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After he follows the directions I give him, he pulls up in front of the apartment building I’ve called home for way too long now. It was only supposed to be for a couple of weeks until I got on my feet, but that was months ago. “This is me. You don’t have to come in,” I tell him before he can unbuckle his belt.
“I can help you.”
“I really don’t need the help. I barely have anything.”
“All right. Maybe I just don’t want to let you out of my sight because I’m afraid I imagined you, and you’re not actually real.”
I’m oddly touched. “Believe me. I’m real.”
“I’m trying to be a gentleman. I’m coming up with you.”
“Fine.” Because obviously, I’m wasting my breath by arguing. “Just don’t be disappointed.”
I’m glad Vanessa is at work. Not only because she is not really a great friend, even if she is letting me stay on her couch. I sort of got the feeling more than once that she was interested in my boyfriend, for starters. I wouldn’t want her flirting with Keaton. I don’t know why but the idea makes me grind my teeth as I use my key to unlock the door on the third floor.
“So, you can just up and leave out of nowhere?” He looks around, and there’s nothing on his face to give me an idea about what he’s thinking.
“This isn’t my apartment. I’m only staying here. I… sort of had a setback a couple of months ago, and my friend’s been letting me crash here.” I go to the closet in the hall and pull out the three suitcases lined up neatly under the coats and sweaters of Vanessa’s. “Here we go. This is me.”
“That’s it?”
I can’t help the shame that warms my cheeks. “Yeah. I don’t like to leave my things around, so I sort of use the suitcases as a dresser. I told you I wouldn’t need any help.”
“I can at least carry these.” He takes a wheeled suitcase in one hand and carries the other by its handle. “Can you get that yourself?” He nudges the smallest of the three with his toe.
“I got them up here.”
“No wonder you were in such a hurry to accept the offer,” he muses as I leave my key on the coffee table.
“You’re saying I only took the job because I was desperate?”
“No! No, don’t take it like that. I wasn’t trying to insult you. You deserve more than a couch in somebody else’s apartment.”
No, now I have an entire bedroom. It’s still not ideal, but it’s a step up. “I’m just glad I get to take care of that gorgeous baby. She’s so adorable.”
“She’s even cuter when she’s not screaming.” We reach the sidewalk, and he makes quick work of loading the bags into the car. “Are you hungry?” he asks as he opens my door.
I feel like Cinderella stepping into a carriage. I only hope it doesn’t turn into a pumpkin. I don’t think I could take another disappointment. “I am, actually.”
“We can stop off and grab something to eat on the way back to the house.”
As much as I want to get back and learn more about the baby and the living situation, I like being with him too much to say no. It helps that my stomach is growling, and I’m more alert when I’m not hungry. “That would be nice. You really don’t have to go to the trouble, though.”
“Who said anything about trouble?”
When he grins my way and my stomach flutters, I get the feeling I’m already in trouble.
3
KEATON
Nathan: Where the hell are you?
Nathan: It wasn’t supposed to take this long.
Nathan: I swear to God, if you’re trying to get in that girl’s pants, we’re going to have a serious problem.
Claire looks up from her chicken sandwich. “Everything okay?” She glances at my phone.
