But how could she possiblythinkwhen Nate could kiss like that?A lot more than kiss like that?Say things likeDo you know how long I’ve wanted to kiss you?
And there was no going back.Undoing it.Maybe she could suggest it was some kind of… one-off, but…
It just wasn’t.Even if she wanted it to be.That had been building too long to not change everything.
She just hoped it could be agoodchange everything for once.Was that too much to ask?Okay, maybe not even good.Maybe just not disastrous?She’d take not disastrous as a big upgrade to the past year.
Regardless, she couldn’t pretend to be asleep all day.Even if he slipped out and went home right now, she had to face him atsomepoint.Might as well be now, before time made it weirder.
So, she blinked her eyes open.
“Morning,” Nate offered.
She stared at him.He’d never taken his pants off.They’d worked around that.A little awkward, but she was hardly going to make him literally bare his scars.Even if she was curious in spite of herself.
Now the pants were all zipped and fastened and he’d pulled on his dress shirt from yesterday and was buttoning it up.Nate Bennet was getting dressed in her room.
Which wasn’t the wildest thing he’d done in her room in the past twelve hours.God.
“Going to go shovel,” he said, his voice rough with sleep-induced rumble.
“You’re going to shovel in a suit?”
His mouth curved.“I’m going to go out on a limb and say you don’t have any clothes that might fit me, Sam.”
She yawned, not quite able to make herself get out of the cocoon of warmth under her blanket.“You don’t have to shovel.I can do it later.”
“Too much ranch and military in me.I need to get up and do something.Won’t take long.Vanderbilt texted that court today’s delayed.Said there’s no point coming down since at most they’ll get to the medical examiner this afternoon.Relax.Get some more sleep.”
She yawned again.“Don’t have to tell me twice,” she muttered, letting her eyes fall closed again.
Shewastired.Tired and satisfied.And if they were just going to beokaywith everything that had happened, why not go back to sleep?
She listened to him leave the room.He knew where the shovel was since he’d cleared the walk a few times over the past few months.It was just like him to jump up and handle something like that.
She didn’t know why he wouldn’t relax and enjoy sleeping in for once, but that was his business, she supposed.But some doubts were starting to wriggle in, ruining her attempt at falling back asleep.
Were ranching and military life just some excuse?Maybe he was ditching her.He needed to go make a clear exit, so he didn’t have to stick around and deal with… this line they’d crossed.A line they’d both clearly valued.
Until last night.
Whichhe’dchosen,he’dpushed.She had been set to keep ignoringeverything.So if he ditched hernow?
She’d kill him.
Too worked up to fall back asleep, she got up.Threw on some sweats.She needed coffee to really think this through.And she was starving.
She padded out to the kitchen, amped up the heat, then got the coffee brewing.She collected ingredients to make breakfast for two.He didn’t have to eat it with her if he wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.
He might have to suffer a black eye, but he didn’t have to eat.She slammed around a bit in the kitchen, which made her feel incrementally better.The first cup of coffee added to that.
More alert, morereasonable, she scrambled some eggs and poured them into the pan, put some bread in the toaster.
It could be a one-off.Or a friends with benefits type thing.That could be fine.Maybe even better.What were they going to do?Date?Have some kind of relationship?Be normal like Aly and Landon?
That was hardly in the cards for her, she knew.
She heard his footsteps on the stairs.She shook her head, despairing of herself.She was bounding ahead when he’d probably come inside.Offer some half-hearted platitude and say he was heading out.A clearthat was great, see you around.
