More time passed.
HIM: Damnit, where are you?
When I dragged myself out ofbed the next morning, it was to a text message from Beckett saying he was going to work out at the station before checking in with Ron on the investigation. He’d left Vader behind, telling me to be on alert if his dog started freaking out like he had yesterday.
While Beckett was gone, Dad and I had gone next door and finished the rest of the porch, with Vader bringing up more garbage from the river the entire time. Then, we’d walked through the house with the water damage restoration folks and an insurance adjuster.
We’d both come back to Beckett’s feeling exhausted and fighting our discouragement.
It was going to take a lot more time and money to fix the house than either of us had thought. I’d figure it out…somehow. I just had to think about it. See what else I could shuffle around. We’d been through worse.
What I held back from Dad was my worry the fire would be determined to be gross negligence, or purposeful, and that we’d never see a penny of the insurance. If that happened, we might be out of luck. We might have to sell it as-is for a lot less than it was really worth.
While Dad took the first turn in the shower, I searched the house for the kitten who’d knocked over her crate again. Vader found her first, barking from Beckett’s bedroom.
I hesitated before entering the new suite he’d added on to the house. It was as much to get the cat as it was a perverse need to see where he sleptthat had me stepping inside. The room was full of the same neutrals and dark woods he’d decorated the rest of the house with, but the king-sized bed where the kitten lay curled surprised me.
With its gray padded headboard, the bed felt strangely soft and feminine in a space I’d expected to be purely masculine. It was sexy and sensual, inspiring images of bodies tangled together on it in the heat of passion. And just knowing I was actually thinking abedwas sexy nearly sent me running from the room.
The cat sat up, mewling sweetly as Vader nosed her. She was the cutest little thing, begging for love. It tugged at my heart. No one but Vader had really given her much attention since Beckett had brought her home. I certainly hadn’t given her much thought with everything else that had been going on.
“You’re quite the little escape artist,” I said, petting her between the ears while Vader licked my hand.
I’d always wanted a cat, but a lot of apartments didn’t allow them, so I’d resisted the urge up until now. This little gray-and-white furball had a tiny white, mask-like stripe around her vibrant green eyes and a pink, shiny nose. While I continued to pet her, she rested a paw on my hand, and I was a goner.
“How about you come stay in my room?” I picked her up, and Vader wagged his tail as if he was happy to see me holding her. “What should we name her, Vader?”
He woofed as we made our way out of Beckett’s room and down the hall.
“I’m not naming her Woof.” I considered her. “Maybe Dorothy, the world-famous escape artist, or Dorothy fromThe Wizard of Oz, because she blew into our lives.”
Vader barked, the cat rubbed its head against my chin, and my heart warmed. “Okay. Dorothy it is.”
The cat explored my room, batting at the cardboard boxes, while Vader watched over her. When I came back from helping Dad with his bandages, the two animals had curled up together, tails entwined, on the foot of my bed, just as they had the night before. Since the dog adored Beckett with a heart-eyed fervor, I’d been surprised when he’d stayed with me. But looking at them now, I realized it was much more about the kitten than me.
It was clear the two animals had bonded. I wouldn’t be able to keep Dorothy because Vader had already claimed her. I took a picture to send to Beckett, determined to convince him to keep her.
I grabbed some clean clothes and headed to the shower, but once I’d scrubbed off the sweat and smell of burned wood, I realized I’d forgottenmy bra. I wrapped a towel around my middle, peeked out into the hall, and then scurried across to my room.
Vader thumped his tail on my return and then put his nose back in the kitten’s fur.
I’d just dropped the towel when the door of my room was flung open with so much force it banged against the wall with a loud crack.
I screamed and turned, hands to my breasts, heart leaping into my throat.
Beckett stood in the doorway, face dark and frustrated.
“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded.
“Get out!” I hollered, scrambling for the towel.
When I stood back up and tried, with shaky hands, to wrap it around me again, it was to find Beckett’s gaze locked on my barely covered chest. His Adam’s apple worked overtime, and it took far longer than it should have for his eyes to make their way back up to my face. The longer our eyes clashed, the more the spark between us flared into something dangerous. Into the same intense longing that had all but consumed us yesterday. That had left me achy and him begging to show me what he could do to me.
Instead of leaving the room, as I’d requested, Beckett took a step toward me, and my belly wooshed. A low, tantalizing thrill danced through me, and I knew if he touched me, I’d be a lost cause. I’d let down the feeble wall I still had left. I’d let him do whatever he wanted, and damn the consequences to our lives…our friendship.
I had one chance…one chance to push this back into the right territory. To right the ship before it sailed. I forced my voice to be light, forced a tease into it I felt far from, as I asked, “Are you happy now? You’ve got your tit for tat. I saw you. You saw me. We’re even. Now get out.”
He didn’t. He stepped even closer, and I moved backward only to run into a bookshelf.