Page 44 of Burning For You

“And someone named Bree was gabbing your ear off?”

“Yeah. She wasn’t talking about work though. One word. Cougar.”

She couldn’t keep the grimace from her lips. “Is that your thing?”

He laughed and pointed at her. “I wish you could see your face. I bet it’s what I was trying to hide while she was talking to me. If it were my thing, I’d have her number. Well, I do but not that I wanted it.”

Her tongue rolled over her teeth while she thought of the next question.

In her mind, she had wondered if this might be kind of a date. Like a real one even though Ash had joked about it.

Now she wasn’t so sure.

“How did you get it then?”

He held his fingers up. “She pulled her card out of her purse and held it in front of me. When I didn’t take it…” He reached for the front pocket of her jeans and pulled it out just a touch. But a touch was enough to light her on fire. “She slid it in there.”

Her eyes dropped to what his hand was doing, then back up to his face to see his grin still in place.

Oddly, she found herself matching it. “That’s a bit intrusive.”

“No bit about it. It was a lot.”

Yet he did it to her, and she didn’t seem to mind.

“What did you do with that card?”

“It’s in the trash so I didn’t wash it with my jeans. Either way, it would have been destroyed. Not interested in the least. She’s not my type either.”

“I’m being rude, but come in. What exactly is your type?”

“You,” he said.

She turned from where she was moving into her living room. “Joke or fact?”

“Fact. I like to joke, but I don’t about everything. I’m not into fancy and never have been.”

“Well, there aren’t all that many fancy girls around here. Or there weren’t when we were in school.”

“There are more than you think now, but still not my type. Smells good in here.”

“Oh, crap. I need to take it out and let it rest. Have a seat.”

“I’ll stand for now. Anything I can help you with?”

She found that sweet he was asking. “I’m cooking for you. If I remember correctly, you said it’d go a long way with me apologizing to you.”

“That is all this is to you?”

“I really don’t know what it is.”

“Liar. But we’ll let it go. Your place is nice. My style too.”

She looked around. “What? Minimalist?”

“Yep. I’m not much into decor or anything.”

She had a few pictures on the wall. Things she’d already had and figured she might as well hang.