She laughed but it was brittle. “Coffee?”
“As long as I can have something from this selection to go with it.”
“Sure.” Her smile was weak, her shoulders curled forward, and it looked like she carried the weight of the world on her back.
“Mason moved in with his dad.”
Ah. Shit. That would account for the sadness radiating from her every pore, the production line in the kitchen, and the faint undertone of bleach he’d picked up as they walked through the house. “That explains…” He waved an arm. “This place is pretty clean. I guess that’s an upside to living alone.”
Her face fell, then her features hardened, and for a split second he wondered if she was going to throw the brimming cup of scalding coffee in her hand at his dumbass head. Before he could backpedal, she opened her mouth and spat her own attack at him.
“I guess it’s not fair of me to expect you to understand when you don’t have kids.”
He gritted his teeth. They were a barb a piece. They fell into an uncomfortable silence, each stewing over what the other had said. Or at least that’s what he assumed from the cautious glances and angry sips she took from her mug.
Who knew you could drink coffee angrily?
While she was right, it still stung, especially because Denise was… He couldn’t even think the word.
By the time he’d reached the bottom of his mug, they still hadn’t spoken again. He knew one thing for sure though, Clare Reynolds could make a better snickerdoodle than anyone else in the whole entire world. Even Mom.
He groaned as he took another bite, washing it down with the last mouthful of his coffee. She pinned him with a hard stare. Maybe she’d poisoned the cookies. If she had, at least he’d die happy. Best cookies ever.
“Was there something you needed…or…?”
Was she really kicking him out already? Man, she was pissed. “I just wanted to know if you were still up for our cooking class tomorrow night.”
He could almost see theoh shit, that’s tomorrow night?flicker across her face before she composed herself.
“Oh. Yeah. Absolutely.” She sipped her drink.
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
That was that, then. He stood up and tucked his hands in his pockets. If he didn’t he might reach out to grab her and kiss her until she wasn’t mad at him anymore. “I should probably go.”
She rose to her feet and untied the apron around her waist, then pulled it over her head. Tossing it onto the table, she sighed. “Sure.”
“That’s it?”
With a shrug, she spread her hands wide. “What else do you want, Eli?”
He closed the space between them, their noses touched, and her tits brushed against his chest with every breath.
“This isn’t a good idea.” She stepped back, but he followed. He couldn’t bear her being out of arm’s reach.
“Why not?”
“We’re both upset.” Her eyes flicked to his lips, and the flush that was spreading up her neck settled in her cheeks. “We both have stuff going on.”
He nodded. They did.
“Cat’s upstairs.”
That gave him pause. When they’d last spoken, Clare had said Cat wasn’t due back for another couple days. Something must have gone belly up to bring the kid back home. He wanted to ask, he wanted to be the caring boyfriend she needed him to be, but his skin was on fire and he needed her touch to put out the flames.
They stood silently staring at each other, the air around them sizzling with frustrations and lust. His heart beat loudly in his ears, and he wanted nothing more than to fuck her until they both felt better.
