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He bit his bottom lip and nodded. “I do.”
“Really…”
“My problem is they make it really hard not to stare. Your corsets are becoming my weakness. Sort of like how you are becoming my weakness.” He lowered his voice. “But pretend you didn’t hear that, because this is supposed to be a boring undate of laundry folding and nothing more.”
Even doing the most mundane things with Colby felt like…more. Hardly boring. And now I was thinking about what he’d just said about my corsets. I shook my head to bring myself back to the task at hand. “There is definitely something even more enjoyable about folding someone else’s laundry.”
“Well, you have an open invitation to come over and do ours anytime. Just don’t stand outside for fifteen minutes first.”
I chuckled. “You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”
“Do you know how many babies were born in this world in the time you stood at my door contemplating whether or not to come in?”
“Your neighbor must have thought I was a solicitor or something.”
“She didn’t know what to think.”
“I guess it’s nice to have neighbors who look out for you. You know, in case some crazy broad shows up at your door.” I shook out a towel. “What did you tell her?”
“Well, once I looked out the peephole and realized it was you, I walked over to the other side of the apartment so you wouldn’t hear me tell her the girl standing at my door was actually someone I have a very big crush on, and that you were the furthest thing from a crazy person. I told her you were probably just apprehensive about knocking because of what that might lead to—because it was so much more than just knocking on a door. It was a figurative knocking of sorts, knocking on a world of possibilities that are both scary and exciting.”
“You really told your neighbor all that?”
“No.” He winked. “I said, ‘Thank you for letting me know. I’ll take care of it.’”
I threw a pair of his underwear at his head. Then, I looked more closely. That particular pair of red briefs seemed awfully…small.
I snickered. “Aren’t those a little small for you?”
He bent his head back in laughter. “They’re a lot small for me.”
“Then why do you wear them?”
He lifted them up with both hands. “My mother brought this pack of underwear back from Brazil for me. She took a trip there last summer. She bought a men’s size medium-large, but they shrink to like an extra small after I dry them. So they’re basically disposable. I can’t wear them more than once. Now I’ll donate ’em or something. I think that might be the last one in the pack.”
“You had me scared there for a minute,” I teased.
His eyes widened. “Believe me, there’s nothing extra small about me. I feel the need to clarify that, since according to your boundaries, that’s not something I’ll ever be able to prove.”
The wicked smile he flashed made my insides quiver. This man had an unnerving effect on me. And with each moment that passed, it became harder and harder to pretend that didn’t mean anything.
“All kidding about my shrunken underwear aside, Billie, I don’t blame you for your hesitation with me. I hope you know that. I think if I were in your position, I might hesitate, too.” He threw the red boxers aside. “And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with being cautious. Especially when there are more than two people involved in the scenario. I get it. I really do.” His eyes lingered on mine, his expression serious. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, this has got to be the most boring evening you’ve ever had with a guy, huh?”
“Actually…this is the best undate I’ve ever had,” I told him.
His eyes sparkled. “Me, too. I like our undates.”
After another half hour, we finally got to the bottom of the pile. Everything was now folded nicely, and we put the stacks of categorized clothing back into the baskets he had out. There were now four of them filled with clothes.
I looked around the room. “Is that it? Nothing more to fold?”
“I wish.” He chuckled. “As I said, I tend to put off laundry until the very last minute. In fact, one of the reasons my daughter has underwear of every Disney Princess ever in existence is because I’ve been known to buy her more underwear just so I don’t have to do laundry. It doesn’t help that Saylor spills stuff on both her and me, so we go through multiple outfits a day sometimes. I’ve still got another load in the dryer waiting to come out and another load that has to go in.”
“Well, lead the way. Let’s tackle it all tonight. I’m no quitter.”
I stood and followed him into the laundry room, which was a tiny, narrow area just off his kitchen. After squeezing into the tight space, our bodies were so close that I could practically feel him without even touching him. My breathing became rapid, and I knew why. I wanted him to kiss me. His eyes lowered to my lips, and it seemed there was no going back now.
