Page 58 of Furever Loyal
“Hey,” he said, leaning against the door frame and gazing in at her. “I got us some fresh breakfast. I figured you might like that better than more tuna or granola.”
“Coffee?” she asked fuzzily.
“Ready to go. Probably cooled to the perfect temperature by now.”
Sitting up, she yawned and stretched, arms raised high above her head. The covers fell away, exposing her breasts to him.
“I see you checking me out,” she teased, not covering up.
Kincaid shrugged. “Wasn’t really trying to hide it. You’re gorgeous, and I enjoy seeing you like this.”
Haley blushed, but not as strongly as she might have, not after the night they’d shared. A lot had been revealed about them, and he’d seen every inch of her, explored every bit that he could touch.
“How about that coffee?” she joked, making a shooing motion as she slipped from the bed, giving him one last eyeful of her deliciously soft skin before he left the room.
Chuckling to himself, he prepared her coffee as per the instructions called to him through the door while she dressed and got ready.
“What possessed you to get up so early?” she asked, covering another yawn. “And did you really brave the outdoors in that getup? You let people see you?”
“Just the drive-through lady,” he said, earning him a quiet snort. “As for why I’m up? I couldn’t sleep, Haley. Too many things running through my head.”
She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder, both as comfort to him, and also out of tiredness, he was sure.
“Did you manage to get anywhere?”
“No,” he said unhappily. “I spent too much time being angry that my own family is convinced I’m a traitor.”
“It’s not a personal thing,” she said, turning her head so she could kiss his shoulder through the sweatshirt. “They’re just looking at the evidence in front of them, that’s all. After all, you told mesomeoneis a traitor, and they all know it. If you saw this evidence for someone else, you’d be acting on it as well.”
Kincaid didn’t like it, but she was right. Although he prided himself on seeing everything, with the way he’d been acting, if Kincaid were someone else, he’d assume he was guilty as well. More evidence was needed to disprove the allegations against him. That was the only way he could sort this out.
Haley sighed and snuggled up closer to him. “We’ll figure it out.”
Nodding, he couldn’t help but realize that the frame job wasn’t the only thing he needed to figure out. Whateverthiswas, between him and Haley, he needed to come to a conclusion soon. It was obvious neither of them had expected it to go down this path, but things had boiled over into physical interests the night before, and though he couldn’t be sure, he didn’t take it as a one-time-only sort of event.
Just another layer of confusion for him to sort through. Emotions were not his strong suit, especially his own.
Do I have emotions about this? Feelings? Or is this just a proximity-based attraction, given that she’s both smart and beautiful?
The thing was…he didn’t know. Nor did he have the slightest clue about how to proceed with her from there, other than to keep acting as he had up until then.
“What are you going to do next?” Haley asked, taking another sip of coffee and standing upright again.
Thanking her silently, he brought his mind back to the big issue. Solve that, then he could spend time figuring out just what the hell was going on between him and Haley, without worrying about Kvoss breaking in at any moment and going for this throat.
Haley frowned at him when he didn’t immediately answer. “You do have a plan, don’t you? We escaped from jail, fled across the city to live in the projects. You had better have an idea of what we’re going to do next, Kincaid!”
“We need more clues.”
“Right. Okay, I’m no super-sleuth, but I’ll drink to that.” She had some coffee. “How do we get them?”
“The restaurant,” he said, trying to sound more decisive than he felt. “It’s the only thing that seems to have a connection, without having shown it yet.”
Haley sighed. “Let me guess. You want to go break into the restaurant and snoop around, don’t you?”
Kincaid knew how she felt about that. About breaking the rules, of circumventing the law, and causing damage and mayhem in general. She found it abhorrent, and likely wouldn’t want to support him in it—which made it a good reason that he didn’t have that in mind. Not this time. It was time to try something a little less…obvious.
“Not quite,” he told her with a grin. “Here’s what I’m thinking…”
