Chapter 29

When she woke up to an empty bed the next morning, she wasn’t surprised. Brad rose early every morning— except for the morning she made him apple pie— to do situps and other torturous exercises. Given how much she’d appreciated those stomach muscles last night, she could hardly complain now.

She stretched and yarned, smiling as she remembered the previous night. When they’d made love the night before, he’d been not just passionate, but surprisingly tender. And today was his birthday. She’d have to do something special for him.

Mattie rolled over, burying her nose in the pillow, where he’d slept. The pillowcase still held his scent. It smelled like him and—she grinned as she recognized the scent—her bath gel.

Only when she started to climb out of bed did she see him, sitting in her bedroom's only chair, half-hidden by the early-morning gloom. He sat, elbows on his knees, fingers templed, staring at her.

And that's when she knew something was wrong. The relaxed, sexy Brad of last night