“Never?” she asked, genuine curiosity in her word.
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Huh.” She ran her tongue over her teeth.
“What does that mean?”
“What?”
“The ‘huh.’”
“Nothing. It literally means nothing.”
“There’s a lot of not nothing in that ‘huh.’”
“Are you always this weird when you’re not drunk?” She followed him into the room.
He set her suitcase on the desk. “I’m not being weird.”
She held up her thumb and pointer finger. “A little bit.”
“You should be nice because I made enchiladas,” he grumped.
“My favorite.” She unzipped her suitcase and rummaged through. “So Vegas with me was your first sleepover?”
“What we did was hardly a sleepover.”
“It was totally a sleepover.” She raised her eyelashes, batting them in his direction.
“This is a ridiculous argument.” He shoved his hands in his pockets for lack of a better reaction.
“Do you mind if I take a second before dinner? I haven’t even had my post-airplane shower.” Marlee was already working on unloading her bag all over his unmade bed, totally oblivious to the fact she was laying her lace panties right where he usually put his head.
He pulled his gaze away from the clothing she was spreading around like butter on a bagel.
A second. She needed a second. He could give her a second. A minute even. Fifteen of them. Fuck, an hour, if that’s what it took. “For sure.”
“Eli?” she asked.
He was already nearly out the door. “Yeah.”
“Stop being weird. This doesn’t have to be weird. It’s just you and me rooming it up for a bit while our divorce goes through. There’s literally nothing weird about that.”
Uh-huh. If that’s what she said.
“And I just want you to know that once I have money again”—she kept talking. He kept standing there like the weirdo she’d turned him into—“I’ll pay you back for all of this.” She fluttered her hand around the room.
He tapped two fingertips on the edge of the doorjamb. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“You don’t owe me anything, either.”
“You’re family. And not just because we signed a paper with our real names. You’re family, and family is there for each other.” Even when they want to ignore the rest of the world.
She held his gaze, not speaking. Just looked at him like he meant something more.
Ever since the night they’d spent together, she had a way of glancing at him like she was doing just then, and it made him almost want to forget all about his commitment to perpetual bachelorhood.
His blood started to heat. His jeans started to get tight in the crotch. She dabbed at her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue.
