Chapter 27
527 Words
Chapter 27
Alice woke alone. Knew she was alone in Daniel’s four-poster bed without even opening her eyes.
She knew she shouldn’t be surprised, but it hurt anyway.
Toughen up, Thompson. You’re used to this.
She was. Most men she’d ever dated left before daybreak. Left her alone in her bed or even stranger, alone in theirs. Over time she’d gone out on fewer and fewer dates. And become more and more selective on who passed through the first date successfully, never mind through her door.
Somehow Daniel strode through her barricades from the moment she saw him in that three-piece suit befuddled by an Advent calendar.
Last night had been another voyage into amazing, mind-bending s*x. Yet now she woke alone.
She opened one eye to inspect the dent in the navy blue flannel-covered pillow beside her.
No note.
No flower.
Nothing.
She rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands and let out a frustrated growl. When the hell was she going to learn?
Time to get moving.
She sat up, the sheets sliding into her lap and one bare leg stretched out to snag her underwear from the floor, when she heard the door open.
“Holy s**t!” Daniel’s voice was low and hoarse.
He stood barefoot, his shirt partially buttoned, wrong by two buttonholes, and a pair of pants with the belt undone and riding low on those delicious hips. He held a large tray that he was dangerously close to bobbling onto the hardwood floor.
It had a single flower in a slender-necked crystal vase. A red rose. And a breakfast spread that could kill her. The man had cooked for her. It smelled glorious.
“Hold it.” Alice thought back through their various conversations. “You never swear.”
“I also don’t often see the Goddess Venus rising n***d from my bed. And I do, too, swear.”
“Never heard it.” Alice pulled the sheet back up to her neck, and slid her leg back under the covers fighting a blush as hard as she could. At least Daniel had regained control of the tray.
“I don’t swear around you.”
“Why?”
“You’re a lady.”
Alice laughed. “No, I’m not!”
Daniel straightened in ire, clearly ready to leap to her defense. His control-of-tray skills once again drifted dangerously toward loss. Not with her flower on it. She scooted forward, trying to trap the sheet across her body with her chin as she rescued the tray. It sort of worked, only one breast was exposed by the time she’d maneuvered the tray to the bed and had the vase safely cradled in her hands.
“Who says you aren’t a lady?” He was truly indignant on her behalf.
She let the sheet drop and held her arms out to the sides, careful to keep the rose upright. “Hello, n***d in your bed. For the second time. We met less than two weeks ago.”
“More than. Sixteen days, five hours, and thirty-eight minutes.” He barely hesitated to check the bedside clock.
Alice reached for the sheet again. “What am I going to do with you?” She also knew it to the minute, but that was simply how her mind worked. She certainly hadn’t expected him to as well. He kept charming her, even when she didn’t want to be.
“Well, I could make a few suggestions, but your breakfast would be cold.”
It was long gone cold when they finally got around to eating it.
- Writer
