“
Then a low voice murmured in my ear. "Clea."
I screamed and shot an immediate hammer punch to the side.
"Whoa!" cried Ben. He reeled back to avoid my fist and tripped over the rug, tumbling to the ground and spilling a fresh mug of coffee over his gray shawl-neck sweater.
"OH!" he gasped. "Hot. Very, very hot. Oh, not good."
"Ben! Oh my God, wait-" I darted into the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel, then raced back to him, knelt down, and sopped the spilled coffee from his chest. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were there! You didn't say anything!"
"I yelled from downstairs...I thought you'd heard me."
A strange smell tickled my nose, and I bent closer to Ben, just inches from his face. "What's that smell?" I asked.
"Cardamom clove coffee," he said, gesturing to the now empty mug on the floor beside us. "I thought you might like it."
"I like the smell. Maybe you should wear it as a cologne."
"Could work," he agreed. "You could give a testimonial that it makes women crazy."
"Not crazy-nimble. Ten years of Krav Maga gives you catlike reflexes. If you'd been an intruder...
”
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