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Claire
I FOLDED MYlegs under me and set my laptop on my thighs. My bed would have been more comfortable, but I couldn’t be there at the moment—not while the sheets still smelled like Bennett. And sex. The combination was heady and complicated.
Bennett had left sometime before I’d woken up. I hadn’t expected morning cuddling or breakfast in bed, but the least he could have done was leave a note. I’d thought Bennett was a good guy, but his actions were making me question my judgment. After being so terribly wrong about Reg, I was wondering if I was clueless when it came to men.
Yawning, Stephanie stumbled into the kitchen and blindly jabbed at buttons on the Keurig. Huffing, she opened the lid and slammed it closed. Setting my laptop aside, I got up from the couch to assist her in the kitchen before she broke the machine.
“Sit,” I told her. “Do you want the breakfast blend?”
She plopped down on a stool. “I guess. Whatever has the most caffeine.”
“I think it’s all the same.” I refilled the water container and pressed the power button. “How was the late-night meditation?”
Stephanie had been spending time with the wellness-retreat people. Her decision to do so had surprised me, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. A pang of guilt hit me that we hadn’t spent more time together, but I’d been busy. Unlike her, I had a job to do.
She shrugged. “I don’t feel enlightened.”
When she’d told me she was going to the Meditation under the Moon seminar, I’d struggled not to snicker at the woo-woo title. “Perhaps the moon wasn’t aligned with Jupiter.”
“Don’t make fun.”
“Sorry,” I said. Lord knew I was in no position to judge anyone. The coffee finished brewing, so I placed the mug in front of my sister.
She cradled it in her hands and inhaled the scent. “I miss Starbucks.”
“Starbucks is overrated.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“If you’re desperate for designer coffee, you could try Carmen’s side of the Banks Brew Company.” One thing I missed about New York was the variety of independent coffee shops. Carmen’s place reminded me of those.
Stephanie’s eyes widened, and she grinned. “Speaking of the Banks Brew Company…” She waggled her eyebrows and looked around.
Shit.I’d walked right into that one.
“Is he still here?” she whispered.
I turned my back to her to make another cup of coffee. I could try to deny that Bennett had stayed over, but she’d obviously seen his truck parked in the driveway when she’d come home last night. “If he was, do you think I would be down here with you?”
“Good point. So…?”
I grabbed a sponge from the sink and scrubbed at the counter next to the Keurig. “So what?”
“Oh… my… God! Are you serious? Tell me what happened.”
I threw the sponge into the sink and turned. “I think you know what happened.” I took my mug of coffee and returned to the living room.
Stephanie followed me. “Oh, no, no, no. That’s not how this works. You hook up with the hot island man, and then you tell your poor married sister all about it.”
I snorted. “Poor married sister?”
She shrugged. “Phil is a silver fox, and I love him to death, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want details!”
I sighed. There was no getting out of this conversation, so I might as well get it over with. “He came over, we…you know… and then he left sometime this morning.” I set my computer on my lap and stared at it.
Stephanie slammed her mug down on the table, causing some coffee to slosh over the edge, and wrestled my laptop away from me. “No way. I needde-tails. Is he as good-looking naked as he is in those flannel shirts? Did he go all lumberjack on your ass?”
