big, bad Dagger had her stifling a laugh as she waved goodnight to her new friend.
By the time she got back to the living room, Dagger was there. There was a wet stain where he’d attempted to hand wash his jeans, but he was fully clothed. She refused to feel disappointment that he’d kept his clothes on. She barely knew the man, for heaven’s sake, and she still wasn’t sure what he was doing there.
As for that… “What are you doing here?” She’d never been one to beat around the bush. She added a friendly smile so it didn’t sound as unfriendly as it could have. When he didn’t immediately answer, she added, “I mean, thank you for the camera. Seriously, I was so worried that I’d never see it again. But how did you know where I live?”
The camera in question was sitting on the couch beside him and he picked it up and handed it over, the tab with her address in view.
“Right. Duh.” Sometimes she was an idiot. However, he must think she was the biggest idiot in the world for having her address spelled out in neat letters like she was a fourth grader. “I didn’t write that.”
He continued to stare at her.
“My mom, Margaret, she’s new to this mom thing. I just found her after she put me up for adoption and, um…I think I told you that already.” Yeah, this wasn’t the most eloquent speech of her life, but then, it wasn’t often she was on the receiving end of a sexy, silent, brooding stare. “Anyway, she’s still figuring out how to treat me, you know? So sometimes she does things that are a little…over the top.”
Like cutting the crusts off Andie’s sandwich the first time they’d had lunch together. But that example was better left unsaid.
As it was, Dagger’s brows drew together in a glare that made him look alarmingly angry. “Hasn’t anyone told your mother that you shouldn’t give out your address to strangers?”
Andie gave him a lopsided grin. “She grew up in a different time, I guess. And in the suburbs.” As if that explained everything. Sometimes she had no idea why her mother did the things she did, but she was growing to like her nonetheless. She was a character and Andie had always loved characters.
Like this guy, for example. He was so unlike most men she met—in looks, attitude…everything. He seemed so hard on the outside but his eyes were kind and filled with humor. She’d give anything to get inside that head.
And his bed.
She stifled a laugh at that completely unbidden and inappropriate thought.
Dagger, however, was definitely not laughing. “That camera could have fallen into anyone’s hands.”
She nodded. It was true. And as a rule she generally didn’t advertise her home address. “Well then I guess I should consider myself lucky it fell into your hands.”
He rubbed a hand across his eyes as he sighed. “You barely know me.”
“I don’t have to.”
He raised a brow in question but she didn’t need to explain herself to this man—a relative stranger who still hadn’t answered her questions. “So you came to give me my camera.”
He nodded, his gaze flickered to the camera in question and then back. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him casting a sidelong look at the camera, as if wary of letting it out of his sight. Huh. What was so interesting about that camera?
Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she watched him carefully—the way he favored his left leg, even though he’d sworn that his wound was just a scratch.
“How did you say you hurt your leg again?”
His gaze met hers. “I didn’t.”
Okaaay. “And why did you feel the need to bring the camera to me when I was already planning on coming to your shop later this week?”
She resisted the urge to add something nice like, not that I’m not grateful. Nope. Nice time was over. For now, at least. She might not be afraid of this man, but that didn’t mean she trusted him completely. Or at all, really.
He didn’t answer for a moment and she refused to back down or fill the silence with chatter. Granted she had to literally bite her tongue to keep the nervous babbling at bay, but she managed a cool silence.
He caved first, his stiff posture relaxing. For a moment her heart went out to him—he looked so weary and tired. But she still stayed silent, giving herself a mental fist bump for her