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A delicate, cool hand pressed against my bare forearm, and I jumped. “Mr. Calvin?”
“Sorry, I just—” My mouth worked, opening and closing, trying to figure out the right way to tell her that. But the story stuck in my throat like fucking taffy.
With a ding, the doors opened up. The main lobby was just over a half wall, and Margot had been correct, it was busy. We stepped out in unison, her head tilted downward, no doubt avoiding catching my attention.
I was never wordless. I’d spent half of high school in detention for being combative and once got the coach of an opposing team thrown out after my taunting got to him at such a level that he could no longer deal with me.
But now, with this soft-spoken, dripping girl by my side, I couldn’t even form the words to explain how much it meant to me that she was staying at that apartment. My old apartment.
“You don’t have to walk me to the door. I’m a big girl.”
I chuckled then, the spell apparently broken. “You are quite the opposite.”
She blushed again, the pink under her porcelain skin illuminating a sprinkle of freckles there. My chest tightened. I wished I could press a kiss there, against that lovely skin, and feel the heat there for myself.
“Only compared to you.”
I didn’t stop myself this time and pressed my hand into hers. I had meant to only shake her hand, to act like a goodbye, but as soon as I touched her skin, something flooded my body. Need. But more than that, it felt natural to have her there, right in my grip. I tightened my hand, unwilling to let her go.
To my surprise, she didn’t try to pull away either. Instead, she squeezed my fingers softly. “Goodbye, Mr. Calvin.”
I swallowed hard, forcing my fingers to relax and release her. “Goodbye, Margot.”
I watched her hurry across the lobby, offering a few casual waves as people called out hellos and how are yous her direction. I stepped purposefully off the elevator, suddenly desperate to see that she’d made it home safely. I bumped into someone, and by the time I apologized, Margot had slipped through the door to 1A with just a flash of my clothing.
She was gone. My little intruder turned beautiful surprise.
***
It was Friday night, and I was headed down from my place. It’d been a long-ass week, and nothing sounded better than curling up on my sectional and letting theHobbittrilogy soothe me straight into a nerd-induced state of calm and restoration. Fuck ESPN. Wizards and hobbits and whatever brand of melatonin they had woven into the soundtrack; that’s what calmed me down after a long week.
But first, I had something to deliver. I grinned to myself, sidling to the side as someone on the floor below me joined me on the elevator. I didn’t care if I looked like an idiot, because between my fingers, safely tucked into my jacket, was a pair of delicate lace underwear. A thong more specifically.
And it belonged to one spectacularly beautiful resident in my tower. It was only right that after I found it on my floor a few nights ago that I add it to my wash. It was finally the excuse I needed, not that I should’ve needed one, to walk my whipped ass up to her door and apologize. This girl, there was something there, so special that it had nearly driven me to distraction these past few days.
I allowed the other resident to hurry out before me into the lobby before I slowly made my way across the expansive room and turned slightly to face the all-too-familiar green-painted door that had been my home all those years.
Smiling, I knocked twice.
I could actually hear the crashing on the other side of the door. Surprised, I leaned away, strangely compelled to check the numbers on the door once again. It was obviously still 1A. I just didn’t picture someone with Margot’s stature able to make half as much noise as what was coming through the heavy door.
I could distantly hear some low voice and then the scraping of a lock before the door was thrown wide open. Standing there, his shirt half off, dark hair mussed with sleepy blue eyes, was a man.
***
Chapter 3
Jamie
I cocked my head, letting my eyes wander up and down his frame. He was something of a mystery, looking old enough to easily be competition for Margot, but there was something very “overgrown puppy” about his whole appearance. I half expected him to yawn and stretch as he stared up at me.
“Um hello?” the young man said. He looked behind me nervously.
I was worried my teeth might shatter from the sheer force of my clenching jaw. “Hello. Is Margot here?”
“Not right now.”
I stared at him a moment longer before it dawned on me. “You’re her brother, aren’t you?”
