I lifted my chin and said, “Yes, of course he does.” Even though I actually had no clue if he knew that. It had been a long time since he’d made me blush. Since anyone had made me blush, really.
What did it mean that Slate could have me blushing in a matter of seconds? I blamed his disarming good looks. That had to be it. Nothing more.
I didn’t know if he believed me or not, but he didn’t respond to my answer.
“Well, neighbor,” he said. “Looks like I’ll be getting to see you and that blush of yours a lot more often.”
I rolled my eyes, smiling as I shook my head at him—my attempt at nonchalance, dismissing his comment.
He motioned toward the stairs. “Shall we?”
I walked past him and started making my way up the first flight of exterior stairs.
“How is yourbehinddoing?” he asked, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Why don’t you tell me?” I said over my shoulder, my voice sounding flirty.
His eyes widened at my response, surprised at my words.
I snapped my head back so it was facing forward again, just as surprised at my words as he was, maybe more.
Why had I said that? Why was I flirting? I kept my head ducked and focused on the stairs, sure my cheeks were well beyond a blush to full-on red. I couldn’t seem to control myself around him. No wonder girls were supposedly throwing themselves at him and stalking him in his classes. There was something about him that called out to women, like he was a male version of a siren. Was there a word for that? I’d have to look it up later.
“From my point of view, it looks amazing.” His voice had taken on a lower tone, causing goosebumps to erupt on my skin.
My butt was probably right in his face as he said it, and although his words were a compliment, I also wanted to run the rest of the way up and hide in my apartment.
Instead, I concentrated on keeping the same pace until I reached the second floor.
I stopped in front of my door. “This is me.”
He stepped in front of the door on the opposite side of the hallway, his body almost filling the whole doorway. “And this is me.”
He couldn’t be serious. Were we really living across the hall from each other? I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Not that it needed to be good or bad. It could be neutral. Itshouldbe neutral. What did it matter that we were next door neighbors?
It didn’t matter.
So what that I had an extremely hot neighbor who made my palms sweat, had me saying things I normally didn’t say, and who had me blushing every five seconds? No big deal.
“Well, neighbor,” I said, using his words from earlier, shifting from one foot to the other. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”
He gave me what looked like an appreciative glance, and I tried to remain unfazed by his attention. “I’ll see you around.”
Turning, I quickly punched the code into the keypad, opening the door and closing it behind me, needing to collect myself. I rested my back against the door and took a few deep breaths.
Why did just being around Slate rattle me so much? Yes, he was handsome, but there were a lot of handsome men out there. Including my boyfriend. That’s right,my boyfriend. My boyfriend, whom I was currently mad at for being such a jerk.
Pushing off the door, I stopped in the kitchen to grab a bag of chips before making my way to my room and shutting the door. My roommate wasn’t home, but I still wanted privacy.
Pulling out my laptop, I got comfy on my bed and started browsing Netflix for a show to watch. A couple hours of relaxing and then I’d get some homework done. Right now, I wanted to forget about my day and get lost in someone else’s drama.
Several hours had passed and I was finishing up my last reading assignment for one of my classes before I went to bed when the doorbell rang.
Glancing at the clock on my nightstand, it read that it was a little after nine. Was Josh finally showing up? I hadn’t heard anything from him since lunch and hadn’t known if he was still planning on stopping by.
I swung my legs off the bed and slowly stood up, wanting to take my time. I was in no hurry to see him. I meandered out to the front door and pulled it open to find Josh standing there with a smile.
When I didn’t return his smile, he said, “What’s wrong?”
