“Has the door ever been open when you came home?”
“No,” she admitted begrudgingly, but it was clear she still wasn’t changing her mind.
“If you won’t come stay with me, that’s fine. I can work with this.” Niko pulled back the shade of the small window above her twin bed that overlooked the front of the property.
“Work withwhat?”
“I’ll borrow Mr. Henley’s RV.”
“You can’t park an RV outside my cabin.”
“Why not?” Niko asked.
“Because that’s…crazy.”
“Mygirlfriendgot flowers from her ex, and her front door was open. I think parking an RV outside her home is perfectly sane.”
“I’m not—” Tiana’s lips slammed together, and her cheeks flushed as she realized what she’d almost said.
His left brow lifted, and he took one step towards her, closing the distance. “You’re not what?” he asked, his voice raspy and his body alive with arousal.
Her nose scrunched in the most fucking adorable way, and he nearly leaned down and kissed her despite the fact that she caught herself before she said she wasn’t his girlfriend.
“You have a guest bedroom?”
He did, but she wouldn’t be staying in it. She’d be in the main.
“Several.”
“I’ll stay tonight and get the lock changed tomorrow.”
Niko wasn’t going to argue with her. He knew that he would take what he could get. But there was no way Tiana was going to stay in this cabin, alone again. That just wasn’t happening.
He took the flowers from her hands. “Do you want to bring these?”
She flinched. “No.”
He was debating whether or not it would be okay for him to leave and go grab his truck and decided that would be the fastest, that way she could pack while he did, and she wouldn’t have to walk back in the cold. Plus, he knew a shortcut through the woods to where his SUV was parked.
“I’m gonna go grab my truck. Lock this behind me.”
A spark flickered in her eyes. “Yes, sir.”
Fuck.He knew she was being a smart ass, but even her being sarcastically submissive turned him on. Who was he kidding? Everything she did turned him on. He’d been at half chub since that kiss he’d gotten away with down by the river. He hadn’t known what possessed him to kiss her. Actually, that wasn’t true. When he heard her say she wasn’t his girlfriend, he had a knee-jerk reaction to prove to her that she was, then he got carried away and nearly lost himself. When he came up for air, he had to think on the fly and come up with a ‘reason’ he’d done it.
Niko waited on the porch until he heard her click the deadbolt into place, then he dropped the flowers into her trashbin and took the shortcut in the woods to his SUV in under five minutes. The drive to her cabin took him less than five, so he was pulling up in just over eight minutes.
When he was climbing out of the driver’s seat, she was coming out of the door with totes and a duffle slung over her shoulder. He walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. Once he took her bags from her, he helped her up and then shut the door. He put the bags in the back, and as he climbed in, he got a feeling of something close to déjà vu, but since he’d never experienced it, that would be impossible. It felt so right, so natural. On the drive, she was quiet as she stared out the window.
“What’s the deal with—” he asked.
“Have you worked for—” she spoke at the same time.
“Sorry, go ahead,” he prompted.
“No, what were you going to say?” she countered.
He really wanted to know what she was going to ask, but he didn’t want to do the dance of no, you go, no please, you. “I was going to ask what the deal with Tiara was.”
