Joker in the Pack (Romantic Suspense, Completed, Watty Winner)

Chapter 37

Despite a burning curiosity about my new surroundings, and even more interest in the contents of the safe deposit box, I was almost grateful the next day was Sunday because I needed a rest. By the time morning rolled around, I could barely walk.

Nye had no such problems. "You up for another round?" he asked as the early afternoon sun glinted through the gap in the curtains.

I couldn't move, and I mumbled as much into the pillow.

"How about I just roll you over and make you happy?"

That did it. I was in love with this man.

As he started work, I went beyond happy, further even than delirious. Nye had invested in gold-standard equipment and was clearly familiar with the operating manual. He certainly knew how to push my buttons.

"Hungry, babe?" he asked as I collapsed back onto the mattress.

I slid my jaw from side to side, testing it. "Muscles I didn't know I had are aching."

He laughed. "I meant for food."

"Oh. Yes, some food would be lovely."

Except there was a slight flaw in that plan, because when we staggered through to Nye's kitchen, he didn't have any.

"I've got Kit Kats, Rice Krispies, and a microwaveable cheese toastie," he called out, rummaging through his cupboards. "Actually, the Rice Krispies aren't so crispy anymore."

"What about proper food?"

With that many preservatives in his system, an archaeologist could dig Nye up in a few hundred years' time and find a perfectly lifelike corpse.

I opened the fridge and found five cans of beer, a bottle of ketchup, and a jar of pickles that had expired two years previously. A foil container lurked in one corner, and I didn't even want to think about what horrors it might harbour. It went straight into the bin.

"What do you eat?" I asked.

He wandered over to me and shrugged. "Mostly takeaways. Or I eat out. Or I get something at work."

"Can we buy some proper food?"

"You'll cook?" He grinned like a kid on Christmas Day.

His kitchen was a chef's dream. Stainless steel and granite with every appliance you could imagine. Everything except the microwave was spotless. Had the rest of the kitchen ever been used?

"I'd love to. Why did you buy such a fancy kitchen if you don't like cooking?"

"I hired a decorator, and she told me all of this stuff was essential, but I think she got carried away."

"Then I'll christen it for you."

He nuzzled my neck. "Fancy christening the rug in the lounge later too?"

I turned and kissed him.

"Is that a yes?" he asked when we broke apart.

"That's a yes."

He looked towards the lounge, then sighed. "We'd better go to the supermarket first."

"There might be a small problem with that. I don't have any clothes left. You shredded my last outfit."

"Shit, I'm sorry. Actually, I'm not." He loosened the belt on the bathrobe I'd borrowed and slid his arms around my naked waist. "I'll get you more clothes."

It turned out Janelle did more than just Nye's paperwork. She turned up an hour later with her hands full of expensive-looking paper carrier bags and held them out to me.