Her eyes opened wide and she nodded. “Starving.” She pulled her hair off her shoulders and twisted it into a funky bun that somehow held itself in place.
His gaze fell to the T-shirt she wore, the same one she’d traveled to town in, her bare legs peeking out beneath. She was petite yet solid, her thighs muscular and calves taut from keeping herself in shape, yet the rest of her was soft and womanly, from the curves of her hips up to her fully rounded breasts. She was nothing like the long, leggy women he’d dated before, Lauren included, and Mike had to admit he preferred Cara’s lush body and the way she fit against him.
He patted the seat beside him. “Join me? I waited for you,” he said, lifting the top of the pizza box.
She stepped closer, glanced inside the box, and grinned. “Half pepperoni, half plain.”
“I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
“Both. Can I get us some drinks?”
“There’s Coke and beer in the fridge.”
She turned and walked to the kitchen, returning with a Budweiser in each hand.
“Good choice.” Another thing he liked about Cara. No pretense, no fussiness. She liked a beer as much as the next guy, he thought with a laugh.
“What?” she asked as she sat down next to him, crisscrossing her legs.
Damn. She’d put her panties back on, Mike thought, realizing he’d been hoping she’d be commando beneath the shirt.
“Hey, cut that out.” She rearranged her position so she was sitting in a more ladylike way, her legs dangling from the couch and crossed primly at the ankles.
He rolled his eyes. “Get comfortable. Sit back the way you were,” he said, wanting his visual back. Whether or not he could actually see anything, he didn’t want her acting shy and prissy around him.
Instead of listening, she reached for the beer bottles, which she’d already opened, and handed him one. He took a long pull and set it down on the table. Then he stood, reaching for the waistband on his sweats.
“What are you doing?” she asked, almost spitting out the beer in her mouth in an effort to swallow and stop him at the same time.
“Taking off my pants.”
“For God’s sake, why?” Her cheeks turned pink in an adorable blush.
“I figured if I got more comfortable, then you would too.”
“Fine!” She bent her knees and crossed her legs once more, this time her shirt riding up high enough to show him the small triangle covering her and a nice expanse of pale skin on either side. “Now cut it out and sit down. I’m not eating naked.”
He laughed and flopped back onto the couch before digging in and handing them each a slice of pizza.
“Who’s winning?” she asked.
“Knicks were,” he said, but he’d long since stopped caring about what was on the screen. He tried to remember another woman who’d distracted him from sports. And couldn’t.
They ate in occasional silence, talking in between, comfortable in a way he really enjoyed. He didn’t even mind the fact that they were in his small apartment, a place he usually reserved for private time away from the job and any undercover assignment he’d been on.
“How are things going at Havensbridge? How’s the girl you were worried about?” Mike asked her.
Cara blinked in surprise. “You remembered about that?”
“It was important to you. So yeah, I remembered.”
Pleasure flashed across her face, her rosy glow reminding him when she’d come apart around him in bed. He shifted, his erection growing harder, and he wasn’t ready for her to notice. Soon, but just not yet.
“She’s fragile,” Cara said of Daniella. “And lonely. She even admitted she’s picked up the phone a few times to call her ex, but she didn’t.”
The sadness and worry in Cara’s voice pricked at Mike’s heart. “All you can do is trust she’ll do what’s best for her.”
“You can’t trust people to do that,” Cara said, glancing down, and they both knew she was referring to her mother.