“Come on, sweetie muffin. You’re okay. It’s safe,” I croon.
Through my peripheral vision, I see Ryan squatting and extending his hand. “Come here, kitty. Do you want pets?”
Waffle hisses and swipes at him with her tiny paw. Ryan stumbles back, even though she didn’t even come close to hitting him. Wimp.
“Good girl, Waffle!” I gesture around us. “Welcome home.”
The black cat hisses at Ryan one more time, then darts quickly in the opposite direction.
Okay, so letting her loose might have been a bad idea. Waffle’s my first cat, but I’ve done plenty of research since I adopted her. I know it’ll be hard for her to adjust to a new home, and she might even hide out in some small dark corner for a few days. It was easy to find her when she hid at my old place, but Ryan’s apartment is like ten times the size. It’ll take me forever to find her now.
“That thing is a demon,” Ryan says with a lifted brow. “It tried to attack me.”
“No, she didn’t! She was just warning you not to touch her. I’m sure you get that a lot from women.”
Ryan rolls his eyes. “One, you know that’s not true. Two, you might want to put the kibosh on the insults, considering I’m letting you and your hellcat stay here for free.”
“You think Iwantto be here, where my eyes have to be accosted by this?” I gesture at his naked torso. “Trust me, I wouldn’t come within twenty feet of you if it wasn’t my last resort.”
He scowls at me. “You know, I could make your time staying here very unpleasant.”
“Oh, you’ll make it unpleasant even if you’renottrying.”
“Hi,” a small voice chirps. “I should get going.”
Coming out of Ryan’s room, I see a petite woman with thick black hair down to her waist. She’s wearing a clingy minidress, and her hard nipples are clearly visible through it.
Probably because her bra is hanging somewhere in the living room.
“Don’t let my stepsister scare you off, Hannah. She’s only acting like a bitter shrew because she hasn’t gotten laid in months,” Ryan says. Like an asshole, he doesn’t even look at the girl he obviously just slept with. Instead, his eyes are glued to mine, shooting fiery daggers at me.
“Only because there’s a shortage of quality men in the city. I’m sure Hannah understands, since she had to settle for you,” I snap.
Hannah laughs nervously as she tiptoes around us, giving us a wide berth. She’s acting like Ryan and I are a bomb about to go off, and she doesn’t want to be hit by the shrapnel. She grabs her bra off the light fixture and shoves it in her purse.
“Oh, there are plenty of great guys in Toronto, Pips,” Ryan says. “You wouldn’t know, because they turn running the second they glimpse your overly made-up mug. You know guys are really more into the natural look, right?”
I cross my arms. “I do my make-up like this becauseIlike it. Unlike some people, I don’t base my entire personality around wooing the opposite sex.”
His eyes narrow. “No, you base it on being a pain in my goddamn ass.”
“How about you call me later, Ryan?” Hannah calls.
“I will,” he says, right as the elevator doors close behind her.
“You asshole.” I poke him in the chest. “You’re so full of shit. You’re never calling her, because the second you get what you want from a woman, you ghost them. You’re pathetic.”
His brown eyes blaze with wrath. “You don’t know shit about me. In fact, I?—”
An electronic chime interrupts him. He pulls his phone out of his pocket. Whatever he sees on the screen makes his expression shift completely. Now, he’s grinning ear to ear.
“Do I even want to know?” I deadpan.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he says mysteriously.
I shudder. It’s probably something horrifying, like a sex robot that will go rogue and kill us all after it sees Ryan naked.
“Lemme show you your room.” Ryan heads in the opposite direction of his bedroom, toward a dim hallway. Of course, he doesn’t offer to help me bring in my suitcases. I grab the handles and wheel everything after him.
