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“Crap,” she muttered. “I was hoping you’d forget I mentioned it.”
“Sorry, I know I’m a guy and all, but my attention span isn’t that short.”
Kia stared out at the ocean view and sighed. “This view is amazing. Max is going to love growing up with this.”
The view was amazing. So why did the idea of Max having that make her sound so sad?
She sighed audibly. “It sucks, but Austin was right. Why would Max want to live in my shitty house when he could have this?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Kia’s spine stiffened at his angry tone. “Exactly what I said.” She glared at him. “I’ve fought really hard to give Max a good life and then you swoop in and it’s all for nothing.”
“Austin’s a fucking idiot,” he muttered.
“No, he’s not,” she snapped.
“If he’s got you believing some bullshit idea that Max is going to want to live with me because my stuff is prettier, he is.” He shook his head. “Kia, come on, that’s just stupid.”
“Don’t call me stupid.” She flung the blanket off her legs.
“Oh my god, I didn’t call you stupid. I said the idea was stupid.” Frustrated, he scrubbed a hand down his face. “You don’t think too highly of me, do you?”
“What? Of course I do.”
“Clearly, you don’t. Because I sure as hell am not on board with us raising some kind of dickwad kid who thinks he’s too good to live in a certain neighborhood. If it ever gets to a point where you aren’t happy where you’re living anymore, I have a couple of rental properties. Maybe one of them would work for you.”
“I don’t want your charity.”
“My god. It’s not charity to have good tenants. It’s smart business. There’s a difference. I’ve seen how you look after your place and it’s a hell of a lot better than most people.”
She looked at her lap. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“For what part?”
Kia looked up and wrinkled her nose. “All of it.” She pulled the blanket back across her lap. “I’m not normally this insecure. I just let some doubts worm their way in and I guess it maybe festered a little.”
“I’m not sure how we went from me needing to be rescued to you feeling insecure. If anyone needs to doubt themselves around here, trust me, it’s not you.”
The wind blew in off the water, bringing a bite to the air. He picked up the edge of her blanket and covered his own legs with it. He gave her a quick smile. “Let’s just agree that we’re navigating some weird terrain and leave it at that. Okay?”
“Sounds good.” She wrinkled her nose. “And if we could just forget I had this little freak out that would be cool, too?”
He leaned back on the couch and took a sip of his wine. “What freak out?”
Kia twisted on the sofa, so she was facing him. Her feet brushed against his thigh, and he adjusted the blanket better over both of them.
“We haven’t had much of a chance to really get to know each other. I mean, I’ve seen you with Max. And obviously since my kid is involved, I had to become a full-out online stalker.”
“Well, obviously.” He grinned at her. “Although, have to say rookie stalker mistake to like my Instagram photos from three years ago.”
Kia snorted and slapped her hand over her face. With the dim backlight from the kitchen, her eyes shone with amusement as she looked at him. “Damn it. I was hoping you didn’t notice.” She snapped her fingers. “Shoot. I realized my mistake later that night when I was lying in bed, but I thought it would be even more obvious if I unliked them,” she teased.
“You were thinking about me when you were lying in bed?”
She sucked in a breath and instantly he realized what he’d said. “Sorry. That was completely inappropriate.” He clenched his hand in his lap. He’d gotten caught up in the moment flirting with a beautiful woman and instinct had taken over. He’d been so careful whenever they were together, trying to keep his attraction to her at bay.
“It’s fine.” She shrugged it off. Her eyes darted to him, then back out to the ocean. The air still hummed between them.
