heading to the bacon factory. Now I write a check for fifteen bucks a month and they live happily ever after. What’s the big deal?”
“Christ, you’re cute.”
“I-” She narrowed her eyes at him. Cute? “You take that back.”
“Okay, you’re not cute. You’re… sexy as hell.”
They both looked at her attire and he laughed when she winced. “You are,” he maintained.
“You’re a very nice man to lie like that.” She grabbed the laptop from him, shutting the screen. “And now you’ll forget about the fact that I’m so pathetic that I watch DVDs on Friday and Saturday nights instead of going out.”
He looked at her for a long moment and she groaned and covered her face. “Don’t tell me that’s why you’re here, that you thought I was feeling… vulnerable.” She dropped her hands and glared at him. “Because if you say that, I’m going to kick your ass, Dell, I mean it.”
Reaching for her wine, he helped himself.
“Say something,” she demanded.
“Are you kidding? I don’t want to get my ass kicked. And you could do it now, too.” He flashed a grin but she just stared at him, deadpan.
He sighed. “I’m not here because I thought you were vulnerable. I’m here because you ran off rather than face the fact that we-”
“Hey. I didn’t run off.”
“Jade, you left smoke in your wake.”
Okay, so she’d run off. Bad habit. “It was just a kiss.”
He slid her a look.
“Okay, it was an unexpectedly great kiss.”
He nodded. “Yeah.” His voice was low and a little rough, and she felt her nipples harden at the sound of it. “Each time gets even greater.”
Oh so true. “But we’d be stupid to keep doing it.”
“Right.” He looked at her. “Why’s that?”
“Because…” God, his eyes. And that gorgeous mocha skin, sun-burnished and so smooth, except for a five o’clock shadow across his jaw after a long day. She already knew how it felt beneath her fingers, which were itching for another touch. “Because we work together. Because you date like other men change socks. Because I’m leaving soon. Pick one.”
“Right,” he said, nodding agreeably. “I almost forgot about all that.”
She nodded.
He reached out and ran a finger along her temple, making her… yearn. She leaned into him and closed her eyes.
“And we’re more than co-workers,” he said quietly.
“We’re friends.”
He didn’t say anything and she opened her eyes.
“Yeah,” he said. “We’re friends.”
“Friends don’t kiss like we did without becoming… naked friends.”
“And?”
“And you have a no-relationship decree in place. You’ve told me so yourself. And even if you hadn’t, your actions speak louder than words.”
“What does a relationship have to do with becoming naked friends?”
Okay, he had her there. There was a silence, and she waited for him to push the issue, but he just started eating her popcorn. Then he took another drink of her wine. “I thought maybe you were upset about something else,” he finally said.
“Like what?”
“I thought maybe me touching you brought up some bad memories.” His eyes never wavered from hers so when she grimaced, she knew he saw it.
“I… No. Not like you’re thinking.” She looked down at her hands, which twisted together until her knuckles turned white. She hadn’t talked about this. She didn’t want to talk about this. But she could admit he deserved a few answers. “I wasn’t raped.”
He covered her hands with one of his as he let out a low breath that had a lot of relief in the sound. “I’m glad. But something happened to you.”
“Yes.” His skin was warm on her suddenly chilly fingers and she found herself turning her hand palm up so she could hold on. “A long time ago.”
“Eighteen months.”
She stared down at their entwined fingers. “Eighteen months.” She shook her head. “But I’m fine now and getting more fine all the time. I don’t need a babysitter, Dell. Or a shoulder to cry on.”
“Well, that’s a relief. I never know what to do with tears.”
Not true. Just this morning she’d seen him holding forty-eight-year-old Missy Robinson, who’d fallen apart in the exam room when he’d had to tell her that her Alaskan husky had cancer. He’d held her for as long as she’d needed, looking devastated for her but perfectly at ease in the role of comforter. “With all those women you date, I’d think you’d have a lot of practice at tears.”
She had no idea why she said that. His dating, or not dating, wasn’t her concern.
Dell grabbed the bowl of popcorn and the remote and leaned back. “Maybe I’m not quite the hotshot you think I am.”
She stared at him. He was good at letting people come to their own conclusions, and he’d certainly never tried to be anything he wasn’t. His eyes met hers, clear and warm and open. “What are we doing, Dell?”
“Well, I’m hoping to watch a movie and eat the rest of your popcorn.”
“Because…?”
“Because I like this movie and I love popcorn. And because Adam’s at my house barbecuing chicken and vegetables.
After
He was quiet a moment. “Was this a date?”
She met his gaze. “If it was, it’d be my first since-” She paused. “A really long time.”
“How long?”
“Eighteen months.”
“How does it feel?”
She thought about it. “Good,” she said honestly. “But what about you-”
He put his finger on her mouth. “I’m good, too, Jade. More than good. Don’t worry about me.” He ran his hand up and down her back until she relaxed again. At some point she realized her eyes were closed and she lifted her head in shock.
She was curled up against Dell’s side. He was asleep on his back, one arm around her, his torso rising and falling with his slow, steady breaths, even with Beans sitting on his chest.
“Hey,” she said, sitting up and poking Dell in the side.
He mumbled something beneath his breath and didn’t budge.
Jade scooped the kitten off of him, set her on the floor and poked Dell again. “Wake up.”
Both arms came around her, snuggling her in close as he pressed his face into her hair. “Mmm. You smell good.”
“Dell, wake up!”
His mouth was on her neck now. “I’m awake,” he said, and licked the spot he’d just kissed. “You taste as good as you smell, did you know that?”
Then he cupped the back of her head in one big hand and kissed her again, her mouth this time, and she gave herself up to it, to the heat of him, his taste. Their bodies were plastered together and he was rock solid against her, his arms flexed tight around her. “Are you really awake?”
