He grinned. “Himbo? Me? Never!”
“Rhett, I’m being serious.”
He glanced to the side for a moment. “I have dyslexia. It took them a while to figure out that was my issue. And by then? Class clown was my default. Making people laugh hides the stupid.”
“Aw, sweetheart, you’re not stupid. You’re really perceptive and a good listener. Plus the firefighter thing. I bet your family is proud.”
He snorted. “My family are all doctors. Which makes me the dumb black sheep they can’t quite explain.”
“Well, fuck them, then. You’re not dumb. Being good at science is only one aspect of intelligence, and if they can’t see that youhave other strengths, they’re the stupid ones. And I studied psychology. I know my shit.”
A big grin spread across his face, and for a brief moment, I wondered what it would be like to lean forward and press my lips to his. Would he taste like coffee? Would his hands tighten on my thighs? Would he make that same soft sound Troy had drawn from him during their kiss?
The thought shocked me enough that I dropped my hand, and his eyes opened, something unreadable flickering in their depths.
“Do you think,” he said suddenly, voice low and a bit rough, “that kissing someone else would erase my feelings for Troy?”
I blinked, then burst out laughing, the tension of the moment broken. “I’m not kissing you, Rhett.” No matter how much I wanted to.
His face flushed scarlet. “I wasn’t—I didn’t mean—” He stepped back, running a hand through his hair in that now-familiar nervous gesture. “I was just thinking out loud.”
“Sure you were,” I teased, but even as I said it, I found myself wondering if I’d read too much into his words, or if that was really what he’d meant.
The washing machine across the room buzzed, making us both jump.
“Saved by the bell,” Rhett muttered, retreating to his washing machine perch, the vulnerable moment evaporating like it had never existed. “Let’s hope that person set a timer on their laundry.”
I hopped down and busied myself with removing my now-dry clothes, trying to ignore the strange mix of relief and disappointment swirling in my chest. I’d come down here for clean underwear and somehow ended up neck-deep in feelings—both his and mine—that I wasn’t prepared to deal with.
“So,” I said, desperate to return to safer territory as I folded a t-shirt. “Tell me about these kittens that have turned you into a sleep-deprived zombie.”
Rhett’s face lit up with genuine affection. “They’re terrors. Absolute terrors. I have to keep them in a big kitten habitat when we’re not home to keep them from eating all the electrical cords.”
“Kitten… habitat?”
“Don’t ask how much I spent. It’s embarrassing.”
But they were also… He trailed off, looking embarrassed.
“Cute?” I supplied.
“The cutest fucking things I’ve ever seen,” he admitted, and just like that, regular Rhett was back, launching into an animatedstory about Cheeto’s attempts to climb the curtains and Olive’s habit of sleeping on his face.
I listened, smiling and nodding in all the right places, but part of my mind was still stuck on that moment of possibility between us, and the undercurrent of emotions that seemed to be swirling just beneath the surface of our friendship.
When the laundry room door finally swung open forty minutes later, I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed that our forced confessional had come to an end.
Chapter 7
Troy
IshiftedtheThaifood in my arms, the plastic bag crackling as I jabbed the elevator button for our floor. The spicy aroma of pad Thai and green curry filled the small space, making my stomach growl.
We’d had a call an hour before Rhett and I were about to come off shift this morning, and it had been a long one. So I hadn’t eaten since dinner last night. I was fantasizing about face-planting into these noodles the second I walked through our door.
The elevator doors began sliding closed when a familiar voice called out, “Hold it, please!”
I stuck my arm out, the doors bouncing back as Aimee jogged in, slightly breathless. Her blonde hair was piled in a messy bun ontop of her head, a few strands escaping to frame her flushed face. She wore leggings and a loose off-the-shoulder top that revealed the sports bra underneath.
