in her lips and her chin dropped, her focus on her hands now clasped in her lap. Caitlyn’s brother. I can’t believe I slept with Caitlyn’s brother. Waiting to see if mortification would hit, she gave a rueful snort. Caitlyn would probably offer a high-five and ‘hell yeah’. Pushing that thought from her mind, she lifted her gaze and asked, “You’re going to ask me about this morning, aren’t you?”
Glad she brought it up, he nodded. “Yeah, Kimberly. I need to know how you got from interviewing some Kilton employees to placing yourself in danger by wandering around the homeless community under the bridge by yourself with nothing but a fuckin’ can of pepper spray and didn’t have the good sense to not spray it when the wind was blowing.”
Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. “Wow, you can really go from sweet to a jerk, can’t you?”
“Pointing out a mistake that you made is not me being a jerk.”
Her mouth clamped into a tight line, and he inwardly cursed. Sighing heavily, he said, “Let me start again. Kimberly, I’m a detective. You know that. It’s my job to be aware of the dangerous places in Hope City, and you were in a bad situation. It’s also my job to investigate crimes, and if something had happened to you, and I was right there and had to investigate, it would totally gut me. On top of that, I think we’re establishing that I’d like to see where you and I go in this relationship.” Her gaze jumped back to his face, and he nodded. “So, yeah, I’m going to be interested. And I need some answers.”
She tilted her head to the side, nibbling her bottom lip. “You want to see where we go in this relationship?”
“You told me earlier that you’ve been thinking about me for a week. Well, here’s a heads up. I have too. I woke up that morning after the best night of my life and couldn’t believe that you were gone. I didn’t know your last name, phone number, or where you worked.”
A rosy blush moved across her cheeks and she shrugged. “I’m not used to doing what we did. I don’t go to hotels with strange men and, to be honest, I had no idea what the protocol was.” Air quotes accompanied the word protocol.
He dropped his chin and shook his head. “Fuck, even finger quotes from you are cute.” Holding her gaze again, he prompted, “Protocol?”
Her blush deepened and she huffed. “Yeah. Like what’s expected when you wake up with someone. Have breakfast? Take a shower? Or is one person supposed to get the hell out of the room so that the other person doesn’t have to deal with them? Honestly, Kyle, I had no idea. But I figured I was one night of fun for you, and I left because I thought that would be easier on both of us.”
Her honesty was refreshing, something he rarely got when he met a woman in a bar. Not that that had happened recently. He reached over and smoothed his fingers through her almost-dry hair, tucking a strand behind her ear. “That’s nice to hear. Just so you know, my younger days of picking up women in bars are long gone. I was sorry that you weren’t around the next morning. So, getting back to my original statement, yeah, I’m interested.”
She nodded slowly, holding his gaze. After a moment, she said, “This morning.”
“Yeah, babe. I want you to tell me about this morning.”
Her nose scrunched, and she huffed. “Well, it started with Father James and the blankets and then came the call and email from my editor with an article that mentioned the Cardboard Cottages, and I know Kilton had a delivery van full of opioids robbed.”
His chest deflated as the air fled his lungs, her words shocking him. What the ever-loving fuck?
Kimberly stared at Kyle’s open-mouth gasp, appearing as though he had been socked in the gut. “Um… are you okay?”
Blinking as though coming out of a foggy sleep, he growled, “No, I’m not okay. Father James? Blankets? Email? Robbery? Jesus, Kimberly, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Me? Don’t start being a jerk again.”
He twisted so that he was facing out in the room, his elbows pressed into his knees as his hands held his face. Even when angry, Kyle held a calmness about him, but now it was gone. Electricity seemed to snap about the room, but she couldn’t define what he