Dead by Morning by Beverly Barton Page B

Noah Laborde, sophomore class president. It hadn’t been love at first sight. She didn’t believe in such a thing, not then and certainly not now. But it had been interest at first sight. They had dated for nearly a year before she had finally agreed to have sex with him.
    Remembering the past in such vivid detail, recalling moments with Noah that she had thought long forgotten didn’t help Maleah’s already frayed nerves that morning. After grabbing a quick shower and brushing her hair up into a loose bun, she dressed in her professional garb—navy slacks, white shirt, lightweight tan jacket, and a pair of sensible low-heel navy shoes. After applying a minimum of makeup, she put on her wristwatch and small gold hoop earrings. She took all of half a minute to inspect herself in the mirror before slipping her small leather bag over her shoulder and leaving the room.
    She didn’t bother stopping to knock on Derek’s door as she headed for the elevator. During the entire time they had worked together on the Midnight Killer case, she couldn’t recall a single morning that he hadn’t gotten up early, always before she did. The Hampton Inn provided a full breakfast, which meant they wouldn’t have to search for a place to eat this morning. Just as she had figured, he was waiting for her in the dining area adjacent to the lobby. Sitting alone at a table for two, a cup of coffee in front of him, a folded newspaper in one hand, and a soft-grip mechanical pencil in the other, he glanced up from the crossword puzzle and motioned for her to join him. As she approached, he laid down the paper and pencil and rose to greet her with a smile.
    “Morning, sunshine.”
    God, she hated that he could be so chipper at sixthirty in the morning. And she hated even more that she had noticed how damn good he looked. Derek was nothing more to her than her partner on this case, just as he had been on the Midnight Killer case. Their personal relationship went no farther than that. They certainly weren’t friends, not by any stretch of the imagination. On good days, they worked well together. On bad days, they tolerated each other.
    “Have you eaten?” she asked.
    “Nope.” He glanced at the half empty cup on the table. “However, this is my second cup of coffee.”
    “Coffee sounds good. I think I’ll grab some cereal and a cup of yogurt.”
    “You do know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” he told her. “You should fill up on protein—bacon and eggs. And of course, a couple of biscuits smothered in butter and jelly.”
    “If I ate like that every morning, I’d soon be waddling when I walk.”
    When she headed toward the self-serve breakfast setup, she felt Derek’s gaze on her and knew he was looking at her butt. Okay, so she had a bit of a hang-up about her wide hips and ample rear-end. Nic had told her guys didn’t like flat asses, that her JLo butt was a definite asset. If that was true, then why was it that Derek seemed to prefer the long, lean, borderline skinny model types?
    Damn it, why do you care what type of woman Derek prefers?
    Maleah hurried through the line, grabbed a carton of non-fat strawberry yogurt and, deciding against eating cereal, headed toward the coffeemaker. Not fully concentrating on what she was doing, she bumped into Derek and quickly apologized before she even looked at him.
    Their gazes met and locked for a full thirty seconds before Maleah broke eye contact.
    “It’s okay to be nervous about meeting Browning,” he told her.
    Ignoring his comment, she grabbed a cup, filled it with hot coffee, and picked up a packet of Splenda and a stir stick.
    By the time Derek joined her at their table, she had drunk half her coffee. As he set down a plate filled with bacon, eggs, and biscuits, he glanced at her unopened yogurt carton. After he sat across from her, they ate in relative silence for several minutes.
    “You aren’t nervous, are you?” Maleah asked.
    “Unsettled would be