by Jill Shalvis
“What?” she asked warily.
Once again he slowly drew her in, his eyes heated and focused on hers, infusing her with some of his calm. “I want to see if this is how it’s going to be.”
“How what’s going to be?” she whispered.
“This.” His kiss started out just as slow and thoughtful as the first, all careful control. But when his tongue touched hers, control flew straight out the window. So did all good sense as they went at each other, desperate and hot. Suddenly, her back was to the wall and Spence was plastered against her front and she was trying to get even closer.
Good God.
When they broke apart rather than suffocate, they stared at each other, breathing unevenly.
“Okay,” he said, stroking the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. “So that’s definitely how it’s going to be.”
She didn’t have words. Neither did he, it seemed, because he used his actions instead, lowering his mouth to her neck, nuzzling in.
“You smell so good,” he murmured against her skin. “I want to eat you up.”
She was all for that, she really was. But there were extenuating circumstances. Weren’t there? Before she could do something stupid—like take off her clothes—she backed away. “Gotta go,” she whispered and headed to the door fast as her feet would take her, which wasn’t that fast, because her feet didn’t seem to remember they belonged to the rest of her body. She took the stairs to the third floor and got to her door before she remembered.
She’d left her purse—with her keys—inside Spence’s apartment. “Monkey balls,” she said and thunked her head against her door a few times.
“Careful—you’ll knock something loose.”
Forehead still pressed to the door, she opened her eyes and found her purse dangling in front of her.
From Spence’s fingers.
Spence watched—through blurry eyes because he’d left his glasses upstairs—as Colbie pressed her forehead to her door before slowly turning to face him with a wry smile.
“Guess that’s what I get for running off like that, huh?” she asked and took her purse. “Thanks.” She sorted through a mountain of what appeared to be notes to locate her keys.
Spence gently took them from her and unlocked the door.
The black cat came running with a chirpy greeting and wound herself around Colbie’s ankles until she scooped her up and nuzzled her.
“Colbie,” Spence said.
She looked up at him, her gaze guarded. “You’re not wearing your glasses.”
“I know. And I can’t see shit.”
She smiled a little. But only a little, because for whatever reason, he’d spooked her and she clearly didn’t want to discuss it. “Rain check on dessert?” he asked.
She hesitated and then nodded.
“ ’Night,” he said.
“ ’Night.” But she didn’t move. She nibbled on her lips and stared at his mouth, and under different circumstances he’d have nudged her inside for a repeat of that brain-melting, heart-stopping kiss they’d just shared upstairs.
It’d be fun. Hell, he had a feeling it would be explosive . . . But it wasn’t going to happen.
Shouldn’t happen.
It wouldn’t be good, for either of them, and she’d just realized it before he had, that’s all.
And yet she was still looking at his mouth like she wanted another taste of him. He let out a low groan and a rough laugh and then gently pushed her inside. “I’m going to shut your door behind me, Colbie,” he said. “And then you’re going to lock me out.”
“Probably a smart idea.” She met his gaze. “Thanks for tonight. It was . . . perfect. Everything felt perfect. Even you. I guess that’s why I had that little momentary freak-out back there. I’m sorry about that.”
He shook his head, waving off the apology. “Trust me, I’m not even close to perfect. If you were staying in San Francisco for any length of time, I’d prove that to you.” He believed that, 100 percent. He would focus on work, prioritizing it over her without even realizing it.
“So you’re saying . . . you’re going to disappoint me?”
He felt his smile fade. “I have no doubt.”
She stared at him for another beat and then nodded. “Good to know.”
Several days later, Spence had pulled his second all-nighter in a row in front of his computer and needed caffeine more than he needed his next breath of air. He left his office and blinked at the morning sun, feeling like a vampire. He’d spent months being frustrated at the press and at being followed around thanks to Brandon, at having everyone and their mother want him to invest in their crazy schemes. It’d fueled him to bury himself in creating the security program for the medicine delivery drones. And he’d been really getting somewhere too, on the verge of completing it . . .
And now nothing. The thermal imaging cameras he was using were necessary for medical care but they were heavy and wore on the batteries. Balancing those two things was taking more than physics.
There was a solution, he knew it. He just needed to concentrate but all his brain cells had been dedicated to bugging him to go find Colbie and finish what they’d started.
Which meant Caleb was wrong. Sex—or almost sex—had the opposite effect of helping him.
He crossed the courtyard and headed straight for the coffee shop. Tina owned and ran the place, and the dark-skinned six-foot woman in towering platforms flashed him a warm, welcoming smile. “Looking a little crazy there today, sugar.”
“Feeling it too,” he said as she made his usual without asking. Back when Tina had been Tim, there’d been only coffee here. Now Tina made muffins, croissants, and when she was in a really good mood, pie as well. Amazing pie.
Spence eyeballed the display hungrily.
“Haven’t gotten to the pies yet today.” Tina bent to a low shelf and came up with a to-go box. “But I saved you a slice of yesterday’s key lime.” She smiled. “To miss my key lime is a crime.”
“Hey,” a guy standing in the pickup line said. “You told me you didn’t have any key lime.”
“I don’t,” Tina said and winked at Spence. “Your girl was here earlier, working her very cute ass off at one of my tables.”
His girl . . . It wasn’t true but damn if he didn’t feel a little bit like a happy caveman at the thought.
“She pounded away on her laptop like she was possessed,” Tina said. “It was cute. And inspiring. I have no idea what she was doing or working on, but she was happy doing it.”
Okay, so Spence wasn’t the only one working his ass off. And at that thought, he realized something else.
Colbie wasn’t like him. She could balance a full life and work, and even, it seemed, be inspired by it.
The knowledge did something to him, deep in his gut.
It tapped into some deep-seated belief that maybe he could do the same.
At least with her . . .
Out in the courtyard, he opened the box. Two pieces. Two forks.
Tina knew him all too well, knew that Old Man Eddie had the same food tastes—and distastes—as Spence and that Spence would share. With a sigh, he strode past the fountain and peered into the alley.
And yep, there was Old Man Eddie, leaning against a Dumpster talking to someone.
The same petite, curvy someone he couldn’t stop thinking about.
Chapter 10
#MonkeyBalls
Colbie had come downstairs, seeking coffee after staying up late several nights running to write. She was getting into it too. It was wonderful. Amazing, even.
But she needed the company of some living and breathing humans instead of just Cinder and her own made-up fictional characters. She’d been hoping to find Kylie or Willa. Or even Elle.
Which meant she must be desperate indeed.
Actually, she secretly wanted to run into Spence.
It was odd to her how connected she felt to him. Odd and . . . amazing. He was so different from anyone she’d ever
known. Quiet but not even remotely shy, incredibly smart, and shockingly intuitive . . . he was an enigma to her.
And she’d dreamed about his mouth on hers every night.
But she knew she needed to stay smart and cautious. She wasn’t here for more of those amazing kisses, or even to let a man into her world at all. She was here to right her world.
And then move on.
She’d met Eddie a few days earlier on a walk through the courtyard, and she’d found him funny and charming—enough to finagle her cup of coffee and muffin from her within two minutes. He seemed to know everyone in the building, but when she mentioned Spence, he’d suddenly gotten very busy brushing crumbs off his chest.
Then Spence appeared, wearing another pair of wrinkled cargo pants and a button-down over another T-shirt that read Trust Me, I’m An Engineer. Most of his pants pockets were bulging with various goodies, although it was easy enough to see that not all his goodies were relegated to his pockets.
He gave Old Man Eddie a long, indecipherable look before turning his sharp gaze on her. “Hey.”
She smiled. “Hey back.”
They stared at each other until she forced herself to move. “Okay, well, have a good day,” she said to Eddie and went to walk past Spence. “And you too,” she said. “Happy working, yeah?”
Spence’s mouth quirked a little as he stared down into her face. “Yeah.”
Colbie flashed him one last smile and shifted clear but Spence caught her hand in his.
“You cooked last time,” he said. “How about it’s my turn tonight?”
She raised a brow. “You’re going to cook?”
“Hell no. I’m going to buy. But I’ll make sure there’s something green and disgustingly healthy to eat, how’s that?”
Eddie shook his head. “You’re going about this all wrong.”
“Am I?” Spence asked mildly.
“Yeah. You’re supposed to wait a full week before you contact her after a date, and then you text. No one asks anyone out in person anymore. It’s just not done.”
“How would you know?” Spence asked. “You haven’t dated since the seventies.”
“Hey, I get around plenty. And the rules on dating are everywhere. Don’t you Snapchat? Or Instagram?”
Spence looked pained and Colbie laughed, amused by their interaction, which on the surface was all sarcasm and cynicism, but she could feel a deep affection between them. They’d obviously known each other a long time. And there was something else. She could see a blanket of Eddie’s peeking out from his crate and it was the exact same blanket that Spence had on the back of his couch.
Spence took care of Eddie, and that made her a sucker for him.
“You’re playing it too easy,” Eddie told Spence. “Women need to feel chased but not smothered, or it’s over. And this one . . .” He smiled at Colbie, his whole demeanor softening. “She’s a keeper. She deserves the best.” He shook his head at Spence. “You millennials think you have it all figured out, but you don’t.”
Spence didn’t take his eyes off Colbie, so she saw them flicker with good humor. “Should I wait a few more days, Colbie?” he asked.
“Well . . .” Far be it from her to settle this disagreement, but . . . “I’m only here until Christmas Eve. I don’t think we’ve got time for games, or to be coy.”
The smile in Spence’s eyes spread to his really great mouth, and she was reminded of how that really great mouth had felt on hers.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
“Make him wait, cutie,” Eddie said.
Colbie smiled up at Spence when he sighed at Eddie’s interference. “I just think it’d be more interesting if you cooked,” she said playfully.
Eddie barked out a laugh. “Darlin’, you want him to burn down the building? The boy’s a genius, but trust me, it’s book smarts only.” He pointed to his own brain. “It’s all up here, see? Not in his hands, if you know what I mean.”
Spence cut the old man a look.
Eddie cleared his throat. “Right.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “Just trying to help.”
“Maybe just run me over next time.” Spence looked at Colbie. “I’ll make you a deal. Have you started on your list yet? The one you made on the plane?”
Thinking of her list, specifically number ten, she blushed. She’d been out and about in the city, but only for short stretches at a time. She was looking forward to exploring. “Not yet.”
“How about we knock something off your list and then eat?”
Her heart started to pound. By knocking something off the list, surely he didn’t mean number ten . . . Somehow she managed to meet his gaze and found affectionate amusement all over his face.
He was teasing her.
Two could play at that game. “Sure,” she said. “We’ll play tourist and then eat something that you cook.”
Spence laughed. “You’re a stubborn one.”
“Takes one to know one,” Eddie said and lifted his hands when Spence sent him another long look.
“You gotta stretch yourself,” Colbie said to Spence, mimicking his own words back at him.
Spence let out a rueful laugh. “Wow, I’m really an asshole.”
“So is that a yes you’ll cook me dinner?” she asked.
“Sure. What the hell.”
“Oh Christ,” Eddie muttered. “I better put the fire department on notice.”
A little dazed, a lot excited, Colbie nodded and walked away, hearing Eddie say to Spence, “You told her stuff about you. Like you live here.”
“Yeah.”
“Huh,” Eddie said. “That’s new.”
“Don’t go reading anything into it,” Spence said.
And then she couldn’t hear anything after that, as she was beyond hearing range. Just as well, since no one ever overheard something they actually wanted to overhear.
“Don’t go reading anything into it . . .”
She needed to remember that.
Spence hit the pub for lunch. As usual, Finn had the far right side of the bar open for the gang. They were a close-knit bunch, forever sticking their noses into each other’s business, fighting like cats and dogs, and yet always, without fail, having each other’s back.
Archer and Elle were there. Archer was inhaling a huge plate of nachos while Elle talked. Which was a perfect picture of how their relationship went in general.
“She’s cute, I’ll give him that,” Elle was saying. “But he’s not ready for this, and besides, she’s got an expiration date. And hello, she’s not who she seems. She can’t be.”
“Babe, he’s a big boy,” Archer said. “And he’s right behind us.”
Spence rolled his eyes and leaned in to steal a nacho. “Your reflexes are creepy,” he said to Archer before looking at Elle. “If you want to tell me I’m an idiot, do it to my face.”
“You’re an idiot.”
Archer grinned at her. “I love it when you’re mad at someone other than me.”
“I can multitask,” Elle warned.
“Don’t I know it.”
Elle stared at him and then let out a dopey smile that she never gave to anyone other than Archer. “I’m about to give the inquisition to one of your BFFs. How much do you love me on a scale from zero to burgers?”
“Burgers,” Archer said without hesitation. “With bacon and cheese.”