“We barely know each other.”
“Dutch, you’ve had your tongue in my mouth.”
“I know.”
“And maybe doing that again would be a better way to greetyour New-Style American Girl You’reGonnaStartSeeing.”
At the vague but hilarious reference toSixteen Candles,and Georgie just being Georgie, he moved fast, hooked her around the waist andhauled her so hard to his body, she let out a high, adorable squeal.
He then laid a wet one on her, shuffling her back into herpad as he did it, hearing the door swing shut behind him.
When he ended it, she was visibly dazed and blinking.
He made note of that since, with the way she ran her mouth,it might come in handy.
“You buzz strangers up,” he ordered.
She recovered and retorted, “You’re not a stranger.”
“We could go bad and I’ve got your code.”
Georgie tipped her head to the side.“Are wegonnago bad?”
“No.”
She got that look he liked way too much, pressed close andmoved her hands so they were curled around either side of his neck.“Dutch.Wehave a new building manager and he’s King of Security.He changes the coderandomly and often.”
That made him feel better, and he gave her a squeeze tocommunicate that.
“He’s also installed more cameras, which means our HOApayment has gone up, and I’m down with more security.The rise in HOA fees,though, bites,” she went on to share.
This surprised him.
“Your landlord makes you pay the HOA?”he asked.
“Since I’m my landlord, yes,” she answered.
This surprised him more.“You own this place?”
It wasn’t tactful, but she didn’t take offense and showedhim that by busting out laughing.
Through it, she said, “I don’t know where that comes from,either you don’t think my pad is all that hot and don’t understand why I boughtit, or you don’t think I have it together enough to be a homeowner.”
“Babe,” he muttered, lacing that word with apology.
She ran a finger along the stubble at his jaw and saidsoftly, “This pad isn’t all that hot, but it was what I could afford when I gota bee in my bonnet about getting on the property ladder.It took a lot ofscraping money together, a couple years of seriously frugal living, and a loanfrom my dad, but I managed it.Though, I continue to manage it by having aroommate who was in med school when I found her, then took off to save theworld, somewhat literally, but still pays half the mortgage.”
“I haven’t seen it, still know it’s a good investment.”
That made her look surprised.“Sorry?”
“You’ll move on, but you can rent this until you die.It’llbe a tidy source of income.I got the same.Two rental properties.My brotherSnap makes a mint off stuff he owns, I followed that road.”
More surprise from Georgie.“So you own a house and tworental properties?”She didn’t let him answer, but quickly said, “And thatisn’t about you being a biker.It’s about…” She didn’t finish that either, in away.She also did by asking, “How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight.”
Now she looked stunned.“And you own three properties?”
