I smile, realizing we’re on the same floor in different apartment buildings.
Elevator music sucks, especially when you’re trapped on an elevator with a brooding man who has just essentially kidnapped you but now can’t look you in the eye.
Why am I smiling then? I don’t know. That crazy scale tipped a long time ago.
He pulls me off the elevator and guides me down a few doors until we reach his apartment. The setup is similar to mine—in the hallway. When we walk in, I notice he has completely new furniture than the last time, even though I didn’t take much inventory that day, and I haven’t been to his apartment since.
“New furniture and a new apartment?” I ask him.
Still, he continues to brood in silence, while shutting the door and walking into the kitchen to grab himself a drink—a strong drink, because that’s liquor he’s pouring in a glass. Apparently he needs more than those few sips of beer to talk to me.
I take in the new, black leather furniture, the matching end tables, and the almost bare walls—aside from a massive TV and gaming station that is taking up one wall almost completely.
Definitely a bachelor’s pad.
There’s only one picture, and my stomach clenches.
It’s the picture I sent him of us in the bed. He had it framed?
“I’m still not crazy about anyone seeing you in a bed, but it’s the only one I had, since I’m not big on taking pictures,” he says, coming up behind me.
My eyes move around the room, taking in each surface. It’s barely decorated at all, and the furniture is minimum. He looks around before taking a sip of his drink, as though he’s seeing what I’m seeing.
“I know you didn’t want to come to my place, and I figured out why. Thought I’d start fresh. You’re the only girl who has been in here other than my sister,” he tells me.
Slowly, I turn to face him, and he blows out a breath before tossing his hat off and toward the couch. It misses and falls to the floor, but I only notice it from my peripheral.
His hair is a little disheveled from the hat, but he runs a hand through it, smoothing it down.
“You changed apartments because you were thinking about how the old one might affect me?” I ask, getting a little dizzy from the magnitude of that confession.
“And got all new furniture. None o
f my old stuff came with me,” he says quietly. “Told you that you make me crazy,” he adds under his breath.
He’s avoiding my eyes again as he turns and drinks his drink, staring at nothing in particular for several long, silent minutes.
“So this was your plan? Kidnap me and bring me back here, then give me the silent treatment?”
He groans again, and he drops his head back.
“I have no plan. I just had hope for the first time in what feels like forever, so I pounced. Now I’m realizing how pathetic this all looks.”
My purse gently slides to the floor as I let go of it. I move closer to him just as he brings his head back down, and I slip my hand under his shirt, running my fingers along his side. His breath halts, and he looks like he’s worried about moving in case it scares me off.
“Why is my keychain the only one there?” I ask him, stepping closer.
He releases the breath he’s holding, but he doesn’t make a move.
“Why do you think?”
My hand slips up higher, feeling the hard muscles ripple beneath my touch when he shudders. I step into him more, pushing my body against his.
“And the yoga classes?” I ask, staring up at him as he keeps his hands to himself.
His breathing is harsher, his eyes are hooded, and he looks like a man on the brink of losing control. But he clears his throat and answers me in a gravelly tone that barely sounds like him.
“Just to see you,” he admits.