“I also enjoyed hearing you snore.”
He snorted. “I don’t.”
She leaned in. “You do.” She kissed his chin. “And it was sexy.”
Had he awakened into a new dimension? Was he still dreaming? Whatever it was, he liked it, so he nodded and agreed, “That is a little perverted.”
The way she smiled was something he hadn’t seen from her before. “I loved watching you sleep.” She smoothed his hair off his brow, her touch a little too mothering for comfort. “I’m glad you could.”
He frowned. “I never sleep.”
“Well, you did last night.”
And she planned to take credit for that? Maybe she had reason. He only just now realized that he had one leg between her soft, slender thighs, their pelvises aligned.
He needed to clear out the cobwebs, and fast.
With a hand at her waist to keep her right there, he gave in to suspicion. “You stayed here?” He remembered getting comfortable, being turned on...then nothing after that. “All night?”
“Yes.” Her hand went from his hair to the side of his neck, then down over his chest. “Snuggled close.”
And he’d missed it. Damn it.
“You look cross.” Her heavy eyes shied away. “Did I overstay my welcome?”
“No.” I’m glad you’re here. He looked beyond her at the clock. Still early, thank God. “We have a lot to talk about today.”
“Marcus.”
Rowdy nodded, but he didn’t go there just yet. His brain was, for a change, blessedly relaxed. He wanted to keep it that way for a while longer. “And Cannon, your car, that phone call.”
Her gaze shot up to his. She withdrew her hand, but said only, “What about Cannon?”
Evasive? Now what was that about? For the moment, Rowdy chose to play along. “Depending on how things went last night, he might be staying on.”
“To do what?”
“We’ll have to see, won’t we?” He deliberately included her in the decision.
As he’d hoped, she relaxed again. “So what are you thinking?”
It was kind of nice, lying in bed in the morning and talking with Avery. It’d be better if she lost the shirt and panties, and if he knew this was a prelude to sex, but even so, he still enjoyed it.
Like a good night’s sleep, enjoying morning-after banter was not the norm. “Among other things, maybe he could give you a break every so often.”
“You give me breaks.”
Without makeup, her face bathed in harsh sunlight, she still looked so damned pretty that he had to fight the urge to reach for her. “I want to spend some time with you when we both aren’t on the clock.”
“Oh.” Her tentative smile could melt a man. “I’d like that, too.”
No woman had a right to be so appealing first thing in the morning. Even her tangled hair looked sexy as hell. “When you’re working, Cannon could help out in other ways.”
“You know I don’t want a barback.”
She’d just have to get over that. “Yesterday, seeing you manhandled by that—”
“He didn’t hurt me,” she rushed to say.
Rowdy lifted her wrist, looking at a small bruise that had been left behind. He kissed the mark, then kept her hand close. “Thank God Ella had the good sense to come and get me.” Even if he hadn’t been personally interested in her, as his employee, Rowdy was accountable for her safety. “I’ll feel better knowing a bouncer is nearby, someone I trust to defend you in case I’m not close enough to protect you myself.”
“I don’t want to be another of your many responsibilities.”
She already felt like the most important one. “I’m the boss, so I get to make the rules.” To soften that, he added, “Look at it this way. If Cannon works out, he can do the heavy lifting, fetch stuff when you need it, even answer the phone so you don’t have to.”
At the mention of the phone, her gaze darted away again. “I guess that would be nice.”
Ah, so it was the phone call that made her jumpy. Rowdy wasn’t dense; he studied her averted face, made note of her new tension and decided to ease into things. “Yesterday, you said you drove to work.”
“Yes.”
“Where was your car?”
“In the side lot.” She tipped her head. “Don’t you want some aspirin? Maybe some coffee, too?”
“In a minute.” If she hoped to distract him, she’d do better by taking off the T-shirt. “So what do you drive?”
Her nose wrinkled. “We really need to talk about this?”
“Is there a reason we shouldn’t?”
“I guess not.” Then half under her breath, she mumbled, “Infiniti.”
“Yeah?” Nice car. Rowdy watched her. “What kind?”
Lower still, she said, “G37 convertible.” She tacked on, “It’s two years old.”
He had to muffle a laugh. “That old, huh?” To him that’d still be a new car. She’d told him she came from money. Now Rowdy wanted to know why it embarrassed her. “What color?”
Dropping to her back, she sighed. “Cherry red.”
“Sounds sweet.”
“Yeah.” She turned her head to face him. “I haven’t driven it in a while, but I, um, decided you were right, that walking home from the bus stop might not be... Well, it was dumb, I guess.”