Stares? She looked at him questioningly. What was he talking about? He shook his head and tucked her hair behind her ears. “My little innocent. Baby girl, there were at least half a dozen men watching you in that bar, and believe me, their hunger had nothing to do with that grisly piece of steak on your plate.”
What? Was he serious? She shook her head. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
His face turned dark. Cold. “Believe me, they were.”
Yikes. Okay, she wanted the sweet, soft look back. Because frankly, this hard Jed kind of scared her. Not that she was worried he would hurt her, but he looked like he wanted to go back to that bar and go all gonzo on those guys who were looking at her.
Not that she believed they were actually checking her out. Maybe they were staring at Mike. Watching him eat was pretty gross, though, she couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to look at him while did that. Ick.
“You think you can deal with the rules I gotta give you so I can sleep easy at night?”
Well, when he put it like that. . .she nodded. “Yes.”
“Good girl.” There was that warm look again. Jesus, she’d agree to just about anything to put that look on his face. He ran a thumb over her cheek. “I’m probably gonna lean towards being overly protective of you.”
He had to stop saying things like that. She was about to burst into tears.
“Is this really happening?” she whispered.
“It is.” His thumb rubbed under her eye. “You’re tired, aren’t you? You not been sleeping?”
She shook her head.
“What’s your bedtime?”
Bedtime?
“Um, I usually just go to bed when I get tired.”
“Hmm, way I remember it, you were a night owl. That still the case?”
She shrugged. “Guess so. I keep my own hours for my job so I can work when I like. I don’t have to be up early.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m an editor. Authors send me their books to edit.”
“That’s awesome. English was always your favorite subject.”
“Yeah.” She smiled at him shyly. “So as long as I have my laptop and internet, I’m set.”
“Staying up all night might have suited you in the past, but you got to get more sleep, baby. I have to work tomorrow, but I’ll bring over some food and cook us some dinner.” He sighed and looked back at her kitchen with a shake of his head. “There’s nothing in your cupboards but sweets and chocolate.”
“And bread and butter and milk,” she protested.
He just gave her a look. “You think that covers the food groups?” He strode to the pantry and pulled out a bag of gummy bears. “This is not real food.”
“Hey, there’s real fruit juice in those gummies. Says it on the packet.”
“This is not the same as eating fruit,” he growled at her.
“Well, maybe I’m just stocking up for Halloween.”
He eyed the candy in the pantry. “You expecting the entire state of Montana to come knocking on your door?”
“There’s not that much in there.”
He grunted. “We need to have a chat about proper nutrition.”