After I gave myself a once over and walked out of the bathroom, I didn’t go to Ren.

I’d given it time, and not just the time my cell needed to charge.

So I went to the phone.

I scrolled down and dialed Indy.

I got voicemail.

I took in a deep breath and disconnected. It wasn’t unheard of I’d get voicemail. If Lee had Indy’s attention or she was neck deep in coffee, she wouldn’t answer her phone.

The thing was, her BFF had her apartment bombed. This was not a time when she wouldn’t take a call from me.

I hit go on her contact again.

I got voicemail again.

This time I didn’t disconnect.

Instead, after her message, I left one.

“Hey. I figure you’re pissed and just to say, you have a right. I kept a lot from you, but I had a lot going through my head. I kept that from you, too. But if you’ll let me, I’ll explain everything. I had my reasons, chickie. And hopefully, when you hear them, you’ll understand.” I paused, then whispered, “Love you.”

Then I hung up.

I was unplugging my phone from the charger and pushing thoughts of Indy being pissed at me to the back of my head by lamenting the fact I hadn’t bought a bag to go with my slinky dress when I heard Ren mutter, “Christ.”

I straightened and turned.

While I was in the bathroom, he’d changed into dark blue trousers and a light blue shirt with dark blue and gray stripes.

Nice.

“Hey,” I greeted.

He said nothing, but his eyes were glued to the vicinity of my hips where my dress was very tight and didn’t leave a lot to the imagination, even through material.

I took this as indication he liked the dress.

I smiled big inside, but my lips only tipped up slightly on the outside.

His gaze drifted to my shoes and locked there.

“Zano, I’m hungry.”

He looked at my face.

“If I tell you to get your ass over here, are you gonna give me shit?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “Though, I will warn you, you unwrap this package now, you spoil the surprise I have planned for later, and I’ll note that whatever you might make up in your head from now until then, the reality is better.”

His eyes heated but his lips quirked.

“Baby, just to say, I’m likin’ how special you’re showin’ me this night’s gonna be.”

My tipped lips tipped up higher.

Then his head cocked to the side and the heat went out of his gaze, but it stayed fastened on me and changed to probing. He studied me a moment before walking to me, lifting both hands to either side of my neck and dipping his face close.

“You have insurance?” he asked gently.

I wasn’t following from our sexual banter to that question, so I asked back, “What?”

“Insurance, personal property. You covered?”

“I don’t know how covered I am, but I do have a policy,” I answered. “Why?”

“You’ve got something on your mind. Not surprising since your apartment exploded. And maybe we should talk about that.”

Oh. That.

I blew it off. “It’ll be okay.”

His scrutiny, already acute, got more so right before his thumbs moved to stroke my throat.

Both of them.

He’d never done that before.

It felt delicious.

So delicious, I wondered if I threw a tizzy about my apartment, what that would get me.

“You haven’t talked about that hardly at all, honey,” he noted.

“What’s there to talk about?” I asked, genuinely curious, and his thumbs stopped.

“Ally, baby, you lost everything,” he said quietly and carefully.

“Yeah,” I replied and he blinked.

“Yeah?” he repeated after me, but his was a question.

I shrugged. “It’s just stuff. I had my phone and my laptop on me and the backups of both were at my pad so it was good I had them. Clothes, furniture and kitchen implements can be replaced,” I told him, but finished on a mutter, “though I’m gonna miss my towels and sheets.”

When he said nothing and this lasted awhile, I focused on him, not my incinerated sheets.

“That’s it?” he pushed. “You’re gonna miss your towels and sheets?”