“So, you won’t bring cookies to work?”
“No, I do not share cookies.” She laughed at his expression of pain. “Do you want to listen to some music?”
“Sure, what kind do you have?”
“Every kind. I pay for a music service, so I have access to everything commercial-free.” Pulling out her phone, she opened the app and looked up at him.
“Country?” he questioned.
“Any?” She knew that she could pick from many different kinds.
“Today's.”
“Okay,” she said, typing in the station. Then she saw him jump when the speakers that were placed around the room started to play a song. Maybe it was a little loud. “Sorry.”
She turned down the speakers with her phone before setting it down on the counter. She had bought the system for her office, but the speakers were no match for the fans that kept her equipment cool. It had only taken her a day to switch back to the noise-canceling headphones she wore. With nowhere else to put the system, she put it in her apartment. Now she couldn’t live without it.
Anderson picked up her phone, looked at it for a minute, then looked at the speakers around the room. As he put her phone back down, he said, “You have good taste in music systems.”
“Thank you. I like music. This gets more use than the TV most weeks.”
“I think I should run some speakers down to the office so we can enjoy music during the day.” He got up and took her hand and pulled her into his arms. “Dance?”
She put her arms around his neck, and they slow danced around the kitchen. Loving the feel of his arms around her, she wanted to rest her head against his chest but didn’t want him to think she was leading him on. They should only be talking tonight. When the song ended, she reluctantly pulled out of his arms.
“I have to go take some layers off.”
“So, it’s not me making you hot?” He tucked a wayward hair behind her ear.
Biting her lip to stop her smile, she said, “Nope, just too many layers.”
He was laughing when she walked away from him. Once in her room, she leaned against the door and just breathed for a few minutes. Anderson was in her house, and he danced with her in the kitchen. Anderson.
Shedding all her layers of clothing, she pulled on an old Landstad Tigers sweatshirt in black and orange school colors and black leggings. She was desperate not to look too nice for him—she really did only want to talk. She was just too nervous to do anything else. It had been a dozen years since she had done any of that stuff. Outside of her head, that is.
When she came back into the living room, she didn’t see Anderson anywhere. He must have left. Her heart sank.
Deciding that’s what had happened, Ruth went to turn off the music still playing from the speakers around the room, depressed at how the night had ended. Just as she picked up her phone to turn off the music, she saw him emerge from the bathroom, holding a pile of clothes. “I thought I would shed a few layers also.”
Now he was wearing just the jeans he had changed into and a gray long-sleeve T-shirt. Setting his other clothes on the table by the door, he walked over to her in the kitchen. He took her hand and led her to the couch.
“Let’s talk. That’s what I got invited up here for.” He sat down and turned to face her, warming her heart because he wasn’t pushing her. Talking could mean so much in the beginning of a relationship, and Ruth knew that most of the time, it meant sex.
Sitting down at the other end of the couch, she turned to him and said, “What do you want to talk about?”
“You,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand in his. He scooted over on the couch so that they were closer.
“I am not interesting.”
“You, Ruth, are fascinating. Lately, every day holds a new discovery about you.”
“Like what?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
Ruth wondered what he could possibly find interesting in their lunch conversation. She loved them, but he wasn’t as interested in her as she was in him.
“Like the fact that your stereo system costs more than my yearly car insurance bill.” He looked over at the nearly hidden speakers.
“You should talk to your insurance guy; you are paying too much,” she joked, wondering if he knew how much she paid for the system. It had been more expensive than she liked, but in the end, she loved having them and enjoyed them every day.