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I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. I don’t have any plans anyway. I’ll do it and stick around.”
Deek nodded. “I’ll lock the door and set the alarm behind me. Call me if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Deek. Goodnight, Justine.”
After they left, I debated texting Colby. He’d told me to let him know if the unit gave me any more trouble. Though of course, he wasn’t the super and probably didn’t want to speak to me. I should probably call Holden, who was in charge of maintenance. Then again, Colby was already familiar with the unit, so it made more sense to call him. Plus, he was my landlord, so we were going to have to learn to co-exist. He couldn’t ignore me forever.
I dug out my phone, scrolled to his name, and hit call. On the second ring, he picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey. Um, I’m sorry to bug you, but the AC at the shop stopped working again.”
He was quiet for a solid ten seconds. “Are you there now?”
“Yeah.”
He took so long to speak again, I was starting to think he’d hung up. “Fine. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
For someone who was not interested in moving things out of the friend zone with Colby, I sure ran to the bathroom to clean myself up fast enough. It was the first time in a while I’d felt excited, too.
Great, I’m so desperate to see this guy that broken air conditioning thrills me.
A few minutes later, Colby knocked. I turned off the alarm and opened the front door with a hesitant smile. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
He stepped inside. As he passed, I got a whiff of his delicious cologne. Wasn’t it bad enough that he was dressed in a form-fitting dress shirt and a pair of slacks while carrying a toolbox? That stupid red box was like catnip to me. Did he have to smell good, too? But while I was busy trying to put a fire extinguisher on all my feels, Colby seemed all business.
“Is the unit running?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. Air isn’t coming out.”
He nodded and headed to the back to double-check the vents before resetting the system.
“Deek already tried that.”
He nodded and bent to his toolbox, pulling out a screwdriver. “Was it blowing cool all day, then just stopped, or was it warm for a while first?”
“I think it just stopped. It was fine in here most of the afternoon.”
He didn’t say another word as he unscrewed the unit’s cover and pulled it off.
“Is…everything okay with you?” I asked.
“Sure.”
Colby’s cell phone rang, so he dug it out of his pocket and swiped to answer. I only heard one side of the conversation.
“I’m downstairs,” he said. “The commercial tenant on the ground floor has a problem with the AC that I needed to take a look at before we go.”
Quiet…and then...
“Well, do you mind coming here and getting the keys? It’s a tattoo parlor called Billie’s Ink. It’s right downstairs from my place.”
Pause again.
“Alright, see you in a few.”
Colby tucked his phone into his pocket and went back to working on the AC unit in silence. But I just couldn’t help myself. “I, uh, hope I didn’t interrupt anything?”
His eyes slanted to me. “You did.”
I blinked a few times. “Oh. I’m sorry. I should’ve just called Holden.”
“It’s fine. I’m here already.”
Talk about the cold shoulder…
A few minutes later, the front door opened and an absolutely gorgeous woman walked in. She had on a little black dress and looked classy. But for some stupid reason—maybe I was in denial or something—even though he’d just told someone on the phone to meet him here, I didn’t put two and two together until Colby walked over to the woman. Oh my God. She’s his date. I felt like I wanted to throw up.
The woman smiled and waved to me as he approached. “Hi! Don’t mind me. I’m just picking up a key.”
Colby dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, placing them in her hand. “I’ll meet you upstairs as soon as I’m done.”
She smiled. “Okay…but don’t be too long. Le Coucou is all the way down on Lafayette, and we’re still going to hit traffic. I don’t want to be late.”
“I won’t. If I can’t fix it pretty quick, I’ll call Holden to take over.”
The woman wiggled her fingers at me and flashed a pageant-worthy smile. “Bye. Sorry I interrupted things.”
I felt my cheeks heat with jealousy—or maybe it was anger. I wasn’t sure which one surged through my veins faster.
If Colby noticed, he didn’t say anything. He went right back to working on the AC unit like I wasn’t even here.
I lasted all of three minutes in silence this time. “So…Le Coucou. Sounds overpriced. Oh, and I guess I’m not the only one going on dates?”
Colby looked over at me. He held my eyes for a few seconds but didn’t respond. Again, he just turned his attention back to the damn AC unit.
