I shake my head again, trying to knock the thoughts out.
Get it together, Bailey.You’re reading into things.He groaned once.So what?Probably indigestion.That hand on your thigh?Professional positioning.The way he looked at you?Photographer checking the light.
Stop making this into something it’s not.
I take a deep breath, paste on a smile, and open the door.
When I exit the bathroom, he’s still packing his gear away.
“Can I help with anything?”
“Nah, I just have the stands to do, and they come down quick.I did start the transfer to back up the photos from the SD card.”His chin tips toward a laptop on the desk.
“Yeah?”My stomach flutters in excitement.“When will I get to see them?”
“Depends,” he says, scratching his chin.“I want to have a chance to edit them.”He diverts his attention back to collapsing one of the stands that held a light.“I took a lot of photos,” he says, and it sounds like an admission of guilt.
“Good,” I say.“It’s okay if you don’t get to them for a few days.I know you’ve got other obligations.”
He nods, then lifts his chin toward the closed door down the hall.“Wanna let Echo out?”
“Oh!Sure,” I say, and whirl around, eager to meet Silas’s sweet cat.
The moment I open the door Echo meows at me and runs up.She talks while she twines herself around my ankles, and I bend down and pet her back.Her fur is such a beautiful smoky gray and it’s so damn soft, the same as Raven’s.
A few minutes later, Silas comes to the doorway, and I look up from where I’ve sat on the floor, Echo curled up in my lap.He’s finally put his shirt back on.A wave of disappointment rolls over me.I want to trace those words on his chest, I want to count the feathers on that owl, follow the trail of hair down...
“What are you doing for dinner?”
I blink up at Silas, having to process the words for a moment.Enough lusting over someone I can’t have.“Hadn’t really thought about it,” I say, which is a lie.I’ve been thinking about avoiding my family and hiding in my motel room with trashy TV all evening.
Not my worst Valentine’s Day ever.
But if Silas is offering...
“Want to go to Kinnara?With me, I mean.”
Silas looks down at me, hopeful.Is he asking me on a date?I hesitate.“My family doesn’t know I’m in town.And if we were seen out together...”
“Right, it would definitely get around town.What if I picked up a pizza and brought it back here?”
“Parthenope’s Pies?”I ask.I haven’t had one of their pizzas inages.They have a thick, chewy crust that I love.
He grins at me.“Yeah.What do you want?”
I’m smiling.So is he.
Parthenope’s is known for their creative use of pizza toppings, so I tell Silas to surprise me and he takes off.I lavish Echo with attention until she gets tired of me and wanders off.
I put music on, a favorite playlist, and then try to get comfortable on Silas’s couch in a pose that says “hello, I know you’ve seen me almost naked but we can totally hang out as friends.”
I hear Silas’s truck pull up out front and a few minutes later the door opens.Echo leaps up onto the back of the couch and howls a greeting.Silas grins, and even though his hands are full with two pizza boxes and a six-pack of beer, he squats down to greet his cat with a soft “hey baby girl” and a kiss on the top of her head.Echo rubs her chin against him aggressively, nudging his glasses off-kilter.
He baby-talks to his cat.He kisses her on the head.His glasses get nudged crooked and he doesn’t even care.
I’m doomed.Absolutely doomed.
My panties explode.
