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“Watch out.” She put an arm across his chest to prevent him from taking a step forward.
A small plastic ball rolled past them. It appeared to have some sort of furry, honey-colored creature inside. “What the hell?”
“Sinbad.”
“Sinbad?”
“Mr. Martinez’s granddaughter left her hamster at his house about a year ago. She supposedly never came to get him, but I think the truth is that he likes the company.”
Nathan shook his head. “That’s a hamster?”
“Sinbad,” she repeated.
He looked at her to see her smiling. Damn. He wasn’t just attracted to her, he liked her. The way she’d defended Seward was admirable. Even if he didn’t agree with her, he appreciated her fierceness and loyalty. The way she’d interacted with Marvin, knowing his work schedule, told him she cared about people. And now…this. Patience, even good humor, when a fuzzball prevented her from getting to her condo at the end of the day. “Okay. I’ll ask the obvious. Why is there a hamster rolling down the hallway in a ball?”
“He’s getting his exercise.”
“Of course. I should have known.”
The ball hit the far wall, and somehow the thing—Sinbad—figured out to move to the other side to get the ball moving again. Impressive. And he had no idea whether that was unusual or not.
Sinbad rolled past them again, and he heard a door open down the hallway.
“Hi, Mr. Martinez,” she said.
The man was wearing a red fuzzy robe that appeared to be covered in fur that matched the color of the hamster. His feet and legs were bare, and his combover had seen better days.
“Hey, Kelsey.” Mr. Martinez bent to pick up the ball as the hamster approached. “I’ve got some peanuts for you.” Without another word, the man entered his apartment, focused only on the animal.
“That could be one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.”
“Doesn’t everyone take their hamster for a walk?”
“I honestly have no idea.”
“What kind of pets did you have growing up?” she asked, leading the way to her condo.
“We didn’t have any. There were dogs at the ranch. Cade still has a monstrosity of something. Sheepdog, I think. I don’t know how it sees.”
“No pets? Ever? Not even a goldfish?”
“Nothing.”
She slipped her key into the lock and jiggled the mechanism a couple of times before it released.
“Do you have building maintenance?” he asked.
“No.”
“That could be dangerous. Or you could get locked out.”
“It’s on my to-do-when-I-have-time list. I’d need to arrange for time off from work to meet a repair person, and that never seems convenient.”
“There are Saturdays,” he replied.
“And I go into the office on some of those,” she said. “Or I take care of other errands.”
“You could ask your boss for time off.”
She met his gaze. “How is he with that? He seems to be a bit of a tyrant.”
“You could always make up the time.” Since he knew she was still smarting from their earlier clashes, he didn’t take a bite of the bait she’d tossed him. “Like on Christmas, for example.”
“Grinch.” But maybe because of his response, her word had no hostility.
He’d remember that in future. Backing down from an insult didn’t come naturally for him, but he’d get further with this woman if he engaged only when the stakes were high.
And truthfully, he probably had earned a reputation as a tyrant, whether deserved or not.
He followed her inside, then she closed the door behind them.
“No security locks?”
“I’ve never had any issues,” she replied as she dropped her purse on a long, granite-topped table. She met his gaze in the starburst-shaped mirror that hung on the wall above it. “Besides, we have a guard hamster on this floor.”
“That’s not good enough for me.”
“I’ll look into it.”
Probably not before he did.
“You can put my gym bag anywhere. I’ll take care of it later.”
He dropped it on the floor and had a look around. Over the years, Houston had seen many older buildings rehabilitated and converted into apartments and condos. But this appeared to be a newer building, and her unit had an open floor plan.
A small, well-designed kitchen stood off to the right. He didn’t immediately see a dining room table, but the kitchen bar had a placemat as well as a laptop computer.
Off to the left was a fireplace and mantel. An oversize television sat atop a modern stand in the corner. A cream-colored leather sectional was strewn with vibrant-colored pillows and a turquoise throw. A metal-and-glass coffee table was littered with piles of magazines, and the local business journal was folded in half and open to page three. The area was cozy, inviting.
