not that big a deal,” she insisted, not wanting to drag somebody else into her troubles.
“It’s from your only family member, Luce,” he replied, shaking his head. “So of course it’s a big deal. I want to make sure you get it back.”
Lucy’s breath caught. The soft way he’d said the nickname, Luce, seemed so tender. And the way he’d immediately understood why the gift from Sam was important to her, without her having to explain it…
Who are you? she couldn’t help wondering. Can you really be this nice a guy?
“Do you think he’d really destroy your Christmas present?”
She didn’t like to think so, but it was possible. “He was pretty mad when I left, mainly because I wouldn’t stick around to listen to his explanation.”
“Could there have been one?”
She snickered. “Sure.” She tapped her finger on her cheek, as if thinking it over. “Hmm, okay, I have an idea how it could have, uh…gone down.”
A half smile lifted one corner of his oh-so-sexy mouth, as if he understood the reason for her inflection.
“So, his skanky neighbor was taking a bath, and she forgot she had no shampoo,” Lucy explained. “Wrapped only in a towel, she came to his door to borrow some.”
“Wait,” he interrupted. “I bet I know what happened next. It just so happens, he was about to take a shower, too, so he was also only wearing a towel.”
She giggled, wondering why she could already find this funny when it had brought tears to her eyes earlier today. More proof that her heart hadn’t ever been involved in her relationship with Jude, she supposed.
“And then…hmm. Oh, I’ve got it,” she said. “A pack of wild dogs somehow got into the building, rode up the elevator, burst into the apartment and ripped off both their towels. And in the ensuing struggle, slutty neighbor chick tripped and fell mouth first onto his sad, strange-looking little penis.”
Ross winced. “Ouch.”
“Ouch for her, or for him?”
“Well, mainly for you,” he said, that gentle tone back in his voice. “For having to witness that.” That sexy grin flashed. “But also ouch to him for having a sad, strange-looking little penis.”
“Considering it was the first—and last—time I ever saw it, I can only say I’m glad I made the decision not to sleep with him.”
“Me, too,” he admitted, sounding as though he meant it. Which was odd, considering she didn’t even know him and neither of them had any idea if they would ever share anything more than this one conversation at this one particular moment.
She hoped they would. It was fast, and utterly surprising and the timing was pretty bad. But she already had the feeling this sexy, hardworking guy was someone special. And even if the timing was all wrong, she might be the one with lifelong regrets if she didn’t at least give this more time to play out.
“So, do you always go around telling strangers about your sex life?” he asked.
She played with her coffee cup, tracing her fingers on its rim, not meeting his eyes. “You’re the first,” she admitted. Hoping she wouldn’t reveal too much, she shrugged and added, “You just don’t seem like a stranger.”
He didn’t. She felt like she was already starting to know him, or at least know the essence of him. The physical attraction had been instant. But there was so much more. Earlier, when she’d mentioned her parents, there’d been that warmth, the smile, the tender looks, that ever-so-gentle brush of his fingers against her hand. Then there was his reaction to her having been cheated on. His indignance over her lost Christmas present.
All those things told a story. A nice one. A good one.
A story she wanted to explore a little more. Or a lot more.
“Okay then, if we’re not strangers, I guess that means we’re friends,” he told her with a tender smile. Then, without explanation, he pushed the chair back and stood up. She wasn’t sure what he intended—to leave, to ask her out?—until he extended a hand to her.
“So, come on, friend. Let’s go reclaim your Christmas present.”
CONSIDERING HOW beautiful Lucy was, Ross didn’t expect her ex to be a total dog, even if he was a total dick. There had to have been something she’d found attractive about the guy. And even though he hadn’t known her long, he already felt pretty sure it hadn’t been the money. She just didn’t seem the type. There wasn’t a fake thing about her…and he should know. He’d looked. Hard.
Hell, it had been impossible not to look, not to try to get to know everything about her. Sitting across from each other at that coffee shop, they’d fallen into an easy, laid-back conversation that it had taken him a half-dozen meetings to achieve with other girls. Then things had gone from warm and friendly to hot and expectant.
He shouldn’t have started thinking about Lucy’s sex life, much less talking about it. Because it was damned hard to get it out of his mind—or to stop wondering about that look she’d had in her eye during the long silence they’d shared.
Walking outside to drop off his tools in his truck, then to the subway so they could ride up to her dopey ex’s neighborhood, he found himself more surprised by her with every move she made.
She never stopped talking, but didn’t jabber about stupid, inane stuff. He didn’t once hear the word shoes. Or makeup. Or shopping.
She talked about the city—how much she loved the energy of it, the pace, the excitement.
She stopped to take pictures—things that would never occur to him to be interesting, like a pile of trash bags or an old rusty bike against a fence.
She talked about her plans to go to Europe after she graduated, to photograph anything that moved and lots of things that didn’t.
She bought one of those disgusting hot dogs off a cart, and actually ate the thing.
She passed a five dollar bill to a homeless guy. She also dropped another five into a bell-ringer’s bucket, even as she admitted she didn’t really like Christmas, claiming her favorite response to anyone’s “Merry Christmas,” was “Bah, humbug!”
He had a hard time buying that one. She was too cute and sweet and generous to be a Scrooge. But he did see the shadow in her expression whenever she talked about the holiday and suspected she was serious about disliking it.
Other than that, though, she laughed a lot. She smiled at strangers. She turned her face up to meet the softly falling snow and licked its moisture off her lips. Sweet laugh, beautiful smile, sexy lips.
All in all, aside from totally attracting him, she charmed him. It was an old-fashioned description, but it fit. Lucy was, quite simply, charming. Plus adorable. And hot as hell. Every minute he spent with her made him like her even more…and made him more determined to ensure her cheating ex didn’t get the chance to hurt her again.
She was, in short, fantastic. So, no, he definitely didn’t see her hooking up with someone
