She sighed. She already missed her.
Stevie pulled her hood over her head, holding the strings at her neck to keep it from blowing off, and turned toward the parking area. Before she reached the end of the deck, she heard footsteps. She lifted her head to look, figuring Mike or Carlos were coming inside to grab a coffee to warm up. But it wasn’t Mike or Carlos now standing four steps down, staring up at her with a cocky grin.
“Hey, beautiful. I was hopin’ I’d find you here.”
Hadn’t she had enough surprises for one day?
“What do you want, Oscar?”
“You wanna grab dinner?”
“No.”
“Dessert?”
“No.”
Because she knew this wasn’t going to be a brief conversation, she tied the strings to keep her hood in place, then tucked her hands in her pocket.
Oscar suggestively raised and lowered his eyebrows. “How about breakfast tomorrow mornin’?”
She ensured he saw the lack of amusement on her face. “No.”
“Come on, baby. When—”
Stevie jerked her hand out of her pocket and stabbed a finger in his direction. “Donotcall me that.”
“Sorry.”
No, he wasn’t. Oscar knew it pissed her off. Only one man had ever gotten away with calling her that, and she would forever hate the word. As far as she was concerned, Stone Jameson could shove that endearment where the sun don’t shine.
“When are you gonna forgive me?”
Oh, man. This again?
“There’s nothin’ to forgive, Oscar. I told you. It’s not you, it’s me.”
That was mostly true. Stevie had dated Oscar on and off for three years. They officially broke up a year ago, shortly after Stevie moved in with Nico. Her decision to end things with Oscar had nothing to do with Nico and everything to do with Oscar’s inability to grow up. For six months now, they’d been doing the same dance they were doing now. Oscar would seek her out, he would ask her out, she would say no, and she wouldn’t hear from him for another few weeks. Probably when he was bored and needed someone to hang out with.
What made it difficult was that she liked Oscar. As a friend, he was cool. But he was a bad influence on her, and though Stevie held no one but herself accountable for her actions, she knew she was better off without him. Since she didn’t see a future with him, not even back when they’d first started dating and she’d actually liked having sex with him, their relationship had played out exactly as she’d anticipated: quick and painless.
Unfortunately, Oscar did not seem as content with the end as she was.
“Well, if you don’t wanna go on a date, maybe I could swing by your place tonight. I’ll crash in the guest room if you want.”
“No.” Stevie frowned. There was only one reason Oscar would ask to sleep in the guest room. “Wait. What happened to your place?”
His gaze cut away from her face. “Greg and I got in a fight.”
“Because you didn’t pay rent?”
“It’s hismom’shouse,” Oscar said defensively. “He’s got no right chargin’ me rent to stay there.Hedoesn’t pay rent. Why should I?”
And there you have it, folks. Oscar was homeless. Again. And when he was homeless, he tended to lean on her. Back when she lived with Niyah, she hadn’t minded him staying over for a few nights while he looked for another place to crash. But things were different now that she lived with Nico. She wasn’t about to subject either man to that awkwardness. And, like it or not, it would be awkward.
“Oscar, you’re thirty-two years old. Don’t you think it’s time you grew up and got your own place?”
“You wanna help me out with a job?” he countered hotly.
