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Okay, perhaps he was doubly compelled to protect her from Nikko, whose silver hair and good looks had half the women at the firm sighing with longing.
For her part, Patience dressed in her usual nondescript style. Flowing sleeveless top and cropped jeans. He wished he knew a way to tell her that disguising her figure wasn’t working. It wasn’t her figure that turned men’s heads—it was the whole package.
He ran his thumb across his fingertips remembering how close he’d come to kissing her yesterday. Clearly a dozen days of keeping his distance had done nothing to kill his attraction. Like that was a surprise.
But wouldn’t acting on his desire make him no better than Karl Tischel and the other creeps? Worse actually, since a week ago he’d been telling her he didn’t trust her. She deserved more respect than that.
“This is one of our prime corner units,” Nikko was saying as he unlocked the door. “The natural lighting is out of this world.”
Patience let out a small gasp as they stepped inside. “This place is amazing!” A poker-faced negotiator, she was not.
She was right, though. The condo was nice. Hardwood floors, tons of windows.
“The open floor plan makes this a great place for entertaining,” Nikko told them.
Stuart was more entertained by the sparkle in Patience’s eyes as she ran a hand across the top of the kitchen island. “Everything is so clean and new.”
“Top-of-the-line, too,” Nikko told her. “The cabinets are solid cherry.”
“There’s a double oven! And a wine cooler.” She smiled at Stuart. “Piper would go crazy if she saw this place.”
“You need to check out the terrace. Wraps around the whole unit. Gives you another two hundred square feet. And the best part is, you don’t have to share with the other tenants.” The realtor slid open one of the window panels and stepped outside. “Check out this view,” he said to Patience.
Stuart guided Patience out into the hot, humid air, resisting the urge to place his hand against the small of her back. The way her shirt fluttered when she walked suggested the material was light and thin. If he touched her back, he’d feel straight through to her skin and that would open up far too many problems.
“Great view, huh?”
It was nice; you could see Boston Common in the distance.
“Bet it’s great at night,” Patience remarked.
“Oh, at night it’s spectacular,” Nikko said. “There’s another door that leads out here from the master bedroom. You think the kitchen was a nice setup, wait till you see the bathroom. My own bathroom isn’t this fancy.”
The sales patter continued while Nikko led him back into the condo and down the hall. Stuart didn’t listen. A sales pitch was a sales pitch. All he wanted was a place to sleep that accrued a good return on investment.
Damn, but he’d grown jaded.
Once upon a time, he might have hunted for a home instead of an investment. When he was younger. Someplace like what he remembered sharing with his parents.
Of course, maybe things would be different if he were condo shopping with someone. Someone whose eyes sparkled with excitement.
The bathroom was impressive. Designer vanities, giant sunken tub in thecorner. “Beat’s Ana’s claw-foot tub, doesn’t it?” he said to Patience.
There was no answer.
“I think she stayed on the terrace,” Nikko remarked.
Indeed, when Stuart stepped through the bedroom slider, he found her in the same place as before, her attention fixed on some faraway point.
He had to stop and grab the railing as desire rolled through him. Why was keeping his distance a bad idea again?
It wasn’t until he walked closer that he saw the sadness behind the faraway gaze. “Everything all right?”
“Great,” she replied. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
He settled in next to her. “You tell me. You looked a million miles away.”
“I was thinking how you could fit my old apartment into this place’s living room.”
“It’s the lack of furniture. Makes the space seem bigger.”
“No, our apartment was that small.”
There was regret in her voice that didn’t belong. “Bet it was easy to clean,” he teased.
He got the smile he was hoping for. “Didn’t take long, for sure.”
Nor, Stuart bet, did the apartment ever feel empty and cold. “And, you had your sister.”
“True. I’d pick small over losing her in a second, even if she did take over the bathroom when she hit high school. There was only one electrical plug that could handle a blow-dryer,” she said when he chuckled. “For four years, I was lucky to get my hair dried in time for work.”
