Page 74 of Hold Your Breath

He flashed her an irritated look, which made her realize how few of those he’d been sending her way recently. Honestly, she hadn’t missed them. “You.”

“What about me?”

“Earlier, at the coffee shop…” He lifted his cap again and resettled it on his head. The amount of fidgeting was a sure sign he was off balance. “You didn’t want me touching you.”

“Is that it?” Flopping back against the seat in relief, she turned her head and grinned at him. “Jeez Louise, I thought you were breaking up with me or something.”

“Break up with you?” He frowned. “I’m not the one turning away whenyoutry to kissme.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not the one using PDA to mark his territory.”

“What?”

“The only reason you kissed me was to prove a point to Derek and Rob.”

“That wasn’t why,” he grumbled.

Ignoring that, she continued, “We haven’t even really talked about it. What we are, I mean. We’re basically living together, but we haven’t even dated.”

“We’ve gone on dates,” he protested, totally missing the point. “We went to Levi’s.”

“Fine. We’ve gone on one date.”

“Plus, we went to the bar together.”

“Uh, that was to talk to the coroner about a dead person.”

“Still counts.”

“Does not.”

“Does.”

“Whatever. Two dates then. So, we’re dating?”

“Yes.”

“Are we exclusive?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then.” She smiled at him. “Are we good?”

Finally, he smiled back. “Yeah. We’re good.”

* * *

Lou decided that Callum’s cooking more than made up for his lack of communication skills. After dinner, though, she couldn’t settle. She did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen just for something to do. When Callum discreetly checked the cleanliness of the countertops before wiping them down again, she rolled her eyes and wandered around the living area.

He watched her over the breakfast bar as she roamed the space. Lou sat on his very comfortable couch and almost immediately popped back to her feet. Watching television was not going to happen. She was much too twitchy to sit still. If she stayed in one place too long, then she would start thinking about how someone—Brent—hated her enough to try to kill her. That would just lead to being petrified and sad, so she decided the solution was to keep moving.

Her gaze stopped at the woodstove, and she headed in that direction. The fire didn’t really need attention, but she figured that poking at it would allow her to pretend to be useful.

“Stop,” Callum ordered. “The fire is perfect. Do not mess with it.”

Months of obeying that commanding tone during trainings and on calls made Lou stop in her tracks. “Sorry. I’m being irritating.”

“I’m just not used to people being in my space.” He looked relieved that his fire was no longer in danger of being assaulted.