Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Gage
I wouldn’t have pegged Katie for an Upper West Side resident.
Back in California we lived in a neighborhood teeming with activity. The street she lives on now is quiet with large trees and buildings with doormen.
As soon as we left Tin Anchor, she started in about how she was fine on her own. She had too much to drink and too little to eat tonight.
I couldn’t leave her be, not just because it would have been an asshole move, but I wanted to see where she lived.
I’ve been imagining her in a walk-up in Tribeca, not here.
“I’m just down the block.” She waves her right hand in the air in front of her. “I can make it from here on my own.”
I have every confidence in that. I’m also damn sure that she wants to kiss me again.
Her eyes were glued to my mouth on the subway. I was on the phone with Myles talking about his upcoming bachelor party.
I ignored my ringing phone twice before Katie insisted that I answer it.
When we stepped off the train, I was next to her.
The ache to reach out and grab her hand was real, but I shoved both of mine into the front pockets of my jeans to avoid the temptation.
Years back, our hands would instinctively find each other whenever we were side-by-side.
“I’ll walk you to the door,” I offer with a smile.
She mumbles something under her breath as she glances up at me.
I’ve been doing most of the talking since we stepped off the subway.
I started with a comment about the busker playing a guitar and crooning a Frank Sinatra tune.
She headed straight for him when she heard him singing. His version of the classic earned him a five-dollar tip from her and a smile.
The fact that he thanked her with a misplaced bow and a cheery accented, “Thank you, Lady Kate,” told me that she stopped to listen to him before today.
Once we hit the sidewalk to walk the two blocks to her place, I brought up the weather and the never-ending construction in the city.
She didn’t add anything to the conversation other than an occasional shrug of her shoulder and a raise of her brow.
She’s nervous-as-hell. It’s written all over her face.
She comes to such an abrupt stop that I take a few steps past her before I realize what’s happening.
Her thumb jerks to the right and the front of a white-bricked building. “This is it.”
I look at the exterior. It’s a pre-war building with arched windows, glass panel double doors and a doorman watching our every move.
“Thank you for the drinks,” she says in an even tone. “I’d thank you for bringing me home, but I could have made it on my own.”
Defiant Katie is hot-as-hell.
Her mascara smudged when she rubbed her fists over her eyes. Her lipstick is long gone and the front of her wrap dress is open a touch more than it was when she first sat down at Tin Anchor.
Every single time she moves just the right way, I catch a glimpse of her pink lace bra.
“You don’t want to come up.” She shakes her head. “No, wait.”
“I want to come up,” I blurt out before she can get another word in.
“I meant to say that I don’t want you to come up.”
I smile as I take a step closer to her. “You want me to come up.”
“I’m going to eat pizza,” she announces with a tilt of her head. “We’re not going to do anything.”
I motion to the glass doors. “I’ll watch you eat pizza.”
“I know this is a bad idea,” she whispers as she taps the middle of her forehead. “Think about this, Katie.”
I haven’t heard her self-talk in over five years. It’s the only time she refers to herself as Katie. From what I remember, I’m the only person who called her that.
That might have changed. I’m hoping it hasn’t.
“I’ll make you some coffee.” I point at a finger at her. “You’ll eat pizza. I’ll go home.”
“Coffee, pizza, home,” she repeats back, studying my face.
I nod.
Her gaze darts from me to the doors. “I saw your apartment, so I guess it’s only fair that you see mine.”
I fucked this up years ago so I don’t think fair fits into this equation, but I’ll take it.
“Follow me,” she announces as she steps toward the door. “It’s coffee, pizza and then home. You promised.”
I know what I said. I’ll take my leave after coffee and pizza, but I plan on stealing another kiss before the night is over.