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Tonight? I’m ready for some right now. The mother of all blushes adorns my cheeks as I nod.
“How about eight p.m.?”
I nod again.
He takes another step toward me. We’re now close enough for me to smell his warm, sensual scent, but also that slight undertone of perfume.
He stares at my lips.
Fuck it. I’m going to ask him about the perfume.
Any second now.
Just need to make words, that’s all.
The doorbell rings.
He draws back. “Are you expecting anyone?”
Still mute, I shake my head.
“Who could it be?” he asks. “Your parents? Ava?”
I force my vocal cords to function. “Ava’s at the hospital. Parents have the keys to this place and, sadly, just barge right in.”
He takes out his phone and sends a text.
“Could it be Ivan?” I ask.
His phone pings. “Not Ivan. Some guy. Blond, thin, with—”
I furrow the human-hair eyebrow wigs. “That sounds like my ex.”
Vlad’s real eyebrows snap together. “Ex-boyfriend?”
“He’s been finding excuses to visit from time to time.” I’m unsure why there’s so much defensiveness in my voice. “A month ago, he ‘realized’ he forgot an Xbox game. Two months prior to that, it was a hoodie.”
“He just comes unannounced like that?”
The doorbell rings again.
“Let me see if it’s actually him.” I head over to the door.
Vlad follows, and I feel a little giddy at the prospect of Bob seeing a guy this hot in my apartment—and reaching conclusions.
“Who is it?” I shout at the door.
“Fanny, this is Bob,” the person says in the voice of the One Who Shouldn’t Be Named.
I open the door.
Bob grins at me—a grin that peters out when he spots Vlad. “I was… err… in the neighborhood,” he stammers. “Realized I forgot my copy of GEB at your house. Any chance you can give it back to me?”
I glance over my shoulder at Vlad. “GEB is Gödel, Escher, Bach.”
Vlad’s face is vampire cold. Maybe even liquid-nitrogen cold. “Right. The book by Douglas Hofstadter. I’ve read it. It’s great.”
That makes sense; lots of people in our industry like that book.
