I grimace. “I most certainly was not going to do that.”
“Whatever, man, I’m just saying. At least I closed on the deal.”
“I’m guessing you had a good night.”
“Good? Try the greatest night of my lifeever. I think Leila and I were meant to be.”
The sound of the bedroom door clicking open has Chase standing up straight and looking around the kitchen frantically. He picks up a dirty washcloth and throws it into the sink after wiping off some crumbs from the counter. I smirk at my brother in amusement.
“Whatever that face is, cut it out,” he grumbles, still skittering around the kitchen, trying to tidy the already tidy space. “Just play it cool, man.”
“Sure,” I respond as his bedmate from last night—and Whitney’s best friend—rounds the corner.
She only hesitates a moment when she sees the two of us standing there. “Good morning.”
Chase and I mumble the greeting back to her. She slides into the barstool next to where Chase was standing just a moment ago and gives me a shy smile. This version of her is entirely different than the one that seduced my brother just last night.
“Coffee?” I ask her, trying to fill the room’s newly acquired silence.
She wrinkles her nose. “No, thank you. I’ll take a cup of hot water with a lemon if you have it.”
I stare at her blankly, wondering if she’s joking.
“You heard the lady,” Chase snaps at me. I glare at him but go for an extra coffee mug, filling it up with water from the tap before popping it into the microwave.
“I don’t have lemons.”
Leila gives me a tight smile. “That’s okay.”
When it’s finished, I hand her the cup of hot water, and she takes it appreciatively, wrapping her hands around the warm, ceramic mug and breathing in the steam emanating from the contents.
“Need anything to eat?” I ask her, trying to be as hospitable as possible, even though she’s notmyguest.
My brother is staying with me for the time being, until he can rent a place of his own. I have the space in my penthouse, so it’s not a big deal. Thankfully, once the deal with Peterson had been confirmed, I went ahead and got the apartment. It had been sitting pretty much empty until it was time for me to move here.
I’m only a five-minute drive from the office, which is convenient for those early mornings and lateevenings.
“Do you have any cereal?” Leila asks, and I pause again. I was thinking along the lines of bacon or eggs.
“I do—it’s just Cheerios, though,” I tell her.
“That’s perfect.”
Chase is giving me a look like he’s warning me not to make a big deal of his lady’s little quirks, and I do my best. I grab a bowl and then collect the milk from the fridge and the cereal from the pantry. I leave it to Leila to serve herself. She pours herself a heaping bowl of Cheerios and then douses the cereal in milk.
“What?” I ask when she gives me another strange look.
Her eyebrow twitches, and it appears as though she’s fighting off a smile. “Got a spoon?”
“I got it,” Chase interjects as he pulls open my utensil drawer, and then hands Leila one.
She beams at him and then digs into her cereal. She says between bites, “I had such a fun time last night. We’ll definitely have to go back to that club sometime.”
“Agreed,” Chase says, giving her a wicked smile.
“Did you have a good time, Theo?” Leila asks. Somehow, I suspect she’s trying to ask me something completely different.
I lean my hip against the counter and nod slowly. “I did.”
