“You’ve been here before?”
“I used to live here.”
Hallie gaped at him. “You did?”
He blinked at her, his judgy expression replaced with confusion. “Yeah. For part of my sophomore year. I thought you knew that.”
She shook her head. “I knew my brother and cousin had another roommate for a while, but I still lived in Florida back then, so I didn’t know who it was.”
“It was me,” Christian said with a shrug. “I had the bedroom at the top of the stairs.”
“Wait! That’s mine.” She gave an ironic laugh. “How crazy is that? So, you must be the one responsible for the disco ball hanging from the ceiling when I moved in. Do you have some weirdSaturday Night Feverobsession I should know about?”
He barked out a laugh. A small one, but definitely a laugh. So, hewascapable of displaying some positive emotions.
“I swear that was Brad.” A light shade of pink stained his tanned complexion.
Hallie bit back the urge to smile. “Oh, it was Brad, huh? You’re saying he was responsible for damaging the ceilingandlightingthe microwave on fire?”
“He wasn’t very bright back then.” The corners of Christian’s mouth twitched up as he delivered the assessment of his former roommate.
Hallie’s laugh bubbled from her throat. “Actually, I believe you. Was the fire really as dramatic as Tyler and Brad made it sound?”
“Oh yeah.” Christian drummed his fingers against the island’s granite countertop. “The whole chili can burst into flames. Luckily, we had the extinguisher under the sink, so he was able to put it out before it ruined the whole microwave. Is the burn mark still there?”
Hallie nodded. “My uncle put in a new stove and countertops, but he left the microwave. Something about wanting it to be a lesson for young tenants. I guarantee Brad never made that mistake again. He’s grown up a lot since then. You know that he’s going to be a dad in a few months, right?”
Christian’s face clouded over, a noticeable sadness marring his eyes. “No, I didn’t.” At Hallie’s confused look, he added, “We don’t talk much anymore.”
That’s odd.Tyler had mentioned the three of them used to be close. But it was none of her business, so she didn’t press.
Christian turned back to the computer. “So, what’s this problem you need me to look at?”
“Right, the website.”Gah, why am I being so weird right now?“I’m trying to make it look similar to the demo, but I seem to have bittenoff more than I can chew. Why do you people make website design so hard?”
Oh great, now she sounded whiny.
The quiet chuckle emerging from Christian’s chest surprised Hallie, and it made her feel a little better about her petulant comment.
“If it were easy, anyone could do it,” he said, keeping his attention on the computer while he scrolled through the homepage.
“I knew it. Is it job security you’re worried about? Or do you people just want to prove that you’re smarter than everyone else?”
Warmth trickled down her spine at the look on Christian’s face when his attention shifted to her. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but for a split second, that hint of a smile stirred something inside of her. Like butterflies in her stomach without the nerves that usually accompanied them. Or a warm jacuzzi with bubbles and all. Whatever it was, she found herself leaning closer to him as he turned back to the screen.
Except this only brought her into smelling range of his sharp scent. It was like mint with a hint of something spicy she couldn’t identify. Which was weird since she loved working with spices when she baked. No dull flavors allowed in her kitchen. But spices often took on different smells when mixing with the oils on a person’s skin. Whatever it was, this particular ingredient workedreallywell for Christian.
Excuse me? Time to come back down to earth now, Hal.She backed up a smidge before he caught her crowding his personal bubble.
“You did this yourself?” he asked, clicking onto a different page.
Hallie leaned forward, placing her elbow on the counter and resting her chin on her palm. Unfortunately, that brought her back in range of his yummy scent.
Yummy? She’d never used that word to describe a person before.
Stop being ridiculous.
“I know. It’s terrible.” She squirmed a little on her stool. She’d tried her best to create a clean, professional interspace, but looking at it now made her want to scrap it all andnottry again. “I don’t have themoney to invest in something better right now. My business brings in enough revenue to cover only my basic costs, but nothing more than that. And I’d really like to start saving for a downpayment on a traditional bakery.”
