I shook my head. It was way too early, but telling him that required speech, so eight it was.
The knockat my door startled me from my naked quarterback dream. I thought I set my alarm. Apparently not.
“Just a minute!” I yelled. “Give a girl a minute to put her leg on, antsy pants,” I mumbled.
“You forgot.” Everson inspected my shorts and shirt: plaid Hello Kitty.
“Yes, in less than seven hours I forgot.” I narrowed my eyes.Really?“I didn’t forget, I just didn’t get up. Good morning, Shayna.” I smiled. “Come in.”
Her eyes remained fixed to my leg, which wasn’t obvious last night under my pants.
“It does cool tricks. I’ll show you later.”
Darting her gaze to mine, she sucked in a breath like I’d caught her doing something wrong.
“I’m serious. I get paid to play with robotic legs.” I winked at her, and she smiled on a sigh.
“And not in a kinky way?” Everson quirked a brow.
I laughed. “No. Not in a kinky way. Clearly you didn’t catch my humor.”
He nodded, maybe a bit relieved, maybe disappointed. Everson Banks was a hard man to read. “So, uh… I appreciate this. I guess I owe you.”
“Yup.” I popped my lips. “You owe me a hair-braiding session while I talk about boys I like.”
He shook his head. “Still won’t make him available.”
“But he’s not married. Is he engaged?”
“No time for this, Stick.” Everson turned and headed toward the elevator.
The guy was a beast. A sexy, I’m-not-interested-in-the-girl-next-door beast, but still… a beast.
“Just answer me! Is he engaged or living with her?”
Stepping into the elevator, he turned and gave me a smirk. It was a “no” smirk. I just knew it. The man of my dreams was not officially off the market yet. I would not pursue him or try and steal him from the cat-hater. That wasn’t classy, and everyone who knew me would attest to my classiness.
OK, no one would call me classy. Who was I kidding?
My plan: just be the girl he turned his head for three years earlier, the girl whose lips he wanted to kiss. It was a brilliant plan except for the he’s-an-impossibly-inaccessible-super-star part. Even the best plans had a few bumps to smooth out.
“Hungry?” I motioned for Shayna to come inside.
She nodded, taking slow steps like ice cracking beneath her.
“Trzy!” I grimaced as my slut cat pounced in Shayna’s direction. The harrowing scream I anticipated never came.
“Pretty kitty.” Shayna dropped her backpack at her feet and bent down, picking up Trzy.
Pretty kitty? Maybe Shayna needed glasses. I almost passed out when she brushed her lips over Trzy’s hairless, wrinkly skin, stopping to kiss her partial ear. Trzy purred like someone starting a lawnmower.
“You like kitties?”
Shayna peeked up at me, hugging Trzy to her chest. “I do like kitties.”
“Me too.” I pointed to my Hello Kitty jammies and smiled. “Toast? Eggs? Cereal? What do you want to eat?”
“Toast.”
