Page 59 of Love Undercover
He chuckled, adding some extra scoops, figuring she’d drink half of his.
23
Flash Drive
After finishing breakfast, Sadie snuck back to the guest room. They’d left some pancakes for Kyle, and she hoped he’d soften a little at the gesture.
She was grateful even if she’d been unable to sleep on the hard bed that sagged in the middle and had that musty smell that came with old houses and hand-me-down linens. The whiffs of strong fragrance that gave away his use of popular, toxic laundry detergent had mixed with the dank smell and given her a headache.
Sleep had been nearly as hard-won in Chase’s arms, but her mind had been more settled because of his familiar warmth and scent. He must have used an unscented detergent because she’d only ever smelled his quintessential fragrance in the linens of his bed.
He wasn’t the least bit conscious of those sorts of things, but maybe he didn’t like strong scents. Or maybe it was just thecheapest option at the time. She didn’t know him well enough to guess at his purchasing motivations. All she knew was that she’d already grown accustomed to that unique foresty scent of his that lingered in his bed sheets and tried to distract herself from the weird sense of homesickness it inspired.
She could make a list of less toxic detergents for his next purchase. There was a running list of brands and prices in her purse, among many other things, that she could share with him.
She shut her eyes, trying to still her mind. Because this line of thinking was absolutely absurd under the circumstances. No longer just kidnapped by an undercover FBI agent, but now on the run, staying in the house of another undercover agent with rougher edges than the first.
And she was thinking about laundry detergent.
Probably better than thinking about what would happen next, though. If she dwelled on any of it too long, she’d start to freak out, and she needed to be as calm as possible. She couldn’t make this any more difficult for the people currently involved.
Her eyes lit on the closet across from her. She should let her curiosity take over and search the contents of the closet for the extra clothes Kyle had mentioned the night before. A shower and fresh digs sounded nice.
She was careful to slide the doors open quietly, not sure how to read Kyle’s feelings about the fact that they existed or that she might wear them.
There wasn’t much she would pick for herself. A lot of flashy, revealing pieces that weren’t practical. But she managed to find a white v-neck tee and a pair of jeans that were probably too short, but she could roll them up at the hem to make them look intentionally that way.
When she came out of the room, she glanced back and forth down the hall and practically sprinted across to the small bathroom for her shower. Washing her hair was unnecessarysince it hadn’t been that long since the last time. Plus she didn’t want to use any products she couldn’t pronounce the ingredients in.
Crackers, she sounded like a snob.
After her shower, she found she had to shimmy the jeans on, grateful they had a little give in the fabric. Otherwise, she would’ve had to stick with her linen pants that still had that little hole along the seam.
As she suspected, the jeans were too short, but they would do for now, so she left the bathroom in search of Chase. She wondered if there was any news from his boss—Gibson, he’d called him—about their next step. Regardless, they’d have to leave sometime that morning, as promised.
She found Chase in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee in his hand. A picture of calm, though she knew his natural tension was there below the surface almost always. It pulled tighter the second he saw her, though it eased after a moment.
It was like her presence was a shot to his system until he leveled out, those eyes going flaming bright. Or maybe it was that he was thrown by her change of clothes. The jeans were a little tight, after all.
She walked across the small kitchen to inspect the contents of the coffee pot.
“It’s not organic. Might even be laced with coke.”
She jerked to look at him, but he was smiling at her, that muted, sexy grin making her insides flip. “I’m just going to have a sip of yours, remember?”
“I drink it black with a whole mess of sugar.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe not, then.”
A few sips though. Because of the headache thing.
She took a mug from the cupboard next to him and poured two fingers of black liquid inside, then moved to the fridge tocheck for milk or half-and-half. She grunted when the waist of the jeans jabbed into her stomach, reminding her that she’d all but stuffed herself into them.
Chase muttered a curse under his breath, drawing her questioning gaze.
He shifted uneasily. “You in those jeans.”
Apparently, they were just tight enough. She tried to hide her smile. “Karma for the coffee comment.”
