Oh, he may have been all beard and boots, but he wore exceptional cologne. Something with undertones of sage and sea salt.
"I am single." He did the lip twitch thing again. "Tell me the part about the crush again?"
Ha. And hot damn.
Sloan scorched me with the heat in his gaze. My heart beat faster, and my mouth went dry.
This was the perfect one-night stand situation. He was, well, him. I was me. And we had limited bedroom space at the condo.
In fact, I'd be doing everyone a favor if I bunked up with Sloan.
"I said." I would've stepped further into his space to make a move, but without one heel, I worried I might tip right over. "I'm getting a tiny crush on you."
Not my best pickup line, but it'd have to do. Truly, I was out of practice. This was the problem when a girl was in a blah-de-dah relationship for too long. I’d totally lost my pickup game swagger.
"All right, then," he said, simply.
Seriously, that's all he said.
What the hell? I wasn't on a compliment fishing expedition, but would it have killed him to mention what that tube dress did for my chest? 'Cause it did a lot.
"I think I missed this whole thing." I gestured between us. "I thought you were into me."
Sometimes, the best thing a girl could do was to not beat around the bush, but to just throw it all out there.
"Maya, I like you." Sloan chewed on his cheek. "But I don't do messy." Sloan pushed his lips together. "I prefer things to be simple."
Well, then he should've avoided me. Though, in this case, there was nothing messy about any of it.
"Should we head back to the apartment for other shoes?" Sloan asked, and he had precisely the correct amount of sadness in his tone for the predicament. Surprise ex-husbands showing up out of the blue, ruined shoes, plus no martini equaled a pretty crummy night. Add to that, my stomach was gnawing on itself, asking for a buffet reprieve.
So, yes, I should go back home, raid the fridge, and swap shoes. That made the most sense.
Instead, I wanted to clarify something?—
"This whole thing between us is super simple." I lifted my eyebrows on purpose.
There was no need for complications between the two of us. Palate cleansers were for fun, not for deep conversations on the Vegas Strip.
"I'm single. I think you're wicked hot. And I like your flannel," I said, counting all the reasons this would work. "Also, your beard. I dig it. And I want nothing other than tonight with you. No offense or anything. I just think we could have fun with no expectations."
That bought me a grin.
"How's that for simple?" I asked.
"That's very… simple." Were his cheeks blushing red? I couldn't tell with the beard.
"Your turn." I tilted my ear to my shoulder.
"We have three options," he said, a sly grin tracing his mouth.
I didn't hate the way he licked at his lips as he spoke. Oh no, I didn't. Not at all. "I can't wait to hear them."
"One, you go shoeless." He glanced at my feet, a small flirtatious twinkle in his eye.
I wrinkled my nose. "Out here?"
"This is where we are." This, he said with a rough, gravelly tone I felt all the way in my panties.
