Page 11 of Late Nights

She blinked a few times, as if trying to get her bearings. “Me too.”

My brows rose, my grin growing wider at her response.

Finally realizing what she’d said, she shook her head vehemently, yanking her gaze from my abs. “Um, no, not me too. I sleep with a shirt on.” Her cheeks were an adorable shade of red. “I don’t sleep with a bra, but definitely a shirt,” she rambled. “But you didn’t need to know that.” She looked down at her feet as she shifted from one bare foot to the other.

I, unfortunately, was well aware that she didn’t wear a bra to sleep, thanks to the bare shoulder of hers on display. She wore a big sweatshirt and pair of sleep shorts, just like I’d known she would.

“Now that we’ve covered what we do and do not wear to sleep,” I said, “would you like to tell me what happened?”

Her cheeks turned red again. “Well, um…” She looked around at the mess she’d made in the kitchen. “I thought I’d try to make breakfast, but it turns out I don’t know how. Living with a chef my whole life didn’t really prepare me to know how to cook on my own.”

I looked in the pan on the stove, not able to discern what was in it.

I pointed to the black blob in the pan. “What was that?”

She bit that full bottom lip of hers. “A pancake?”

I tried to hold in my laugh, but I couldn’t help it.

“Stop it,” she laughed, hitting me with the dish towel still in her hand. “I was planning on surprising you with breakfast as a thank you for letting me stay here.”

“The smoke detector going off was a great wake-up call,” I said, still chuckling.

She pursed her lips and flicked the dish towel at me again. But before it could make contact, I reached out and grabbed it. I had hoped to pull it out of her hands, but she must have had a death grip on it, because when I yanked it back, she came with it, smashing up against my chest.

She let out a gasp as her other hand splayed across one of my pecs in an effort to catch herself. The warmth of her hand seeped through my skin, causing a different heat to spread through my body. Slowly she looked up at me, our faces close enough that I could lean down and kiss her if I wanted to.

And I wanted to.

The dish towel dropped to the floor, and we sprang apart. I wasn’t sure who dropped the towel first, but it was obvious she hadn’t felt comfortable being that close to me. And it was obvious I couldn’t be that close to her without thinking about kissing her. Had she noticed? Is that why she’d jumped back from me like I had burned her? Was she afraid her so-called brother was going to kiss her?

“Sorry about that.” I cleared my throat and ran a hand through my hair. “If you, uh, ever want to learn a couple things to make, I can teach you.” That was my lame attempt at returning the subject to cooking.

“Oh, yeah, that would be great.” Her shoulders and face relaxed at my offer.

“Just not right now or I’ll be late to work.” I walked backwards toward my room. “Unless you want me telling West and your Dad that I’m late because you almost burnt down the apartment,” I teased.

She grabbed the spatula sitting on the counter, pointing it at me. “You do that and you’re going to want to sleep with one eye open, pal.”

I chuckled at her threat. “I’m so scared.”

She used the spatula in her hand to point to the pan behind her. “Did you not see what I did to that pancake?”

I laughed again. “I’m not worried. I saw how you looked at this bod,” I gestured to my abs, giving her a wicked grin. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t do anything to ruin this.”

Her jaw dropped.

My flirty side came out naturally, but usually I tried to keep it tamped down around her. I guessed it was only a matter of time before it came out though.

She was quick to compose herself. “I’d like to see how you would act if I came running out here without a shirt on.”

Now it was my turn for my jaw to drop. “That is not the same thing.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” she shrugged, her face full of fiery determination. “But I guarantee you’d have a hard time keeping your eyes on my face.”

Although there had never been a fire, it felt like my whole body was burning. “Point taken.” I hoped the gravelly sound of my voice wasn’t giving away how much just the thought of what she was saying affected me.

She wasn’t fighting fair, and I had a feeling she knew it.

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