She was in Len Thompson’s apartment.
Hell, she’d woken up in the man’s bed. After her heart stopped racing in panic, confusion had set in. Why on earth was she in Len’s place?
She spit and rinsed, threw some cold water on her face and patted dry with the towel she’d found next to the toothbrush. At least now she felt halfway human, but she still had no idea what was going on.
Something very weird had happened, and she wanted to know what. Soon.
As she wandered through his apartment, she racked her brain for the missing details. The bonfire by the river came back, plus sneaking off with Liz and Shannon, but everything after that was a blur.
A granola bar and an orange sat in the middle of the kitchen table, along with her purse. She rummaged around in it until she found her phone, grabbed the food and took everything back with her to the living room.
She hadn’t spent a lot of time in Len’s place, but she’d been there enough to recognize where she was. She and his little sister, Katy, had been best friends since they were ten years old, and by the time Janey turned eleven she’d already decided Len was dreamy.
Not that she would have known what to do with him at that age. Nope, kind of like dogs chasing cars. Would they…bury it in the backyard, or what? Images flooded in of enormous piles of dirt with bumpers sticking out.
Whoa. That was weird. Her brain was obviously still not awake.
The clock on the stereo said it was ten a.m., which explained why Len wasn’t around.
She glanced down at what she was wearing. The oversized T-shirt had to belong to the man she’d spent years chasing. Had they actually done something?
Even with her foggy memories, the answer to that question was crystal clear. The way her head was pounding, she’d hit the bottle hard, and no way would Len have taken advantage of her being drunk. It wasn’t him.
Yet here she was, wearing nothing but his shirt.
She bit into the granola bar and chewed a few times as she pondered that detail. Her brain woke up a little, and she checked more thoroughly, running a hand over one hip.
Nothing. But. His. Shirt.
Jeez, she didn’t even have any underwear on. Chewing briskly so she could swallow her mouthful, she poked at her phone and waited for Liz to answer her call.
It went to voicemail. Janey popped off the couch with a curse, her head spinning momentarily at the rapid motion. She tried again, this time connecting to Shannon’s number.
Voicemail. Shit.
She checked the clock and decided to take the chance. Katy would be home, but who knew if she’d be answering the phone with a two-week-old baby in the house.
Katy not only answered, she was damn near frantic. “I couldn’t believe it when Len called me. How do you feel? I came over there at seven to keep an eye on you when he left for work, but you were still sound asleep. I swear I just left, not even fifteen minutes ago, because Tanner got fussy and you were still snoring like a log. I didn’t want him to wake you.”
“You were here?” This got weirder and weirder. “And what did Len tell you, because all I know is I’m not wearing any clothes, and I’m in his apartment.”
“No clothes—” Katy paused. “What do you remember?”
“Not a hell of a lot, especially not about the important things. I doubt you’re going to tell me Len and me did the dirty deed, because you would’ve run screaming if that was the case.”
Finally a laugh from her friend. “You got that right. No, hon. You didn’t tie one on last night. Someone slipped you some drugs.”
Someone slipped her—
A momentary rush of fear was rapidly replaced with anger as the grinning cowboy’s face flashed to mind. “That fucker. I should rip his balls off.”
“You know who did it?” Katy demanded.
Janey thought harder, but it was no use. “I got a first name, and I might recognize his face, but beyond that, nothing. You’re serious? Someone drugged me?”
“Yeah. Liz and Shannon said they didn’t notice anything until all of a sudden you were dancing like a fool. Shannon thought maybe it was Ecstasy.”
Panic hit like a rock fall. “Oh, Lord, did I do anything terrible?”
“Not as far as I’ve heard,” Katy rushed to reassure her. “And you know Len would never let anything like that happen to you.”
That was true. The man watched her like a hawk even while pretending he wasn’t interested. The split between what he offered and what she wanted was a wide chasm. He’d refused to get close.
Which made her current situation even more confusing. “Why am I in his apartment?”
“You had to be watched last night, and Len was the only one who could do it.”
Lovely. “Gee, thanks. Sounds like I was the booby prize at the fair.”
“Hey, they didn’t ask me. Just assumed they shouldn’t dump your doped-up ass on me with Tanner not sleeping through the night.” Katy made a rude noise. “You’re my best friend, and I wouldn’t have minded one bit, but I’m glad Len was able to look after you.”
“That makes me feel a little better,” Janey admitted. “But I’m still confused.”
“You were drugged. Which sucks, but it could have been far worse.” Katy’s concern was clear. “What if they’d…? No. Not even going there. But, hon? You were lucky.”
If the only thing Janey had to deal with was a bit of confusion, she’d been more than lucky, considering what could have happened. Her imagination was vivid enough there were paths she didn’t want to go down, so she consciously pushed away from considering in detail the hell she’d avoided. Deliberately focused on another part of the big picture. “I understand a little better what you felt like, by the way. After you had your accident and lost track of things. A little bit, I mean. I lost a few hours. It sucks.”
“It does,” Katy agreed. “But you’ll figure it out.” Soft baby noises in the background rose in volume from gurgles to full-on protest. “Listen to the kid. You’d think I never fed him. One sec.”
She spoke away from the phone, and Janey waited patiently as her friend cared for her little one.
“Back.”
“Am I okay otherwise? Do you know?”
“I talked to Shannon, and she said yes. She’ll be off shift at noon if you’d like to call her. But otherwise, everything should be fine.” The squawking in the background continued to escalate, and Katy laughed softly. “His royal whininess is summoning me. If you feel up to it, come by for lunch.”
Janey needed to get moving anyway. “I’ll talk to you later.”
She let her friend off the line, debating what to do next. Her confusion was still there, but she wasn’t terrified anymore.
It was strange being in the man’s apartment without him. Even weirder when she realized she would have to borrow something of his to wear home. The jeans and shirt she’d worn to the party were on the table, and it was obvious he’d tried to clean them up, but no way was she putting mud-stained underwear back on.
Embarrassment increased as she realized Len would have folded the garments. The idea of his hands on her bra and panties was not nearly as sexy as she’d thought it would be.
Of course, she’d always imagined the first time he’d handle her clothes would be while she was in them, alert and eager to play.
So much for that daydream.
She stood with her hands on his dresser drawer and took a deep breath, bracing herself before tugging it open and peaking inside. When she caught a flash of underwear she slammed it shut.
Third attempt revealed sweatpants, and she grabbed the smallest pair possible. She was going to have to tie a rope around her waist to stop the fabric from falling off her hips.
She tucked all her things into a plastic shopping bag and shoved her feet into her still-wet cowboy boots. Locked the door behind her and marched the seven blocks home at a rapid pace, letting herself in the unlocked back door of the house she’d grown up in.
Inside was a mess. Even though she’d worked hard to keep things as neat as possible, dust and renovations went hand in hand, and piles of new tiles and flooring were everywhere.
Fortunately, the downstairs bathroom was in one piece, mostly. The light fixture wasn’t working, but she’d grown accustomed to showering by the light pouring in from the hallway. Janey stripped off Len’s borrowed clothing and stepped into the shower, ducking her head under the steamy water.
She closed her eyes and let the heat soak in. Well. That hadn’t been the kind of morning she’d expected.
Janey opened her eyes and stared forward, concentrating on the tasks ahead of her. In the mirror across from the shower stall, she noticed something dark on her stomach. She glanced down in fear, visions of enormous leeches flashing into her brain.
What she saw was less nauseating but even more unbelievable. She turned off the water and stared some more.
Whatever had happened last night? Len Thompson had a hell of a lot of explaining to do.
He’d been waiting for her to arrive. No way, knowing Janey as he did, would she would let this go without at least railing on his ass a little. Which was good, because once the shouting stopped, they’d be able to get their new situation out in the open as soon as possible.
Didn’t mean he was looking forward to the conversation, though.