Page 63 of Sunkissed Colorado

Callum

I knockedon the bathroom door, running my fingers through my damp hair.

Zandra cracked it open, and I passed her a small stack of folded fabric. “Fresh clothes for you, as promised.”

“Thanks,” she said through the crack in the door.

I was trying not to think about the fact that she was in nothing but a towel in there.Mytowel, since she’d used the bath attached to my room.

“Did you get the batter out of your hair?” I asked.

“I think I managed. Did you shower already?”

“Used Darius’s bathroom after promising I’d leave it pristine. I put your dirty clothes in the washer. Speed cycle.”

“Thank you again.”

“Feel free to use any of my toiletries.”

“Got it.”

There was a pause. I braced my hand against the door frame, looking in at her through the narrow opening, and we stared at each other for a beat too long.

She’d been so gorgeous in the kitchen when we were smearing each other with brownie batter. Who knew a food fight would be that sexy?

The way she’d laughed, completely uninhibited. I wanted to see her like that again, unencumbered by any worries. It was all too easy to imagine us pressed together again, feeling her body respond to me…

She shut the door, and I blew out a breath.

I had to calm down. This wasn’t the first time I’d had a woman over. Far from it. So why was I so worked up?

Then again, usually the showers wereafterwe’d already seen each other naked, and that wasn’t going to happen with Zandra. I’d pissed off her ex on the phone by hinting we would spend this evening horizontal, but she and I both knew all the reasons that was a terrible idea.

So stop thinking about it, I told myself.

I headed out to the kitchen, where the pot pie was cooling and the brownies were in the oven.

“Smells good.” Connor was eyeing my and Zandra’s dinner.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” I warned him. “Or you’ll lose them.”

Darius poured a glass of water. “Relax, Romeo. We’re about to head out to grab burgers at Hearthstone. Some of the other guys are meeting us.”

Connor’s expression turned calculating. “Save us some corner brownie pieces, and we’ll stay away until late. Give you the house to yourself. Niko’s at his girl’s place, so he won’t be back.”

I glanced to the side and stuck my hands in the pockets of my sweats, all casual. “It’s not like that with Z.”

Connor and Darius exchanged a skeptical glance. “You’ve never brought a woman over and cooked before,” Darius observed.

“Sure I have.” Not a cooking lesson, but surely I must’ve made dinner for a girl at some point.

Connor snickered. “No, you haven’t. You also haven’t bitten my head off just for looking at a woman you brought overbefore.”

Don’t look at her, I wanted to bark, which would only be proving his point.

“You’re into her,” Darius said flatly. “More than the usual. A lot more.”

“I can’t be into her. We’re competing for the same job.”