Sophie stood, showing no embarrassment about her nudity. “I need to take a shower.”
“We should get breakfast,” Grady suggested, suddenly feeling desperate. “Before you run your errands, I mean.”
Sophie shrugged. “Okay. That sounds good. Those frozen dinners we ate last night didn’t really hit the spot.”
“You don’t have a lot of food around here.”
“I don’t eat here very often. I’m not really here all that often.”
The sterilized feel of the house was a testament to that fact. Still, she was giving him an out. Grady figured he’d better take it – if only to keep his pride intact. “Okay, let’s shower and get some breakfast.”
Sophie smiled. It was small and alluring, and Grady couldn’t help but return the gesture. “We should probably conserve water and do it together.”
“That would be best for the environment,” Grady agreed.
Sophie squealed as he chased her into the bathroom. This was perfect, Grady told himself. She didn’t want anything from him. She didn’t expect anything from him. No one was going to end up with a broken heart here.
This was for the best.
Then how come his heart didn’t quite believe that?
GRADY strode into Hardy Brothers Security with a little added spring to his step. He pulled up short when he found James and Finn watching him.
“What?”
“Someone got lucky last night,” James teased.
“We haven’t seen him in twenty-four hours,” Finn said. “Someone got lucky all day yesterday, too.”
Grady shrugged. “So?”
James shook his head. “Nothing. You just look … rested.”
“I’m not falling for this game,” Grady said. “We had sex. It was good. It was really good.” Grady had no doubt that the grin washing over his face made him look silly. He was having trouble caring about how stupid he looked.
“And where is the comely Sophie now?” Finn asked.
Grady’s smile faded and was replaced with a scowl. “She said she had to go and pick something up from the newspaper.”
“Why didn’t you go with her?”
“She didn’t want me to,” Grady said. “She’s was all ‘I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself’. She said she could run her own errands.”
James barked out a laugh. “Annoying, isn’t it?”
“You have no idea.”
James turned back to his computer.
“Did you get anything on the names?” Grady asked.
“Not yet.”
“The problem is, we’ve got financials on a lot of them, but it’s a lot of paper to sort through,” Finn added.
“They’re not all guilty,” James said. “So we’re going to be running a lot of this and coming up empty. It’s a waiting game now. Busy work.”
“Well, let’s get busy,” Grady said. “We can order food and have a few beers while we’re working this afternoon. We’ll make a day of it.”
Grady was aware of what he was doing. He was keeping busy so his mind wouldn’t wander. Because, if it wandered, it was going to lead him right back to a certain bed – and that seemed like a mistake at this point.
MANDY parked outside Hardy Brothers Security and glanced into the backseat of her car. She’d gone grocery shopping – since the apartment was practically barren and her appetite was back – but the thought of carrying everything upstairs by herself wasn’t exactly filling her with delight.
The sound of another car door closing caught her attention, causing her to glance over and find Sophie watching her. “Hi.”
“Hey. Do you need help getting that upstairs?”
“That obvious, huh? I was considering texting the boys and making them come out.”
Sophie glanced inside the car. “I think we can get that up there with only one trip. There’s no reason to bother them.” She shoved the files she was carrying into her purse and reached for several of the bags. “Load me up.”
Mandy led Sophie upstairs, both of them struggling with the heavy bags. Once inside the apartment, Mandy dropped her bags on the kitchen counter and then relieved Sophie of her load, giving her a chance to look around.
“This place is nice,” Sophie said. “I wouldn’t have expected it to be so … homey.”
“It is nice,” Mandy agreed. “It’s a little small, though.”
“You live here?”
“Not technically. I have an apartment in Clinton Township. I spend most of my nights here, though. It’s closer to work and just easier for James. We still spend the occasional night at my apartment, usually if we’re out shopping or having dinner in that area.”