I snort, practically tripping over my own feet as I stumble backward and close the door and melt against it.
Sweet dreams. Pah.
Somehow, I doubt those are in store for me tonight.
Chapter 16
Iri
I’ve just returned from another post-midnight grocery store run when someone steps into the dim kitchen. There’s a muffled bang and subsequent swearing as Sin collides with the kitchen island, telling me she’s at least half asleep.
I spin around and she shrieks like she’s being murdered as she spots me, throwing her hands up in the air. I try to put my own hands up, like she’s the cops, but all that does is cause me to throw a box of cereal clean over my head directly into the cupboard above me. It clatters against the other boxes, knocking them down like skittles, and we both wince at the racket they make.
“Shit. You scared me,” she pants. “Did you just try to throw cereal at my head?”
“No.” My heart’s going a mile a minute and I pause, waiting for the others to come charging to Sin’s rescue.
... nothing.
Wow. She really screamed the house down, but clearly it wasn’t enough to wake anyone.
“If I’d meant to throw it at you, I would have chucked it in front of me, not behind,” I tell her.
Fuck knows why that’s what comes out of my mouth, but it is.
It doesn’t help that she looks rumpled, and she smells like wet puss... No. Oranges. She smells of oranges. Or at least I think she does.
What is happening here? To me? It’s like her unexpected appearance has shocked my brain clean out of my head. Or maybe I left it in the car like a forgotten box of cookies.
“What’s that?” Sin asks, filling a glass of water and drinking deeply before gesturing to the box on the island. The one I’m pretending doesn’t exist.
I try to throw it in the trash without her noticing, but it’s too big and bulky, so I wind up sticking it under the sink with the cleaning stuff. Ignoring her question, I continue to restock the fridge, hoping she doesn’t notice the entire shelf dedicated to her favorite type of juice.
Not that I’ve asked her favorite.
Or... at least I haven’t asked Sin directly. In fact, I don’t think we’ve had a conversation that wasn’t about work in the past week and a half since she joined us.
But Imayhave asked Sin’s friend Elara about her favorites as soon as we got here. And she was more than happy to give me the full lowdown.
I’m not entirely sure why I felt the need to fill the cupboards with Sin’s favorite things, but she’s been working hard and needs fuel for that.
It’s only now that I'm seeing the packed cupboards with her in the room, I realize that it’s weird for me to know as much as I do about her when we’ve barely had a conversation.
“Fan mail?” she asks, clearly still caught up on the package that definitely isn’t too big to close the cupboard properly.
When I smack my shin on the half open cupboard, I decide pretending it doesn’t exist isn’t working for me. So, I dump it back onto the counter and glare at it instead.
“Package from my mother,” I reply. “Better to pretend it never arrived and burn without opening it.”
She raises her eyebrows, reaching toward it, and I realize she’s not wearing a bra.
Fuck. Me. My eyes shoot up to the ceiling.
The movement also causes the scent of her to waft in my direction. She definitely smells like wet pussy AND oranges. My dick likes the smell very much and twitches in my pants.
Double fuck. What the hell is going on with me? I’m a professional, dammit. I’ve never gotten horny over an employee before.
Especially not a flighty employee that I’ve had to move into my home for fear she might disappear on me.
