Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(38)

“Come on.”

“It’s fine. Go. I’m not going to pretend I like you disappearing in the middle of the night, but I understand. It’s late and I have an early day too. I hope your meetings, or whatever it is you have going on, go well.”

I felt him staring at me in the darkness, and he kissed my cheek. “I love you.”

I buried my head into my pillow and grumbled, “Love you too.”

“I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”

Moments later the door to my apartment opened and clicked shut. The sound ricocheted off the walls and my empty bed.



. . .



I awoke the next morning with a proverbial bug up my ass two minutes before my alarm was set to go off, which in and of itself was enough to tick me off. I didn’t have time to go for a run so I hoped a shower would assuage my feelings of ill will.

It didn’t work.

After fifteen minutes, I emerged from my steamy chamber with pink, shiny skin just as pissed as I was before I closed the shower curtain. I slicked my hair back into a tight bun—Oliver Pierce or not, I didn’t feel like doing my hair either. After I got dressed, I sat down with a mug of coffee and a bagel smeared with a thick layer of herb cream cheese. I was about to take a bite when I remembered I had the tail end of a bag of Cheetos in my pantry. It was a little more than fine crumbs and cheesy pellets—the best part of a bag of Cheetos if you asked me—and I’d saved them for a moment like this.

I dumped the remains on my plate and crumpled up the bag, tossing it on the table next to me. I tore off a chunk of the bagel and smashed it down in the cheesy, overly salty pile so they’d stick in my cream cheese in tight clusters. I threw it in my mouth, and the mélange of cheese, real and artificial, was everything right with the world. And just like that, as I chewed, my mood began to slowly improve. I call that the power of junk food, and it can’t be underestimated.

I rationed the tasty morsels to have enough for each bite and shoved the second to last bite in my mouth as Vance arrived. I glanced at the clock; he was running a few minutes ahead of schedule.

He stood in the hallway, in all his masculine glory, wearing his old black leather jacket. It made him seem tougher and edgier. The woodsy smell of him mixed with leather would always remind me of the wet night he carried me to the car many months ago outside of the hospital. I welcomed him in.

“Morning,” I said, swallowing my bagel down. “You’re early.”

“Really?” He checked his watch. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” He glanced into my apartment.

“If you’re talking about Gabe, no, he’s not here. He left early this morning.”

“Earlier than this? He’s not… uh oh, is there trouble in paradise again?”

“No. Everything is fine.”

“Don’t look at me in that tone of voice.” He chuckled at his own joke. “It’s a valid question.”

I sighed. “Want some coffee?”

“Sure. We have a few minutes to kill.”

I grabbed a mug from the clean ones that had been sitting in my dishwasher for a week and poured him a cup. When I turned around, Vance stood next to my chair and assessed my breakfast.

“Oh my God, what are you doing to yourself?”

“What?” I shrugged.

“Is that a…” He leaned in closer. “A bagel with cream cheese and Cheetos smashed into it?”

“It sure is. And don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

He held up his hands. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Suit yourself.” I tossed the last bite into my mouth and threw my trash into the can. I sat back down and hugged my warm mug with my hands. Vance sat across from me.

“Oh hey, I checked in with Brooks and Greyson. They’re taking over the detail for the weekend. We need to make sure Oliver knows. It was in his contract, so he should, but Cavanaugh asked us to confirm it.”

“No problem.”

“Great.” His voice was high and full of energy.

“You seem awfully chipper this morning. Everything going well with your dad?”

“Yep, he keeps getting stronger.”

“Did you end up just going home last night, or did you check up on him?”

“I went home and made a phone call. A friend came over, and we ended up having a lovely evening.”

The way he emphasized the word “friend” said it wasn’t one of his bar buddies, and he wouldn’t have described an evening with one of them as lovely anyway. I shrank back and a prickly feeling nipped at my flesh. “You called some random chick to come over?”

“Not really a random chick, but someone I keep on standby.”

“You have a girl that’ll just drop everything to come be with you.” I snapped my fingers. “Just like that?”

“Yep, pretty much.”

“You had a booty call?” For some reason I couldn’t close my gaping mouth.

Vance looked at me over the rim of his mug, and his smile beamed through his eyes. “I’m a man. I have needs.” He paused to savor a memory. “That Sherry.” He set his mug down and moaned. “That girl was put on this earth to please. Her mouth—”

“Don’t do that.”