Syd interrupts my thoughts. “You got plans for this afternoon?”
I blink back to reality, then shrug and glance down at my half-eaten bagel. I'm no longer hungry.
She unwraps her legs from the bar stool and twines them around my calf. “I was thinking we could go have coffee with Coleen. She's been wanting to meet you.”
“No, let's not,” I mutter, without looking up. “I think you should just leave.”
Syd's legs let go of mine and pull back to her stool. “Um, okay.”
She hops down and heads to my bedroom. I turn to watch her saunter down the hallway, because she has a great body and I'll never see it again.
Except for her concerts on YouTube.
A few minutes later, she emerges dressed. With a frown, she pauses in the living room and stares at me, then she collects her purse from the coffee table and meanders toward the door.
She's not really fazed by me anymore. I'm sort of impressed with her, but I'm more disappointed with myself. Judging by how my heart feels like it's squirming, I got attached. Idiot.
I step down and cross the living room. She turns to look up at me, like she's expecting a kiss. I reach behind her and open the door.
“Later, Syd,” I say, flat as Kansas.
My insides feel steamrolled.
She doesn't seem angry or hurt. Not even confused. Just … resigned. Like she knew it was coming.
Well, she should have, because I told her this wasn't going to become anything serious.
Somehow, I think it's crushing me more than it is her. I don't want her to go. She fills a void, and I wouldn't want anyone else to take her place even if they could. I can tolerate being Karl's guard dog if I have Syd to look forward to every day.
But problem numero tres—the one I've avoided thinking about—might be the worst issue. Karl is going to want me to breed my replacement any day now. He'll wish it, and there won't be a damn thing I can do about it.
Even if Syd somehow found out the truth, I can't make her watch her child grow into the genie bond. That's just cruel. At least my father had the decency to spirit me off in the night when I was an infant. I doubt any mother would want to know her son grew up to be, well, me.
Syd presses her lips against mine. It's not the usual desperate, lustful spit-swapping.
I stroke a thumb over her cheek and kiss her again, barely more than a soft bump. I think we're saying goodbye.
This blows. A lot.
I glance past her, out the open front door, then halt. I can't help but grin.
There is a frickin' black and red Audi parked in my carport.
“What?” Syd looks over her shoulder, then laughs. “It's my brother's car. He doesn't need it right now, so I took it.”
“Dammit, Syd,” I say, but I'm laughing too.
She looks at me with a sexy little smile. “Reconsidering that break up?”
The words sting and tingle at the same time. I have no idea what to say.
She pulls the keys from her purse and dangles them in front of my face. “How about that coffee, Dim?”
***
Syd and I sit at a bar-height table in a cafe she had picked for us to meet with Coleen. The cafe happened to be way across town. I'm certain she chose it as an excuse to take that bad ass car on the freeway.
“Let me drive the Audi back,” I say, nearly pleading.
She shakes her head. “Not a chance. My brother would smother me in my sleep if it got a dent.”
“I have a perfect driving record!”
She bounces the straw in her plastic cup. “I don't believe you.”
“So you believe me about my medical record, but not about my driving?”
Her jaw drops. “Dimitri!”
I grab my drink concoction and take a sip. With all the chocolate and whip cream, it's not really even coffee anymore. Syd had insisted I try it. It might not be coffee, but it is pretty damn good.
“No,” she says with resolution. “No driving the Audi.”
A woman behind me says in a tone like she should be wiggling with excitement, “You got the Audi?”
Syd stands up and goes around behind me. I turn on my bar stool. The woman has ridiculously long brown hair and huge eyes, like she's the prototype for a female anime character.
“Oh, is this Dimitri?” She has a happy bounce to her voice that would be irritating if I wasn't contemplating how to convince Syd to fork over the keys to the Audi.
“Yeah, that's me.” I put up one hand in greeting and then drop it back to the table.
“I'm Coleen.” She pulls up a bar stool and sits across from me. “Sydney and I met at the university a couple of years ago.”
I look at Syd with a grin. “Sorority sisters?”
Syd kicks me under the table. Her jaw is clamped, but her eyes glint. She's cute when she's irritated.
“No, not a sorority.” Coleen brushes her hand through her hair. “She was my unofficial math tutor. So, Dimitri, what are you studying?”
Syd perks up. We haven't talked much about our lives outside of the bedroom.
“No college. Just work,” I say.
That might make me lose points with Syd.