Page 73 of Love On and Off Set

He laughed. “I’ve asked myself that question many times. I suppose the straightforward answer is that it’s a building.”

“Yeah, okay, I get that. But why does it look…” I tilted my head. “That’s more like something you would see in LA. I thought Vancouver was, you know…”

“Boring? Well, sure. If you wander around, you can find a few architectural gems like that one. It’s a newer building. Tell you what…one day, let’s go for a walk in downtown. We can borrow someone’s dog and wander around.”

“You want to borrow someone’s dog?”

“Well, walking’s more fun with a dog. Although then you can’t go inside if you find something interesting. I walk my neighbor’s dog all the time. More fun than just marching up and down the street by myself.”

“Isn’t that what treadmills are for?”

He waved me off. “I like to get outside. Even when it’s raining, I prefer walking or running in the rain.”

Him running. Water beading down his face. Hair soaked. Muscles flexing.

Right. Just get a boner in the middle of downtown Vancouver, why don’t you? “How much farther?”

“Not far. That’s the central library—” He pointed. “—and across the street is the broadcast center for one of the country’s major television networks.”

“Let’s just avoid them, if you please. No cameras.”

He chuckled. “You appear on camera for a living.”

“Different format entirely.” I gazed up at the soaring glass-and-concrete structures everywhere. “These are all office towers?”

He shook his head. “Downtown is mixed use. So along certain streets it might be a condo tower in one block and an office building in the next. That’s great if you can afford to live in one of these and you work downtown. Alas, the prices are insane, and most people commute from the suburbs.”

“Oh, okay.” Commuting equaled traffic—something I did my best to avoid.

“Two more blocks.” He grinned. “Oh, and you should probably know Troy and Marco are a year younger than you.”

I wasn’t entirely certain how that was relevant except it got me wondering how old Rocco was. I couldn’t fathom dating anyone as old as my dad.

Just…ick.

Except when I shook Rocco Moretti’s hand, I was totally not grossed out. The guy was, frankly, handsome. Dark-brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, just under six feet and solid muscle. He had a tight grip. “So, you’re Freddie’s friend. Welcome.” He held open the door to his condo.

I stepped inside and toed off my sneakers.

Freddie was just behind me.

“Keep going through to the kitchen. Marco’s boiling corn on the cob. You’ll love it.”

“Nebraska farm boy. Corn on the cob is a staple of my diet.” And I hadn’t eaten much of it in LA. Never found the time.

A young man greeted us with a grin. No question this was Marco—same dark coloring as his dad. “Hey!” He spied my bag. “Did you bring me something?”

“Goofball.” Another young man whacked him on the side of the head. “He brought it here for me.” He extended his hand. “Troy.” His dark-brown eyes shone and his shorn haircut suited him. He was my height—so a good half-a-foot taller than his best friend or his best friend’s dad.

I shook. “Andreas.”

He blinked. Then his gaze shot to Freddie.

Who winced.

Well, okay then. So he’s talked about me before. And obviously not in flattering terms.

I yanked the bottle out of the cloth bag. “Wine. A good vintage? I admit to really only knowing California wine—and those not all that well. No wine in Nebraska. Well, there’s wine but we don’t grow it. I considered buying the ice wine because how cool is that, but those bottles were teeny-tiny and, like, Freddie implied you guys were all huge.”