the majority of her time on the special collections floor, and the rest reading on the third floor where she could also eat…and where, incidentally, her phone caught just fine. At least, when it was switched on.
“…And maybe I was avoiding you a tiny bit.”
“I knew it.” His eyebrows snapped together. “Are you afraid of me? Do I make you uncomfortable or something?”
“I think it’s more a case of my being too comfortable with you.” She blew out a weary breath, knowing that only made sense to her. “Look, I’m not afraid of you. In fact, why don’t you come in and hang out? I can whip up some food and we can watch a DVD or something.”
The look on his face was how she imagined an alien would look upon arriving on a new planet. It would have been funny if it weren’t a bit sad. She unlocked her door and went in, leaving him free to enter or leave. “You said we could be friends for another hour, right? So come on. I can tell you all about my day hiding out from my stalker.”
Finally, he broke out into a grin and followed her inside, making the temperature in the tiny foyer they were standing in even balmier when he removed his suit jacket. Lord, the man had a broad chest. Great arms, too.
“Sorry, I’ll get the AC going. You can grab a beer from the fridge if you want. I was thinking of making some steak fajitas and a salad,” she called out as she made her way to the bedroom to change. “That okay with you?”
“Sounds great.”
She came back out in an old tshirt and sweats, purposely choosing not to pretty up for Connor.
Oddly, he seemed to appreciate that fact, judging by the pleased smile he gave her when she returned. “Do you need help cooking? I want to earn my meal.”
“Sure. Can you fry up the flank steak for me? The meat is marinating in a ziploc in the fridge.” She was surprised at how normal she sounded, what with his presence seemingly sucking up all her usual oxygen supply in the small kitchen. Her whole house, really, if she was being honest with herself. Damn, when was that AC going to kick in?
“Hey, are you going to have enough food for me too?” asked Connor as he poked around in her fridge. “Because I can always just eat a ham and cheese or PB&J.”
The thought of this high powered lawyer with his head to toe dry clean only ensemble eating a brown bag sandwich served to calm her nerves a bit. “I always make extra for lunch the next day so it’ll be fine.” She started cutting up some avocados to make some fresh guacamole. “Cilantro, onions, and tomatoes okay in the guac? I make mine chunky.”
“Perfect. Brian makes it the same way.”
“He would. I’m the one who got him hooked on it.”
Connor tilted his head at that tidbit as he threw the meat on the skillet. “I still find it so hard to believe I don’t have any recollection of seeing you after that first day at the hospital.”
She tried for a breezy, unoffended shrug. “Guess I just have one of those forgettable faces.”
He gave her a quiet look. “No, you don’t.”
Good lord, so that’s what a ‘smoldering glance’ looked like? With Connor’s ice blue eyes, the effect was lethal to her lady parts. “Well, it’s not as if the times we saw each other in passing were momentous events,” she recovered, just barely stopping herself from telling him how unforgettable she’d always found him. “Plus, family gatherings where friends get to know the siblings weren’t really your parents’ sort of thing.”
“No,” he snorted, “unless you count the occasional $500 a plate dinners. Which I don’t.”
“Honestly, I think we only actually ‘saw’ each other the couple of times there was some emergency which required us to do a Skylar hand-off at Brian’s house.”
“That explains it,” he said quietly.
Abby knew what he meant. Each time she’d run into him, the fact that he’d looked criminally handsome had hardly even had a chance to register. Not with everything