Thank God.
“I’ll sleep down here.”
Damn it.
“I can’t let you give up your bed for me,” I said.Please, please, please consider joining me.
“It’s already a done deal,” he said. “I changed the sheets, and put some more towels in the bathroom for you. Feel free to look around for anything else you need and let me know if you can’t find it. I’ll be awake a little longer because I need to order a few things for Bella, but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to wake me.”
What if what I needed was him? What if I needed him to hold me because I was suddenly embarrassed that I’d opened up too much and been too vulnerable? I was usually smarter than that, more careful, more protective of my privacy. I didn’t ask those questions because I didn’t have the nerve and, besides, he picked up his black kit bag and went to the powder room. I took the not-too-subtle hint and showed myself to his room.
Ten minutes later, dressed in a cute pair of summer pajamas that would make Gina proud, I crawled between cool, fresh sheets. The day that had begun with me ogling Kyle’s erection ended with me in his bed. Alone.
Tuesday morning,I followed the smell of freshly-brewed coffee down the stairs. Bella lay in the front hall on a new dog bed.
“Coffee’s ready,” Kyle called. “I’ll be there in a minute to make breakfast.”
He was cooking for me again. As if I my lady bits didn’t crave him enough, now he was going to make my stomach a slave to him as well. I glanced into the office. He was wearing torn jeans and a tight, Army-green T-shirt. He’d run painter’s tape along the ceiling and was positioning plastic sheeting on the floor.
“Painting day,” I said. “What’s the color?”
He pointed to a test spot on the wall. “Sage green.”
I didn’t know whether I was more impressed by his tasteful choice or his knowledge that there was more than one category of “green”.
We spent breakfast, lunch, and dinner—all made by him—at his kitchen table, talking, laughing, and learning about each other. He was circumspect about his career as an Army Ranger and his position with the security company, but he shared the broad strokes and funny anecdotes from each. I’d lived a pretty mundane life by comparison and didn’t have much to add to all the deep, dark secrets I’d spilled on Monday, so I tried to steer the conversations toward his life. He didn’t make it easy, always cracking a joke to make me laugh and drop my defenses, then moving in with questions about me. I answered a few but evaded most of them.
When he told me about his parents’ divorce when he was ten, and how his mother took the job of a lifetime that required her to travel most of the time, I felt the walls between us crumbling. He kept his tone light and worked in funny anecdotes about living with his new-bachelor father, but he couldn’t hide the pain when he talked about how the family breaking up had changed his brother from a funny, outgoing kid to a sad and introverted one. Most days, Kyle had been the only one who could even make his brother smile.
And then I understood where he’d learned the skill heused so deftly on me. But I didn’t think it was a ploy. It was something he did when he truly cared. Was he trying to tell me he had feelings for me? I didn’t pursue it because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself again.
In between our long conversations, he painted the office and I worked on business management tasks. Occasionally, I texted with Gina, who was nearly as disappointed about the separate sleeping arrangements as I was. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was his decision, not mine.
After another great dinner and our long day of bonding, he carried Bella up to her room while I finished the dishes. When he returned, he poured a glass of whisky for each of us. We stood across from each other with him leaning against the sink and me leaning against the kitchen island.
He lifted his glass and proposed a toast. “To friends.”
“To friends.” I clinked his glass and we sipped our drinks. I waited for more, for him to propose we become more than friends or friends with benefits, or to step closer and wrap his arms around me, sliding his big, warm hand under the hem of my shirt and pressing his palm against the bare skin of my back.
Instead, he tossed back the rest of his drink and set his glass in the sink. “Well, good night. Sleep well, Cami.”
“Wait, you’re going to bed this early?” I glanced at the microwave. It wasn’t even 10:00 p.m.
He shook his head. “Actually, I have work to do. Even when I have time off, I usually have to keep up with ongoing...cases.”
“Okay.”
“Remember, if you need anything?—”
“You’re on the sofa.” I nodded. “I remember.”
And that’s how I ended up in Kyle’s bed for a second night. Alone again.
Wednesday morning,I entertained an increasingly restless Bella. We played on the deck. I gently rolled a ball between her paws and she nudged it back to me with her nose. No running, chasing, or exertion allowed. I kept her outside while Kyle did the noisy parts of putting his office together, like installing the baseboards and repositioning the desk.
He joined us mid-morning and announced the project was complete. He smiled as he held something behind his back. “If I recall correctly, Dr. Vaughn, last night you said this good girl could go on a short walk today.”
“I did say that, and I meant it.”
