Free Worth the Fall by Mara Jacobs Page B

And leave yummy-looking casseroles.
    “Yep,” she answered as she made her way down the hallway to the bedrooms. “Sorry if I woke you, I was trying to be—” The words died in her mouth as she rounded the corner and saw him propped up in her bed naked from the waist up, a vision of pure male amidst the pink bedding.
    She ’d bought it as a joke. She’d been at Shopko picking up her mom’s meds yesterday when she’d taken a U-turn with her cart and ended up buying anything pink and lacy that would fit on a queen bed.
    But now she played shrink for just a second and wondered if she hadn ’t done it to protect herself. To temper the vision of him in her bed.
    And she hadn ’t even factored in the naked part.
    God, he was so big, so strong, with a chest full of dark hair that trailed down and down into…a mass of…frilly pink cotton. Yep, that helped. A little.
    “You didn’t wake me. I slept most of the afternoon and evening after my mom and Lizzie left. I just woke up about an hour ago.”
    She nodded, trying not to stare at his chest. “Wait. So you got that dinner by yourself?”
    “ Well, my mom put it in the oven on timer. I didn’t make it or anything.”
    “ But you got out of bed, got the thing out of the oven, ate, and did the dishes?”
    He shrugged, like it was no big deal, and Alison took a step closer, really looking at him now, not just at his amazing physique. “That seems like a lot on your first day out. Are you feeling okay?” She went to place a hand on his forehead like a mother checking a child for fever, but stopped herself.
    He tracked her movement with his eyes, staying on her dropped hand as he said, “Doc said I should move around a little more each day.”
    “ Yes, but he probably meant, like, working up to getting to the john or something, not standing in the kitchen doing dishes.”
    “ I just put ‘em in the dishwasher. It’s no big deal. I’m fine.” There was an edge to his voice and she knew to drop it. She moved around the side of the bed, to a small alcove that looked out onto the lake. She’d placed an upholstered chair and ottoman in the little nook, thinking she’d read case files on that chair while watching boaters on the lake. She’d even spent extra money on beautiful windows. But instead, the spot had become her sanctuary from the outside world and she never brought work into the space. She used it for pleasure reading and to just sit and be calmed by the sight of the lake.
    Getting comfy in the chair, she studied Petey while he watched her. “Do you want to talk about—” She saw the panicked look in his eyes and realized he thought she was going to bring up the night of Katie and Darío’s wedding reception. She quickly finished her thought. “—Setting up some ground rules while you’re staying here?”
    “ Like what? You’ll put a necktie on your bedroom door if you’ve got someone in there?” There was some humor in his voice, but also just enough petulance to make her burrow into the chair, pull the cashmere throw from the ottoman up and around her, and give him a small, coy smile and shrug.
    “ Well, yes, I guess that’s what I mean.”
    It wasn ’t at all what she’d meant. But the way his shoulders tensed and his eyes narrowed…well, she really couldn’t be blamed for a little exaggeration, could she?
    “ Are you seeing someone right now?”
    “ I….”
    He held a hand up. “Wait. Were you seeing someone that night? The night of Katie’s wedding? Is that why you bailed in the morning without a word?”
    Where had that idea come from? Had he been thinking about why she hadn ’t stuck around for the post-mortem? Wasn’t it obvious? That there was no way in hell she could face him after….
    The best night of sex in her life.
    Wow. How could she even know that if most of the night was still hazy at best? But she knew it was true.
    And suddenly she didn ’t want to play this game with him. “No. I wasn’t seeing anyone then.