“No.” I take a step and place a hand on her shoulder. Her body freezes. “I want you to stay.”
I can feel the tension leave her back as her shoulders drop. I’d be lying if I said mine haven’t too. Our moment of lust might be gone, but there’s this energy between us. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not ready to let it go yet.
“I’ll give you some time to change,” I say, turning toward the door. I close it behind me and head downstairs to the kitchen.
The cleanup crew is mopping the floor. Because the kitchen closes at nine, this room has been sterilized for hours. I open the fridge and grab some Vermont cheddar, bacon, and a tomato. There are a few slices of bread left, so I grab them and start cooking.
When I get back upstairs, I have to balance the plates while I open the door. Jolene is sitting on the Murphy bed in lounge pants, an oversize sweatshirt, and bare feet. She pulled her hair up in a ponytail, and I’ll be damned if time didn’t just roll back ten years.
“Do I smell bacon?” She looks up from the couch, peeking at the plates in my hand.
The smile on her face makes my chest puff out.
“I’m a one-trick pony, I guess.”
She glances down, her smile sideways. “I thought … never mind.”
I give a nod and confirm her thoughts. “You didn’t think I’d remember this was your favorite late-night snack?”
Her eyes flutter up toward mine, and I have to look away. I place the plates on the coffee table and walk over to the mini fridge. I have mostly beer and soda. When I search in the back, I see there are two juice boxes. I toss her one.
“Honest Lemonade. How oddly adorable,” she says, pushing the straw out of the plastic wrapper. She takes a sip and then settles her juice box between her crisscrossed legs. “You don’t have to stay. It’s late, and I’ve taken up too much of your time. I’m good here … unless”—she pauses and purses her lips—“you don’t trust me here.”
I have to smile at that. “I’m not usually in the business of letting people sleep in my office, no.”
Her head tilts down, and I have to bend to get her eyes to look up at mine.
“I also can’t leave you here alone because I have nowhere else to go. I live here.”
Her brows crease into a V. “When you said you lived here five days a week, you meant literally?”
I nod as I hand her the plate. “I have a bed here and a shower in the bathroom. It’d be a waste of money to rent anything else. Plus, the kitchen is always stocked.”
“I hope I didn’t offend you by my surprise.”
“None taken. I don’t need much to live, apparently.”
“I know the feeling,” she says absentmindedly and then takes a bite.
She lets out the tiniest of moans, and my dick strains against my jeans.
“This is heaven,” she sighs, lifting her chin and exposing the tender skin along her neck.
I take a bite of my own sandwich to control my fucking hormones from making me lean forward and suck her there.
“Are you dizzy?” I ask her, remembering I brought some Tylenol upstairs with me from the kitchen.
I hand her the packet, and she smiles.
“I was when my eardrum first ruptured, but it’s passed. Just stings a little every once in a while.” She holds up the packet. “Thanks.”
“You’re gonna have to watch it in the shower. You can’t get water in your ear.”
She raises a brow. “You sound like a pro.”
“I ruptured an eardrum a few years ago. I couldn’t hear shit for a week.”
Her head tilts in intrigue. “From flying?”
“Bar fight. Some asshole was manhandling a woman against her will. I stepped in.”
“That’s very admirable of you.”
“It was the decent thing to do.”
She smiles and then goes quiet as she eats her sandwich. I inhaled mine already, so I just sit here, elbow to knee, and stare at the wall, wondering what the hell to do or say next.
“That guy, the one who I was talking to earlier when you came and interrupted us?” Her words have me turning back to her. She gives a knowing grin. “He was nice at first, but right before you got there, he started to get intense. I saw a shift from good conversation to insinuation of what he wanted the conversation to lead to. You showed up at the right time.”
A growl starts to rumble from within my gut. “I should have decked him.”
“No.” She holds a palm up. “I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing so for a long time. I don’t need a man to protect me.” Her teeth skim her lip as she grimaces, looking down to the sheets to collect her thoughts. “What I mean to say is, while I don’t need someone to protect me, it felt good to have a friend on my side. So, I mean, thank you for being a friend. I haven’t had that in a long time.” She closes her eyes like she’s embarrassed.
She’s so honest in this moment, and the last piece of hesitation that was hanging by a thread leaves me.
I grab her hand. The action startles her. She opens her eyes, staring at it on top of hers with lowered brows. When she looks up at me, it’s with the coyest of smiles, tender and touched.
Memories of just how good it felt when I did something like this—made her a snack, took care of her, consoled her—flood through me. I used to say I’d walk to the moon and back just to see her smile like that. Now, I remember why.
Crazy how some things haven’t changed much, and yet everything’s changed.
It’s so very fucking changed.
“You need some sleep.” I take her finished plate along with mine and walk them over to the side table. I turn the lamp on and the overhead ones off.
I toe off my shoes and pull my shirt over my head. As I undo my belt, I turn around and see Jolene’s still sitting on the bed, slack-jawed and eyes wide open.
I halt on the buckle. “Everything okay?”
She blinks twice before giving a quick shake of her head. “No. I just …” She pauses, raising a finger and making a circular motion toward my chest and abdomen. “You didn’t have all that ten years ago.”
Goddamn, if her expression of startled appreciation doesn’t do great things for my ego.
“I’m not a boy anymore, Jolene.”
She swallows. “I can see that.”
I curse under my breath because she has no idea just how hard she’s making it for me. Literally and figuratively.
Suddenly, her eyes squeeze tight, and her head bows. She’s gripping her ear and letting out a curse.
I place a knee on the bed and lean over to her. “It’s your ear. Give it a few minutes for the medicine to kick in. Lie down and let it heal. There’s nothing you can do but rest.”
She nods her head as she falls to the pillow.
I slide my belt off my pants and toss it on the floor. I usually sleep in boxers, but I think it’s better for both of us if I remain as clothed as possible so I grab a pair of lounge pants and slip them on.
I lean over and pull the string on the lamp, darkening the room for her. There’s a glow from the streetlight outside the office. It illuminates her frame as she lies, curled up in the space beside me.
Over the years, I’ve imagined ten different scenarios of what it would be like to see her. So far, five of those have played out tonight. I gave her the cold shoulder, had her lusting for me, ate her out, took care of her, and now, she’s in my bed, calling me her friend. I’m not sure how I feel about any of them.