Page 11 of Healing Conviction
Confusion made his brows pull together, but he followed her instruction and saw a flash of green fabric in the drawer. “Are those…”
Nora was laughing with abandon now. “Yup. Those are panties. I guess Phoenix had a little fun in the kitchen before he decided to screw us all over.”
Draco went to pick them up, but Nora slapped his hand away.
“Ew, you can’t go around picking up random panties! That’s so gross!”
“How am I supposed to get them out?”
“Idon’t know! I haven’t exactly read the ‘panty pickup protocol pamphlet’! Here—” She turned to another drawer and grabbed a fork to scoop the panties from the drawer. Her face scrunched up adorably as she peered over her thin wire glasses to inspect the find. “A simple green cotton thong, huh? Practical but sassy, with a slight craving to do something daring every now and then. But not too much.” On the last, she pointed the panties at him in emphasis. He held open a grocery bag, and she tossed both the panties and the silverware into the bag. “I’m surprised Phoenix would go for that type of woman, actually. She’d give him a run for his money.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You can tell all that from a pair of underwear?”
“Everything is in the details. What kind, what color… where they’refoundapparently.” Nora shrugged and took the bag before tying up the ends. “Panties say a lot about a woman.”
“And what doyourpanties say aboutyou?”
She gave him a dazzling grin, arealone, and it made his breath hitch in his chest. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Before he could answer that hell fucking yes, he would like to know immediately, she found the trash bags. “Oh, here they are.”
While continuing to explain her ‘panty theory,’ she relined the bin and deposited the item in question inside.
“Now where else do you think they, um, ate dessert? I’m not eating here until we’re all clear.” After another search, she discovered some spray cleaner and a roll of paper towels and cleaned the countertops. “I thought Phoenix had all his fun at the strip club. But I guess there’s a lot we didn’t know about him.”
The accusation against his friend made him grimace and the urge to defend him was strong. He’d seen the videotape, though, and a lot had happened in a year. The combination was enough to make him question whether he really knew his friend enough to make that judgment call anymore. Their last mission in Yemen had changed all of them.
“All done.” The words he’d been dreading sprang from her lips, almost as if she was excited to leave. He was about to come up with some lame reason to make her stay, until she spoke up again. “So, you hungry? I make a mean grilled cheese. I’ll even cut the crust off for you like Momma used to.”
The offer caught him off guard. “How the hell did you know my mom used to do that?”
She shrugged on her way to the refrigerator. “Just a guess, really. I saw on TV once that it’s a thing people do.”
“Hell of a guess, then.” Draco tilted his head. “You saw it on TV? Did your mom not do the same?”
Nora averted her gaze so slightly that if he’d blinked, he would’ve missed it. “I like the crusts personally. No reason to go wasting good food.”
Her words were nonchalant, but he noted the slight tensing in her shoulders. “What was your mom like—”
“Regular ol’ orange cheese, alright?”
No personal questions. Got it, Pix.
CHAPTERFIVE
He was determined to get to know her, even though it seemed she was just as determined to keep him at arm’s length. Was that because of Matt? Fuck, he sure as hell hoped not. Until she realized that Matt wasn’t the guy for her, Draco would have to take what he could get. With that in mind, he groaned, remembering he’d have to cut their time short.
“I don’t know if I have time to eat. I’m supposed to be getting a call from Hawk.”
“Oh my goddesses, will this be your first meeting back with the gang? Damnit… how come Snake didn’t tell me about it? When is it?”
“Uh, why would Snake tell you—” His phone rang and he walked the few steps to the living room for the television remote. “Shit, it’s now, actually. Snake rigged this thing up so we could have teleconferences since everyone scattered now.”
“I’m surprised you were able to get him down from that mountain with Naomi. It seems like he hasn’t left her side since he got up there.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” He huffed. “Anyway, rain check?” The TV screen revealed his teammates in three quadrants and another guy in the fourth corner of the screen, with him and Nora taking up a small corner at the top.
“Oh, Nora,” Snake pointed out. “Good. You’re here. You should sit in for this one.”
“What do you mean? She’s staying?” Draco’s attention bounced from the TV to gawk at Nora, but she didn’t seem remotely surprised by the request as she casually plopped into the corner of the black leather L-couch.