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Chapter Ten
Alani couldn’t believe the afternoon she’d had with Ivo. The Native American Pottery Exhibit had totally and utterly taken her breath away, and by the time they reached the final display, she wanted to head back to the beginning and start all over again. Maybe this time she would take pictures; the first round she had been too wrapped up in the information and the art to step away from the scene and snap a few photos on her phone.
But she couldn’t do that to Ivo. He had been the perfect gentleman all afternoon, even though she had seen his eyes glaze over more than a few times when they stopped to listen to the curator explain bits and pieces of the collection.
She couldn’t blame Ivo for that, though she appreciated his subtle attempts to appear hyper-focused whenever he had caught her looking at him. However, Alani didn’t need him to be in love with the pottery exhibits. She loved it enough for both of them; all that mattered was that he had taken the time to engage in her interests. For now, that was enough for Alani.
When she had left the gorgeous pieces of pottery behind with inward reluctance, she and Ivo had stopped at the museum’s café for a quick bite to eat. He had listened to her ramble on for the full half-hour about everything she had seen, even nodding and smiling alongside her as she pointed to examples in her textbook that linked back to the exhibit.
Alani had realized she was overdoing it a little, but anytime she had struggled for a change in conversation topic, Ivo asked an innocent question relating to the exhibit, and then she found herself sucked back in, lecturing him on a certain style or technique.
On the drive home, she actually felt a little bad for talking his ear off, but Ivo couldn’t stop smiling—and neither could she. Their first date had been a dream, and a part of her wondered if the Ivo she had interacted with before had just been a fluke of some kind. Maybe she had caught him on a bad day—a few bad days, apparently. Because the Ivo she spent time with today, the one who had kissed her in front of everyone at the museum, was the kind of man she wanted to spend more time with. He was the kind of man she wanted to get to know better.
“Oh, fuck…” Ivo’s curse dragged her out of her thoughts, and Alani scrambled for the handle above the pickup’s passenger window to keep from falling out of her seat and into his when he took a sharp turn, cutting off the car in the opposite lane.
His driving skills, unfortunately, left much to be desired. Not only did he speed like a maniac, but also apparently graceful turns, signals and all, just weren’t a thing.
“Sorry,” he muttered when she shot him a frown, her heartbeat racing. “I just… Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said as she calmed herself, taking a few deep, even breaths, “but my apartment is the other way.”
They had been right there, about to reach the curb where Ivo had picked her up, when he’d taken such an erratic turn in the opposite direction.
“I saw someone at the bus stop in front of your building,” he told her as he slowed the truck to a more reasonable speed. “Someone I didn’t want to…” Ivo trailed off with a sigh. “Someone I wouldn’t want you crossing paths with, I guess.”
Alani swallowed hard at the news, eyebrows threatening to dip down in a frown. “Oh.”
She couldn’t be sure whether that was a reflection on her or whoever was standing outside her building, but it wasn’t her place to say anything—not now, anyway. This was a first date. Ivo wasn’t obligated to introduce her around to anyone he knew right now. After all, if they had started dating back home, Alani would have taken a long time to figure out if he was someone she ought to introduce to her children.
“He’s just an acquaintance,” Ivo explained when they came to a gentle break at a stop sign by the corner store. “I’ve actually been trying to distance myself from him a little lately. Not the best guy in my Rolodex, if you get my drift.”
“Sure.” She nibbled her lower lip for a moment, hesitant to extend the offer at the tip of her tongue. “Ivo, did you want to maybe come inside for a bit? We can use the underground parking lot around back… My neighbor doesn’t have a car and said if I had guests they could use his spot.” She saw his dark eyes flicker toward her reflection in the mirror, riddled with a surprise that she felt too. “I mean, if you’re trying to avoid someone, you can wait with me until his bus comes and goes, I guess. Only if you want.”
Alani held her breath in the brief pause that followed, only to let it out in a soft exhale when Ivo grinned and nodded.
“I’d love to. Thanks.”
She wasn’t sure why it was such a relief that he’d accepted her invitation, but there it was, relief fluttering through her limbs and whisking the tension away. Alani guided him round to the back of her building, then leaned across him to the point where she was practically in his lap to punch in the door code for the underground parking lot.
Not that she didn’t trust him—Alani wouldn’t have asked him up to her living space if she didn’t trust him—but she didn’t feel right about giving out a private code that only the inhabitants of her building knew. If he became a more frequent visitor, which was of course still up in the air, maybe she would change her mind.
Her skin prickled at the feel of his heated gaze wandering her body, and once the metal gate started to lift, Alani scrambled back into her seat. As the truck eased down the steep ramp into the underground lot, she swore she heard Ivo growl; so soft she almost missed it, the sound seemed to come from deep within in chest.
After guiding him to the correct spot, the pair hopped out of the truck and took the elevator up to her floor. From there, it was a short walk to her apartment, and her hands trembled slightly as she tried to shove her key in the lock. Ivo didn’t seem to notice; instead, he was busy scanning the hallway, a hand resting on her lower back and face in something of a scowl—one that vanished when he realized she was watching him.
Thank goodness she had always kept a clean house. You never know when you’re going to have company, her mom always used to say, and it was a lesson that had stuck with her. Even with twin girls, from infanthood to now, Alani kept her home tidy and taught her girls how to clean up after themselves.
Her rental apartment was a one-bedroom, though its size was barely more than the bachelor studio apartments the building also offered. When she had first moved in, the unit already furnished, Alani had felt too big for the space. While she had adjusted now, looking at Ivo as he kicked off his shoes and set them by the door, it was like seeing Alice cramped into that too-tiny house when she first arrives in Wonderland.
Pressing her lips together to keep from giggling, Alani took his jacket and hung it up alongside hers in the closet by the front door. The kitchen and living room blended into one, with carpet and tile dividing the areas, and her bedroom was off the kitchen, while the four-piece bathroom was beside the coat closet.
“Make yourself comfortable,” Alani said when she realized Ivo was all but twiddling his thumbs, standing awkwardly between the coffee table and the TV. “Would you like a drink?”
“Sure.” He shot her a smile before settling on the couch, his long limbs practically stretching the full length of the two-seater. Alani shuffled into the kitchen and cracked a canned beer open, then returned moments later with one for each of them. Ivo’s smile grew as she handed it to him, and then settled in on the couch beside him. While she made it a point not to let their legs touch, Alani could feel the heat radiating off him, like an unwavering sunbeam fixed on her as it poked through the clouds.
“Cheers,” she said when they tipped their drinks together, then took a quick sip, although she barely tasted a hint of the fizzy liquid as she sat there under Ivo’s unwavering stare. Something in those dark orbs just screamed want—desire even. She wasn’t sure how it made her feel, but she certainly wasn’t trying to scamper away. Instead, she set her beer in her lap, hands wrapped around the cool can, and lifted her gaze to his almost shyly. “Thank you for today. I had a really great time.”
“Good. Then my diabolical scheme of getting you to and from the pottery exhibit while having a great time was a raging success.” The edge of his mouth twitched up before he took another long swig of beer, his arm stretched out along the back of the couch as Alani laughed. If he moved his fingers even an inch, she swore she would feel them in her hair.
