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Tate came closer. “Smells good. You can spare a slice, right? Come on, there’s no way you’ll eat all that. You were gonna put at least half of it in the fridge to have for lunch tomorrow.”
That had been her intention. The trouble was that she often forgot there was cold pizza in the fridge and then ate something else for lunch, so it went to waste. “Fine. You can have a slice.”
Of course, he grabbed the biggest one as soon as they settled at the dining table. And because she was a total sucker who was still feeling sorry for him after what his bitch of an ex put him through, she let him eat a few more slices. Before she knew it, the pizza had been demolished between the two of them.
Figuring it was now time to herd him out, she cleared her throat and gave him an easy smile. “Well, thanks for the assist. I didn’t need it, but thanks anyway.”
Tate almost smiled. It was a dismissal, pure and simple. He thought it rather cute that she believed he’d be so easily handled.
He lounged back in his chair, making it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere just yet. His cat rumbled an irritable sound. The feline wanted to be closer to her. Wanted to win her still-distant devil’s attention. “Tell me about Dieter.” If it turned out that this guy from her past was sniffing around her, Tate would not be pleased at the fuck all.
“There’s not much to tell. We occasionally hooked up before he began dating his current girlfriend.” She tilted her head. “It must be hard for you to have your ex in the pride again.”
“It isn’t. She’s of no interest to me now.”
“Oookay.”
He squinted. “You don’t believe me?”
“I never said that. I’m just not so sure you’re being honest with yourself about it.”
“I strike you as a man who bullshits himself, baby?”
“Don’t call me baby. And no, you don’t. But not many shifters buy apartment buildings to house loners and then place them under his protection. I just can’t help wondering if you did that for those strangers because you couldn’t do it for Ashlynn. She left the pride, right? She was alone. Vulnerable. It couldn’t have been easy for you to know that, even if she did hurt you.”
“I can see why your thoughts have taken you down that route, but Ashlynn’s nothing to do with why I bought this complex.”
“Then why’d you do it?”
“I know through Madisyn just how hard it can be for lone shifters to find suitable and affordable accommodation. Especially when they have to worry about being too close to the territories of flocks and packs etc. Many beg her to let them live at the shelter because they’re too afraid to go out into the world. It gave me the idea of providing a place purely for loners to live—call it my good deed for the decade. Almost every tenant in this building was sent to me by Madisyn.”
“I see.”
Tate watched her as she began to clear the table. “Do you? Or do you still doubt me?”
She lifted her shoulders. “I just can’t see how you could have no interest in someone you once tried to imprint on—that’s no small thing.”
Tate pushed away from the table and crossed to her, liking how her pupils dilated and her heartbeat kicked up. His cat purred, straining to be closer to her. “Did I seem interested in her when you saw me talking to her earlier? Or did I seem more interested in you?”
“I didn’t really take much notice. I only glanced your way for a second or two.”
“But that highly perceptive brain of yours will have absorbed everything there was to see.”
“In any case, we don’t need to talk about her. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“In your position, I’d be wondering if you still had feelings for your ex, so I’m going to make sure you get that that’s not the case here. She and I were together three years ago. The relationship didn’t work out, and I don’t wish that it had. Neither does my cat.”
Havana really wished he’d drop the subject. It hurt to hear he’d once cared for someone so much he’d wanted to imprint on them, because it highlighted that he hadn’t even come close to experiencing any such feelings for her.
The hurt annoyingly did nothing to douse the sparks of electric sexual tension that bounced from him to her. Nor did it make her hormones cease doing the damn foxtrot. It was impossible to stop her body from responding to him, apparently.
“She’s part of my past—that’s it,” he added. “She’s not important. I don’t want her back. I want you back.”
Havana rolled her eyes even as the claim made her stomach flutter. “What you want is a weekly hookup. There are plenty of women out there who I’m sure would be more than happy to be your new fuck buddy.”
