He had an excellent point. “I have a doctor’s appointment at noon, just to make sure nothing is broken.”
His expression darkened as he walked around me to head into the kitchen. He stopped after taking two steps and looked over his shoulder, his gaze going to my legs. “Do you ever wear pants?”
“No.” I had shorts on, damn it. Plus, this was Houston. No female wore pants in the summer unless they had to.
He looked for a second longer, glanced up at my face, and then continued his journey into the kitchen. “Do you have tea or coffee?”
I pointed. “Both.”
He made an indiscriminate noise as he searched my kitchen cabinets.
All right. “Well, make yourself at home. I’m gonna go shower and put on some pants, I guess.” I might have given him a dirty look at the mention of putting on bottoms, but he wasn’t paying attention. His back was turned.
Thirty minutes later, I was freshly showered, my teeth brushed, my hair… well, up in something that could be considered a bun, deodorant applied, jeans that could have passed for leggings, and wearing a real bra, I made an appearance back in the living area of my garage apartment. Kulti was sitting on the couch, drinking from a black coffee mug with an owl picture on it and watching television.
The fact that the man I’d had on my wall for nearly a decade was sitting on my couch, drinking coffee because he’d come by to check on me, didn’t really hit me much. I wouldn’t say it was normal, but I wasn’t choking up to talk to him or freaking out that I hadn’t dusted in a couple of weeks. It was just… okay. No big deal.
No big deal that Reiner Kulti was sitting here, hanging out. “Are you hungry?” I was starving. By this point in the day, I’d normally already be on my second meal.
“No,” he replied, still not turning around from his focus on the television.
I eyed him and started looking through my freezer for something easy to cook. There were some frozen turkey breakfast patties, fruit, and a whole grain baguette. The frozen fruit I setaside to blend into a smoothie as I got the rest of it ready. Kulti didn’t say anything as I made my meal, but I knew he was fully aware of what I was doing.
When I was done, I had a blender filled with a weird smoothie of almond milk and leftover frozen fruit. I poured two drinks and put my makeshift breakfast sandwich on a plate.
“Here,” I said, holding a glass over his head from behind.
He took it from me without a word, setting the glass on the coffee table. Stiffly, I took a seat on the opposite end of the couch, plate on my lap, smoothie on the coffee table, and sat there watching the survival show on the screen. Kulti manned the side table as I ate my food, making a mess all over myself, because it hurt too much to try and have manners.
“Why do you have so many recordings of this show?” he asked, browsing through my DVR.
“Because I like it,” I told him. Though, okay, it was only the partial truth. I did like it. I also thought the two guys who tried to survive in different conditions and environments were really attractive.
Kulti made a humming noise but clicked on the oldest episode at the top. I definitely wasn’t going to complain.
Not even fifteen minutes into the show, the German completely turned his entire body in my direction, his face suspicious.
I set the plate on my lap and blinked. “What?”
“You like them or the show?”
Oh brother. Marc had laughed hysterically when I admitted how hot I found the two men—they were in their early forties, both graying, one at an early stage of hair loss, but I didn’t care. They were really attractive, and the whole survival thing only helped. What did I have to be ashamed about? “Them, mostly.”
Kulti’s facial expression didn’t change, but his tone said it all. “You’re joking.” He couldn’t believe it. What was the problem? They were both good-looking.
“No.”
He blinked those green-brown eyes at me. “Why?” he asked, like I’d just told him I drank my own pee.
I picked the plate up and held it directly under my mouth before taking a bite of my sandwich. “Why not?”
“You are young enough to be their daughter,” he ground out. “One of them doesn’t have hair on half his head.”
I took another bite of my food and watched him carefully, not eventhinkingit was weird that he seemed so outraged at who I found attractive. “First off, I doubt they’re old enough to be my dad, and secondly, I couldn’t care less about a bald spot.”
Kulti shook his head slowly.
Okay. “They’re both in good shape, have nice smiles and nice faces.” I glanced at the screen. “And I like their beards. What’s wrong with that?”
