He shook his head. “I wouldn’t say that. But it’s not this neat.”
That was code for hot mess. She just knew it. Trying not to grind her teeth, she left the garage behind and went into the house. “I’ll just be a few minutes. Have a seat if you like. Or help yourself to something to drink.”
She went straight to the second bath. There were indeed some unmentionables drying on the little wooden rack she’d set up in the bathtub. At least she’d remembered them. She gathered all of it into her arms and turned for her bedroom down the hall.
And ran smack into Titus.
The tangle of brightly colored lace and silk exploding from Jenna’s arms caught Titus off guard. If put on the spot and made to guess what kind of underwear she wore, he would have said white cotton. Or those nude colors a lot of women wore. His ex, Zoe, had always chosen those. Flesh tones. Because they were practical.
Nothing in Jenna’s arms looked practical. Unless neon pink, bright blue and candy-apple red were the new nudes. There was even a lime green in there.
He couldn’t stop staring. Worse, his mouth was open in surprise, and he couldn’t be bothered to close it.
He’d never look at her the same way again. Jury was out on whether or not that was a good thing, given their current bespelled state.
“Do you mind?” She raised her brows. “You’re in my way.”
“Sorry, I was just…” What had he been about to do? He scratched his head. “Are you having trouble remembering things? I feel like I’m struggling with my short-term memory a bit. You think it’s that stuff we were exposed to?”
She nodded, squeezing past him to get to her bedroom door. “Yes. Remember how I forgot my keys? And how you just told me the doctor said we’d forget stuff?”
“When?” Then he laughed. “Did I just prove my own point?”
She laughed, too, but more like she was laughing with him than at him. “I think you did. I won’t be long. I just need to pack enough for a few days.”
“Packing! That’s what I was going to ask you.” His head still wasn’t right after being doused. “Do you need me to get anything together for you?”
“I don’t think so—actually, you could go through the fridge and pack up all the perishables to take to your house. I have steaks in there I was going to make tonight. We could have them for dinner.”
He nodded. “Okay, I can do that.”
“My shopping bags are in the narrow lower cabinet next to the fridge.”
“On it.” He went into the kitchen but took a look around before getting to work. Her whole house was like her garage. Neat to the point of overkill. But then, she worked a lot. Maybe she just wasn’t home enough to make a mess. There were much worse things than being neat.
He pulled out a shopping bag and opened the fridge.
Everything was lined up, label out. Even the half shelf of imported beer. He chuckled. Okay, maybe she was a little obsessive. Everyone had their quirks, right?
He loaded up the bag with everything that seemed important or perishable, then looked around the kitchen for anything else she might need. Was she a coffee drinker? There was a coffeemaker on the counter but no creamer in the fridge. Lots of cops took their coffee black, though.
Just because he was curious, he opened the freezer. More meat, some vegetables, and four containers of ice cream. Rocky road, triple-chocolate smash, chocolate peanut butter, and chocolate chocolate chip.
Someone had a little addiction. Good to know.
He peeked down the hall. She was still in the bedroom.
He opened a few of the kitchen cabinets. All just as neat as everything else he’d found. Plates stacked just so. Food grouped by kinds and arranged the same way as things in the fridge. Labels out. Tidy rows.
“Looking for something?”
He’d been caught. No point in denying the truth. He closed the cabinet and turned around. “Nope, just being nosy. Trying to see what you like and don’t like. Since we’re going to be living together.”
“Don’t say ‘living together.’ That makes this whole thing sound more salacious than it really is.”
“Salacious? From the woman who gave me grief because I used the word ‘keen’?” He laughed.
She smirked at him, but that was all the fuss she made. Just set down her large duffel bag and glanced at the shopping bag he’d filled. “I’m not a picky eater, if that’s what you’re trying to figure out. Did you get the steaks?”
He nodded. “And the cheese and lunch meat that was in there, too, plus the veggies that were in the crisper.”
“Good. Thanks. Did you get the beer?”
“I have beer.”
She made a face at him. “You have Warhammer Stout?”
“No. I have Coors. And I think some Sam Adams.”
She snorted. “If I want bottled water, I’ll buy some Fiji.” She turned. “I’ll get a crate from the garage.”
She went out and came back in with a plastic milk crate, put it on the table, then started loading it with bottles. When it was full, she shut the fridge. “That’ll do it.”
He was too amused to keep quiet. “You realize that’s also beer, right?”
“Warhammer Stout isn’t beer. It’s the nectar of the gods. Literally, the founder is a berserker, and rumor has it he stole the recipe from Valhalla.”
Now Titus was curious.
It must have shown on his face. She laughed. “You can try a bottle.”
“Thanks.”
She put her hands on her hips. “We’ll need to call for a ride again, either to the department or the station, to get one of our vehicles.”
“I can do it.” He pulled out his phone. “How do I do it?”
She squinted at him. “I’ll take that to mean you don’t already have the Ryde app on your phone, which means you don’t have an account set up.” She got her phone out. “I’ll take care of it.”
She tapped a few buttons,
