Like she’s got nowhere else to be.
I don’t know much about being with a woman, but I do know that you’re supposed to open doors. Hustling around her, I push it open. She smiles as she passes me, placing her hand gently against my chest. It lights something up inside me, something that I swiftly ignore. She didn’t mean it like that.
I know that she didn’t.
It’s just harder to remember that when her perfume is seducing me just as much as she is.
She waits for me to join her in the crisp December air, before hooking her arm into mine. I don’t know what to do, but she helps me, arranging my hand in the pocket of my coat and smiling as she does it. She pats my chest again, and I don’t mind the contact.
We walk in silence, and it feels good being with Kinsley like this—natural—but as we approach our building, reality comes crashing down and I can’t just be along for the ride.
Pulling her to a stop, I wait until we’re alone. “Kinsley, what do you want?”
“I want to be your dating coach.”
3
KINSLEY
“You—”
Royce practically shouts the word, and without thinking, I press my fingertips against his lips to keep him quiet. The touch is electric, and his eyes widen like he feels it too.
“No need to yell.”
He snorts but doesn’t push my hand away, and it’s only with great reluctance that I let my arm fall to the side.
“But you said…”
“I know what I said, Roy.”
“You know how crazy that sounds, right?” he demands, exasperation in his tone.
“Crazier than you switching coffees with me because I said I didn’t like mine?” I offer and preen as he opens his mouth before closing it and pressing his lips into a hard line. “That’s top-shelf boyfriend material, Roy.”
“I don’t know what came over me.”
“And I just don’t believe you,” I say, hooking my arm back through his as I pull him toward our building. “I think you knewexactlywhat you were doing.”
He doesn’t make it easy, but I manage to get him inside, though not without a raised eyebrow from Donald as we pass.
“Hi, Donald!”
“Evenin’, Miss Dane.”
“Will you let me know when the takeout gets here? I’ll come down and get it.”
“Sure thing, Miss Dane.” He nods at my companion. “Mr. Oakden.”
“Hey, Donald.”
Giving him one final wave, I shove Royce into the elevator and stab the button to our floor.
“You could’ve…” The words die on my tongue as I spin around and nearly crash into Royce. Instead of moving to the far side of the car, he’d stayed in the middle, his proximity making my belly flip in the best way.
He smells faintly of soap and coffee—no cologne, and I wonder if he even has any.
Not that he needs it.
