“Silas is practicing his soccer skills to impress a girl. I’m pretty sure he’s already clued in.”
“Still. It’s my job as his uncle to level with him about how to really impress women.”
I grinned at the idea of a young boy mimicking Boxer. “How should I dress for our date tomorrow? Jeans?”
“No. Wear a dress. A fancy, sexy one that shows a lot of leg.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere special.”
“The Rex Hotel?”
“Nope, somewhere else. Somewhere else that’s gonna wow the fuck out of you.”
“You don’t have to,” I said.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Okay, but let the record show, I didn’t ask to be wined and dined.”
“Trying to prove you’re not high maintenance?”
“Yeah. Is it working?”
“Nope. It’s okay, though. It’s keeping me on my toes.”
My heart lifted in my chest like a birthday balloon. “Any color you’ve got in mind?”
“Nah. I’ll leave that up to you.”
“Anything else, Boxer?” I demanded.
“No underwear. I want to be able to slide my hand up your leg and—”
“Boxer! The kids!”
“They’re already in the truck. They can’t hear me.”
A horn blared in the background.
“Okay, now I really do have to go. See you tomorrow. Seven.”
Chapter 9
“I’m sorry, folks,”Jerry said. “The water’s out for the next few hours.”
“What happened?” I asked as I strode across the lobby, trying not to drip sweat from my recent morning workout onto the polished floors.
Three other tenants—an older woman wearing pearls at her neck with a miniature poodle under one arm, a guy wearing a suit who looked like he was ready to head off to the office, and a young woman near my age—stood at Jerry’s security desk.
Jerry looked at me. “A pipe burst, so we’ve shut off the water.”
The hair at my temples was damp, and I was sure my face was red. My heart rate hadn’t yet stabilized from my three-mile run. All I wanted was a shower, but when I’d gotten back to my condo and turned on the water, nothing had happened.
“Why didn’t you call everyone in the building to tell us what was going on?” the uppity poodle owner asked.
“Maybe it’s because it’s a weekday and most people are at work,” I stated, instinctively coming to Jerry’s defense.