Kira stretched one more time, her smile stretched across her face.
It had definitely been that.
But she couldn't lie in bed reliving it all morning. She had a job to do, so reluctantly Kira rolled out of bed and into the shower.
The hot water did nothing to erase the memory of Nash's hands on her body, however. She was still turned on twenty minutes later when she'd showered, dressed, and walked into the kitchen to pour herself her first cup of coffee.
"Good morning."
Kira's smile when she saw Nash, who certainly should have been at work hours ago, stretched her face tight. She was sure that every muscle in her face would be sore for days just from the constant smile of the last twenty-four hours.
"I didn't expect to see you here."
"I'm full of surprises." He handed her a cup of coffee, complete with a kiss on the cheek. "And quite honestly, I was a little worn-out after last night. Think the boss will mind?"
"Oh, I don't think so." She winked and laughed. "But I'm not really the boss."
"I'm fairly sure that if we called up management and told them about the mind-blowing sex we had last night while we were on stakeout to catch the fish culprits, they might have something to say about it. Especially since we didn't catch the fish culprits." Nash kissed the sensitive spot under her ear. "Are there even fish culprits? Maybe we should have done our job better?" His tongue traced a line to her ear.
"Oh, I think we did our jobs pretty damn well last night."
Nash laughed. "Maybe we should do it again tonight?"
"Maybe we should figure out what's killing the fish."
The mention of dead fish was the end of the kissing, and as much as Kira would have happily spent the rest of her day kissing Nash, the reminder of the dead fish plaguing her campground was a wakeup call to that fact. She slid away from his arms because the only way she was going to get any work done was by putting distance between them.
She took a sip of coffee. "I wonder if there are any new fish this morning? Maybe I should call Conner and find out what happened overnight."
"Or … " Nash opened the oven and produced a dish of something that smelled amazing. "Maybe it can wait a few more minutes and you can sit and have a nice breakfast with me? After all, there's a whole morning after procedure we should probably follow, don't you think?"
At the moment, Kira could think of a lot of things that they should probably be doing, but Nash's idea of a morning after procedure sounded pretty damn good to her. Plus, she was starving and whatever it was he'd prepared smelled amazing.
"Of course. Work can wait."
Kira quickly set the table and topped up each of their mugs while Nash dished them out each a plate. "Frittata." He presented the plate with a flourish and sat across from her.
She inhaled deeply, filling her senses with the aroma. "Thank you. You didn't have to do this."
Nash shrugged. "I wasn't kidding when I said we should do it again tonight, Kira." His smile did something to her insides. "Maybe without the stakeout part."
She laughed. "As much as I'd love to, I think we should probably figure out the mystery, don't you?"
He shrugged his consent. "Okay, but first, at least for this morning, can we talk about something besides dead fish? At least while we eat?"
"Of course." She took a bite of the egg dish and let it melt in her mouth. "There was something I wanted to ask you about."
"I'm all ears."
Kira bit back a sharp retort about canine hearing, and instead asked the question she'd been thinking about since the night before. "Last night you told me about your brother." He nodded. "I got the impression that you two are pretty close."
Nash shrugged one shoulder but didn't look at her. "We were once."
"And now?"
Kira knew she was pushing, but she really wanted to know.
"Now we're not." Nash attacked his frittata. "It happens with siblings. Didn't you say you had brothers?"
Surely, he was only trying to deflect from an uncomfortable question, but the question put her on the defense none the less. "I do." It was all she would normally be willing to say. "And like you, I guess we just aren't close anymore. It happens."
"It can." He shoved a bite in his mouth, chewed thoughtfully and asked, "Is that why you deny your bear?"
Kira almost choked on her coffee. "I … I don't … " She swallowed hard. "How did you know?"
"That you don't shift?"
Her shoulders sagged. Sadness and fatigue flooded through her, erasing her previous light mood. She nodded.