I may have woken in my bra and panties, but I didn’t feel like I’d had sex. I mean, I’d feel it even if I didn’t remember. Right? My cheeks felt on fire, and I wanted to dive back into my room and under the covers and do my wake up all over again.
“Nothing happened,” Killian said.
“But you were here last night?”
“Mmm.”
“How did you get in?”
“That would be me,” Trevor called.
I frowned. He winked then turned back to the sizzling bacon.
I peered at Killian. “Why are you here now?”
“I haven’t left.”
My eyes widened and I quickly took in his rumpled T-shirt and hair. “Oh.”
With his hand on the small of my back, he guided me to the table and urged me to sit. I didn’t need much urging because my legs were quivering. Whether it was hangover quivers or quivers from Killian, I wasn’t sure yet.
“You didn’t answer your cell last night.” Killian had it in his hand and slid it toward me.
I glanced at the screen. Five text messages. Twelve missed calls. All Killian. “Why would you call me that many times? I was out with Mars.”
Killian didn’t sit; instead, he leaned against the table, brows low and the amusing grin gone.
Trevor took the pan off the burner. “I forgot the eggs. Be back.”
I glared at him as he passed, but he kept his head low as he brushed past me. Traitor. I was so letting any girls who knocked on his door into his apartment.
The door opened and shut.
I started to stand. “I need—”
“Sit.”
Not a good tone. I sat.
This was his play. Silence. He was annoyingly patient and of course it made me uneasy, on edge, and probably exactly what he wanted.
“I texted and called you, Savvy.”
My head swam in sludge, and I was slow on the uptake this morning, so I remained quiet.
I heard a clank and Killian set a coffee in front of me. He nodded to my cell phone on the table. “You need to answer that.”
“I didn’t answer because I turned it off.”
He gave me a “no shit” look, which meant brows raised.
“I didn’t feel like talking to you.”
“Why?”
Why? Hmm, because every time I hear your voice, I get all weak and pathetic and think about you kissing me again. “I was out with Mars.”
“And you couldn’t pick up your phone or check your messages. Send me a text?”
Of course I could’ve, but I was trying to numb Killian out, and hearing his sexy voice on the phone when drunk wouldn’t have been a good idea. “Where did Trevor go? I’m starving.”
“He won’t be back.”
Double traitor.
He stepped closer to me, so his thighs were an inch away from mine. Then he reached forward and with the tip of his finger, he slid it ever so slowly across my collarbone. My heart shot off as goose bumps rose and my sluggish aching head was having a hard time keeping up with my body’s reaction.
“Why did you shut off your phone?” His tone softened and sounded sexy as hell.
His hand moved up to cup my chin and tilt my head so I was forced to meet his eyes.
Shit. I really loved his eyes.
“Why did you shut off your phone, Savvy?”
“Because I didn’t want to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“Because of this.”
“What is this?”
“I don’t like it. What you do to me. I feel… helpless.”
He sighed. “You’ll never be helpless, Savvy. You’re the least helpless woman I know.”
I shoved back my chair and stood, which thankfully dislodged his hand. “Thank you for last night, but you better go. I volunteer at the hospital on Wednesdays and need to get ready.”
I took a wide berth around him, went behind the counter, feeling a little more secure having something between us and grabbed a piece of overcooked bacon. Trevor always made it so crunchy it broke apart in your mouth.
But my security didn’t last long because he came around the counter and trapped me, arms locking me in so my abdomen pressed into the lip of the counter, his hands resting on either side of me with his chest to my back.
“Orchid.” His whispered word wafted across the back of my neck, and I shivered. “I need you to answer your phone when I call or text, please. I was worried. You live in a shit neighborhood and an unsafe building.” Okay, that was kind of nice that he was worried, but he wasn’t my boyfriend or anything.
He moved in closer, so his hard body was pressed into mine. My pulse spiked. “Looks like the same pot I gave you.”
I stiffened, eyes darting to the orchid in the cracked pink pot sitting on the windowsill. Of course he’d notice.
“That my pot, Savvy?” he asked.
There was no denying it. “Yes.”
“My orchid?”
“Yes.”
His warm breath was against my ear as he whispered, “Exotic. Graceful. Beautiful and strong. And one of the most coveted plants.” He lowered his voice even further, so his words were barely audible. “That’s why I nicknamed you orchid. You are all those things.”