I brace for whatever is about to come out of her mouth. If she so much as suggests sex, I will implode, and will forever live as a stain on these walls.
“What's the plan for today, Professor? More storm chasing with your one-armed companion?”
I crinkle my brow. For once, she swerved off her normal course of chaos, and took the unexpected route. Why does that make me suspicious? What does she have up her sleeve?
“That depends on you. The weather pattern stalled out last night. There’s low level threats firing up over Illinois and Indiana in a few hours, but we’d never make it in time. However,there is also a developing pattern over the Rockies that should bring the weather to us tomorrow.”
“I'd be fine with a day to recover. As much as I hate to admit it, my shoulder is killing me this morning.”
“We could use the downtime to analyze the data we've already collected.”
“Nerd,” she teases.
Max jumps off the bed and trots over to us, pressing his nose against her leg. She scratches behind his ears with her good hand, leaving traces of powdered sugar in his golden fur.
“He needs a proper bath,” I observe. “The motel towel treatment didn't quite cut it.”
“And I need real coffee,” Lila adds, eyeing the murky liquid dripping into the cheap motel carafe with obvious suspicion. “This looks like something you'd extract from pond sediment.”
I glance at my watch. “There was a diner about a mile back. They should be open by now. We could get breakfast, find a pet store that has a dog wash, maybe even locate a laundromat.”
“A day of mundane errands,” Lila remarks, her lips quirking into a half-smile. “How refreshingly normal.”
I'm not sure how to interpret her tone. Is she mocking the idea?
“Is that a problem?” I ask, studying her expression. “We could find a storm simulator if you're going through withdrawal.”
She laughs, wincing as the movement jostles her injured arm. “I'm teasing, Professor. A normal day sounds...nice, actually.” She looks almost surprised by her own admission.
“Then it's settled,” I say, feeling oddly pleased. Max wags his tail enthusiastically, as if he understands and approves of our plans. I watch as Lila attempts to wrangle her wild curls one-handed, struggling with the towel wrapped around her head. Without thinking, I step closer.
“May I?” I ask, gesturing to her hair.
She hesitates for a second before giving a small nod.
Carefully, I unwrap the towel from around her hair, damp curls tumbling free around her shoulders in dark, wild waves. They’re soft beneath my fingers as I gently work through the tangles, trying not to pull too hard, Lila relaxes slowly in front of me as I comb my fingers through the damp strands.
“There,” I murmur. “That’s better.”
My fingertips brush the back of her neck as I smooth another curl loose, and I feel the immediate shift in her body—a tiny inhale, shoulders loosening beneath my hands.
Without really thinking about it, I let my fingers linger.
Slowly, I start working gentle circles into the tense muscles at the base of her neck while I continue separating the knots from her hair. Lila melts almost instantly.
“Oh,” she breathes softly. A small pulse of satisfaction moves through me at the sound.
“You’re annoyingly good at that,” she murmurs after a moment.
“At untangling things?”
“Mmm. That too.”
Her head tips back against my hand without thinking, trusting and warm, and something in my chest tightens painfully at how natural this feels.
My fingers slide gently through her curls again before settling back at her neck, and this time Lila actually sighs. My fingers are working slowly against the back of her neck when Lila opens one eye and glances up at me.
“So, about those errands…”
