Her house was a sensitive topic. Knowing her family, the place likely wasn’t full of happy memories.
I looked from her to the room in the back. If she got off work at seven, then had to decompress, she would be lucky to get to sleep by eight. If she woke at one, then I had two questions. “Do you shower here?”
The color in her cheeks deepened. “I do that at work before I come home.”
Made sense. So that left the other question. “Have you eaten yet?”
She frowned. “I’m fine.”
Her stomach chose that moment to growl.
She wasn’t going to work short on sleep and with no food. Not on my watch. “Come on. Let’s grab something to eat.”
She drew back, offended. “I have food.”
I scanned the place. “There a kitchen hiding somewhere?”
“It’s been built over. It’s now the storeroom.” She folded her arms in front of herself, which only made me recall how full her tits had been in that bra. “I have a microwave and a dorm fridge.”
It’d been never since I’d lived on so little. What in the hell could she make with that? Little plastic tubs of food that barely tasted better than the container it was nuked in? “Well, I’m hungry.” That wasn’t a lie. We’d had a breakfast potluck at the office, so it’d been hours since I’d eaten.
“So go eat. You make your own hours.”
Her brush-off scraped against my skin. Dammit. I dug out my phone. “What do you want from Curly’s?”
“Nothing.”
“If you don’t tell me, then I’m ordering for you and you can’t complain about my choice.”
“I’m not eating your food.”
“I’m ordering for us.”
“Teller.”
“I always get a steak. Curly can be a dick, but he knows his beef.” I tapped in my order and doubled it. “I requested extra buns.”
“I’ll eat my own stuff.”
I hit the button to finalize the order. “Too late. Two rib eyes will be on their way as soon as I contact Seb.” I typed out a quick text to him.
She gawked at me. “Who’s Seb?”
“A kid I hired as my personal DoorDasher. He does all the runs for Copper Summit in the summer. I have him on retainer.”
“You have food delivery on retainer?” She shook her head, erasing her incredulous expression. “I’m not taking your food.”
“My treat.”
“No.”
My patience snapped. There was being stubborn and there was hurting herself, and I was too damn certain of what she was doing. I advanced on her. “If you’re not turning that sweet ass of yours around to get more sleep, then the least you can do is eat a good meal.”
Her red lips turned down onsweet ass. “I said I have stuff to eat here.” She stood her ground, and normally, I admired that about her. If she continued, I’d hold her down to eat and food would be the last thing on my mind.
“Is it good quality shit that’ll help offset the four hours of sleep you’re short?”
“I-it’s fine,” she sputtered.
