“You look angry.”
He hung his head over the sink.“I shouldn’t have touched you.”
She blinked in surprise.“You touched me?”
“I touched your ankle.”
“Oh,” she said.“That.”
“Yes.That.”
“It was nothing.”
“Was it?”
She didn’t answer.It might have become something had they not been interrupted, but she wasn’t going to admit to getting weak-kneed over an ankle grope.
He set the plate in the dishrack.“You were wasted.”
“Not at that moment.”
He dried his hands on a towel before turning toward her.“Let’s talk about the condition you were in when you arrived.”
“Okay.”
“You went to a bar with my mother.”
“I went todinnerwith your mother,” she corrected him.“She ditched me to go to the bar, and I followed her to take her home.”
“That’s funny, because she droveyouhome.You couldn’t even walk.She wasn’t sober, but she was in better shape than you.”
Meredith took a calming breath.She understood the reasons for his concern.It was her job to transport his mother safely, and she hadn’t performed that duty.Even so, his attitude rankled.“We weren’t partying together, if that’s what you think.I had stomach cramps, and I was in too much pain to drive.”
“You could’ve called me.”
“You’re right,” she said.“I’m sorry.”
Chico, who’d left the kitchen, returned with a sausage-shaped chew toy.He settled underneath the table and gnawed at the toy.Although he didn’t have many teeth left, he could still make it squeak.She felt a wild urge to giggle.
“I’m sorry about Chico, too,” she said, clearing her throat.“That was my fault.”
Wade narrowed his eyes.“You trained him to attack erections?”
She laughed, despite the tension between them.“No.I play a game with him.Hide the squeaker.”
“Hide the squeaker.”
“He thought you were playing it.”
Wade dragged a hand down his face, but not before she saw his lips twitch with amusement.“Take my advice and don’t pop any more of my mother’s pills.They aren’t for lightweights.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
“Do you want breakfast or should I put it away?”
“I’ll do it.”
He exited the kitchen without another word.She finished her coffee, ate breakfast, and cleaned up.She tried not to think about him as she did her morning chores.He was annoyed with himself for wanting her against his better judgment.He probably considered her beneath him.He was an educated law officer, and she was a hick from the sticks.Her mind flashed back to Chico biting him on the ass.She laughed, shaking her head.
