She shrugged. “I’m yelling now. Go away.”
“Not gonna happen.” He stood his ground, looking around casually at the disaster as she piled a few more items in the two handmade wicker baskets she’d uncovered under another tarp. The firefighters had done a better job of shielding her wares than she’d first given them credit for.
“You need remediation in here, pronto.”
She looked up, about to spend a bit more of her frustration on him. But the sight of him stopped her. He looked, well, he looked like hell. She was pretty sure she’d missed that in the hospital. And it wasn’t her anger. She remembered him as impressive, vital, and sexy.
Or, perhaps, she’d been paying more attention to his pelvis than she’d given herself credit for. How else had she missed his utter exhaustion?
The whites of his blue eyes were still an angry red, and she could’ve packed for a week in the bags underneath. The reddish blond sketch of a day’s worth of stubble stood stark against his washed-out complexion. Whatever had happened to him last night, he was the worse for wear for it.
Instinctively, she offered him the thermos she’d been drinking from. “Drink some of this.”
He took and upended it. Just as quickly he grimaced and lowered it, sputtering, “What the hell is that? I was expecting coffee.”
“Kale and green tea smoothie. It’s loaded with polyphenols that function as powerful antioxidants. Your body’s stressed out. That depletes your immune system. You could end up ill after last night.”
He tried to hand it back. “No thanks. I got plenty of antioxidants at the hospital.”
“Sure you did.” She waved off the thermos. “Green tea’s got caffeine, too. You like coffee, right? Drink it for the caffeine lift. You look like you need to lie down.”
He grinned then, a slow, heat-you-up-from-the-inside grin.
Carly crossed her arms. “Drink it, Investigator Glover. It’s the only good thing being offered here today.”
He took another sip, this time swallowing it all. Then he glanced at his watch. “I haven’t eaten yet. There’s a place across the street where we can talk and eat. Like you said. I need to keep my strength up.”
Carly waited a beat as her stomach reminded her that it was an hour past her usual lunchtime. “I didn’t hear a please.”
She watched his jaw work and decided his dentist must spend a lot of time worried about the investigator’s enamel. “Please. Across the street. Now.”
“Attitude, much?”
He frowned. “How old are you? Twenty?”
“Thirty. In December. You know all about me. Remember?”
He opened his mouth, couldn’t think of a thing that wouldn’t sound cheesy, patronizing, or close to an insult, and closed it.
She picked up her purse and keys and began locking up. When she was done, she piled one wicker basket on top of the other and headed toward the rear entrance without so much as glancing at him.
It took him a couple of seconds to catch up. “Where are you going?”
“I have a dog to feed.” She put her baskets down to lock the back door.
He smiled. “Harley.”
She shrugged. “You can come with, or follow me.”
“Come with.” He grabbed up her baskets.
As he slid into the passenger side of the Mazda he didn’t know why he hadn’t just agreed to follow her. He never “came with.” He drove everywhere and anywhere he needed to go. He wasn’t a chauvinist. He just didn’t like the way most men or women behaved behind the wheel. He’d seen too many accidents, pried too many injured people—and a few dead ones—out of wrecked vehicles. But he didn’t put it past Carly to simply drive away and lose him in the traffic. Plus, riding with her gave him an excuse to be in her presence a little longer.
It had been a long time since he simply wanted to be in a woman’s company. He had needs and found women willing to accommodate them. But the rules were clear up front. Not looking for anything but a good time. Some relationships lasted a night. A few others, a few months. Nothing he couldn’t walk away from. He had a child to protect. There’d be no parade of women in and out of his son’s life, giving him hope and then snatching it away.