his hips, nails digging in. His name trembled from her lips as she stared into his eyes.
Then she wrapped her legs around his waist and matched him beat for frantic beat.
Spent, they lay together, still half dressed, breath whistling.
“I should always deliver your calzones.”
“Works for me.”
She closed her eyes, wanting just another moment to bask. “That goes on my list of firsts.”
He lifted his head. “During the day, you mean?”
“No, but in the middle of a workday—and I’m still wearing my clothes. Nearly all of them.”
“I was in kind of a hurry.” He lowered, rubbed his lips over hers. “But I can get you undressed now and start over again.”
“I don’t think my system or my schedule can handle another tip. But thanks very much for your patronage.”
“Best calzones in the county. Shit, I’ll get it,” he said at the knock on the apartment door.
Which of course wasn’t locked, he remembered when he heard Avery’s call. He dragged on his jeans as Clare sprang up, began trying to straighten and smooth her dress.
“Hold on! Be right out.”
But she’d already made it to the door, where she stood, mouth dropping open, finger pointing. “You had a nooner! Look at the two of you all sex-eyed and guilty. My body can’t hold any more of this jealousy. I’m going to have to hire a man. What do you charge?”
“Funny.”
Clare tugged the band out of her hair, then realized she’d left her purse—with her brush in it—in Beckett’s office. “We were just coming—”
“Evidence indicates you’ve already done that.”
“She’s a riot.” Turning to Clare, he jerked a thumb at Avery.
Then the two of them just smiled at each other like, Avery thought, two people who’d had a nooner.
“I knocked,” she told them. “On the office first because that’s where you wanted the calzone delivered—and where Clare said she’d take it because she wanted to”—Avery inserted air quotes—“ ‘talk to you.’ ”
“I did, and I haven’t. Look, I need to get my brush—my hair. I’ll be over at Hope’s in a few minutes.”
“You can’t have any more sex now. I’m putting my foot down. I’ll know if you do, then I’ll cry, and cut my own hair. You don’t want to be responsible for that.”
“I’m just going to put myself back together. I’ll be right there. Promise.”
Avery said nothing, just pointed her finger at both of them, added a narrowed look, then left.
“I thought she’d never leave. Why don’t we—”
“No.” Clare tossed up a hand, palm out. “Absolutely not. I promised. I’ve got to get my purse. I wanted to talk to you, to apologize.”
“For what?” He followed her back into the office.
“For being so distracted I didn’t even really thank you for watching the kids yesterday, for being bitchy when you fixed my sink, and for snapping at you the night we went to the inn and had dinner—which is the reason for the rest of it.”
She grabbed her purse, glanced around. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in here before—in the office. It’s nice. It’s you. Is that a bathroom?”
“Yeah.”
“I need the mirror.” She stepped in, left the door open as she brushed her hair back into order. “Avery, Hope, and I went over to the inn while you were with the boys. And, well, we heard something upstairs, like footsteps. And we smelled her up there. The door to the porch opened.”
She took the band off her wrist, twisted her hair into a smooth tail. “I jumped all over them, like I did with you. No,” she decided. “Even more. I was so angry.”
She pulled out lipstick, repaired the damage there.
“Why?”
“That’s the question. And I realized why, or let myself. I realized I was angry because if it’s possible, if this is really happening, if it’s really possible to come back, then—”
“Oh shit. Clint. I never thought of it, of him. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. There’s no reason for you to think of it. And none for me to take it out on you, on Avery and Hope. Except that’s what you do when you’re upset. Take it out on the people who care.” To finish the job, she dug out her compact.
“It hurt you, and I wouldn’t let it alone.”
“You didn’t hurt me, the situation did. And now that I know why I felt that way, it won’t hurt.”
“Just like that?”
“I had a good cry after I put the boys to bed, and did a lot of thinking. No, it won’t hurt anymore.” She tossed the compact back in her purse