Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Listening carefully again to make sure she wasn’t up and about, he heard nothing but his own breathing.
Crumpling the used tissues into a ball, he rose to his feet, didn’t bother to turn on the light and carefully opened the door. He took another second to listen, but all was quiet and Nova’s bedroom door was shut completely.
Thank fuck.
With no threat of running into her, he relaxed a little and padded barefoot quickly and quietly down the hallway to the only bathroom in the apartment. He paused when he noticed light spilling out into the hallway from the slightly ajar bathroom door.
She must have forgotten to turn it off after her shower. He reluctantly admitted that Nova had been right when she bitched about men leaving the lights on. It was in their DNA. But, apparently, she had the same bad habit.
Or maybe she left it on as a “night light” to assist finding the bathroom in a dark apartment that neither of them were overly familiar with.
The only saving grace with wasting electricity was the fact that neither of them were footing the bill. The government was.
He shoved the door open and froze with one foot over the threshold.
With both hands braced on the sink, Nova jerked sharply when the bathroom door was suddenly and unexpectedly pushed open.
She had been staring at herself in the mirror, not only contemplating life in general, but what happened in the kitchen and how to avoid that happening in the future. Especially since they’d be working closely together for weeks, if not months.
Now she stared at Fletch in only a pair of snug boxer briefs as he stood there, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping at finding her in the bathroom. “Shit.”
“Shit” is right.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Didn’t know you were in here. I thought you left the light on.”
“Usually when the light’s on, it’s a good indicator that someone is occupying that space,” she told him needlessly.
“What are you doing?”
“I was…” Washing my hands after masturbating. She choked down that explanation and finished with, “I had to pee. What are you doing up?”
“I have to piss.”
“Then, I’ll leave you to it.” When she turned to leave, her eyes flicked down to the wad of tissues balled up in his hand before they returned to his poker face. She tipped her head to the side and held his gaze. “Allergies?”
“They’ve been acting up lately.”
“You haven’t sneezed or coughed all day.”
“I was just blowing my…”
She lifted one eyebrow. “Load?”
“Nose.” He pushed past her and tossed the tissues into the toilet, flushing it quickly.
“Flushing the evidence, huh?”
“Of my allergies?”
She laughed at his tightly schooled expression. “My allergies were bugging me, too.”
“I heard.”
What? Oh shit.
“Your allergies caused mine.”
She must have been too loud. Damn it. “I didn’t know allergies were contagious.”
“It’s kind of like a yawn. One person starts and everyone else around them gets sucked in.”
She nodded at his comparison like she was taking it seriously. “Got it. Don’t have allergies out in public, otherwise it might cause a rash of them.”
“It might cause a flash mob of people suddenly sneezing.”
Her eyes flicked to the toilet. “Is that what you call it? Sneezing?”
He grumbled, “I need to wash my hands,” and used his hip to nudge her out of the way.
When she had leaned her ass against the vanity to stay out of his path to the toilet, she had ended up blocking him from the sink. She shifted just enough to give him some room but didn’t move away completely. “You must’ve been sneezing a lot if you got it all over your hands.”
He shook his head and continued washing.
“I’ll be quieter next time,” she promised. “I didn’t mean to disturb your sleep.”
“You didn’t disturb my sleep, Nova.” He shut off the water and turned his head until his brown eyes met hers. “You disturbed my sanity.”
She raised both eyebrows. “I didn’t realize I had that much power.”
“Women have more power than we give them credit for.”
Wasn’t that the fucking truth? She snagged the hand towel hanging next to the sink and gave it to him. “Well then… I’ll let you finish up in peace.”
He quickly dried off his hands. “I’m not sure how much peace I’m going to get living in the same apartment as you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her ass against the vanity again as she considered him and his words. “The truth is, Fletch, Ghost doesn’t need an ol’ lady. Not all DAMC members have one. If you’d rather I pull myself from this assignment and have Crew put me elsewhere, I can do that. Neither of us can be distracted.” And she didn’t want to be blamed for putting him at risk for being the cause of his distraction.
He shifted enough to go bare toe to bare toe with her. Only, being this close had caused the earlier combustion in the kitchen. She reminded herself that she should be keeping him at arm’s length.