It made sleeping in after closing the restaurant difficult, but Nova easily solved the issue by purchasing a sleep mask to block out the early morning light.
Torin interrupted her thoughts about her apartment by saying, “In case the agency didn’t mention it, no parties. No loud music. And no smoking.”
Nova turned to face him, leaning her back against her apartment door and folding her arms across her chest.
“So, in other words, no fun allowed?”
His bright blue eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “Are you making fun of me?”
Nova shrugged one shoulder, enjoying the sight of him bristling like a hedgehog. It was kind of cute. “Maybe a little.”
Torin mirrored her pose, crossing his arms over his chest and doing one better by crossing one booted foot over his other ankle. It worked for him. He looked like a bad boy with his black tee, tats, and long hair pulled back into a short, tousled tail.
With those looks and the uptight attitude, Torin was practically a dare to a woman like her. A woman who took risks and often wondered what it would take to make people behave out of character.
Something she knew she would never learn about Torin. She didn’t need to know and she liked the path she was on right now. Upsetting the apple cart to assuage her curiosity would be terminally stupid. And despite the fact that her grandfather thought that’s exactly what she was, Nova knew how to make good decisions.
It was just that bad decisions were so much more interesting.
And fun.
“You’re not worried about me at all, are you?” Torin asked.
Nova sighed and relaxed her stance. She needed to stop antagonizing him. While she knew it was all in good fun, it was clear that he didn’t.
“Look, your rental agent talked to me about all of this stuff. I’m pretty new in town and only have a few friends, so there won’t be any big parties. I can’t promise about the loud music, but if you shoot me a text or knock on the door, I’m happy to turn it down when you’re home. And I don’t smoke anymore.”
“Anymore?” he asked, latching on her last statement more than the others.
Nova shrugged again. “What can I say? I was young and dumb for a while. Now, I’m older and dumb, but I’ve learned not to do things that aretoobad for me.”
To her utter shock, his mouth quirked into an actual smile. It was small and vanished as quickly as it appeared, but it was there nonetheless.
And it was extremely attractive because it revealed two dimples, one on each side of Torin’s mouth. They were more like masculine creases rather than round indentations, but they were there.
Oh, shit. This was bad.
Now that she knew he had dimples, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from trying to make him smile all the time.
“Somehow, I doubt you’re all that dumb,” he said.
Nova couldn’t suppress the smirk that rose to her lips, but she said, “You’re determined to think the worst of me, aren’t you?”
Crap. Where had that come from? She hadn’t meant to bring that up again.
The ghost of a smile that lingered on Torin’s face disappeared with her question.
Before he could respond, Nova looked through her keys and selected the appropriate one.
“I have a few rules, too,” she said as she fitted the key into the lock. “If you have any parties, I need to be invited so they’ll be somewhat entertaining. If you play loud music, it has to be good music. Rock n’ roll, pop, and opera are all acceptable. Metal is, too. No country before noon. It depresses me and I like my mornings to be happy.”
When she turned to throw him another smirk over her shoulder, she nearly gasped when she saw that he was standing right behind her.
Nova frowned at the expression on his face. He looked both angry and chagrined, something she’d never seen before, but he was pulling it off.
“I don’t think the worst of you,” he said. “I just have a difficult time dealing with people who don’t take themselves seriously.”
She felt her eyes narrow as she stared up at him. “And I have a difficult time dealing with people who make snap judgements about others that they barely know.”
