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“Must be a good friend to do his laundry on a Saturday night,” the guy said, his smile flirtatious and kinda sexy. Well, this made doing laundry a lot more interesting.
“Since we were kids,” she said. “I’ll make him pay me back somehow.”
“Yeah, I’d say he owes you big.” Something about the shy grin he gave her unleashed a loop of butterflies in her belly.
When she got everything loaded up, she poured in the detergent, inserted the quarters, and started each of the machines.
“So, do you live around here too, then?” he asked.
Kristina brushed all the loose trash into one of the big shopping bags. “My place is over near Shirlington. Not too far.”
He nodded and gave her an appraising look, then he crossed to the table and held out his hand. “My name’s Ethan.”
She shook his hand and tried to restrain her inner squee at the interest this guy was showing. Close on the heels of that excited feeling was another: guilt. What about Noah?
The question almost sucker-punched Kristina in the stomach. Except…what about him should stop her from flirting back with a handsome stranger? It didn’t matter how much Kristina liked Noah when he didn’t like her back—not that way, anyway. “Kristina,” she said with a smile.
He repeated her name like he was trying it out. She wasn’t sure if it was his tattoos, or how the long strands of his hair fell across his eyes, or the way his jeans hung on those lean hips, but Ethan oozed sensuality.
He didn’t stir the crazy arousal that Noah had brought out in her lately, but he was still nice to look at.
Frustrated, Kristina cut off the thought. She and Noah were friends. Just friends. And that’s how he apparently wanted to keep it. They both did. Which meant, hello Ethan. “So we know why I’m doing laundry on a Saturday night, but how do you explain it?”
Ethan chuckled and crossed his arms. “Didn’t get in from the bar until four in the morning, so the day didn’t really start for me until about two this afternoon. And then I realized if I didn’t do a little laundry before I head back out tonight, I’m gonna have nothing to wear to my parents’ anniversary dinner tomorrow night.”
Kristina smiled, enjoying how easy-going Ethan was. “Must’ve been a good night,” she said, flirting back. Just a little.
He flicked his tongue against his bottom lip and grinned. “Not that good.” He winked. “I bartend. Whenever I close it’s that late before I get home.”
“Aw, too bad,” she said, grinning at him.
He chuckled again. “Yeah.”
She threw the trash away and grabbed the bottle of detergent. A part of her was disappointed to have no reason to stay. But at some point, Noah would wonder what was taking her so long.
“Maybe you should let me take you out some time, and we could both have a better night.”
Holy crap! “Better than doing laundry on a Saturday night seems like a pretty low bar,” she teased.
He gave a sheepish grin and nodded, the expression on his face so cute—sweet, sexy, with just a little vulnerability thro
wn in for good measure. “Got me there. So…is that a no?”
She bit back a smile because she didn’t think she was imagining the hopefulness on his face. Maybe Ethan was what she needed to get over all the turmoil Noah had set off inside her lately… “It’s a maybe,” she said, heart racing in her chest despite the cool façade she was trying to muster.
His expression brightened. “Yeah? Wanna trade numbers?” Her belly doing a loop-the-loop, they traded phones, and she entered her cell number into his. “How ‘bout next Saturday night?” he said as he gave her back her phone. “I have off. We could do dinner or something. Whatever you like.”
Kristina smiled because, clearly, this was the luckiest laundry room on the face of the planet. She debated for a long moment, and then decided—she had no reason to play it cool. “Okay,” she said. “Text me and we’ll work out the details.”
Ethan grinned. “Better believe it.”
Back upstairs, Kristina took a moment to do a little personal flail before she returned to Noah’s apartment. Then, on a deep breath, she pushed through his door. “I’m back,” she said.
Noah cussed up a storm and stripped his shirt over his head.
“And you’re getting naked in the kitchen,” she said, freezing just inside the doorway.
Scowling, he turned and wiped water off his neck and chest. “The damn sprayer has a leak and just squirted all out the side.”
