“She’swho the school sent over with my schoolwork,” Loren said softly, barely believing it herself.
“Really?” That eyebrow shot all the way up. “I can call and have it changed if you want.”
“No.” Loren shook her head. Doing so would only give Naomi some sick sense of satisfaction. “I can handle her.”
If anything, that reply made himmoreskeptical. The intensity in his stare seemed to skewer her, right through skin and bone down to the pit of her soul. “That’s what I’m worried about.”
With that, he headed for the kitchen.
Loren followed him, noticing how the muscles of his back strained the fabric of his blue windbreaker. The sight did something to her. Made her belly flip and parts of her body heat. Her cheeks. Her throat. Between her legs…
The last sensation alarmed her. Her face flamed, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away. He was in uniform today, explaining away the all-day absence. A sudden concern sent a chill through her entire body, cooling the reaction he’d inspired.
Was he assigned to her father’s case? She should have asked, but all she could focus on was how he still smelled inexplicably like fresh pine. Nature. The wild. She breathed deep, letting the scent travel through her stomach, right down to her toes. Gradually, that heat returned, growing hotter.
“Did you eat?”
She blushed as his gaze focused on her and shook her head. “No.”
“Here.” He turned to the fridge and withdrew a carton of what looked like tuna salad and a loaf of bread. Silently, he compiled two sandwiches, eventually handing one to her.
Sonia’s words came back to her.A health nut. If tuna could give a man that much muscle, she wondered why everyone didn’t hoard the stuff.
“Something funny?” McGoven asked. His voice was soft, not accusatory.
Loren realized her lip was quirked. “N-No,” she said, taking the sandwich.
She ate it perched on the end of a stool, while he leaned against a nearby counter. Together they just…
Watched each other, like two wild animals sizing up one another for the first time.
Comically, Loren couldn’t help but picture two stray dogs—a husky facing down a ratty little Shih Tzu. Who would sniff who first? Of course,hewas the one to finally break the tension, tossing her a question after he swallowed his last bite of bread.
“You let Naomi in. You could have told her to go to hell. Why?”
Loren lifted her shoulder in a shrug. She didn’t dare admit the truth.Because I thought she was you.
Instead, she improvised. “Because she’s not worth it.”
She had bigger fish to fry—starting with the confusing jumble her life had become.
Officer McGoven seemed to mull her answer over in silence.Interesting,she pictured him musing as he scratched the dark stubble along his chin.
“What’s between you two, anyway?”
“I don’t know,” Loren admitted truthfully. She shifted on her stool, propping her elbow against the island’s surface. “She just never liked me, I guess.”
Though, how pathetic did that sound when said out loud? Frowning, she tried to explain it, that crazy, unwarranted hostility. “Naomi… She… Well, she…”
“What?” Officer McGoven demanded. His tone alone warned he wouldn’t let her off so easy.Don’t put a happy face on it. Don’t dress it up.
The truth.
“She’s a bitch,” Loren blurted, surprising herself. “From the day I came here, she’s had it out for me. I don’t know why, but I can handle her.”
The corner of his mouth twitched into an amused grin.
And the world stopped spinning. It blew her mind how something so simple could utterly transform him. Instantly, those eyes were less intimidating—more dove-gray than silver. His lips glistened, a welcoming pink.