CHAPTER 17
Merrick
The next morning, I woke up early. Kitty’s house was still dark and quiet, so I didn’t bother pulling on a shirt before I headed to the bathroom. As I reached for the doorknob, the door suddenly opened.
Evie stood before me, wrapped in only a towel. Her hand flew to her chest. “Shit. You scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry. I didn’t think anyone was up yet.”
“I wanted to shower before Kitty woke up, so I wouldn’t be in the way. But I realized I forgot my conditioner in my bag.”
“Do you mind if I use the bathroom while you get it?”
She shook her head and tightened the corner of her towel. “No, of course not. Go right ahead.”
After I relieved myself, I found Evie waiting in the hall outside. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but my eyes surveyed the contours of her body. The towel only hung to the top of her thigh, and the way it was wrapped around her chest, her cleavage really wanted to spill over. I might’ve gotten stuck in that area for a few heartbeats. When my eyes finally found their way back to hers, she offered a knowing smile.
“Pervert.”
My brows shot up. “I’m a pervert? You’re half naked, and you’ve already shown me your ass. Actually, I saw you in your bra in that dressing room, too. You really need to stop coming on to me like this.”
She put her hand on my chest and nudged me to one side of the doorway. Then she squeezed into it with me. Our bodies weren’t touching, but they were damn close. She pushed up on her toes and looked into my eyes. “I bet if I left the bathroom door open a bit, I could prove who the pervert is.”
I swallowed. Fuck. I had the strongest urge to show her exactly how perverted I was feeling at the moment. In fact, she was about ten seconds away from finding out, because her attitude was making me hard. She was going to be in for a surprise when it hit her belly. But then Evie slipped past me into the bathroom and wiggled her fingers.
“You might want to step away so I can close the door, pervert.” She grinned.
I groaned. “You’re evil.”
It took every ounce of willpower to walk away as she pulled the door shut. I stood just down the hall for a few minutes, second-guessing myself. Luckily, my ruminations were cut short by my grandmother’s voice. It was just the cold shower I needed.
“Merrick!”
I took a relieved breath before walking to her room. “Morning, Grams. How’d you sleep?”
“A little better. I took that damn boot off.”
I shook my head. “You’re supposed to keep it on so you don’t cause further damage.”
She waved me off. “That foot feels fine. They just wanted another thing to bill my insurance for.”
I looked around the room. Finding the soft cast on the dresser, I walked over and grabbed it. “At least put it on before you get up.”
She grumbled but let me help her with it before we went out to the kitchen.
“You still take your coffee with enough sugar to induce a diabetic coma?” I asked.
Grams used her hands to lift the leg with the hard cast up on the chair next to her. “When you’re as sweet as me, you have to replenish the supply somehow.”
While my grandmother was certainly one of the kindest humans I knew, sweet wasn’t the way I’d describe her. “If your personality comes from what you ingest, I’m surprised you don’t put lemons in your coffee,” I teased. I prepped two mugs and took the seat across from her, sliding hers across the table.
“Thank you,” she said. “So tell me, what are you going to do about Everly?”
“Evie?”
Grams raised her mug to her lips. “Mmm-hmm.”
“I guess she’ll go back after your doctor’s appointment. I know she wanted to be here for it. I’ll see if there’s a flight for her tomorrow morning.”