chest.
“I didn’t take you for a woman who washed dishes for a man,” I said, goading her.
She immediately rose to the challenge. “I’m not. I’m washing these because you made dinner. Fair’s fair.”
I kept watching her, trying to figure out what was going on in that brain of hers.
“Can you please stop looking at me like that?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the sink.
“Like what? I’m just looking at you.”
“Why? Why would you need to look at me?”
Her question took me aback. “I didn’t know I needed a reason.”
She shook her head. “I have no idea what is so interesting to look at.”
It was, quite possibly, the first thing she’d revealed about her. Her blustering bravado was a shield for the insecurities that lay underneath. I wanted nothing more than to rip off that metal plate and get to the heart of her. “You have no idea, do you?” I asked.
She turne d to me, her blue eyes narrowed. “What? Please tell me exactly what it is that I don’t know.”
“How beautiful you are.”
Her indignation seeped out, leaving her deflated, but I knew she wouldn’t take the compliment. Not this one. “You’re so full of shit,” she said, flicking me with water. “Grab a towel and dry some dishes, Don Juan.”
I picked up the dish towel, keeping my eyes trained on her. “What happened to you? Why can’t you take a compliment?”
“I have what you call a Bullshit Radar. I can see it coming a mile away.”
I snickered. “And you think I’m bullshitting you? You should turn that radar on yourself.”
“You calling me a liar?”
“I’m calling you an attractive woman who should just accept the compliment with grace and say thank you.”
“Screw you.”
“Close enough. ” I laughed, shaking my head. She was a piece of work.
A few minutes of silence passed as we worked alongside each other. I put away the dishes with some direction, and she cleaned out the sink then fed the dog. It was so… domestic.
After I hung the dish towel on the oven handle, I turned to her and asked, “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
She stood up, dusting off her hands. “Should I be?”
“No, but you have to admit your reaction to me—letting me stay here—is not normal.”
She gave a wry grin. “I couldn’t even tell you what normal is anymore.”
“Have you lived by yourself all this time?”
“I have. Since my dad went to jail.”
“Huh.”
Her features immediately hardened. “Yeah, he’s in jail. Is that a problem?”
I shook my head. “No, I was just wondering if you work? Date? Have friends?”
“ No and no and no.”
“So you spend a lot of time alone?”
She looked me in the eye, her chest puffed out. “Yes and I like it that way,” she said almost proudly. “I don’t need to date. I don’t need friends. Josie is the only company I need.”
“Doesn’t it get lonely?” I knew I’d struck a nerve when she averted her eyes. So the strong Kat was not so impervious after all.
“Maybe sometimes,” she said, her voice so soft I almost didn’t hear her confession. “But I prefer it this way. I don’t like people and people don’t like me.”
“I like you,” I said. “I think you’re—”
“If you say beautiful, I will knoc k you upside the head with the bag of dog food.”
I grinned. “Interesting. I was going to say interesting.”
She gave a small nod of approval. “I can live with interesting.”
I smiled to myself, feeling my chest swell with pride from my tiny victory.
5
KAT
The night was long and sleep came in fits and starts. Unable to relax, I crept out of my room to pee, taking care to avoid the creaky places on the floor so as not to wake the stranger.
I slipped into the bathroom without bothering to turn on the lights and ran smack dab into a wall of warm, hard skin. I shrieked and stumbled backwards, my hands scrambling for the light switch.
There stood the stranger with his back to me, his ass