We reached my door; I opened it and didn’t bother with the light.The room was dark except for the faint glow filtering through the curtains from the streetlights outside.
Perfect.
I walked straight to the bed and did a perfect face plant.The mattress caught me with a soft whoosh, and I didn’t even bother taking off my shoes.
Behind me, Wheels chuckled.
I lifted my face just enough to mumble into the comforter.“Shu’ up.”
“What?”
I groaned louder.“I said shut up.”
“No idea what you just said, babe.”
Babe.
The single word rolled through me far more than it should have.Heat crept into my cheeks and thankfully, my face was buried in the mattress where he couldn’t see it.
I wasn’t sure why I liked hearing him call me that.Maybe because it sounded so natural coming from him.Maybe because nobody had ever said it quite like that before.Whatever the reason, I liked it.
I turned my head enough to breathe.“That was a long day of sitting on my butt, hunched over a table.”
I finally looked over toward him.
He stood in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest, and one shoulder resting against the frame.“Yeah,” he said.“You’re right about that, babe.I’m more sore than I am after riding all day.”
“I didn’t know paperwork required this much physical endurance.”
“It doesn’t.”
“No?”
“No.You just worked harder than the rest of us.”
I snorted.“I sat.”
“You noticed things we didn’t.”
“I noticed signatures.”
“You noticed patterns.”
There was a difference.I hadn’t thought much about it until he pointed it out.“I guess.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
I stared at him for a second.“You always this nice?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.”
His grin widened.“You’re special.”
My stomach did a funny little flip, and I decided not to examine it too closely.“I think you’re just trying to butter me up.”
“You caught me.”
