“She didn’t look too upset today.” Oh, crap, why didn’t she just shut up? He was going to think she was jealous. And she wasn’t jealous. Or was she?
He glanced up, his eyes widened at her question. “Is that why you were upset today?”
She flushed. “I wasn’t upset.”
He held up a finger. “I’d like to place an order to go. Chicken Marsala and Veal Parmesan.”
When he stopped talking, she jumped in. “I wasn’t upset. It’s none of my business. But she should be upset.”
He placed his hand over the phone. “I don’t think she would care. That was my sister.”
Sister? Suddenly hit by the resemblance between the two of them, she felt like an idiot. She should have known. Even more, she should have never mentioned it.
“Do you want salad and bread sticks?” He arched his eyebrows at her.
She nodded, then dropped into the chair and only halfway listened as he finished ordering and gave the hotel address. Then he hung up.
She stared at the television. She felt him watching her, not the TV.
“Her name is Susan,” he said. “She lives in Austin. I guess it was rude of me not to introduce her, but I got the call about the pickup and I didn’t think.”
“Maybe you should go spend some time with her.”
“I did while you were in school.”
“Bet she’d like to see you again. Living out of town and all.” Cali’s focus stayed glued to the television. Not that she listened.
He said something to her, and she glanced at him briefly. “Can we just watch some television?”
His gaze shifted back to the television and then back to her. “It’s a commercial.”
“I like commercials,” she said.
“So erectile dysfunction is of a real interest to you?” He chuckled.
She refocused on the television, saw the man and woman lounging in bathtubs and blushed. “This whole thing is too awkward.”
“What’s awkward?”
“This.” She eyed him. He still looked good, too good. “You, laying on my hotel bed and ordering takeout food. You being nice one minute and a jerk the next.”
The sudden crease between his eyebrows hinted at his frustration. “I admit I wasn’t on my best behavior in the beginning, but I’ve been working on that.”
“And that’s confusing me. So go back to being a jerk.”
He frowned. “Look. All I want to do is make sure you’re okay. Make sure you come out of all this without being hurt.”
“Really? That’s all you want? And that kiss out there was what?”
“The kiss was probably a mistake.”
Probably? He stared at her as if waiting for her to throw the next verbal blow, but she didn’t have one. She really did need to learn to argue better.
The news broadcaster announced a news flash on the television. Their argument went on pause, and they focused on the screen. “A woman’s body was found. We’re told Galveston police suspect the boyfriend to be the killer.”
“You see!” he said. “That’s why I’m here. You could be next.” He jumped off the bed, tossed the remote down, and stormed into the bathroom. The door thudded closed. And Cali’s heart thudded with it.
The sound of shower spraying water onto the plastic curtain became apparent. The news continued. She focused on that, anything not to think about him being naked in the shower. The reporter shifted subjects to a report about the Houston cops who were recently killed. They splashed Mike Anderson’s photo across the screen. She remembered him from her apartment, but she also remembered him from somewhere else, too. But from where?
It’s important, Cali. You need to remember. Her mom’s voice echoed inside her head.
Chapter Twenty-One
Still frowning, Brit stepped out of the cold shower and grabbed the towel that hung over the curtain rod. The moment he buried his face into the nubby white cotton, he regretted it.
The musky aroma of woman mixed with a flowery fragrance clung to the damp cloth. Her scent. The vision of her rubbing the towel over her naked curves filled his head. The memory of the kiss whispered through his mind. The recollection of how soft her skin had felt when he’d slipped his hand under her sweater to caress her bare back had him aching to touch more. He breathed in, letting the aroma of the towel drive him crazy, because sniffing towels and sweaters was as close as he could afford to get to her.
He hadn’t been kidding about the kiss being a mistake. Since when did he lose his head and start making out in public? He wasn’t a sixteen-year-old hormone-crazed kid anymore. What the hell had he been thinking?