I nearly head butt Rogan’s chest. Somehow, he managed to creep up behind me without me hearing a single sound.
A surprised squeak-gasp combo squeezes past my lips. “You scared me!” I admit breathlessly.
“I’m sorry!” he replies. Then, with his sincere eyes locked on mine, he adds, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I promise.”
I know he’s referring to more than just this morning. He’s probably apologizing for what happened last night. Immediately, I’m off-kilter. But that’s what Rogan does—he throws me off balance. With no conscious effort on his part, it seems. I doubt he realizes that he’s practically turning my fickle emotions inside out.
“It’s fine,” I say, taking a step back. I feel the counter brush the backs of my legs. I can retreat no farther, which only frazzles me even more.
His eyes, brilliantly green this morning, search mine for several tense seconds before Rogan raises his hand between us. “I brought coffee.”
Thankful to have something, anything else to focus on, I look at the cup. It’s shorter and fatter, and boasts the label Main Street Diner on the side. I take it from him, frowning as I sniff.
“The coffeemaker here is broken so I went across to the diner to get some. Extra hot, extra cream, although I’m not sure how the extra hot held up during the commute.”
“It’s fine, I’m sure.” To prove my point, I take a sip. It’s plenty warm, but it doesn’t threaten to scald my lips off, which is the way I like it. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble just to bring me coffee.”
“You’re no trouble at all,” he rejoins softly.
God, don’t let him be sweet! Let him just be a jerk so I can stop thinking about him, stop wanting things I shouldn’t want. Things that I don’t want to want!
“You don’t know me well enough to say that for sure.”
One side of his mouth lifts in a ghost of a grin. “I’m willing to risk it.”
There’s a quiet moment, colored only with the deep green of Rogan’s eyes as he stares down at me, when I think he might try to kiss me again. Or, worse, touch me. I feel his internal battle like static in the air. But, thank God, he refrains. This time, anyway.
I didn’t imagine that he’d give up so easily. But I had hoped.
Well, some part of me did, anyway. Some other part . . . didn’t.
“You two are so cute together,” Mona croons from the doorway. Rogan’s grin becomes more pronounced as the click of heels brings my friend farther into the room. We stand facing each other as she passes by, heading for the counter, on which she perches one hip as she flips through the dictionary. “You should date.”
“I’m not the one who needs convincing,” Rogan mutters.
“Oh you don’t need to tell me that. Katie’s stubborn to a fault and blind to her own beauty. She’s . . . erudite, but sometimes she can be a little dumb.” Rogan frowns and I wrinkle my nose, both of us holding back a laugh. After a few seconds, Mona notices. “What? Did I use it wrong?”
“No, but it’s freakin’ me out,” Rogan says with a chuckle.
“Why? I’m smart. I can learn new words. I can be erudite.”
“Of course you can,” I say, covertly nudging Rogan with my elbow. I don’t want his teasing to hurt Mona’s feelings.
“Well,” she says, standing and dusting her hands off like her job here is done, “I suppose I’d best let you two get to it. You’ve got a lot more body to make up today.”
More body to make up? I was so ready to leave yesterday, I didn’t check the notes for today, and this morning my mind was elsewhere.
Is he doing a shirtless scene? Or, God forbid, is he doing a nude scene?
My pulse speeds up at the mere thought.
With a smile that says she knew that I had no idea, Mona flounces out of the room, pausing only to kiss one of my cheeks and smack Rogan on the butt. “Lunch?” she says from just the other side of the door.