“What…why?”
He shrugs devilishly. “Make sure you don’t move out of the country, I guess. Purely selfish reasons,” he smirks.
Then scans my features with his eyes again.
“You okay?” I ask suspiciously.
He’s looking at me as if he can’t get enough. His eyes as blue as they looked when I showed him my J. Lo pictures.
“Yeah.”
“Come in, don’t make noise.” He comes in, and I close the door and usher him to the pitch-black living room. “Are you drunk? What? You couldn’t find a floozie available to go out tonight?”
“You could say I was more interested in your apartments tonight.” He walks into my kitchen, also unlit. “Anything to eat?” He opens the fridge, and for a moment he is all I see. A big, hulking figure illuminated by the interior fridge lights.
“I’ve got a salad I picked up and didn’t eat. You can have it,” I say.
He pulls it out of the fridge while I get a fork from a drawer and hand it over to him.
I don’t want to turn on the lights and wake up Trent, but we somehow manage to make our way to the round table in the small dining area.
I don’t really understand Tahoe’s reason for visiting tonight but sometimes I wonder if he doesn’t simply want someone to talk to that he doesn’t have to seduce or be fun with all the time. Maybe he enjoys my company like I do his. Maybe I calm him like he sometimes calms me. Except for the few moments when his looks quicken my pulse—like a little bit right now—he’s the one person I seem to always crave being with lately. At any hour, even in the mornings, when I’m a bit grumpy.
I sense my mood would improve in the mornings simply knowing this blond beast was around.
We sit on opposite ends of the table. He forks a few pieces of salad but keeps staring at me through the shadows. “Turn on the light,” he says.
“I don’t want to wake up Trent,” I hedge.
But the dark makes his voice feel even more hypnotic than usual.
“Turn on the lights.”
“What for?”
“I want to see what I’m eating, for starters.” Pause. “And I want to see you.”
“I’m sort of…indisposed, wearing sexy pajamas.”
“I’ve seen sexy pajamas before.”
But not on me, you cocky jerk.
Sighing though, I go and turn on a living room lamp and come back to my seat. His eyes turn extra blue as he takes me in in a spaghetti-strapped baby doll.
He frowns then, and reaches across the table. “You sleep with this on?” He reaches out and pinches a bit of material, tugging it a little.
“Yep. I don’t sleep naked, thank you very much.”
He frowns when he studies my face. “That too?”
“My makeup? Yes, I like to look pretty.”
“You look pretty anyway,” he says.
I’m helpless not to flush and I’m grateful when he lowers his gaze to finish his salad. He then gets some water from the kitchen.
I settle on a living room couch and watch him return. “How’s your week been? I’m excited to go to one of your games. Have you made an appointment with your barber yet?”
“Nah, I don’t want to jinx my win.”
“You’re superstitious? Why are all athletes superstitious?”
A smile touches his eyes as he sits by me. “That’s for me to know and for you to ponder.”
“Come on.”
I punch his shoulder.
He stops my second punch by opening his palm to catch it.
“Gina?” a voice calls from the bedroom.
Tahoe looks at me ruefully, raising his brows.
I giggle and go tiptoe up the hall and close the bedroom door, not before apologetically whispering, “We’ll be out here talking, okay? Tahoe just stopped by for a snack.”
“Fine. Don’t wake me please, babe.”
I shut the door and pad back into the living room. “He’s grumpy when he’s tired.” I drop back on the couch. “I’m glad you’re here, I actually couldn’t sleep. I’ve been circling advertisements as much as possible.”
“What have we got here? Humboldt Park?” He scans all of my circled classifieds but keeps his finger on the Humboldt Park option that has a double circle around it. “There’s no way you’re living there.”
“I don’t know, Roth, it’s starting to appeal. Maybe it’ll keep you from visiting at ungodly hours.”
“But it won’t keep the rapists, killers, and gangsters away.” He lifts his brows.
“You’re so picky. What do you think of this one?” I show him another.
He laughs sardonically. “No way in hell you’re living there alone, Regina. Let’s find you something in the Loop.”
“I live near the Loop already, it’s a bit more expensive.”
He doesn’t listen as he grabs my pen and starts circling some other places. “Bring your laptop, let’s get a look at some pics,” he says, patting my butt fondly as I get up.