It wasn’t something she could dig into now, though. She needed to get herself more presentable and try to earn a paycheck.
She pulled into her complex ten minutes later and made her way to the building’s rear entrance. She stepped inside and pulled off her sunglasses to see better in the dimmer interior. When her eyes adjusted, she spotted someone sitting in front of her door scrolling through his phone.
And she smiled.
“Hey there, Mr. Hockey,” she greeted Callan as she approached. “How’d you get in?”
He glanced up, looking—much as he always did—like she had made his day just by being there. He pushed himself to his feet and said, “Mrs. Ladenbaum let me in. You have to vouch for me or she’s calling the Feds.”
“You mean the police?”
“She said the Feds. I don’t want to find out how she’s got those kinds of connections.”
Roxy’s lips twitched with humor as she stopped at Mrs. Ladenbaum’s door and knocked. “That might be entertaining,” she told him as the door swung open.
“Oh, good,” Mrs. Ladenbaum said. “Roxy, dear, this young man says he knows you.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I’ve been keeping an eye on him through the Judas hole in case he tries to wander off.”
Because Mrs. Ladenbaum was over eighty years old and half-deaf, her “whisper” was loud enough for Callan to overhear. Roxy gave him credit for maintaining his serious expression.
“I know Callan here is a little on the shady side, Mrs. L,” she said, “but I’ll vouch for him.”
“Oh.” Her neighbor blinked as though she hadn’t expected that answer. “All right.” She eased past her doorframe and pointed a bony finger at Callan. “And you get that haircut, young man. Hear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Callan said soberly.
Roxy waited until Mrs. Ladenbaum retreated back into her apartment and closed the door before walking to her own door and inserting her key into the lock. She exchanged a laughing look with Callan.
“She sounded disappointed that you knew me,” he said as they stepped into her apartment.
“I’m sure she was. That was probably the highlight of her whole month and I took it all away from her.” She locked the door behind him and walked over to set her bag on the counter. “You’re not really going to cut your hair, are you?”
He snorted and shook his head. “Just wait until we get to the postseason. I’ll be a full-on mountain man.”
“Ooo. Sounds rugged. I look forward to seeing that.”
It took her a moment to realize she’d just implied that she and Callan would still be seeing each other that far in the future. Her smile faltered as he studied her with his intense dark gaze.
She cleared her throat and brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Anyway, what brings you here? I thought we were meeting at the first listing in an hour. You caught me about to freshen up. I smell like used motor oil.”
Those eyes of his took their time roaming over her in her simple denim skirt and T-shirt before settling on her face. Her body hummed as though he had physically run his hands over it, making her realize that having him in her apartment like this was a terrible idea for her no-sex pact. And when he stepped over to her, leaving only an inch or two between them, and leaned down to draw in her scent, she feared she was doomed.
“You smell fucking fantastic to me,” he said.
So did he. It had her leaning even closer to him.
“Callan,” she murmured.
That was all. She couldn’t think of anything else. Her brain must have been too busy keeping up with the hormones now flooding her system to handle anything as complex as speech.
He eased back from her, generating a sense of disappointment and loss. “Let’s not worry about why I came here for the moment,” he said. “When’s the last time you ate?”
It took her a moment to mentally shift gears. She instinctively looked towards the kitchen where she had enjoyed the last of her coffee for breakfast.
She hesitated. “Like, a meal?”
He nodded.
“I ate some leftovers of my mom’s lasagna yesterday.”
“When yesterday?”
She didn’t mention it had been her breakfast, knowing he wouldn’t want to hear that. But his frown told her he guessed the answer.
“I ate a couple granola bars from the vending machine at the shop this morning,” she said.
He lifted a hand and brought it up to cup her chin. She was just tired enough that the gesture produced a ball of unexpected emotion in her throat. She figured pulling away from him would only make it worse.
“Okay,” he said as he rubbed the pad of his thumb gently over the curve of her chin. “Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to bypass going to see the listings, which you didn’t sound all that enthused about anyway.”
He was right. She had known the listings wouldn’t be the right fit for him. She just hadn’t wanted to pass up the opportunity to spend time with him. He always made her day so much brighter and somehow made her stress so much easier to bear.
When had she gotten so attached to him? she wondered. And what was she going to do about it?
“You’re going to do whatever it is you wanted to do to freshen up,” he said, almost as though he had read her mind, “and I’m going to order some food. You’re going to let me take care of you and you’re not going to argue with me about it for once.”
Her lips pressed together. She felt the instinctive argument brewing and debated how much to resist it.
Hadn’t she just been thinking how nice it would be to have someone who knew what she needed without her having to say it? Didn’t she just have the thought that he somehow made everything better?
“Okay,” she said.
He held her for one more beat as though making sure she was going to listen to him before finally letting go.
“Good. Now go on,” he said, urging her towards her bedroom.
She gave him a narrow-eyed look that warned him not to press his luck. He grinned and winked at her. Shaking her head, she went into the bedroom and prepared to hop in the shower.
Twenty minutes later, she stepped out of the bedroom feeling more refreshed. Since they apparently weren’t leaving her apartment that evening, she decided to forgo the bra and slipped on a knee-length maxi dress that was the most comfortable piece of clothing she owned. It was far from sexy, but Callan’s eyes still drank it in when he saw her. His mouth curved into a seductive smile.
Or maybe it just seemed seductive since she wanted him so very badly.
“There you are,” he said, rising from the couch. He held out his hand and waited for her to take it before walking her over to the kitchen counter. “Now you’ll have some soup with me.”
“You ordered soup?”
“No. The food won’t be here for another thirty to forty minutes. I got the soup from Mrs. Ladenbaum. You need something more substantial than a granola bar in your system.”
How did he know she had really only eaten one granola bar?
“You got some of Mrs. L’s soup?”
“Chicken noodle.”
Once the aroma of her neighbor’s absolutely delicious chicken noodle soup hit her, she sat down and picked up the spoon next to the bowl. Callan sat next to her and picked up his own spoon once she started eating.