn’t compute, you know? No open case, but he claimed he was stuck with surveillance. I didn’t want to see it. I looked the other way. I hoped the man I married would suddenly reappear.” She took another bowl as he finished rinsing it. “Not all marriages will last. I get that, but marriage counseling is off the table when you hear from