No, he hadn’t dropped the L-word on her or anything. But he’d said enough for her to recognize that thesomethingshe’d thought might be developing between them was now a lot more thansomething. A reasonable person might even say it wasserious. And while that idea had thrilled her initially and turned her insides all warm and gooey, once the sex hormones had worn off, she’d started tothink.
That was never a good idea.
Not for her.
And definitely not on an empty stomach.
Heading straight for the refrigerator, she prayed Misty had remembered to grab some takeout for her and Caleb from wherever they went for dinner.
“I thought you’d be out like a light until morning.”
Brielle spun around so fast she nearly fell over. Misty was sitting at the kitchen table, the small glow from the lighting under the cabinets illuminating the piece of chocolate cake she was nibbling.
“There’s more cake in the fridge if you’re interested. Second shelf,” Misty said. “It tastes so decadent you’ll feel like apologizing to yourself for eating it.”
Brielle opened the fridge to find the aforementioned cake looking back at her. Unable to resist, she cut a slice, then put the piece on a plate. Chocolate cake with loads of coconut buttercream frosting, it looked delicious. And while it was probably insane to be eating this much sugar at four o’clock in the morning, she was going to do it anyway.
Grabbing a glass of milk and a fork, she sat down across from Misty.
“You’re up early,” Brielle said. “Or really late.”
Misty grinned. “I woke up thinking about this cake and knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep until I satisfied my craving and had a piece.” She licked some frosting off her fork. “What about you. Couldn’t sleep? Or does Caleb snore? He seems like the kind of man who would snore. Or growl. I can see him doing that, too.”
“No, he doesn’t snore,” she said with a soft laugh. “He doesn’t growl in his sleep, either. Though if he did, I don’t think I’d mind.”
Misty lifted a brow but didn’t say anything.
Brielle loaded her fork with an equal ratio of cake to frosting. It tasted as good as it looked. The chocolate cake was moist and rich, and the coconut frosting was delightfully sweet. As she eagerly took another bite, she realized she’d never fully answered Misty’s question.
“I think I’m falling for Caleb,” she announced, stunned she’d said the words even as they popped out of her mouth. That hadn’t been what she’d intended to say. Or was it?
Misty took another bite of cake, chasing it down with some milk. “I’m not trying to be a smart-ass here, but I’m pretty sure I heard the thud of you falling for Caleb back in that safe house in Moscow. So I would have to say that the past tense form of the verb would probably be called for.”
Brielle took a second to think about what Misty had said, even if her first instinct was to deny all. But she owed Misty at least a moment of serious introspection because, regardless of the way it had come out, she was being serious.
“Part of me wants to tell you that my night in Moscow with Caleb wasn’t about anything more than great sex,” she murmured, focusing on the cake in front of her instead of looking at the woman who was fast becoming her friend. “But that would be a lie. We’d barely finished making love, and I already knew I was in trouble. By the next morning, I realized there was something more there. That I waslookingfor there to be something more.”
“Sounds promising so far. Did something happen tonight to change that?” Misty asked, getting up and walking over to the fridge. A moment later, she was sliding another piece of cake onto her plate, then one onto Brielle’s, even though she’d barely started on the first piece.
Brielle opened her mouth to point that out, but Misty interrupted her.
“Don’t worry about the calories,” she said as she put the box back in the fridge. “Anything eaten after midnight and before six a.m. only counts half. Something to do with the food getting confused and not knowing if it’s really today, yesterday, or tomorrow.” She grinned. “Trust me, I would never lie about something as sacred as chocolate cake and calories.”
Brielle was still trying to find the flaw in that logic when Misty sat down again.
“So, you were about to tell me what happened tonight with you and Caleb. It had to be something significant, or you wouldn’t be sitting down here eating cake with me instead of upstairs spooning with your warm, cuddly werewolf.”
Brielle laughed. “I can’t see Caleb appreciating being described as warm and cuddly.”
She’d worked with other women before and hung out with a few in a way that could almost meet the definition of friendship. But she’d never really had a girlfriend she could talk about guys with and stuff like that. The things going on in her life never gave her the opportunity. But if she’d had a close friend, she liked to think that it would be something like this.
Misty smiled and shook her head, nibbling at another bite of cake and then licking the icing off the fork. “No, probably not, but I won’t tell if you don’t. So, what happened? Did he say something stupid?”
Brielle thought about that for a second, wondering if that was the right way to put it. “The opposite actually. He said something really amazing. He said he’d always be there for me for as long as I wanted.”
Misty nodded but didn’t say anything right away. She just kept eating until several more bites of cake had disappeared.
“I guess that was too much too fast, huh?” she finally murmured, still not looking up.
