Page 30
“Well, I said I would,” he said, hopping to the table. “If I was properly motivated.”
I laughed a little.
He took a chair, wincing as he elevated his foot. He looked down at himself. “I’m dripping all over your kitchen.”
“I can get you a towel—”
He peeled his wet shirt off instead. He balled it into his lap, completely oblivious. I stood there, gawking.
Ooooh, for fuck’s sake.
There were eight.
The Ziploc I was holding tipped in my hand, and I dropped a few ice cubes. I bent over to grab them, and I kicked them instead, so I ended up chasing them all over the kitchen in my bathing suit. He watched this with amusement. “You okay over there?”
“Fine,” I said, my voice a touch too high.
I finally got the last one and dropped it in the sink. I did what I could to regain my composure, and I closed the zipper seal and handed him the bag. He was grinning at me.
I crossed my arms. “You know, you shouldn’t just pull those out without letting people know they’re coming,” I said.
“I need to announce them? Like the abs are entering the building—”
“Stop.”
“I mean, the ladies did soft launch them, it’s not like you didn’t get a heads up—”
“Stop.”
He started laughing. “All day you’re trying to get my shirt off . . .”
“Well, I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was.” I flopped into the chair across from him. “Why are you this fit anyway, it should be illegal.”
“Trunk strength is very important in my line of work.”
“Tree puns. Of course.”
He smiled at me, and my face softened the tiniest bit.
Seth.
The right guy at the wrong time.
No time was ever going to be the right time until all this was over.
I squeezed my eyes shut for a long moment. When I opened them, he was studying me.
“I don’t ever want the stairs to come back,” I whispered. “I want it to stay like this.”
“It can keep being like this—”
“No, it can’t. Not when he can get to me.”
“I won’t let him get to you,” he said. “He will have to go through me first.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” I looked at him, my eyes sad. “I really like you,” I said quietly.
“I really like you too. And not just in a neighborly way.”
