Nick stood on the other side of my door, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans as he looked around the empty hall. I dumbly stared at the distorted view of him. I had no idea why I realized he didn’t have his helmet with him, because that wasn’t important. What was he doing here? I was sure my parting words earlier in the night made it clear that we were so not on friendly terms. Nick was arrogant, but he couldn’t be stupid enough to come here to hook up.
Curiosity overrode my common sense in about a nanosecond. Knowing I should just turn off all the lights and ignore him, I reached down and opened the door.
Nick turned to me, pulling his hands out of his pockets. Those light green eyes dipped briefly, all the way to the tips of my fluffy sock-covered feet and then back up. Seriously? Pressing my lips together, I folded my arms across my chest and cocked an eyebrow.
A faint pink bloomed on his cheeks and he offered a sheepish grin as he extended his hand. “Hi. I’m Nick Blanco.”
Uh, what? I eyed his hand and then my gaze flicked up.
“I was thinking that we could start over,” he continued, wiggling his fingers. “We kind of have gotten off to a bad start.”
“I think we got off . . . to a very good start.”
The grin became amused. “Okay. That’s a good point. We did get off on a very good start.”
“But then you ruined it.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the next. “Really ruined it.”
Now the grin slipped a fraction. “You’re right. That’s why I’m here.” His fingers wiggled once more. “I want to start over.”
Suspicion seeded. Normally I wasn’t a paranoid or distrusting person, but I didn’t get the point in this. “Why?”
“Why?” he repeated, his hand still hovering between us.
I nodded. “Yeah, why? We hooked up. That’s all. And it seems to me that you’d be fine with never seeing my face again. That you prefer that, so why would you want to start over?”
My statement must’ve caught him off guard, because there wasn’t a faint flicker of a grin on his face now. “I . . . I don’t know.”
Both my brows flew up. “You don’t know?”
He shook his head. “Normally, I would be fine with never seeing a girl’s face again. That’s the way it is—the way I like it.”
My eyes widened. “Well . . . at least you’re honest, but that kind of just reinforces my question.”
“I know.” Nick’s fingers danced again, beckoning me. “I just . . . look, can I come in and talk? It’s kind of chilly out here and I really don’t think your neighbors appreciate our one-in-the-morning conversation.”
I glanced over his shoulder and shifted my weight again. “I don’t know . . .”
“You’re a hard one to crack.” He lowered his hand.
“I’m uncrackable, that’s why.”
His lips tipped up. “I don’t think uncrackable is a word.”
“What are you? The grammar police?”
The grin was now back, softening the harsher lines of his face. “I am that person who silently corrects everyone’s grammar.”
“Oh. Wow. So not only are you a dick, but you’re also an annoying dick.”
Nick laughed deeply, surprising me. It was the same kind of laugh I’d heard at the bar tonight, before he realized I was there. A deep and infectious laugh. “And you really do say whatever is on your mind, don’t you?”
“Pretty much,” I replied. “You have a problem with that?”
“No. Not at all.” He sounded surprised. “So you’re going to let me in or is this it?”
I mulled over what to do. Nick had been a jerk to me, and his view on hookups was beyond archaic. He thought that he could tell girls that once they had sex they weren’t allowed back in the bar? What in the hell? But then again, maybe the girls fully knew that going into it. I hadn’t, but for some reason, Nick thought I had.
People made mistakes and screwed up all the time, and it wasn’t like me to hold a grudge, but this had just happened. And truthfully, underneath the anger there was hurt. While I hadn’t expected much from Nick, I wasn’t expecting that kind of greeting. It stung. I was only human.
“By the way, not sure if you’ve realized this yet or not, but Reece lives in the same condo. Upstairs,” he said, flicking his gaze up. No. I had not known that. “And Roxy spends a lot of time here. They’re probably on the way here once she gets off, so it’s going to get real awkward, me standing out here and them strolling on by.”
My eyes narrowed into thin slits. “I haven’t seen either of them, but that makes sense. I’ve seen the police car a bunch of times.”
Uncertainty flickered across his handsome face until I sighed and stepped back. “You’re not getting any,” I warned.
His thick lashes lifted. “I didn’t come here for that. No. Seriously,” he said when he must have read my doubtful look. “As hard as that is to believe—and I’m not going to lie, when I look at you, sex isn’t too far from the brain—but that’s not why I’m here.”
“You always say what’s on your mind, too.”
“Guilty.” He stepped inside, and I closed the door behind him. “I know it’s late, but I don’t have your number or I would’ve called you.”
“You could’ve just waited till the morning.”