Page 53 of The Scent of Happiness

He swept open the bedroom door, thinking about work tomorrow. Or today, surely? What time was it, anyway? He needed to talk to—

“Hi.”

Brooke stood in the kitchen in the small pool of light from the range hood. She was wearing his t-shirt, which hung loosely on her and came to just below her hips. Her feet were bare, her legs delectable, and he made the mistake of inhaling a deep breath, pulling in the scent of the soap they’d made together. He had to leave. He had to leave now.

Brooke held up an open cup of yogurt. “I woke up and I was starving. Then I remembered we missed dinner. I’ve got more yogurt if you want some. I’ve also got a brand-new box of Frosted Flakes.”

“No, thanks.” He rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?”

Brooke turned to check the stove clock, exposing that delicious crescent where the back of her legs met her ass. Theo forced himself not to look. “Four-thirty,” she said. “We can go back to bed if you’re not hungry.”

“Dammit.”

“Are you okay?”

“Fine, fine. Other than the fact that I ruined my career.” Everything he’d worked for and sacrificed for, lost. He flexed his fingers, trying to work feeling into his hands, to get his limbs moving, to get his sluggish feet out the door, already.

“Your whole career, huh?” Brooke spooned up a bite of yogurt. “Well, there’s an ego boost for me. I’m so good in bed that I ruin men’s futures. Oh, the power I must have.”

“That’s not funny.” Theo grabbed his suitcoat from the back of a chair and shrugged it on. “Where’s my tie?”

Brooke pointed a calm finger under the chair. “It was a little funny. And anyway, you’re kind of flipping out and I’m not sure why you—”

“Of course I’m flipping out.” Theo snatched his necktie from the floor. “I’m not supposed to sleep with a client. I could get fired. I could get hauled up in front of the State Board for ethics violations.”

“Who’s going to know?”

“It could be bad for you too, Brooke. Your credibility is shot. I never should have kissed you.”

“I kissed you,” she said. “Oh, the scandal.”

Theo clenched his tie in his fist, wrinkling the silk. His guts churned as his heart met his stomach. “It shouldn’t have happened. Not like that. We shouldn’t even have toured the botanical gardens together.”

Brooke put down her spoon. She lowered the yogurt cup and set it on the countertop next to the curing soap. She stood very still. “Are we in the nineteenth century now? Is this the part where you tell me that my feminine wiles led you astray?”

“No,” he said miserably. “This is all my fault.” Four-thirty in the morning. A few precious hours to make this right. I have to talk to Stephen. I have to—

“Excuse me,” she said. “But isn’t this something we did together?”

“I know, but—”

“And you say fault like we did something wrong.”

“But we did,” Theo said. “And I’m a little concerned that you can’t see that.”

“So you regret it.” Brooke’s voice was barely above a whisper. She’d backed away from the kitchen range and stood in the shadows.

Shit. Theo closed his eyes in a long blink. His chest ached with a dull pain and he put his hand over his heart to quell it. How could he be such a fool? He’d messed up—completely and totally. But instead of making it better, he was making it worse. Because at this moment, the worst single thing he could do was hurt Brooke.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted. He stepped into the kitchen. Brooke stood stiffly, glaring at him. He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. After a moment, she hugged him back and relief washed over him.

“I’m such an idiot,” he whispered into her hair. “I do not regret it. Not one bit.” In fact, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. “That’s the problem.”

“I mean yeah, we probably complicated the whole legal thing, but we can figure this out, right? You’re very smart. You must know what to do.”

He rubbed her back through the thin shirt. He was still bed-warm, but she felt like ice in his arms. How long had she stood in the kitchen wearing only a t-shirt? He slid off his suitcoat and put it around her shoulders. “You’re freezing. Do you have a robe or anything?”

“Yeah, somewhere.” Brooke put a finger on the side of his jaw and ran it down to his chin. “But if I’m cold in the middle of the night, I go back to bed.”