Page 30 of When Annika Met Thom

“No. Of course not.”

Thom headed for the bedroom and she heard him talk to Cerberus, then he left the dog in the bedroom and went into the bathroom. He moved fast, but not fast enough that Annika didn’t get a glimpse of him just wearing his jeans. He had ink all over his back and she wished she could have a better look at it.

Actually, his tattoos weren’t the only thing she wanted to examine more closely.

The water began to run. Annika watched Percival and thought about water running over hard abs, sliding over those tattoos, sluicing over Thom’s body...

The apartment was kind of warm. Annika stirred herself, wondering when Leo would turn up.

She called him, thinking he’d be close, but the call went to voice mail. He could be in the subway. He could be out of range of service. He could be getting off the train, wrangling his bags, sorting his change for the subway…

Or he could be avoiding her call.

Thom emerged from the bedroom finally. His hair was wet from the shower, which made it look ever darker and his eyes seemed to be darker, too. He’d pulled on a clean black T-shirt while his skin was still damp, obviously, because it clung to him lovingly.

Damn. He was hot.

His presence made the main room feel a lot smaller and warmer. Or maybe it was Annika’s imagination that was doing that.

“You have a lot of tattoos,” she said and he nodded.

“Call it a hobby.” He opened the fridge and took out a soda again, opening it and taking a sip .

“I called Leo but he’s not answering.”

“Imagine that.” Thom drained the can, holding her gaze all the while.

It was like he’d dare her to make the obvious conclusion.

There was only one she didn’t want to make.

“He should have been here by now. He said he’d be here by now. There must be a delay.”

“Could be.” Thom opened the bedroom door and Cerberus galloped into the apartment, checking on Percival in his cage as she wagged with enthusiasm. She barked joyously, Percival hissed, then the dog flung herself on the floor with contentment.

Because Thom was home and all was right in her world.

Annika considered her phone. “Where do you look for traffic reports?”

“It’s Sunday afternoon,” he said, his tone skeptical. “This is as good as it gets.”

“What do you know that I don’t know?”

“I don’t know anything that you can’t guess.” His tone was philosophical.

Annika had to ask. “What did he tell you?”

He raised a hand. “I’m not covering his ass or doing his dirty work.”

“You think he’s going to dump me.” Annika heard the annoyance in her voice. It was one thing to consider that maybe she and Leo weren’t going to be together, but he had no reason to dump her. She was here. She’d been faithful.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that he wasn’t here when you arrived and that he isn’t here now?”

“No, I can believe he took that shift. He’s very conscientious.”

Thom snorted his soda then coughed.

“You do know where he is.”

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