“You scared the shit out of me, Eric.”
I reach down and grab the tub of ice cream that’s rolled onto the plush carpet.
“Sorry,”he says, his voice betraying his remorse. “Why are you loitering outside my front door?”
I sigh and look up at the camera, my cheeks heating even more.
“I forgot my key,”I reply reluctantly, but there’s no use lying, he knows what I’m like.
He chuckles. “Just go up to apartment nineteen on the next floor and grab the spare from Tobias.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek, not too keen on the idea of Tobias seeing me after he ate me out and walked away. There’s also the fact that I’m a hot and sweaty mess, but the alternative of my ice cream melting is incentive enough.
“Okay.”My voice comes out hoarse.
“I have to go, I have a meeting. Love you,”he says.
“Love you too,”I reply. It takes me a few minutes to pull myself together enough to grab my bags,straighten my shoulders, and return to the lift.
“Just knock, ask for the key. Simple,”I mutter to myself.
I struggle to press the button for the lift, as the bags in my hands make it awkward, but I manage to jab it with my thumb. My stomach lurches as it goes up a floor, but I don’t think it’s anything to do with the movement and everything to do with my nerves.
Blowing out a breath, I step out into an identical hallway, and wonder if his apartment is a carbon copy of my brother’s. Not that it’s not lovely, I’m just not one for copy and paste. I’ve always been a little more eccentric, much like my mum in that way.
My arms begin to ache again from the weight of the bags I’m holding. I place them by my feet and reach out, my hand shaking as I ring the bell. I keep my gaze cast down, staring at the floor as I wait. My stomach is a hive of nerves. Part of me wonders if he’s out, it is, after all, a Friday night. And a small part of me is relieved, which I know is counterproductive considering the situation.
Sighing, I grab the bags off the floor and return to the lift, swapping them between my hands, like that will even out the weight. The doors slide open, and I go to step inside, almost walking straight into Tobias as he looks up from his phone.
But my eyes are raking over his tanned body, taking in the fact that he’s only in a pair of shorts, and a sheen of sweat coating his bare chest.
He clears his throat, and my eyes meet his. He raises an eyebrow, steps toward me, causing me to take a step back.
“You were at my flat?”he asks, looking down at me. Even though the hallway is more than spacious, it now seems extremely small.
I clear my throat. “I got locked out.”
He rolls his lips between his teeth and then nods towards his door, and starts in the direction. I follow, trying in vain not to check out his arse, but fuck me if it isn’t a fine arse indeed.
It’s official, I’m a pervert.
He opens his door. “Come in,”he says, waving his hand and stepping aside.
The urge to tell him I’ll wait out here is on the tip of my tongue, but being in his natural habitat has piqued my curiosity. I take a deep breath, his masculine scent engulfing me, and even though he’s clearly worked up a sweat from what I presume was the gym, I’m not in any way deterred. Because fuck me if it doesn’t have my lady parts tingling all over again.
Chapter 5
Tobias
I seriously thought I’d hit the treadmill too hard when my phone pinged with an alert and no other than Bow standing outside my front door. I thought I was hallucinating. She was standing there, her focus on her feet, deep in thought. I stopped what I was doing to come straight down, intercepting her at the lift.
And now she’sstanding in the entryway to myapartment, bringing her sweet strawberry fragrance with her.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she says quietly.
“You didn’t,” I reply, reaching for the bags in her hands.“I was just using the gym.”
“Oh, I’ll let you get back to it. If you can get the spare key, I’ll be off,”she says, almost in a hurry.
