Page 26 of King of Justice

If I were being honest, I wanted to snatch that phone from her hand and turn the camera on her instead. Everything about her was liberated—the way she moved, the manner in which she was comfortable in her own skin. Her messy curls. Her puffy bed eyes. “What are you doing for lunch later?” I asked.

“Lunch?” She put away her phone and turned away, bending over to pick up her panties. “I’ll probably be working.”

I watched her pull them up and wished I could pull them back down and reclaim her to bed where I’d spend the rest of my morning feasting on her. “Can’t you go late?”

“I am late.” Without looking at me, she put on her bra.

“Well, what about dinner?”

Grabbing her earrings, she turned to me, her fingers working to put them on. “How about we go with the flow?”

“What flow?”

“Last night was fun, but do we really have to start making plans?”

“Why not? You won’t be here for long.”

“Exactly.” She nodded. “I wasn’t even looking for this. It just happened.”

“And it was fun.”

Putting her hands on her waist, her eyes searched around the room as if to locate something. “I’m starting to understand you, Nathan.” She then swiftly picked up her dress from the floor and straightened back up, looking me dead in the eyes. “You always want more.”

In disbelief of how she was complicating things, I raised my eyebrows. “By all means, do explain.”

She proceeded to put on the dress while her eyes roamed anywhere but near me. “You enjoyed our little camping adventure, so you wanted my number. You invited me here, and we had a great night, so you wanna book another slot.”

“Slot?”

“Don’t you see? I thought you did!” She glanced in the mirror and frowned, unhappy with her hair as her hands started to fiddle with her shiny curls. “I’m not the kind who thinks that things will go from good to better. You, on the other hand—”

“What’s wrong with wanting more?” I leaned forward, uncomfortably aware of what was happening. She was making me chase after her, and that wasn’t a game I enjoyed playing.

She turned to me and with a finalizing gesture, held up her shoes. “Nothing, if the other person is on the same page as you.” She then quickly grabbed the doorknob and without looking back, said, “I’ll see you around, Nathan,” and closed the door behind her.

What just happened?

I stayed in bed for a moment, trying to make sense of the wreckage that was now my thoughts and formulate one comprehensible idea about the reality of the situation. Sophie seemed sweet, straightforward and… genuinely attracted to me. Last night, she couldn’t wait for me to make the first move and now… now she sounded like a completely different person.

In an effort to clear my head, I picked up my phone and read Gunnar’s one-word text. Breakfast?

I wasn’t even remotely hungry.

Getting up, I grabbed the first workout outfit I found and hastily put it on before heading straight to the gym. There, I set the treadmill to the fastest speed I was accustomed to and started running.

I closed my eyes and let my legs take care of the passing time until I lost track of it all. Just as quickly, the thoughts ran through my head, playing back every detail from last night like a new film I was yet to see. Had I done something that put her off? Had I unknowingly forced her to do something she didn’t want to do? Or was she simply commitment-phobic? A lunch invitation wasn’t exactly a marriage proposal.

Where did I go wrong?

When my heart finally hit its max, and my lungs ached for air, I cooled down to a halt and got off the treadmill. I then stepped into the shower and resorted to the hottest water my skin could tolerate, scorching away all feelings of embarrassment or dismissal that might have remained. All that was left now was the feeling of me cleaning my body of last night. Of her.

Failing to pinpoint the culprit, what was there to do?

I went downstairs and saw Gunnar in the kitchen. “Good morning. Sleep well?” he asked with a smile.

“I guess.” My eyes searched his surroundings for something I was yet to name.

“The casserole? It’s here.”

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