Kristine recovered first. “Does Jayce Fierro live here?”
The woman let out a deep breath and quickly donned an apron. “Jayce lives downstairs. You must have just come in the wrong door.”
“Oh! I’m sorry. He said he’d leave the door unlocked, and I just figured whichever one opened was his.”
The woman chuckled. “Yeah, I told my boyfriend the same thing. I was surprised when you weren’t him.”
Kristine smiled, embarrassed. “Oops. It looks like you’re planning some kind of a nice surprise. I hope I didn’t ruin it.”
“Not at all. I’ll just turn the bacon down, and he’ll be here any minute.”
“Okay, I’ll be going now.” Kristine paused with her hand on the doorknob. She turned to the woman and said, “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to fry bacon in the nude?”
The woman laughed. “Yeah. It was an inside joke, but I guess the joke was on me.”
Kristine grinned and jogged down the stairs, passing a young man on his way up. She called over her shoulder, “Have fun.”
As soon as she reached the ground floor, Kristine tried the other door. This time she walked into an entrance with a few steps leading down. Jayce stood at the sliding-glass door, looking out at the river. He sauntered over and enveloped her in a warm hug.
“Did you have any trouble finding the place?” he asked.
Kristine laughed. “Oh, no. No trouble at all, unless you consider surprising your upstairs neighbor, who was expecting someone else, ‘trouble.’”
Jayce laughed. “I thought I heard a scream.”
Kristine ran her hands over his hard chest. “Well, I’m here now.”
“And I’m glad.” They shared a quick kiss followed by a long, tender one.
When they finally eased apart, she glanced around the place and noticed the apartment was orderly and clean with newish furniture. Nothing appeared too fussy or heavy, neither feminine nor masculine, but everything was attractive and modern. Sort of how she would have decorated the place had it been hers.
Come to think of it, she wouldn’t mind it being hers. “Nice place. I expected it to be a little messier, since you admitted to being a slob.”
He laughed. “You remember I said that, huh?”
“Yeah. I was almost afraid to come here. I didn’t know if I was going to find empty pizza boxes on the floor, dirty laundry strewn around, or what.”
“Yeah, well, I neaten up when I’m expecting company.”
Kristine gave him another peck on the lips and strolled over to the sliding-glass door. “Nice view.”
“Not as good as the view I have,” he said, staring at her short denim skirt from behind.
She couldn’t help smiling. A few boats floated by. “Do you have a boat out there?”
“Yeah. My brothers and I like to go fishing sometimes. You should come with us.”
Oh boy. She had the opening she needed but just hadn’t thought it would come up so quickly. “Yeah, about that. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Dragons don’t like to fish?”
“It’s not that. I might go with you sometime, but it will be when I’m visiting from New York again.”
Jayce stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I guess you’re still planning to return despite everything that’s happened—”
“Yes. I am. We’ve barely started dating. I don’t think I should be ready to give up my independence just yet. I want to get a new place, and I need to get back to work.”
He ambled over to her, placed his hands on her upper arms, and said, “I was thinking this could be your place and you could get a job in the area. There’s an opening in the fire department, or you could go back to college, or whatever you want to do… As long as we’re together, I’d be happy.”
