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She felt rather than saw Sammy walk up to the table. The faint scent of sandalwood mingled with the delicious aromas wafting from the open takeout boxes.
“I’m surprised, that’s all. You’ve never wanted to eat dinner with me.” Sammy reached into one of the large brown paper bags and took out plastic utensils and napkins. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were scared of me.”
“Ha!” Olivia snorted, overcoming her earlier nerves. “As if.”
Despite her bravado, he wasn’t entirely wrong. Shewasscared of being around him—he brought out too many emotions she thought she’d quashed. But they were roommates now, so she needed to get over it.
They worked in silence, setting the table and unpacking the food until Olivia’s mouth watered from the smells. Her greedy gaze skimmed over the spread as she tried to decide what to dig into first. The classic pad Thai or the creamy green curry? The eggplant Thai basil or the duck with honey plum and ginger sauce?
She settled for the pad Thai. Whenever she tried a new Thai place, she always ordered the pad Thai first. If they couldn’t get such a classic dish right, then chances were their other items weren’t great, either.
Olivia and Sammy sat on opposite sides of the dining table, eyeing each other warily. The clock ticked on the wall, loud and insistent, as if impatient for the humans in the room tosaysomething so it wouldn’t be the only one filling the silence.
“You look nice,” Sammy said. “I almost didn’t recognize you with your clothes on.”
Scarlet washed over Olivia’s face while his mouth broke out into a huge grin.
“I can’tbelieveyou brought that up!” She should’ve spiked some dishes with laxatives. She’d avoid those herself, of course, and Sammy would’ve had to spend hours on his porcelain throne. It would’ve been glorious. “You have no manners. A gentleman would’ve forgotten all about it.”
“Trust me, no man—gentle or not—would’ve forgotten it.” Sammy’s eyes dipped to her chest, and the heat on her cheeks tripled.
“My eyes are up here.”
“I’m aware.” He raised his gaze to meet hers again—lazily, sensually, stopping for detours at places he had no place detouring to.
Whowasthis man? Not the sweet, light-hearted Sammy she once knew.
This Sammy was unapologetic, carnal, and—as much as she hated to admit it—sexy as hell.
Olivia stuffed a forkful of noodles in her mouth so she had something else to focus on. As she suspected, the pad Thai was excellent.
“You get all the embarrassment out of your system yet?” Sammy smirked when she shot him a look that would’ve put anyone else six feet in the ground. “You would’ve never brought it up, and it would’ve been the elephant in the room for weeks. This way, we get over it and move on with our lives. Don’t think I didn’t know you were hiding from me this morning. You never wake up so late.”
“I was nothiding.I have a new morning ritual that takes longer than usual.”
“Lie. You’d never allow a ‘morning ritual’ to take up so much of your time.”
Damn him for knowing me so well.
Olivia was not, in fact, one of those people that meditated and journaled and did yoga for an hour in the morning. She subscribed to the Six-Minute Miracle Morning method: one minute each for silence, affirmations, visualizing, scribing, reading, and exercise. Efficient and effective, just the way she liked it.
“Whatever,” she said coolly. “Now that the elephant has been discussed and removed, let’s move on to other topics.”
“Sure.” Sammy leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. “Let’s hear it.”
“What?”
“Your apology.” He raised his eyebrows. “You said this was an apology dinner.”
Olivia’s lips pressed together into a thin line, but she wasn’t one to go back on her word. “I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I’m sorry,” she gritted out in a louder voice.
“My hearing must be off tonight. Repeat that again?”
“I’m sorry!” she exploded. “I’m sorry for rearranging your stupid kitchen without asking first. I’m sorry for calling you last week and making you feel like you have to deal with all this. I’m sorry about New York. I’m sorry about my mom. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! There! Are you happy?”
