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“I didn’t mean it like that,” Delta grumbled as I heard her shutting the door. “I just wasn’t expecting you to stop by. You usually text first.”
“Hey, Sutton,” he greeted, ignoring Delta’s rudeness. “How are you?”
I stretched my neck back and over, so I could get a good look at him. “I’m good, Malcolm,” I answered. “How are you?”
He let out a low whistle. “Damn, girl.” He jerked his chin my way. “That mountain lion attack must have been something else.”
I winced.
I couldn’t help it.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “They really need to do something about those mountain lions running loose.”
Malcolm laughed. “I’m just teasing,” he replied. “But that shit does look vicious.”
“It feels vicious,” I agreed. “I can barely move.”
Instead of embarrassing me more, he turned to Delta. “Thought we could go to lunch together,” he told her. “We’ve been missing each other a lot lately.”
I bit my lip before reaching for my phone, pretending to be busy with something. It was obvious that Malcolm had been paying attention, and I was hoping that Delta would give him credit for that.
“Uh, oh,” she replied softly. “Yeah, okay. We can do lunch.” Then manners or nervousness had her asking, “Do you want to come along, Sutton?”
Before I could answer, there was another knock on the door, and Delta was on her way to answer it. However, I was able to get my answer out before she opened the door. “No, thank you. I-”
She didn’t let me finish as she greeted our newest guest. “Well, well, well,” Delta drawled out. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
I turned, and Ross was walking through the door, a cocky smirk on his face. “Good to see you, too, Delta.”
Commanding the room like the wealthy, entitle heir that he was, Ross walked up to Malcolm and stuck his hand out. “Ross Carmichael,” he said, introducing himself.
Malcolm took his hand. “Malcolm House.” He jerked his chin in that ‘what’s up’ kind of way that guys did. “And not many people don’t know who you are, man.”
Ross slid his hands in his pockets. “I don’t suppose so.”
Then Malcolm looked my way. “Is this the mountain lion?”
I choked out a laugh. “Dude!”
Malcolm threw me a wink before grinning like a lunatic. “Just wondering.”
Ross looked over at me, his brows up high. I let out an embarrassed huff. “He was asking about the mountain lion attack,” I explained. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit of a mess.”
Ross’ eyes flared. “Maybe,” he conceded. “But you’remymess, so it’s okay.”
“Okay, so we’re heading out,” Delta announced to Ross. “Lunch.”
“Have fun,” he replied before addressing Malcolm again. “Just in case you missed it, Sutton’s my girlfriend. You might run into me a lot here.”
Before Malcolm could comment, Delta was making shit awkward. “Oh, don’t worry. Malcolm’s hardly ever here these days.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ross told her. “If there’s another guy hanging out in my girl’s apartment, I’d want to know who and why.” Ross shrugged. “Might just be a guy thing.”
And going for awkward gold, Delta said, “I think that only applies if the relationship is serious.” I watched Malcolm’s brows jump high, but Delta was already pulling him towards the door. “Let’s go and give these two some privacy.”
I watched as she grabbed her purse off the end table near the front door. Malcolm gave Ross another head nod before they were both out the door.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Ross turned towards me. “That was awkward as hell,” he remarked, a small grin on his lips.
