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I walk through the space where the couch should have been. “And you asked them to deliver it, right?”
“Yes. We confirmed the window for delivery.”
I shake my head and, after checking the peephole, open the front door.
Axel makes a choking noise and pushes to his feet.“Nooo.”
“No?” I reverse the camera, so he can see the hall and the enormous paper-wrapped couch blocking nearly the whole thing. It’s parked in front of the door that used to be Diane’s… and now belongs to a neighbor who is not amused.
“I swear, Nora. It was an accident.”
My eyes narrow on the camera. My head tilting.
I wait.
He runs a hand over his mouth, trying to cover the grin fighting to get free there. Then, finally, “I swear it was an accident…this time.”
Chapter 9
Axel
Nora forgave me.
When I saw the couch in the hall yesterday, I thought that was it. But by some miracle, instead of flipping me off and dropping Otto with my brother because she was done, she laughed.Really laughed, letting her head fall back and her eyes close as that sound I like way too much spilled across the miles, filling me with a sense of rightness I could get hooked on.
Now it’s Thursday afternoon, and I’ve got Anders and some of the guys from the team over. Like they were told, they brought gifts. Unfortunately, that’s where the obedience ended.
I was pretty fucking clear about Nora being off-limits, but so far, the only single guy who hasn’t chatted her up is Diesel, who’s leaning against the wall in the living room about as far from Otto as he can get and still be in the apartment.
“For fuck’s sake, Boomer, stop calling her Fun Wrecker,” he groans, echoing my thoughts.
I don’t like it. Though she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, Nora seems to take perverse delight every time one of my teammates “accidentally” lets it slip. Probably because she knows how uncomfortable it makes me, and everything that makes me uncomfortable makes her grin.
There’s gotta be something wrong with me that I like that. But damn it, I do. Which is the only reason I haven’t followed through on the beatdown I promised if he didn’t knock his shit off.
“My bad,” Boomer says, looking about as contrite as I used to when I’d have my stuff delivered to Nora’s place. Except the couch and baby stuff. Those were legit mistakes.
Nora cuts me one of those looks that tells me she knows exactly what I’m thinking. And yeah, there’s that smile. The one that seems to be equal parts threat and amusement, and I like it probably more than I should.
Definitely more than I should.
But Christ, she’s cool.
It’s not exactly a newsflash. I knew it that first week she moved in to the building. Couldn’t quite let it go in the months since. But having her talking to me again, really talking to me, drives it home.
I like her. I look forward to talking to her. And even though I’m fully aware there’s no room for romance in either of our lives, I feel like we’re becoming friends.
“Whoa, D-Man, you’ve got to try this,” Boomer says to Bowie. He’s stretching out on the new, untainted couch with Otto laid over his chest. “This is the shit.”
He’s not wrong. There’s nothing more soothing than having Otto sacked out on my chest. His warm, slight weight. The steady rise and fall of his chest. The way he sometimes tries to burrow in against me.
Bowie’s trying to talk him into a turn, but Boomer’s already changed his mind and doesn’t want to give him up. Meanwhile, Whalen is working Nora over by the game console. His flirty bullshit doesn’t normally bug me. He’s a good guy. But today, that steady flow of chatter and too-quick smile has me on edge.
He says something that has her laughing, her head tipped back as that musical sound spills free.
Damn, I like that sound.
And based on the way half the guys have stopped talking, turning toward her with dopey smiles that probably match mine… I’m not the only one.
