Reid still had me trapped with his stare. “Well, that’s interesting. She looks like a little bunny, snared in your trap with those big brown eyes of hers. It’s nice to meet you, Kate. I wish I could stick around, as this seems infinitely more interesting, but I really do have to go.” He looked me up and down, licking his lips.
Yeah, that did something for me too. Then he said in a smooth-as-silk voice, “Maybe another time, Heath?”
The boys exchanged a look that I couldn’t quite understand, and Heath nodded. “Most definitely,” he mumbled as he looked back down at me.
I had to get out of here. Reid thought I looked like a bunny caught in a trap. Well, I definitely felt like one. I ducked out of the elevator with a backward glance at the boys. Heath followed me while Reid got in and pushed the button for the lobby. He gave me a wink as the doors closed.
As I stepped up to my door, I dug my keys out of my bag while I could feel Heath’s breath on the back of my neck. Each breath sent another electric jolt down to my core.
I finally got the door unlocked and I turned around. Heath put his hands above me and grabbed my door frame. There was the sexiest little peek of tattoo wrapping around his bicep I hadn’t noticed until now. My fingers itched with the need to run along the smooth black lines. The sight was enough to make me melt into a puddle on the floor.
Heath reached out, tucked some stray hair behind my ear, and leaned forward like he was going to kiss me again. I closed my eyes and gave in to the sensation. I waited for that kiss to come, and when it landed on my cheek instead of my lips, I was a little disappointed.
“It was really nice to meet you, Kate. I’ll be seeing you.”
His hands left me as he turned and headed to his door. I stood there in my stupor for probably too long, trying to gather my wits. I finally turned around and entered my apartment, shutting and locking the door behind me.
I leaned against the door, trying to process what just happened. I was a thirty-five-year-old woman who just had the make-out session of her life with a twenty-six-year-old she didn’t even know. Until now, the riskiest thing I’d ever done was drive ten miles over the speed limit. I giggled at the craziness of it all.
I shook my head to clear it and made my way to my bathroom. No matter how much I wanted to go across the hall and finish what we started, I needed to be logical about this. Heath was so young, and he had his whole life still ahead of him. He didn’t want to be with someone like me. A man like him could be sleeping with supermodels. He wouldn’t want an overweight mom warming his bed. According to my ex, I was the most boring person, in and out of the bedroom. I had nothing to offer a guy like that. How could I start a relationship with someone when I didn’t even know who I was?
After taking a quick shower to get the smell of beer off of me, I got ready for bed. Turning out the light, I slipped into bed. As I lay in the dark, I couldn’t help my thoughts as they wandered back to the man I shared a wall with. I wondered if his bedroom wall was also my bedroom wall. That thought alone got me more aroused than it should have. I could see a date with my battery-operated boyfriend in the near future.
Getting involved with someone like Heath would be trouble, but damn, wouldn’t it be wild if I could just let myself go for once and do something just for me. My eyes started to droop as sleep took me. I couldn’t stop the dreams that came of emerald and amber eyes.
****
“Oh, my God!” Jill squealed from behind her desk. I already regretted the decision to tell her about last night. “I can’t believe you have been in town for a month and didn’t know you lived next to that hottie! I am so proud of you for hittin’ that, girl!”
I felt color bloom across my cheeks. When Jill got excited about something, everyone heard. She was good at a lot of things, but discretion was not one of them.
“So, when are you going to see him again?” she asked with a big grin.
I hadn’t told her yet that it was a one-time thing. The more I thought about it, the more I talked myself out of it. My life was such a mess right now. There was no way I could bring someone new into the fold to watch this trainwreck.
The last thing I needed was to try to start a relationship with my next-door neighbor. If we did end up taking it further, what would happen when one of us wanted out? The whole situation spelled disaster. “It was fun, but I don’t see it happening again. I bet he woke up this morning and regretted kissing an overweight old lady,” I said with a self-deprecating smile.
Jill’s mouth hung open and she looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You act like you have one foot in the grave, Kate. You need a serious morale boost. I don’t know if you have looked in the mirror lately, but you have a bangin’ body. You’re a total MILF. It might come as a shock to you, but most men dig the older chick thing. And they also like a girl with curves. I don’t know very many men who want to sleep with a stick.”
She made the face she normally got when she was annoyed with me. “You need to get out there and do some experimenting. Then you need to tell me all about it so I can live vicariously through you.” A smooth smile stretched over her lips and she waggled her eyebrows. I couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled up.
She definitely didn’t need to live vicariously through me when she was out living for herself most nights. We both knew that Jill had gotten around a lot. She had gone a little wild in our younger years, but I couldn’t blame her. She had some past trauma she didn’t like to talk about, but I knew that one of the ways she had gained control over her life again was through sex. It probably wasn’t the healthiest way to deal with trauma, but as long as she was safe, I couldn’t fault her. Some people changed their hair as a way to cope with the loss of control, and Jill simply changed her sexual partners. Though she had slowed the one-night stands over the last few years, she still indulged from time to time.
My sex life, or lack thereof, was something I didn’t want to talk about right now. “So, did Samantha say anything to you about how my interview went? I have a pretty good feeling about it. After all, how hard can answering phones and making appointments really be?” I tried not to grimace at my own lame attempt at changing the subject.
Jill rolled her eyes, indicating she knew what I was trying to do. “Don’t think that this conversation is over. She told me that she has a couple more people she needs to talk with, but she thinks you will be a good match for the job.”
I couldn’t help the excitement that rolled through me at the thought of getting my first job. Jill looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “You know I just want you to be happy, right?” Her voice was filled with sympathy.
I tried to stop the embarrassment that washed over me after seeing the pity in her eyes. “I think you just need to get out of your head for a little while, ya know? Maybe have some fun. You have spent most of your life taking care of someone else. Now it’s time to take care of Kate.”
As I left the office building and went to my car, I couldn’t help replaying Jill’s words in my head. Maybe she was right. Maybe I did need to get out of my head and just think of myself for once. After starting my car, I headed home.
Truth be told, I was getting tired of being sad. I had been in a slump for a long time and just couldn’t admit it to myself. I had trouble finding my passion in anything and chose to throw myself into taking care of Lindsey and ignoring everything else. I’d always accepted everything that was thrown into my lap. Never asking any questions or fighting for what I needed. I didn’t know when exactly it happened, but I had become an onlooker to my own life.
“Stop being so pathetic,” I said to myself as I drove the busy streets leading to my apartment. It was far past time I stopped wallowing in self-pity and did something for myself. Jill was a saint for putting up with my sad-sack ass for so many years. I needed to open my eyes and see that my life didn’t have to be so miserable. So Tom left me for a younger woman. My marriage was over long before he even told me he didn’t want me anymore. I deserved to be happy for once.
Heath sure acted like he was into me last night, so why shouldn’t I go for this? Even if it all blew up in my face, at least I could say that I tried. I couldn’t help but think the sex would be enough to make it all worth it.