Bear with Me Now by Katie Shepard

Author:Katie Shepard [Shepard, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-04-25T00:00:00+00:00

eighteen

Darcy was an early riser as a matter of both habit and preference, but Teagan was up before her. He was already showered and buttoning a white dress shirt before Darcy blinked into alertness and realized he was preparing to leave the house.

Darcy sat bolt upright, startled to be both naked and apparently late, and began to rub her hair out of her face.

“Oh shit, sorry, what time is it?” she asked before she wondered whether she ought to be the one apologizing, actually.

After correctly intuiting that Teagan was the kind of guy who was willing to spoon all night if his world was sufficiently rocked, she’d banked on him also being the kind of guy who got up and made breakfast to butter her up for round two. She’d been looking forward to the morning. She hadn’t expected him to be sneaking out.

Teagan jolted at her voice. He wheeled from the mirror, looked at her, blushed, turned around, realized he could still see her in the mirror, blushed harder, then completed the circuit.

“Sorry,” he matched her words. “I didn’t want to wake you up. I have to go.”

“Then don’t I have to go too?” Darcy said, trying not to sound accusatory.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Teagan said, casting a regretful glance over her mostly bare form, still tangled in the sheets. “It’s a long commute, and I’m going to stay late catching up on work.”

Darcy wrinkled her nose, reorienting herself to what she was doing here. Shore leave was canceled. Back to the boat. Primary mission objective was to keep Teagan from wandering off to a three-martini lunch.

“I also have work,” she retorted, which made him frown. “Wherever you are.”

He sat down next to her, making the mattress dip under his weight. He trailed the back of his knuckles along the curve of her hip, the movement at once tentative and soothing. Darcy leaned into it. If he’d get back into bed, she was sure she could wipe that tight expression off his face.

“You don’t have to do anything today,” he said, voice careful. “I’m just going to be in the office. Mount Beacon is supposed to be a nice hike, or if you drop me off at the station and take the car, you could check out some of the state parks toward the Catskills—”

“We could do that instead of going into the city,” Darcy suggested.

Teagan’s mouth twisted, and he looked away.

Well, she’d tried.

“I can get ready in five minutes,” Darcy promised, pushing them both out of bed.

By the time Darcy had thrown on the clothes at the top of her suitcase and brushed her hair into submission, Teagan was knotting an aggressively boring blue tie in the bathroom mirror, his movements short and tense.

“Do you wear a suit every day?” Darcy asked, curious. She came up behind him and wrapped arms around his torso to take the fabric out of his hands. She pretended to know how to tie it, folding the fabric in a running knot instead.

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