He slammed the door shut on her pots and pans.
Eggs were too much work, especially with the racket threatening to slice his brain open. If she’d had bacon in her fridge, that would’ve been one thing. Or if the noise of himthinkingabout making eggs would’ve gotten her out of bed.
But no.
She was in her room, probably on her back with her hair all spread out, her chest rising and falling, her covers pristine over her body as though she were Sleeping fucking Beauty.
And now he had a hard-on.
Again.
“Dammit.”
A burnt bagel popped out of the toaster.
Lance grabbed it and ate the damn thing anyway. He poured himself a second cup of coffee and nearly burned himself on his first gulp.
“Morning,” Kaci chirped.
He spun, sloshing coffee onto his hand. He slammed the mug down and grabbed a towel.
“Hope you slept well and dreamed of Bama getting their rumps whomped by my Rebels,” she said cheerfully. “Thanks for the coffee, sugar.”
She helped herself to the mug he’d just set down, then took the second half of the burnt bagel and carried it into the living room. “Love me some charcoal in the morning.”
Her hair was in a messy knot, her facescrubbed clean of makeup. Her baggy pajama pants and oversized Ole Miss T-shirt shouldn’t have been sexy, but Lance was beginning to suspect the woman could make a garbage sack sexy.
He had a problem.
And it was calledKaci Boudreaux.
“Your keys are on my dresser. I gotta run out and check on Miss Higgs. Vet said she didn’t have any more seizures last night, so I’ll probably get to bring her home. Ain’t like they can do much for a cat her age anyway. But don’t you worry. She can come with us when we go take care of your wedding rings. You mind bringing your game thingie over here? Wouldn’t want to have to break one of the military’s finest if your roommate can’t figure out where my eyes are.”
Her ramblings should be annoying.
Her bravado should’ve gotten old before he’d stepped off the grounds of the pumpkin-chucking contest two weeks ago.
And her assumption that she could help him by doing something with his wedding rings should be insulting. Not just crossing the line, but fucking obliterating it.
But the part of him that had stood over a pair of pumpkin-gut-coated birth control glasses was insanely curious about what this woman would do with the band that could’ve been suffocating his finger now.
Didshe have a magic formula to lift the odd guilt he still felt at being relieved his wedding had been canceled? At ignoring all the signs that while Allison would’ve made a damn fine officer’s wife, she’d never really been the woman of his dreams?
“Oh, and you might want to wear something you don’t mind getting dirty,” she said. “By the way, no more kissing until that date you’re making me go on. Just so you know.”
That did it.
Lance stalked out of the kitchen and around the couch. He snagged the bagel from her hand and tossed it over his shoulder. The coffee mug went on the coffee table.
He thought.
It was possible she’d have a mess to clean up when he left.
But he didn’t care.
Because Kaci had just dared him not to kiss her. As if she didn’t want to kiss him.
He damn well knew better.
