Page 118 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

A pork product. Possibly sausage.

Some sort of carbs. His nose twitched. His best guess was pancakes.

And of course, coffee.

She was making breakfast.

He rolled again and snagged his cell phone off the nightstand to check the time.

Holy shit.It was already nine. He hadn’t slept that solidly in…

A long time.

His gaze caught the knocked-over condom box. Nine remained after using two last night. Depending what time she kicked his ass out the door today, they might have time to use another one.

Ifhe could convince her into giving him one for the road.

After yanking on his jeans, he hit the bathroom to do his business, wash his face, and utilize the toothbrush he brought along in his rucksack.

Once he was somewhat awake, he followed the delicious scents to the kitchen.

When he got there, he leaned a shoulder against the wall just outside the kitchen and watched Liyah putter around. She wore a black and gold slinky robe that clung to her curves and a matching silk scarf was still tied around her hair. When he asked about it last night, she explained that wearing it while she slept protected her locks.

He had so much to fucking learn.

His ears picked up soft music.

A radio?

He listened more carefully. No, she was humming softly while she worked, but he couldn’t identify the song. He wanted to get closer to figure it out but was afraid that if she spotted him, she’d stop.

He also wasn’t ready for her to know he was there. He was enjoying the view too much. Especially with the way she rocked her hips back and forth while she continued to hum, adding in a word or two here and there.

He pinned his lips together to keep from making a sound as she danced around the kitchen, totally oblivious to his presence.

When she turned to grab something out of the fridge and spotted him, her dark brown eyes went wide, she released a squeak and slapped her hand over her heart. “Holy shit. How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough. Don’t let me interrupt you.”

Instead of grabbing what she needed from the refrigerator, she changed course and approached him, raking her gaze down him from his bedhead all the way to his bare toes. “Damn, Officer Lennox. Seeing your sexy self wearing nothing but jeans is enough to get my motor running this morning.”

Did she really just purr?

“I would’ve gotten it running in a different way if you hadn’t let me sleep in.”

When she stood bare toe to bare toe with him, she dragged her fingers along his jawline, a reminder that he needed to shave. “It looked like you needed that sleep.”

He couldn’t argue that fact. “What can I do to help?”

“I have something super easy for you to do. Simply keep looking more delicious than the breakfast I’m about to serve you. I have it under control.” She tipped her head toward the coffeemaker. “Help yourself to some coffee. I set out a mug for you. There’s creamer, milk or half and half in the fridge, if you use it.” She pointed to the counter. “Sugar’s in that jar there.”

“Black is good for me.”

She stopped dead on her way back across the largest residential kitchen he’d ever been in and glanced over her shoulder. “I’m glad you like your women the same as you like your coffee.”

He snorted. “You’re the first Black woman I’ve been with.”

She laughed. “Even if I didn’t already know that, you make it pretty damn obvious.”

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