“Are you going to invite me in?”
I hesitated, glancing over my shoulder. I was a pretty neat person, but I didn’t need him to see a pair of panties on the floor. Deciding it was safe, I stepped aside, and he came in, took two steps and I saw his back tense as he took in my apartment.
Peeling wallpaper. Old, worn wood floors. A crack running the length of the ceiling in the living room that concerned me, but not the superintendent. I had minimal furniture because most of it had been David’s when we’d lived together. I did manage to take the television though because we’d bought that together. The only reason he’d allowed me to take it was because Mars was with me and she was bitching at him, and I think he just wanted us gone.
“How did you get in the building?” I asked.
“One of your friendly neighbors.” Killian had grown up wealthy and was now a rock star, so I was pretty sure money had never been an issue for him, so seeing my apartment was probably a shock.
Well, there wasn’t much I could do about where I lived. Besides, this was not bad compared to the trailer my mom and I had lived in and Killian had seen that, too. At least the outside of it when he left me the orchid.
“So have you changed your mind about dating yet?”
“I don’t make decisions where I need to change my mind, Savvy. And we’re going to Logan and Emily’s farm for brunch.”
Yeah, he’d contemplate everything first before he did it. “We are?” He nodded. “Isn’t it kind of early in the fake dating to be meeting your friends? They don’t even know we’re dating. And since you don’t normally date, it would look odd showing up at their place with me in tow. Maybe we should do a coffee date in public first.” The truth was, I was nervous meeting his friends again. Logan especially, because Killian and he had been friends in high school, and I was pretty sure he’d know the second he saw us together that it was a ruse.
He snorted. “Coffee date?”
I shrugged. “It’s a standard first date. An easy way out if you don’t like the person and you can end the date after a coffee, but if you do, then you can extend it. Better than dinner or going to a friend’s place where you’re stuck with the person for maybe hours.”
He chuckled. “Firstly, there is no way out. Secondly, you like me and we do connect, and thirdly, our dates will always be hours, Savvy.”
I swallowed, pulse racing and mind whirling because he was right. I felt the connection, and I did like him, and there was definitely no way out. At least if I wanted to keep my job.
He continued, “Savvy, there is nothing about us that compares to a first date. And you’ve already kissed me twice. And the first one was your first kiss.”
My eyes widened. “How do you know that?”
He moved in on me, and I backed up until my spine hit the wall. His arm bridged over my head, palm on the wall above me. “You were nervous as hell. And had no idea how to kiss me.”
I scrunched my nose and frowned. “Well, I was fifteen. Lots of girls haven’t kissed a guy at fifteen.”
“Mmm.” He lowered his head, and I thought he was going to kiss me, but instead, he said in a low tone, “I’m glad I was your first kiss, Savvy Grady.” He pushed off the wall and strode into the kitchen. “Coffee?”
I watched him as he moved around my kitchen. My eyes dragging up his thick muscled thighs to his tight ass, and as he turned, to his chest and the hawk tattoo peeking out of his shirt on his corded neck.
My gaze skidded to his face where he was grinning like a Cheshire cat because he caught me checking him out.
Shit. I inwardly moaned.
“I liked when you did it then… but now I can do something about it, so I like it a hell of a lot more.”
“What do you mean?” I had no idea what he was talking about, but maybe if my brain wasn’t muddled with what was tucked inside those jeans, I’d have had a clue.
“You were scared of me, but you checked me out.” I opened my mouth to deny it but clamped it shut because there was no refuting it. I was surprised he’d noticed any girl checking him out though. It never appeared as if he noticed, but more than likely he hadn’t cared.
He reached in the cupboard for a travel mug then poured coffee into it. “You want milk or sugar?”
“Neither. But—”
The lid snapped closed. “Ready?”
No. Spending several hours with Killian was a horrible idea and I hadn’t considered hanging out with his friends. I’d thought a few public dinners, maybe a party or two. But going for Sunday brunch at his best friend’s place, not on that list.
“No kissing,” I reiterated the rule.
He picked up the travel mug and prowled in my direction. And it was a prowl because I felt like the hunted. I felt like that rabbit quivering in the hole as the wolf approached. The difference was, there was a part of me that wanted to get caught.
I raised my chin and crossed my arms over my chest.
He stopped in front of me and held out the mug. “Coffee.”
I took it. “Thanks.” I thought he’d walk away; instead, he cupped my chin between his thumb and finger. The tips of his fingers weren’t soft, they were rough and firm, but his touch was gentle. “I’ll follow your rule, Savvy, but just so you know, I’m good with you kissing me.”
I snorted.
He smirked and his hand fell away. “Let’s go.” He strode out into the hallway.
There was a brief moment when I considered slamming the door and locking it, but slamming a door in Killian Kane’s face would lose me a job, and I no longer even had a car to live out of if I couldn’t pay my rent next month.
“What the hell am I doing?” I muttered under my breath as I grabbed my purse off the kitchen counter and noticed the slip of paper sticking out. I took it out and glanced at it.
It was a check. Half the money up front. I hadn’t seen him put it in there.
“Savvy?” Killian called.
“Yeah.” I shoved it back down inside, grabbed my cell and keys, and met him out in the hall.