“Twenty-five.” Ah, we’d just missed one another.
He used a card to unlock his door. When it clicked open he slid me one of those sideways glances that made my tummy flip over. “Good to know I’m not robbing the cradle. You don’t look much over eighteen.”
People always thought I was younger than my actual age. “Wow.” And then. “Are those still your own teeth? So many people lose them when they get close to your age.”
He flashed me another one of his wicked grins. “The better to eat you with.”
That did it. My lady parts were swinging from the chandeliers at the thought of his mouth on me.
My face burned. Hugging myself, I strolled over to the magnificent view. I’d grown immune to it while in Star’s apartment but suddenly it seemed sophisticated and romantic and made me happy to be home in Colorado.
He refrained from turning the lights on and walked up behind me. “This is what sold me on the apartment. I never get tired of it.”
“Where did you go?” I asked. “After college?” He was so close I could feel his heat at my back. If I leaned back an inch I could lay my head against his chest. I imagined how good it would feel and I almost let myself go. I didn’t understand how I could feel so comfortable and yet excited at the same time.
“Atlanta.”
“They’re pretty good, aren’t they? Their baseball team, I mean?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. We were damn good.” Something about the way he said that turned my bones to butter. Gruff. Proud. All. Man.
“So, why’d you come back?”
Oh God, now his arms wrapped around my middle and his chin rested on top of my head. At first, I didn’t think he was going to answer me… My heart raced and I tried to remember what I’d asked him, anyway.
“I missed home.” His throat moved at the back of my head.
I wanted to reach my hands up behind me and stroke the muscles in his neck… and then slide my fingers into his hair.
“Coffee?” I practically croaked the two syllables. I’ve never been so tempted so quickly in my life. I didn’t think it was the Lemon Drops anymore either. It was all him.
He pulled back taking his warmth with him. I heard a click, and then a soft glow illuminated the room.
When I turned around I watched him in the kitchen. His floorplan, although a similar open concept, felt smaller than Star’s. It felt more intimate.
He turned on an instant coffee maker and set some different colored coffee pods on the granite bar top. “What’s your poison?”
I climbed onto one of the barstools and watched his backside while he poured water into the machine. I wasn’t the sort of girl who ogled men. I never had been. This attraction though. It kind of boggled my mind.
When he turned around, I pointed to a light roast. “So other than your grandparents, you have family in town?”
He warmed to this subject. By the time he set a steaming cup of coffee in front of me I knew that his dad was a local physician, and his mom had stayed home to raise him and his two younger twin sisters. Gert and Ralph were his dad’s parents. His mom’s parents lived in North Carolina.
“That story. About my grandparents. I’ve never heard it before.”
I smiled thinking about Gert and Ralph. “I loved her stories. And your grandfather. He just nods and agrees with everything she says. They’ve been together half a century. Can you imagine that?”
“Did you know them before tonight?” He looked thoughtful.
“Nah.” I smiled. “I think they took pity on me.”
“Tell me about you.” He took a sip from his cup. I’d noticed he’d made decaf for himself. “You graduated from CU, what did you major in?”
That shouldn’t be, but it felt like a dicey subject for me. “Psychology.”
I remembered my days up in Boulder. I’d loved my field of study. I’d thought I’d found my place in life… my destiny…
I knew the question was coming before he asked it. He wanted to know how a degree in Psych lead me to a job purchasing sexy bachelors for my boss.
