Page 10

She takes her jacket off and drapes it over the back of the chair.

“What are you doing here?” she asks in a low, unsure voice.

I push her mug closer to her on the table.

“The same as you. Having breakfast.”

“But why here?” she says, but what I hear is,Are you following me?

She looks nervous.

I try to ease her worries with a smile.

“I live right there.”

I point at my house, almost directly across the street from the café.

She turns to look over her shoulder.

“The blue house?”

“That’s the one.”

“Wow! What are the odds?”

Pretty good, I hope.

She bites her lip, thinking hard.

“I want to thank you again for Friday night.”

The words are followed by a lovely blush.

My smile grows. Hers wanes. She’s uncomfortable. And that’s the last thing I want. I want her to like me if I’m to have a chance of getting into her bed.Because that’s all this is, right?A normal hormonal-driven attraction to a pretty girl.

Except that for the last few years, I didn’t give a fuck if anyone liked me or not. The women I’ve been with knew the score. And like me, they were in it for the sex and nothing more. I vowed to never be trapped into a relationship again. But for some reason, I want this one to like me.Me. Not my family name or what it represents. And not the fulfillment of some‘I want to fuck a cop’fantasy. I get a lot of those too.

“Don’t worry about it. I know you were telling me the truth. It’s all good.”

And to take the attention away from her and me, I ask about her sister.

“How’s your sister? Was she okay after I left?”

I’m used to reading people, seeing their thoughts in the expressions on their faces, hearing the words that are not said. Something crosses her mind when I ask about her sister. Not anger. Annoyance, maybe, and a touch of resignation? It happens so fast, I almost miss it, but I could swear she wanted to roll her eyes.

“Yes, River is fine. She’s such a lightweight. I don’t even think she drank that much. She said someone spilled beer on her shirt. One or two drinks will do her in. I wish she didn’t do things like that.”

She sighs with a note of concern in her voice.

“She does that a lot?”

“No, not really.”

Skye’s quick to defend her sister.Loyalty.That’s another thing I haven’t experienced much of either.

I can feel her opening up a little more, now that she’s not the center of the conversation. Skye is not used to being the center of attention or does not like the spotlight on her.

“Well, since we were kids, she’s always been the fun one, but drinking, no. This is something that started a few months ago...” Skye trails off.