“Missed you, too,” he said, tilting his forehead and letting it rest against mine.
I let my eyes fall closed and drew a shaky breath. “Yeah. Yeah, that… might be what I’m getting at, here.”
Kieran held my gaze for long moments, impossibly clear green eyes keeping me in place like something out of a long-forgotten myth.
I wrote about magic every day of my life, but Kieran might’ve been enough to make mebelievein it.
The alarm on my phone picked that supremely inopportune moment to go off. What kind of asshole would set it to go off just now?
… right, me.
“Gotta go?” Kieran asked, eyes still soft, affection written in every line of his face.
“Gotta go,” I agreed. “If I wanna shower before I get there. Which I do.”
“Well. If youdidn’t, they’d sure as hell believe we were screwing.”
I wrinkled my nose at the thought, then paused and wondered if that’d make useful proof.
No.
Maybe?
“No,” I decided. “I’m not willing to sellthatmuch of my life to make this happen. I don’t think that’s what the meeting’s about, anyway. I mean, maybe.”
“You don’t know?” Kieran asked, apparently surprised.
“I look like an organized man to you?” I raised an eyebrow, pushing the covers the rest of the way off me and rolling out of the bed.
“You look more or less like a naked man to me,” Kieran said.
“More or less?” I asked, gathering up my pants to switch my phone alarm off. It was still in my pocket.
I hadn’t needed it since I’d kicked them off.
Kieran shrugged. “More or less,” he defended. “I understand that not all men look the same naked.”
“That’s definitely the most flattering way to express that,” I said, but I couldn’t stop myself smiling. “Will you be okay on your own?”
“I’m not a puppy,” Kieran objected.
“You sure? You’re almost as cute as one.”
“Almost?” Kieran’s mouth dropped open, but there was still laughter in his eyes.
“More or less,” I repeated, shooting him a pointed look. “There are toaster waffles in the freezer,” I said. “Probably.”
“Probably.” Kieran laughed, eyes sparkling, and holy crap was he stunning in the mornings.
I could’ve gone for alotmore mornings like this.
“You know we need to talk, right?” I asked, stomach clenching uncomfortably.
But wedidneed to talk. This hadn’t felt like a hookup, but it didn’t exactly feel like happily-ever-after, either. I needed to know how Kieran felt about things.
I needed to know howIfelt about things.
“I know,” Kieran said. “But you need to go shower. And I need to not offer to join you.”
