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He knocked again, harder this time, and I unlocked the door and held it wide, wondering what had forced him out of bed so early to land on my doorstep.
A lazy smile greeted me as Viper held up a brown paper bag in one hand and a drink holder containing four cups in the other.
He’d brought breakfast too? Who the hell was this guy?
“You gonna let me in or just stare at me, Angel?” His gaze traveled down my naked torso. Shit. I hadn’t even thrown on a pair of boxers or a shirt, and my hair was still wet and dripping down my back.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, as I moved aside to let him in.
“Rehearsal.” Viper glanced around my small apartment, probably the size of his bathroom, and then set the food and drinks on the bar top separating my nonexistent kitchen from the rest of the room.
“Rehearsal’s not until later at Killian’s.”
“Actually, it’s gonna be you and me today,” he said, leaning against the bar top and resting his elbows behind him. With his gaze on me again, traveling from my face down the length of my body, I was all too aware of my lack of clothes—dangerous, considering we’d been fully clothed last night, and look what happened.
“What do you mean just you and me?” I said. I moved back to my room to grab the towel I’d tossed on the bed then wiped off my chest and squeezed the water out of my hair. Then I threw on the first T-shirt I saw out of the closet and headed back out to see Viper frown.
“You really didn’t need to do that,” he said.
Oh yes, I did. Having Viper in my apartment was tempting fate already; I didn’t need to add any more fuel to the fire.
Ignoring his blatant perusal, I made my way into the kitchen, the bar top between us—yes, another shield—and said, “You didn’t answer my question. Are we not rehearsing with the guys today?”
“I told Killian you and I needed some more one-on-one practice.”
“You did what?”
Viper tugged at the scarf around his neck, slowly pulling it off. “My song. Your song. Writing lyrics. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
I knew better than to think he was here simply to work on the music. If his night had been anything like mine, he’d woken up hard and frustrated and having to take care of himself in the shower. Twice.
I fought back the image invading my brain and tried to change the subject by grabbing the bag he’d brought. “What’s this?” I opened the bag to see an assortment of bagels and spread inside. “You brought…breakfast?”
Viper lifted his shoulder. “You get grumpy as fuck when you’re hungry. I’d prefer to keep the demon fed if we’re gonna work all day.”
I eyed the four large travel cups. “And that?”
“I didn’t know if you liked your coffee black or with the fancy shit in it.” He opened the lid of one filled to the brim with black coffee and took it out for himself.
“Wow. The Viper brought me breakfast and coffee. Wait until the press gets a load of this.”
Viper rolled his eyes, and I had to grin. He’d blown it off like it was no big deal, but Viper had indeed been paying attention, and this wasn’t in his character make-up at all. He never went out of his way for anyone. Everyone else went out of their way for him.
I grabbed two plates from the tiny cupboard over the sink.
“Jesus, Angel, if I’d known it was gonna make you this happy, I would’ve bought you a fuckin’ bagel last night.”
After I put a couple of bagels on each plate and slid one over to him, I grabbed a knife from the drawer and reached for the honey walnut spread. “The steak was more than enough, thanks.”
I could feel Viper’s eyes on me as I smeared a liberal amount of the spread across both sides of my bagel, and as I brought it to my lips, he said, “You like the sweet stuff, huh?”
Before I thought better of it, I glanced at him and said, “Apparently not.”
Viper’s sinful lips curved against his coffee cup. “Hmm. Me, I’m developing quite a taste for it.”
Sweet? He thinks I’m…sweet? I wasn’t sure if I liked that, but my dick sure liked the way he was looking at me right then. A little too much. I took a bite of my bagel to distract myself, and after I swallowed, I said, “What makes you think I’m sweet?”
Viper put his coffee cup down and leaned over. “What makes you think I was talking about you?”
My eyes dropped to his dark stubble, and I couldn’t help but remember the rough way it’d felt against my cheek when he’d run that taunting tongue of his up to my ear. Knowing that would lead me nowhere smart fast, I brought my gaze back to his. “Aren’t you?”
