Her gaze dipped to his naked chest, then shot back up again as the blush climbed to her hairline. After everything they’d d
one last night, he wouldn’t have thought it was physically possible for her to continue to blush so readily. Unfortunately, it only confirmed what he already knew. Virgin or not, she had not been as experienced as she’d made out.
He crossed the kitchen, then sank his hands into the pockets of his sweats in order to resist the powerful urge to cradle her cheeks and feel the heat from her skin seep into his palms.
You’re not gonna jump her again. Remember?
‘How you doing?’ he asked, because she looked hesitant—in a way she hadn’t been last night.
‘I’m...great, thank you,’ she said, her bright tone brittle.
He let it slide and fisted his fingers in his pants’ pockets to resist the powerful urge to touch.
‘The storm has passed,’ she said, turning to study the view as if her life depended on it.
‘Yeah,’ he said, studying her instead. So they were going to talk about the weather. ‘Not too much damage done.’
‘Do they usually?’ she asked, her eyes widening as she turned back towards him. ‘Cause damage? The storms? It was so overwhelming last night. I wouldn’t be at all surprised.’
He wondered if they were really talking about the weather, or something else entirely, as her blush continued to glow.
‘I’ll need to do a thorough check before I know for sure,’ he said.
The splash of colour on her cheeks went scarlet.
Nope, not talking about the weather at all.
He braced himself, waiting for her to address the huge elephant in the room.
But all she said was, ‘I see.’
Her gaze skimmed over his bare chest again, and the heat in his gut blossomed. He tensed, but then his stomach rumbled loud enough to be heard in Washington State.
At least this was one hunger he could satisfy.
‘You want some breakfast? I could make pancakes?’ he said, then frowned.
When was the last time he had offered to cook a woman breakfast? Probably never. Especially when he was supposed to be trying to get rid of her.
‘That would be wonderful, but I really don’t want to put you to too much trouble before we fly back to the city.’
The casual mention of their trip back surprised him. Truth was, it should have relieved him. If she wasn’t going to make a big deal about last night that was good, right? But it didn’t relieve him. Somehow it just annoyed him more. She’d dropped a bombshell into their casual one-night booty call and now she thought she could just ignore it? Seriously?
‘No trouble,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you grab the eggs and milk out of the fridge?’ he added, needing to keep things short and sweet.
He’d cook her pancakes and then take her back to the city. End of. That was what they’d arranged.
She returned with the fixings and he set about making the batter.
‘Do you need me to do anything?’ she asked.
‘No, I’ve got this,’ he said, cracking the eggs into the bowl one-handed and trying not to notice the way his old T-shirt inched up her thighs when she perched on one of the stools at the breakfast bar.
The sudden blast of heat as he recalled having those long, supple limbs hooked around his waist had him scattering the flour a bit too generously as he added it to the mixture.
‘You’re very good at that,’ she said.
‘Yeah,’ he murmured, still distracted by the smooth, toned skin as she crossed her legs. ‘I was a short-order cook in a diner the whole of my sophomore year in high school,’ he added, to distract himself from the heat starting to pound again in his pants.