Mad, Bad and Blonde - Cathie Linz [66]
She didn’t realize she’d spoken that last question aloud until he answered.
“Your friend Abs called me.” His voice was husky with sleep, making it sexier than ever.
“Why?”
He sat up next to her. The sheet slid down to his waist, revealing his bare chest. “Because she thought you needed help.”
“But why call you?”
“I may have been listed as one of your ICE contacts.”
“No way. I’d never list you.”
“I entered my name on your list when we were in Italy. In case something happened.”
She was offended. “You touched my BlackBerry?”
“Yes.”
“But we didn’t have sex last night, right?”
“What? No.”
“Good. That’s good.” She took a deep breath. “Tell me I took my own clothes off and put this nightshirt on.”
“You took off your own clothes and put your nightshirt on.”
“By myself?”
“By yourself.”
“Are you lying?”
“Yes.”
“Do I want to know what happened?”
“Probably not.”
She groaned.
He rubbed her back. “Want some aspirin?”
“I want a hot shower.” She climbed out of bed.
So did he. He was wearing jeans that hung low on his hips. “Need some help?”
She shook her head then wished she hadn’t. “I had no idea chocolate martinis packed such a punch.”
“How many did you have?”
“I’m not sure. I wasn’t paying attention. Three, maybe four, I guess. Too many.”
Faith felt much better after she had a shower and washed her hair. Her purple silk robe slid against her bare skin with soft insistence. Her senses felt as if they were on high alert, and it was all due to the half-naked man on the other side of the bathroom door.
She supposed she should count her blessings that he hadn’t gone to bed commando. She still vividly remembered his towel falling from his hips at the hotel in Positano, leaving him standing nude before her.
She still didn’t know why he was sleeping in her bed. That would be her next question. First she needed to brush her teeth for about five minutes. There. Now she was ready to face him. Not that her robe provided much protection.
To her relief, Caine was no longer in her bedroom. She smelled coffee being brewed. Closing and locking her bedroom door, she quickly got dressed. Today was a workday, and she was running late.
A pair of black knit pants and a bright turquoise top restored her sense of control, strengthened by the skillful application of makeup. Her hair obediently fell into place, although one section did stubbornly refuse to behave. Exasperated, she tossed down the brush and headed for the kitchen. She needed caffeine.
Caine handed her a mug with cream and lots of sugar just the way she liked it. His remembering how she liked her coffee shouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was. It would be rude to ask him why he’d stayed the night right now. In the end, she didn’t have to, because he told her.
“You didn’t want me to leave last night, in case you were wondering. You’d only stay in bed if I would stay there with you. Then you got sick, and I couldn’t leave you alone that way,” he said.
“You were nice to me.”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised.” He propped one hip against her granite counter while he sipped his own mug of coffee. He’d given her the What Would Jane Austen Do mug and kept the Hello Kitty mug for himself. “I can be nice when the situation warrants it.”
“Yes, but you were nice to me.”
“I’ve been nice to you before. I helped you with your wings. And helped you take flight at the Geek Meet.”
“Don’t remind me,” she mumbled into her coffee. “I can’t believe you did that. I can’t believe I let you.”
He just smiled at her. That’s all he did, yet it was as if he touched her intimately all over again.
She tore her gaze away from the magnetic visual hold he had on her. “I’ve got to go, or I’ll be late for work.”
“Same here,” he said before rinsing his mug in the sink and setting it in the dishwasher. Alan never did that. He always left his dirty dishes on the counter for her to clean up.
Faith had reached the point where she believed Alan had done her a favor by leaving her at the altar. Well, maybe not a favor per se. But she was definitely better off without him. She knew that