Her lips curved up reluctantly and she curled her hands around the mug. “Thank you. You sure have.”
He rubbed his face. “You really didn’t recognize me?”
“I think you were sixteen the last time I saw you. You weren’t even shaving, probably, and you had braces.” Her gaze swept over him, lingering on his chest and shoulders. “And you’ve…filled out.”
The air in the apartment thickened, and Tyler’s blood heated at her perusal of his anatomy.
Then she blinked and added, “You were a pretty scrawny kid.”
Okay, maybe that hadn’t been sexual interest and a flirtatious comment. And her reminder that she’d viewed him as a kid was even more deflating. “Huh. Yeah, I guess I was. I work out a lot now; we kind of have to stay in shape to do our job.” He scratched the side of his neck.
“You’re a firefighter, Jamie says.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s a hard job.”
“Sometimes. Sometimes it’s also boring as hell.” One corner of his mouth cranked up. “But I work with a great group.”
“I understand I have you to thank for getting my stuff unpacked.” She waved a hand.
“Partially.” He grimaced. “I helped. Mila’s the one you should thank. She was all concerned about you feeling comfortable when you get here. I’m afraid Jamie and I were kind of clueless males.”
“Well, it did help, so thank you.” She sipped her coffee.
He wanted to say something about her husband, but fuck, this was awkward. He swallowed. “I’m sorry for your loss…of your husband. Jamie told me about it.” He cleared his throat. “Of course.”
Yeah, he was smooth. As smooth as Lake Michigan in a winter windstorm.
“Thank you. It’s been a tough year.” Her mouth tightened and her eyes flickered, but she kept her head high.
“I’m sure. But you made the right decision to come home. Family’s important.”
She blinked at him and nodded. “That’s true.”
“Jamie’s been worried about you.”
“Aw.” She rolled her eyes and lifted her mug to her lips again. “Yeah, I know. Truthfully, I’ve been worried about myself.” The corners of her mouth quirked up.
Her humor in the face of adversity made his chest warm.
“But I’m fine,” she added. “So…you said you needed some measurements…?”
“Right.” Christ. He was distracted watching her, kind of blown away by the fact that he was standing there with Arden Lennox. Er, Arden Hughes, now. “Yeah, I can do that.” He set his cup down and grabbed his other things, then booked it into the bathroom.
Here that scent was even more evident…warm and feminine and sexy, the air still slightly steamy from her shower. He paused a moment to breathe it in. Damn. Letting out a long, slow breath, he checked out the room. Yeah, it would be good to get this done. He started measuring and jotting notes, ignoring the dripping pink puffy sponge, the bottles of shampoo…his gaze fell on the body wash. Bombshell. That was the scent. Jesus Christ.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and refocused on work.
The sound of thudding feet up the stairs reached his ears, then voices in Arden’s apartment as Jamie and Mila returned. He heard Jamie shout, “Hey, Ty! You up?”
“He’s here,” Arden told her brother. “In the bathroom. Measuring something.”
Seconds later, Jamie appeared in the bathroom door. “Dude. You want waffles?”
“Hell yeah.” Tyler slid the pencil back behind his ear. “I was afraid you forgot about me.”
Jamie grinned. “Nah.”
Tyler followed the scent of bacon back to Arden’s kitchen, where Mila was making herself at home per usual, pulling out plates while Arden opened the bags of food.
“From the Waffle Shack,” Mila announced. “Best waffles in town. And bacon. We don’t go there every Sunday, but…”
“We go there a lot,” Tyler said.
Arden smiled, but seemed a little bemused by the people who’d invaded her kitchen as they all filled plates with food and moved to her small dining table.
“I don’t have any napkins,” Arden said apologetically.
“No worries! We got some.” Mila pulled paper napkins out of a bag and handed them around.
“You don’t want that butter, do you?” Mila asked Jamie, reaching for his plate.
Jamie pretended to stab her hand with his fork. “Yes, I do.”
Tyler handed over a small container of whipped butter. “Here you go, butterball.”
“I love butter,” Mila confessed to Arden. “I probably shouldn’t have it, but thank you, Tyler.”
“You don’t look like someone who likes butter,” Arden said.
“She eats like a goddamn elephant,” Jamie said. “And yet still looks like a stickman.”
“Stickman! Seriously?” Mila scowled at Jamie.
Tyler ignored their insults. “Who wants to go to the beach today? I feel like some beach volleyball.”
“Sure,” Mila said. “It’s a nice day. I’ll need to shave my legs.”
“Thanks for sharing that.” Jamie shook his head and forked up more waffle. “Yeah, the beach sounds great.”
“Arden?” Tyler looked at her, trying to make his expression friendly and casual. “You want to come?”
She stared back at him for a moment, and he wondered what was wrong. Did he have bacon in his teeth? She nodded slowly. “Okay.” Then she gave her head a shake and looked down at her plate.
“Hey, let me text Olivia and book a cabana at the Beach Ball Café.” Jamie pulled out his phone.
“You’ll never get a cabana at this short notice,” Mila said.
“Pfft.” Jamie bent his head as he texted.
Tyler’s own phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. “Norton.” He made a face. “Should I invite him?”
His cousin Norton was close to their age, a couple of years younger, and hung out with them sometimes. He was a good guy, but easiest to handle in small doses.
“Sure, invite him,” Mila said easily. “Arden’s going to have to meet him some time.”
“I apologize in advance, Arden,” he said as he tapped in a text message. “He has a good heart.”
Arden laughed. “Ooookay.”
“And I’ll see what Garth is doing.” Mila turned to Arden. “Garth’s my boyfriend.”
“Got a cabana,” Jamie announced triumphantly a moment later.
“That’s so cool!” Arden looked more animated than she had all morning.
“Norton will meet us there,” Tyler added.
“Perfect. Let’s clean up this mess and get going.”
“It’s okay—” Arden started.
“Hell no, we invaded your apartment and made the mess, so we’ll help clean it up.” Jamie began picking up dishes.
“Maybe next weekend I can make you all waffles,” Arden said. “I make pretty good waffles, if I do say so myself.”
“You can cook?” Mila and Jamie both said at the same time, staring at her as if she’d just announced she’d cured cancer.