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Naya raised her hand for a high five and we laughed.
Which abruptly stopped when the silence became deafening.
“The music cut off,” she said, stating the obvious.
I swiveled around to look at the clock. “That’s a first. It’s not even close to midnight.”
Naya chewed on a bite of spaghetti and froze when the heavy sound of footsteps came up the stairs. Naya got nervy about unlocked doors. We knew it was probably Austin, but when the knob turned, her eyes went wide.
But it was him.
Austin gave us a demonstration of swagger as he crossed the room to claim his chair. Naya did a little finger swirl around the rim of her glass. She must have been used to crystal, because mine was made of glass and barely made a squeak.
“You forgot to lock the door,” Naya pointed out.
Austin scooped a giant forkful of pasta into his mouth. “When I’m here, you don’t need a lock.”
His chiseled jaw worked hard, making Naya crumble like a cookie at the sight of a handsome man devouring her food. Austin was better looking than he’d ever been in his youth, even if itwasmixed with a tough exterior like a street fighter looking for action.
“Did you confront my neighbors?”
After chewing his last bite, he put his tanned forearms on the table and leaned in, nodding with an arched brow. “I wouldn’t worry about them. Just a couple of college kids with a bong, some kind of black light, and all these posters and shit of Led Zeppelin and—”
I burst out laughing and when a snort escaped, I covered my face. The laughter couldn’t be contained any longer. On top of this crazy day of getting chased by a dog, sitting in a tree in a cemetery, having my best friend hit on my old flame—who by the way was in town to tell me he was a bounty hunter and shapeshifter—there sat Austin, pointing out how weird my downstairs neighbors were.
“God, I love her laugh,” he said to Naya, licking the prongs of his fork. “When she really gets going, she sounds like Beaker fromThe Muppet Show.”
Which made an embarrassing sound escape my throat. I waved my arm to get up and knocked over his glass of wine. Naya flew out of her seat and covered her mouth.
That sucked all the humor out of the moment. So much for sophistication at twenty-seven. I stood up and sighed.
“I’m sorry, Naya. It’s been a long day and I’ve had more to drink than eat. Let me get something to clean up the mess.”
“How about the shirt in your trash can?” Austin suggested.
