Did I? Didwe?
The color drained from my face. Images from the night before flashed through my mind in blurry snapshots. The Piccadilly Deli. Burgers and Bushwackers. Trying to forget. Shots—soooomany shots. Helena’s Sweet Revenge at The Basement. Luca.
“Right,” I said, my already hot cheeks smoldering as I recalled the way he’d shown up at my table looking like a daydream. The way he’d placed his hand on the small of my back like it belonged there. Talking together in the car. His warm hands in mine as we danced.
But that was when things turned fuzzy. How had I gotten into my apartment? Those stairs were steep on a good day, let alone when I was hammered.
“You want me to bring your breakfast to you?” he asked, like this was just our normal Friday morning routine.
“No, no,” I answered too fast. “I’ll be there in just a sec.”
He raised his brows. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Just a little woozy is all. I probably need to eat.”
“All right,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Well, it’s ready when you are.”
He disappeared from view, and I flopped back like a dead fish. My hair stuck to my neck, damp with sweat, and the scent of whiskey emanated from my pores. I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing the heels of my palms into my sockets as I tried to conjure up more memories. They trickled in, one by one. Being folded into the passenger side of Luca’s Tesla. Luca’s arms around me as he all but carried me up the damp pathway.
My brain was a browser with too many tabs open, the cursor spinning. All I knew was I’d give anything to control-alt-delete my way out of this and start over.
I tossed the covers aside and slid out of bed, tiptoeing toward the door. Binx judged me through slanted eyes as I made my way outside the room with my back against the wall and peeked into the kitchen.
Luca was facing away from me as he unpacked a brown paper sack, pausing to take a sip of coffee. He seemed relaxed as Earl Grey studied him from the floor, hoping for a crumb. His locks were disheveled, but whose hair wasn’t a mess after they’d just woken up? It didn’t mean we’d had sex.
It was just a dream, right?
I took another step closer, the floorboards creaking beneath my feet.
He turned and smiled when he heard me. “There’s a bacon, egg, and cheese situation over here or sausage if you’d rather have that.”
Was his inflection weird when he said ‘sausage’? Gah. Shut up, McKenzie.
“Sausage sounds great,” I said, padding over to the counter.
Seriously?“Bacon,” I blurted out. “I mean bacon.”
He handed me a foil-wrapped sandwich and a large take-out coffee cup.
“I wasn’t sure how you took your coffee, so I got a pour over,” he said.
I took a drink, the caffeine going straight to my addled brain.
He turned back to the bag and plucked out some sort of jumbo muffin. “I love these things, but really, they’re just breakfast cupcakes.”
“Fuck,”I cursed, slamming my breakfast on the counter. My eyes darted to the clock on the microwave. It was just after 10 a.m. I was late for work. And not just a little. “Oh my God. Katie’s going to fire me.”
“I’m sure she won’t.”
“Damn it,” I wailed as I ran back to the bedroom and began a mad search for my phone.
Binx jumped off the bed, officially over my shit.
Same, buddy. Same.
“Looking for this?” Luca asked with a playful smile, leaning against the doorframe with my phone in his hand. “It must’ve fallen out of your pocket when you took off your pants last night. I found it on the floor this morning.”
I took off my pants?! Fuck me.I mentally slapped a palm to my head.He probably already did, and I just don’t remember it.
