“Come on Tan,” Winnie calls back. “You’re going slow.”
“Oh, I am so sorry, ma’am.” Tanner picks up the pace, much to Winnie's amusement.
His long legs stretch up the stairs, and his jeans pull at just the right places. His eyes flick back to make sure I’m keeping up, catching my wondering eye with a smirk.
Inside, Winnie marches right to her room, and flings the door open.
“You can put my things there.” She points next to the door.
“Would you like help unpacking?” I ask and she shakes her head.
“Nope. You can go now.” She ushers both of us out of the room and closes the door after us.
“She sure knows what she wants, huh?” Tanner brings my bag over to my room.
“She always has. She did not get that from me.”
With my bags on the bed, Tanner looks around, flicking the door frame and knocking on the walls.
“Looking for something?” I ask and lean up against the doorway, watching him work his way around. Through the thin fabric of his shirt, I make out the lines of his toned back. The shirt pulls at his shoulders and stretches around the peak of his biceps.
He turns to look back at me, my eye dart back up to his now smirking face. “Just checking the bones.”
Just him standing in this room, my room, feels tantalizing. I cannot tear my gaze away his frame as he moves about, popping his head into the bathroom then leaning back to me saying, “Your shower is a good size.”
I shouldn’t be blushing at his words, but he’s got that smirk and of course I am.
“Want a warm beer on the balcony?” I offer, needing fresh air to put my brain and body back in check.
“Absolutely. I’ll bring up your last couple bags.” He brushes past me, and I think maybe, he hesitates for a moment before he moves swiftly out the front door.
I fish the beer out of the grocery bag, fill a bowl with some ice water and shove the beers inside for even a slight improvement in temperature. I throw open the windows to get some air moving.
“This is quite the contraption.”
I turn to find Tanner over my shoulder, just a breath away, a damn muscle twitch away. One or both and we’d be touching.
“I’m chilling the beer.” I force the words out and will my back to stay straight. No muscle twitches, damn it.
He leans back against the counter, his shoulders squaring and his biceps flexing. I shove a bottle opener in my back pocket.
“I felt bad giving you a warm beer after helping us.”
“You’re sweet.” He reaches around me and pulls the opener back out.
Like when we were back in Chicago, I’m on the move the moment this feeling starts bubbling up. The feeling that has me wanting to kiss him.
“Come on.” I tilt my head, motioning for him to follow me to the balcony.
He sits and opens us each a beer then leans back.
“Look at us,” I say, crossing my leg over the other. “Having beers. As friends.”
He doesn’t say anything back. His eyes just dance around my face like he’s looking for something. A lie, maybe?
“So.” I zero in on him. “The lady at the Y said Winnie's fee was taken care of.”
He sips his beer but doesn’t say a thing.
