Page 17 of Nothing At All

“You do take your time.” She squeezed me closer, shifting from temptation to affection, although that was just as addictive. Maybe more. “Can I have a rain check?”

“Baby, you can have two rain checks.” I cupped her ass and nibbled down the side of her neck. “As many rain checks as you want.”

Holding my head in place, she laughed, the delighted waterfall of sound I loved, and hugged me close. She kissed my hair before pushing the covers back. “Get your shower. I’ll start breakfast.”

The opened door let light slant into the room, and I lay there a moment, arms folded behind my head. She was a dream, one I didn’t realize I’d had until I met her.

Didn’t know what she was doing with me.

I rolled from the bed and launched my five-minute stretch on my phone. In the shower, I shaved, soaped and rinsed, imagining her with me, what I was missing out on. Next time she stayed over I was setting the alarm thirty minutes earlier for damn sure.

After toweling off, I donned my uniform and gear, lacing my duty shoes good and tight, flexing my toes to check the fit.

In the kitchen, I found her pouring us both a cup of coffee. Bowls of oatmeal with fresh fruit waited on the island, and she leaned to set our mugs by them, my t-shirt riding up her thighs to flash her ass at me while she did so.

“You’re the best,” I murmured as she turned around. I braced a hand on either side of her, trapping her between my front and the island. Her brown eyes dilated, and one corner of my lips hitched. Might be inexperienced, but I’d learned her reactions to me, studying them like I’d pored over anthropology notes back at UGA. I slid a hand to her hip and angled her into me, grinning when I felt her breathing hitch.

“You’re a tease, Daniel Gallagher.”

I kinda liked it when she called me Daniel.

“Only if I don’t follow through.” I lowered my voice and rubbed my thumb in a circle on her hip, approximating the way she liked me to touch her somewhere else. “And I plan to later. Thoroughly.”

Planting her hand in the center of my chest, she gave a light shove. “Eat your breakfast before I ravage you, mess up your uniform, and make you late.”

Chuckling, I levered to my full height, loving the way her gaze lingered on me.

Nobody had ever looked at me like her.

Not anybody I noticed, anyway.

With the stools pulled close enough that our knees brushed, we ate breakfast and talked about our plans for the day. She was hitting up doctors at the bigger hospitals in Thomasville and Albany today, and who knew what my shift would hold?

I had plans for tonight now, though.

She dressed in her clothes from the night before while I washed up, and we walked down together.

“Be careful on the road.” Standing in her open car door, I cupped her jaw and lowered my mouth to hers, then brushed the ends of our noses. “I’ll get us pizza from Nick’s tonight.”

“Sounds perfect.” Patting my chest, she slid behind the wheel, and I stepped back to shut her door. I stood in the drive and watched her back out, watched until her car disappeared at the corner.

I bit the inside of my bottom lip. Needed to Google some stuff on my lunch break, something new to try tonight. I did not want her disappointed or bored with me.

The screen door next door squeaked wildly, and the wood door slammed so hard the glass rattled. I flinched.

“Good morning, Danny!” Nicole’s voice grated over my nerves. “Can I catch a ride?”

Hands braced below my duty belt, I narrowed my eyes. She was dressed for work, like every morning. Shit, that lipstick was red, though.

“Don’t call me Danny. That’s not my name.”

She faltered a few steps away, eyes widening. Her lips trembled before her mouth pinched tight. “Oh. I just . . . I think of you as my Danny.”

Narrowing my eyes further, I shifted my stance. My reaction to her wasn’t lost on me – I viewed her like an unknown subject on scene, like I didn’t know what I was dealing with yet, what the threat level was.

Lila said she wanted me. That she could be a problem.

My sister and EmmaLee, two of the smartest people I knew, said not to trust her.