Sinner and Saint

Chapter Sixteen

Somewhere in my foggy brain, a really loud blare registered.

I wanted to ignore it because the effort to swim out from under my duvet was too much for my arms and shoulders.

Noodles, that's what they felt like.

I was working on a plank ceiling all day yesterday and my body knew it.

But everywhere around me was muted lighting.

It was morning and my mornings usually started before sunrise. Construction work wasn't for sleeping in, which was too bad because I was an enthusiastic advocate for it. And if Jamie or someone else from the crew was calling me this early, something was up.

So even with my eyes still squeezed close, I patted around my nightstand, ignoring the dull thud of my planner hitting the carpet.

I didn't glance at the screen as I slipped the phone under the covers which I'd pulled over my head to protect my bleary eyes.

"Huh-low?"

"Good morning, Kady."

My eyes snapped open and my body jolted into life as if someone had just taken a defibrillator to me.

"Stellan," I said dumbly. "Hi."

A slight pause before he asked, "Did I wake you?"

"No, no. I'm up," I said even as I curled into myself under the covers, refusing to leave this makeshift cocoon of warmth and Stellan's voice. It didn't help that I was just in my underwear and a satin cami. My skin seemed to have suddenly developed extra nerve endings.

"I know what you sound like when you've just barely woken up."

My face warmed, memories of mornings he probably shouldn't have hinted at sending a tingle down my spine.

"Okay, fine. I just woke up."

"And still in bed?"

I didn't intend for my yes to sound a little husky but that's how it came out.

A heartbeat passed. And another. And Stellan still hasn't responded.

"I see," he finally said, his voice sounding a little odd. "Maybe I should come back another time."

I raised my brow. "Come back? Wait, you're here?"

"Downstairs, in the front lobby of your condo," he said before hastily adding, "But it's alright, really. I'm sorry I woke you up. I just thought—I'll come back another time, Kady."

I should've probably just let him but I was hungry for any scrap of attention I could get from Stellan since we saw each other again two weeks ago. Admittedly, there hasn't been much which was probably a good thing for both of us. But now that he was here, I couldn't turn him away.

"No, it's fine. I'll buzz you in and put myself together in the two minutes it'll take you to get here," I said as I threw the covers back and scrambled to my feet.

After punching in the code, I threw the phone aside, pulled on a fluffy bathrobe instead of my slinky one that didn't conceal shit, brushed my teeth and splashed some water on my eyes. That cleared my vision for the rat's nest that was my hair, still wrapped in a silk scarf around the crown, its thick, wiry ends sitting on the top of my head like a pineapple.

I sighed.

Well, Stellan should be used to the sight of me like this by now.

A knock came at the door and I tried not to run anything over on my way there.