I frown.
Her face falls. “Joking, actually. What I really want is tea.”
“Seriously?”
She nods. “Got any chamomile floating around up there?”
I snort, turning my back and rifling through a stash of loose-leaf teas in various metal containers. “No chamomile. But there’s apple caramel, lavender blueberry?—”
“Lavender blueberry,” she cuts in, then yawns.
I fill the kettle with water and place it on the stove.
“Tired?”
I don’t know why I ask. It’s not like I want to have a conversation. But I can’t deny something about this woman—about what happened earlier at the stadium—that makes me feel a connection.
“Exhausted,” she says, snagging a blanket from the floor and wrapping it around her shoulders. Great, now it’s going to smell like her—all floral and mouthwatering.
“Should I turn the a/c down?” I ask.
Mia shakes her head, though goosebumps line her forearms. Pulling a stool up to the kitchen bar, she rests her elbows on the counter. “Not like I get shot at every day … thankfully. Guess the adrenaline got to me or something.”
Adrenaline used to be what I lived for.
Now, it’s just a means to an end—income.
“Don’t let me keep you from a drink,” she says.
I shrug. “On the clock.”
“True,” she says, cocking her head. “But if anyone deserves a stiff one tonight, it’s you.”
I nod my agreement, then pull a second mug from the cabinet. Two teas, it is.
When I turn back, she’s gripping her phone. Reading something. Face ashen in the faint glow from the screen.
“Something wrong?” I ask.
She startles. It tells me everything I need to know. “Just Edwin texting. Again.”
“And?”
She shakes her head. “Not worth the time to explain it.”
My gaze drills into her, noticing tells, subtle changes in her expression. “He just… He just won’t understand that I need some time to think—alone.”
“You’re not asking too much,” I remind.
She shrugs.
“Tell it to the gray suits. They want their commissions, their cuts. Can’t accept the gravy train shutting down for a few days.”
I shift, put my hands on my hips. “They’re gonna have to.”
She chuckles, like I’ve said something funny.
“You’re the star, after all.”
