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Whatever that was going to look like.
Hmm, I was starting to think I should’ve figured out a way to ask a few more questions about what that would look like before we’d started our date.
Oops?
Chapter 9
Bex
Payton’s brain seemed to be going a thousand miles an hour but it was jumping from happy thoughts to dirty ones judging by the way his smiles kept changing. That didn’t seem to be anything I needed to worry about at the moment. I loved every one of them too because they meant he hadn’t changed his mind about our date or what we’d done on our last night out.
We’d texted and called over the past few days, but that wasn’t always a good way for me to read what he was feeling versus what he was saying. He was much better about hiding his nerves over the phone, which I really didn’t appreciate.
Texting in a full sentence with punctuation was cute, but for some reason, it made it easier for him to sound relaxed and easygoing about the whole thing…neither of which was his natural default state when I asked him a question in person.
“Head out of the clouds, pet.” I knew I’d have to be careful with the nickname and what I said in public, but for the time being, it was just after seven and most of the shops in this direction had already closed. “We’re here.”
He looked around like he had no idea where we were even though we were only a few blocks from the bakery and the bookstore. “Oh, I didn’t realize there were apartments here.”
Letting his head crane back, he studied the brick building. “I love these old buildings. Has it been renovated? That’s one of the only things I was worried about when I was looking at apartments around here. They’re either fabulous or frightening.”
He was delightfully chatty and confident when he wasn’t talking about anything regarding dating or BDSM, or just looking at me in general.
“Yep, it’s pretty well done inside and I have the whole top floor.” I pointed around toward the back of the building as I let us in a small side door. “There’s a freight elevator in the back but that’s a pain in the ass. Stairs okay?”
Payton nodded, still studying the building. “Yes, that’s fine. What about the electrical system? I toured one that looked like it hadn’t been touched since Edison was alive. I was worried about the whole place going up in flames and that was what finally pushed me into the condo I’m subletting. It’s not too far away but it doesn’t have any charm at all.”
Or any stability, if he was subletting.
Was that even legal?
Pushing my new worries to the back of my head, I nodded and led him inside before he could get distracted again. “Yep, took me a whole summer of late nights but it’s inspected and everything.”
That had his head whipping around. “You did it?”
I wasn’t sure if he was doubting my skill or just surprised that the building had been updated that well but I tried to take it as neutrally as I could as I pointed toward the stairs. “I helped significantly.”
More than that, really.
I ran my hand up the walls as we headed toward the third floor, remembering what a pain in the ass fixing the plaster had been. “I have a buddy who runs a construction company and he helped me in his spare time. I traded him the wiring for a kick-ass wedding cake, even if I do say so myself.”
My father had hated that too but there’d been nothing he could do about it. Before I’d agreed to stay on at the bakery after college, we’d made a deal that I could do projects like that on the side. It’d been one of the only things I knew I wouldn’t budge on and he’d realized that pretty quickly.
“That sounds like a wonderful deal.” Payton was back to studying every corner, nearly killing himself several times before we actually made it to my apartment.
He was so easily distracted that I had my hand on his back the last few steps because I was afraid he’d go tumbling ass over teakettle down the stairs.
“Oh, did you see that crown molding?” Before he could turn, because somehow he thought he could do circles on the stairs like a ballerina, he started going down. “Ohhh…”
Caught him.
As I gripped his pants and kept him upright, I glared at my sexy cutie. “This is not a good idea unless you want me to worry about you every moment of the day.”
His eyes had gone wide and it took me a moment to figure out if he was breathing or not.
Not.
But that didn’t last long, and just as quickly as he’d almost died, he sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry.”
