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“This is me,” she said when they pulled to the curb. She did a double take at the house. Lights were on inside. If that meant Billy was home, it was his first night in the house all week. She smiled back at Malik. “Thanks for sharing the ride.”
He nodded. “Any time. If, uh, if you want company exploring the city at any point, shoot me a text.”
Shayna grinned. “I’ll do that. Have a good weekend.” She waved as she got out, then turned to watch the minivan pull away. She’d had a truly good time at the bar and felt pretty damn good about finishing out her first week at her dream job, so it was possible she floated to the door. Or maybe that was the alcohol.
Either way, she was having one of those rare moments—especially given her past two years—where she felt a little like she was on top of the world. Invincible. Strong. Ready for anything.
She stopped short just inside the door. Ready for anything except for Billy to be sitting on the couch staring at her.
Chapter Seven
“Hey. Long time no see,” Shayna said. It wasn’t that a man sitting on his couch was odd, it was that Billy sitting on his couch was odd. Granted, she’d only lived in his house for a week, but not once during that whole time had she seen him use his living room at all.
“Hey,” he said, just that one syllable sounding bone tired.
Which took a little of her focus off how damn hot he was even in a pair of beat-up jeans, hems frayed around bare feet propped up on the coffee table, an old concert T-shirt, and more than a day’s worth of scruff on his jaw. Not to mention the finger-raked mess of his hair.
“Tough week?” She closed the door behind her and promptly kicked off her shoes. When Billy’s gaze tracked the movement, she scooped them right back up, stumbling a bit as she did so. Damn you, delicious rum. “I’ll take them up to my room, I promise,” she said, placing them on one of the stair treads so she wouldn’t forget.
He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Don’t worry about it.”
It hadn’t escaped her notice that he hadn’t answered her question, but she didn’t push. Instead she padded into the kitchen.
“Want anything?” she asked as she filled a glass with water. Shayna stood at the counter and chugged half of it. She didn’t drink that often and hoped to avoid feeling bad from indulging in the morning.
On a sigh, he pulled himself off the couch and joined her at the counter, his hands heavily braced upon the granite. “I was just trying to rouse myself to get some food.”
“Sit.”
He looked at her.
“Sit. I’ll make you something. What do you want?” She emptied her glass on another long drink just to have something to do. Because he was staring at her. And Shayna couldn’t decide what the stare meant.
“A sandwich?” he finally said.
Satisfaction flooded through her. “Consider it done. Except you’re still not sitting.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, dropping into one of the bar stools. “You go out tonight?”
Shayna nodded as she started pulling things out of the fridge. “Yeah, with some people from work. Seems like it’s a good group.”
“I admire you. The way you’ve hit the ground running here.”
She nearly dropped the squeeze bottle of mustard to the floor. He admired her? It was a totally casual compliment, obviously, but after the past couple of years of putting herself down—and believing everyone who knew her was secretly doing it, too—it still meant a lot to her.
“Wow. Um. That’s a really nice thing to say. But at best I’m walking fast, not running. After all, I’m crashing in your office and I still don’t really know my way around very well.”
He shook his head. “Power-walking, then.”
She chuckled and put the finishing touches on his sandwich, a turkey and cheese on rye with lettuce, pickles, and mustard. She placed the plate in front of him. “Chips or anything?”
He reached for the sandwich. “No, thank you. This is already about ninety-nine per cent more than I was up to doing.”
His words made her wonder once again what had made it such a tough week for him, because he seemed completely mowed over. But he hadn’t answered the first time she’d asked, and it seemed pushy to ask again.
Instead, she made quick work of cleaning up, then pulled out her cell to scroll through her social media as she stood at the counter. Which was when she saw that Ryan had finally returned her email. She nearly gasped as she rushed to open it.
“Everything okay?” Billy asked.
