* * *
Harrison
It was justafter sunrise when I finally stumbled blearily out of Collette’s room and into the kitchen. I should have crawled my way back to bed, but the smell of strong coffee wafted down the hallway like a siren song.
“I fell asleep,” I said on a yawn to Frankie, who stood staring out the kitchen window. I often caught her staring out windows, lost in thought. At first, I assumed she was thinking about her ever-growing to-do list, but now, I wondered if she wasn’t imagining another life where she wasn’t responsible for so much thrust upon her.
She startled and glanced up at me with a shy smile. “I’m glad you got some sleep. Coffee?”
“Intravenously, if possible,” I answered.
She chuckled, reaching for a mug.
So glad it won’t be weird at all now. No reason to even mention the fact that we almost kissed last night. No reason to ruminate over the fact that we almost did so much more than that. No reason to think about how the briefest brush of her lips against mine lit me more than anything I’d felt in years. Maybe ever.
This was all going to be totally normal.
“As it turns out, that bed is not meant for a grown man.” I rolled my head side to side, cracking my neck.
I stopped when I felt Frankie looking up at me. Her gaze moved over my exposed chest and shoulders. I wasn’t one to preen—well, yes, I was—but now, I actively tried not to flex. Her gaze sent shivers down my spine. I cleared my throat, and Frankie blinked, glancing away.
Nope not weird one bit.
“I think the princess canopy would have been a dead giveaway.” She handed me the hot coffee prepared just how I liked it.
“Bless you,” I said. After a sip, I sighed dramatically. “I think I would have been okay if her stuffies didn’t take up half of it. That Ellie the Elephant is a real bed hog.”
She sipped her own coffee and nodded. She seemed particularly lost in thought this morning.
“Did you get any sleep,” I asked after a few minutes, remembering my manners as my brain fully woke up. Still not bringing up the other Ellie the Elephant in the room.
“Yeah, a little.” She set her mug down and stepped toward me. “I was up thinking for a lot of it.”
I stilled as she came closer. My throat went dry. “Yeah? It was a strange twenty-four hours.”
She let out a breath through puffed cheeks. “No kidding. I feel a little punch drunk this morning. Loopy.”
This was it. The final straw had been her making a pass at me last night and me more than willing to meet her halfway. It was some sort of test, and I’d failed. She would be giving me the official boot. After all, it had been twoverylong days since our conversation about my leaving. The two-week deadline was here and gone.
“You were incredible last night,” she said.
The swallow I’d just taken snagged in my throat and I coughed. When I collected myself enough to talk, I said, “I, uh, didn’t even get—”
“With Collette,” she added quickly with a flush.
“Right. That makes more sense.”Oh Christ. That was close to humiliating. “No. That was nothing.”
“And before that with George.”
“Well, he trusts me.” I scratched the back of my neck. This was far from the boot to the bottom I’d been expecting.
“That’s exactly what I mean. I’ve been thinking. I would have been absolutely lost without you yesterday,” she said, holding my gaze.
I shook my head. “George wouldn’t have even gotten lost without me.”
“That’s not true. And Joey would have still showed up, so don’t beat yourself up.” I frowned. “Though if I’m being totally honest with myself, deep down I don’t think she would have even showed up if not for learning that you were here.”
And when she realized she couldn’t get anything from me, she abandoned her advances. We’d been thinking the same thing.
