Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Having heard enough, I push myself off the bed and head downstairs to find a dark kitchen, no Natalie in sight.
Then I hear her, on the ground, softly saying “ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch” over and over again. I flip the light on and she yelps.
“Who’s there?!”
I come around the island to find her hunched down on the ground, her little toe cradled in her hands. Of course. She probably jammed it on something fumbling around in the dark.
She blinks up at me, trying to get her eyes to adjust.
When they do, her mouth gapes.
“You’re not wearing a shirt.”
I glance down at my bare chest and pajama pants.
“You’re not wearing a shirt!” she repeats, sounding panicked.
I shake my head in amusement and bend down so I’m eye level with her. “Are you drunk?”
One of her eyes narrows in thought. “Define drunk.”
“Inebriated. Three sheets to the wind. In your cups.”
She grins. “Yes, that one. Sounds very dignified. I’m ‘in my cups’.”
I can’t help but smile. She’s just so—
My thought cuts off when her mouth goes slack. Her attention is on my lips. I freeze and she shakes her head frantically. “No. No! Do it again.”
“What?”
She reaches out and pokes my cheeks, trying to spread my mouth again.
“Smile. You’re so handsome.”
My stomach squeezes tight with a need to keep her hands on me. Alarmed, I shake off her touch and then reach out to help her up, knowing we can’t just sit on the floor all night. She asks me what I’m doing, and I don’t reply because it’s fairly obvious.
I drop her into a chair at the kitchen table and turn it out so it faces me.
“Stay,” I instruct her.
She throws me a cheeky salute before I turn to get her some water.
She stares at me as I move around the kitchen.
“Could you get me some Pedialyte? I think I bought some the last time Noah had the flu because it was the only thing he could keep down.”
“Where is it?” I ask, starting to open cabinet doors. I don’t quite have my bearings in his kitchen yet. I find spices in one cabinet, Tupperware in another.
“There. To your left.”
I open another cabinet and find the plates.
She laughs and walks over to open the cabinet one over from where I stand. She points up to the top shelf, which is just slightly out of her reach. “Up there. Can you get it?”
I do as she asks, grabbing the plastic bottle while she watches me with rapt attention.
“No. Not that one. Can you see if there’s any of the blue flavor? I like that one better.”
I reach up and fumble around the shelf, but there’s nothing else up there.
When I tell her that, she grins. “I know. I just wanted to watch you do that again. With you being shirtless and all…”
Jesus.
She takes her bottom lip between her teeth, and I have to actively restrain myself from doing something I’ll regret in the morning. She’s drunk. She’s drunk. She’s drunk. I repeat that to myself as I fill her glass, hand it over, and watch as she takes a few hesitant sips, her eyes roving over me.
“I’m used to seeing you in scrubs,” she explains before shaking her head and forcing her gaze across the kitchen. A moment later, her eyes slowly slingshot back to my chest like she just can’t fight the urge.
With a groan, she opens the drawer to her left and reaches in for a tea towel. It says Keep Calm I’m a Doctor and she tries to get me to hold it up over my chest.
“Just cover yourself a bit, would you? I’m liable to faint here, I think.”
I laugh and take two steps back, putting distance between us. “Better?”
“Not in the least.”
I lean a hip against the counter and tip my head to the side, studying her. That outfit she’s in is just as sexy as when I saw it a few hours ago. Her shirt’s ridden up a little more, her cinched waist within reaching distance. Smooth tan skin under my palm…that’s what tempts me.
I clear my throat and glance back to her face. “You know I’m used to seeing you in scrubs too.”
The left side of her mouth hitches up in a teasing half-smile. “Yeah? Well what do you think?”
I scowl, not sure I’m ready to go down this road with her, not sure I can restrain myself even knowing Noah is asleep upstairs. “That’s a loaded question.”
“Is it?” She steps closer. “C’mon. A girl wonders…”
My brow arches. “About?”
“What her brother’s friends think of her.” She shrugs. “Is she just a nuisance? A bother?”
I don’t want to play this game. I don’t want to dance around the truth like we’re nervous high schoolers afraid of a bruised ego. “You know you’re not a bother. You’re not a twelve-year-old demanding to be included in our games. You’re a woman wanting to know if I find you attractive or not. So ask.”