Page 198 of The Clinch
“I know.”
“I still want to bite him.”
That gets a real smile out of her. “Also fair.”
Despite myself, I huff out something almost like a laugh. Then I go quiet again. Because she’s right. The target is shifting. Not fully. Not yet. But enough that I can feel it.
Leo’s silence isn’t abandonment. Instead, it feels like restraint. And restraint, from a man who could have taken last night and turned it into a claim?—
That means something.
I just don’t know yet what to do with it.
An hour later,I’m still at the table pretending I’m about to start my day when Nate comes in with a paper bag of groceries and sets it on the counter.
“I brought coffee,” he says lightly and starts unpacking with the kind of quiet efficiency that makes it clear this is his kitchen too. Eden shifts aside without comment. He measures grounds, fills the machine, starts a fresh pot.
The smell hits a minute later, rich and dark. Once it’s done, he pours me a mug and sets it in front of me.
I splash oat milk into it and take a sip.
Then another.
I blink at the cup. “What on earth is this coffee?”
Nate is putting eggs in the fridge, but I catch the smallest flicker of amusement before he smooths it away.
“You like?”
I raise my eyebrows. “This is not your usual Starbucks situation, Nathaniel.”
That gets the ghost of a smile out of him. “Kenyan roast.”
I lower the mug. “It’s really good. I need to tell my mom about it.”
“Yeah.” He closes the fridge and leans back against the counter. “Leo gave me a pound. Now we’re hooked.”
I look down at the coffee I’m holding.
“Leo drinks this?”
Nate’s brows pull together slightly. “Since forever. He swears by it.”
I stare at him.
Because Leo always made Blue Mountain.
Not once. Not as a special treat. Always.
Early mornings after our runs. Afternoons after the ER. Once in a thermos for Marco because I’d mentioned he’d appreciate it.
Blue Mountain. Dark and smooth and ridiculous and expensive enough to feel obscene.
I hear my own voice before I know I’m going to speak. “He always brewed Blue Mountain.”
There’s a tiny pause. Eden looks up first.
Nate’s expression shifts by degrees, like he realizes too late what this conversation actually is.
