“I do!”
“That's why your nipples are hard.”
I looked down at my dress. You could see the shape of my nipples behind the cotton fabric. “They've been like that all day. There's something wrong with them.”
A smile twitched at the corners of Morelli's mouth. “You want me bad.”
Damn skippy I wanted him. And that made me even more furious. Where were my principles? I wasn't sure I believed his answer about the woman who confronted me at the bar. I sensed a continuing relationship of some sort between him and Terry Gilman. And here I was with hard nipples! Ugh.
“I can do without you just fine,” I said. “Don't call me. I'll call you.”
“You won't last through the night.”
Egotistical jerk. “Fifty bucks says I will.”
“You want to bet on this?” He sounded incredulous.
“The first one to crack pays up.”
Morelli's brows lowered and his eyes narrowed. “Fine. It won't be me, sweetheart.”
“Hah!”
“Hah!”
I whirled around and stomped up the stairs. I brushed my teeth, got into my nightshirt and crawled into bed. I laid there for a half hour in the dark, feeling cranky and lonely, wishing Rex wasn't in the kitchen, wondering what ever possessed me to make that stupid bet. Fear, I thought. That's what possessed me. Fear of being dumped again. Fear of getting screwed over. Fear of defective condoms. Finally I got out of bed and stomped back down the stairs.
Morelli was in the living room, slouched in his favorite chair, watching television. He gave me a long, considering look.
“I came to get Rex,” I said, swishing past him.
Morelli was still watching me when I returned carrying the hamster cage. The look was speculative and quietly unnerving.
“What?” I said.
“Nice nightshirt.”
* * * * *
SUNDAY MORNING I opened my eyes and thought about Maxine Nowicki. I'd been on the case for a week. It felt like three. I dressed in shorts and T-?shirt, and without even bothering to comb my hair, carted Rex to the kitchen.
Morelli glanced up from the paper when I padded in. He took in my hair and smiled. “Trying to help me win the bet?”
I poured out a mug of coffee and looked at the white bakery bag on the table. “Doughnuts?”
“Yeah. I was going to go to church, but I decided to get doughnuts instead.”
I sat across from him and selected a Boston creme. “I've been on this Nowicki case for a week, and I don't think I'm making any progress.”
“Imagine how the merry mutilator-?murderer feels. He's hacking people up and making no progress.”
“There's that.” I reached behind me for the portable phone and dialed Kuntz. “No answer.”
Morelli gave a chunk of doughnut to Rex and topped his cup. “Maybe we should take a ride over there this morning.”
This caught my attention. “You have one of those cop feelings, don't you?”
“Feels funky.”