My nipples tightened, and that was the moment I recognized that I had been without a bra the entire time he’d been in my home.
Shit.
I adjusted my arms to ensure they completely covered my breasts. The thin-ass T-shirt I wore wouldn’t hide a damn thing.
“No ring.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you’re not married.”
He stepped away from the door but kept his distance, planting his feet wide. “I’m not married, Reese.”
I ignored the shiver that ran through me every damn time he said my name. “Let me phrase it differently, then. Is there anyone in your life who would be upset that you’re standing in my kitchen in the middle of the night?” I asked pointedly.
His lips twitched, but he held back the smile or laughter that threatened to spill out. I inhaled sharply when he moved so close that the front of his body brushed against the hairs on my arms.
“There is no other woman in my life with any attachment or authority in my life to be upset that I am with you, here, right now.”
Holy shit.
“I, um, well… okay.” My brain desperately tried to find a cohesive response, but it was too filled with the bite in his tone. Men like this were dangerous for a woman’s health.
“Shit,” he cursed when the sizzle from my almond milk boiling over the pot and onto the stove caught my attention.
I scurried out from under Chael’s gaze and went to the stove, cleaning up the mess and fixing my cup of cocoa before I prepared his cup of coffee.
“Cream, sugar, or both?” I asked, holding up both of the condiments for him to choose.
“Black.” I could’ve sworn I spotted a heated look pass through his copper eyes.
I shook it off. “We can take these in the living room.”
Henry whined as I passed him. “Sorry, buddy. No applesauce for you tonight. The vet said we have to keep your weight down to keep your hip from hurting too much.”
When Chael sat beside me on the couch, his thigh brushed against my leg. The couch was supposed to fit at least three people comfortably, but sitting there with him felt like it was made for just the two of us.
“Anything you want to watch?” I used the remote to turn on the television. “I’ve got about all of the streaming services.”
“I don’t watch much TV.”
I paused, midchannel search. “You’re probably busy working on all of your cases and such.” I shrugged. “So, maybe we should talk about that, then?” I lifted my mug to my lips and sighed, the richness of the cocoa and sweetness of the marshmallows I’d added easing my anxiousness a bit.
I licked away a bit of the cocoa from the corner of my mouth. Chael studied the movement of my tongue, and a deep growl emanated from somewhere in the room. I peeked around Chael’s body to find Henry lying on the floor by the side of the couch, half asleep.
When I looked back at Chael, his eyes were still on my lips. I cleared my throat and sat up straighter.
“How is the case going? Any updates?”
He shook his head and leaned forward, placing his empty coffee cup on the table. “Not much since the last text I sent you.”
I frowned around another sip of my drink.
“You haven’t gone looking on your own again, have you?”
“No.” I wondered why he kept harping on me, not going off on my own. I told him before the only reason I went into Dr. Pines’s office was to get more info was to gather evidence for his PI firm to pursue the case.
“Oh, Charlotte Rowe from the Texas Gazette called me.”
He narrowed his eyes on me.
“She’s a reporter who wrote a piece about nursing homes a few months ago.”
