Page 54 of See It Through
I stayed up until sunrise, watching over him. When light slanted through the cracks in my blinds, I finally gave in and let sleep take me away.
Chapter Twenty-three
Remington
Least I could doafter being a burden of a guest was have coffee waiting for Hannah when she woke up.
She padded out of her bedroom a quarter past nine, hair a mess, yawning, wearing an old flannel shirt that barely cleared the tops of her thighs, and I froze on her couch, too stupefied to spring into action.
“‘Morning,” she chirped sleepily. “You let me sleep in.”
That got me moving. Crossing the small space, I took her by the shoulders and shifted her to the side so I could pour her cup.
“What do you take in your coffee?” I asked.
She snorted a laugh from behind me. “Did you just move me?”
I turned, mug in hand, eyes wide. “Uh…yeah. Guess I did.”
She took the mug from me and set it on the counter. “This is too much commotion for me when I just woke up. Is this how you are every morning?”
“Uh, no. Not really.”
Winding around me, she went to the sink, filled a pink plastic cup with water, and grabbed the pill bottle sitting next to it. Shaking one into her palm, she tossed it into her mouth and downed the entire cup of water, slamming it onto the counter. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then laughed, finding me staring at her.
“Surely me taking my ADHD meds is not that interesting, Remington.”
I rubbed my nape, off-kilter already. “I—feel like crap for keeping you up last night. I had big plans of making it up to you by fixing you coffee and taking you out for breakfast.”
“You don’t need to feel like crap.” There wasn’t much space in the kitchen, so it didn’t take much for her to come to me and loop her arms loosely around my neck. “If I wake up at night, it takes me a while to fall back to sleep. Don’t think for a second I minded being there for you. You don’t need to make up for anything.”
I winced. “No matter what you say, I don’t like being the cause of you missing sleep. Glad you could catch up a little this morning.”
“You were quiet as a mouse out here. I almost thought you went home.”
“Nope. I wouldn’t leave without saying something.” I spread my fingers across her back and trailed down to her hips. “I called the station from your porch. They went out to see Cleve last night. He denies any involvement. Jacob’s footage didn’t pick anything up either.”
She nodded. “That’s what I expected. I appreciate you taking care of it for me, though. One less thing for me to think about.”
“Told you I would,” I reminded her.
Her pretty brown eyes softened on mine. “That’s right. You did. Thank you for being a man of your word.” Her lips grazed mine once then went in harder for a second time. “You know, I wouldn’t object to being taken out for breakfast. But you should be aware if people see us out together, tongues will wag.”
“You think I care what anyone in this town has to say?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Gossip has a way of filtering back to my family. You might care about that.”
“And you imagine they’ll have a problem with me treating you to breakfast?”
She speared her fingers into the back of my hair and shot me a little grin. “Okay, Remington. If you don’t care, neither do I. Just thought I should give you fair warning.”
I slid my hand down her back to cup her bottom, which was smooth and bare. Blood rushed due south to my groin, but I ignored it. I’d fucked Hannah six ways to Sunday last night, now was the time for me to be a gentleman.
“Noted.” I gave her butt a light smack. “Why don’t you get your pretty little ass dressed, sweetheart?”
“All right.” Her fingers left my hair, and her palms came to rest on my chest. “I put a new toothbrush out for you in the bathroom. I had to choose between a red one and a blue one. I decided on red. Hope you like it.”
I grinned at her, pleased as hell to experience Hannah Kelly in the morning. “Red’s my color. You chose well.”