I pulled into her driveway seconds after she did, slamming the gearshift into park. Before she’d even gotten the door unlocked, I was right behind her.
“Calista, for fuck’s sake,” I bit out, the frustration I was feeling clear in every word I spoke as I followed her inside. I swiped my hands down my face in an effort to compose myself even a tiny fucking bit. To not wrap my hand around her throat and glide my other one up the soft skin of the inside of her thigh, to coax it out of her, so I could just fuckingfixit.
I thought she was going straight for the bedroom, but instead she’d obviously stopped right in the middle of the living room, where there was a clear view of the kitchen, and I ran straight into her.
My arm wrapped around her on instinct in an effort to steady myself and not take her down while I found my balance again. It meant I ended up pulling her flush to me in an almost exact replica of what had happened this morning.
“Whoa—”
“What in thefuck”—Cali’s hand gripped my arm, nails digging in to the point that I cringed—“isthat?” She whirled out of my hold and flung an arm behind her, waving it in a way that just screamedinternal panic.
“Can you be more specific?” I gave her a crooked grin because I knew what she was referring to. She was talking about her—
“Cabinets, Fane.” Her hand was still panic waving in the direction of the kitchen.
I crossed my arms. “Yes, okay. I see them.”
“Youseethem?” When Cali got flustered, she talked with her hands in a big way. This meant she literally used her fingers to widen her eyes, and I only just managed to cover my laugh with a cough.
“Yes.”
“Okay, well, do youseehow they’re now at…atregularperson height?”
I made a show of flicking my eyes behind her, then back. “I do.”
“That’s not where I installed them.”
“No, it’s not.”
“You…you moved my cabinets?” She literally mimed opening cabinet doors and taking something out of them.
“Yep.”
“Why would you do that,Fane?” She put extra emphasis on my name, and despite it not being the time for it, coupling her voice, my name, and the fact that she’d just been pressed against me for the second time in one day, it shot straight to my dick.
“Because,Calista,you had to stand on your kitchen counter to get a mug. Let’s not also forget that you literallyfell off itthis morning, and I had to catch you.”
“I wouldn’t have fallen if you hadn’t snuck up on me.” She took a step closer and jabbed me in the chest with one accusatory finger.
I grabbed her wrist and held it between us. “So you’re saying you’veneverfallen off the counter before?”
“Whatever you’re doing here that’s making you feel like you need to, I don’t know,help…it’s not needed. I don’tneedyou to do any of this.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“No, Fane. I haven’t fallen off the damn counter.”
“Have you fallen offanythingin your attempt to do everything yourself?”
“I have…not.” Her eyes flickered away for a split second.
“Youliar.” I wrapped another hand around her waist. “You’re so fucking stubborn, do you know that?”
“And you clearly still have no concept of personal space,” she breathed back, her nose brushing mine.
“You didn’t seem to mind this morning,” I taunted her, grinning at that peachy blush that crept onto her face. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“You’re insufferable.” Her hand that was caught between us pushed on my chest, but it was half-hearted, like it was something she thought sheshoulddo, not something she actuallywantedto do.