Chapter Twenty-Five
Twenty-Five
“I still haven’t seen your bedroom,” I tell him later, much later, after we’ve dozed off and cleaned up. “Are you sure you have one?”
He slides his briefs on as he stands, raising them into place with an elastic snap, then turns to offer me a hand.
“I have been a bad host,” he says gravely, pulling me up. “Allow me to complete the tour.”
I laugh, and stand, fishing my own panties off the floor and sliding them on. My bra, I realize, is still in the other room, so I trail behind him, arms crossed over my chest.
I didn’t notice it before, but his bedroom is right off the living room—the door was beside the sofa this whole time.
He flicks on the light, then slides past me through the doorway, opening a drawer in his big wooden dresser and rummaging for a moment before fishing out a T-shirt.
In two steps he’s back at my side, and he pulls it over my head, holding the hem in place while I poke my arms through. He drops a kiss on my cheek.
I look down at what I’m wearing, then burst out laughing. “Connor.”
He is the portrait of innocence. “What? I thought you’d like it.”
I do like it. It’s an enormous white T-shirt with DinoCode emblazoned across the chest.
It’s basically your standard-issue bedroom: there’s an armchair in the corner with a couple of sweaters piled up on it, an old wooden dresser, and a bed.
Which, I notice, is made. I wonder if Connor is the kind of person who always leaves his apartment tidy when he goes out for the day or if he cleaned it up hoping I’d end up here later.
Left of the bedroom is another doorway, and I wander through it, completely agog at what I find. It’s a sort of walk-through wardrobe, with clothing rails on each side, and then a master bathroom, with a separate shower and bath.
“This is the big flex in this apartment,” I say, pointing at the two sinks. “What could you possibly need these for?”
“Simple,” he says. “You brush your teeth there. And then that sink is strictly for hand-washing.”
I look at him suspiciously. “Actually?”
He shakes his head. “Nah. I only use the left one.”
“How long have you lived here?” I ask, running a finger along the faucet.
“Eight years,” he tells me.
“Always alone?”
I thought I was being really stealthy there. His raised eyebrow tells me I was not.
“Always alone.”
I shrug like, whatever, don’t care. But secretly I’m pleased to know he didn’t pick this place out for him and someone else.
We wander back through to the bedroom. He goes to get us water while I continue to poke around. I look up and hit the jackpot. There’s a big accordion wall hook by the door and on it hang his many hats.
“I can’t believe how many hats you have,” I call over my shoulder.
“Why not? Hats are great.” He has returned with two glasses of water. He puts mine down on the nightstand nearest to me.
I pull down what I consider to be his signature cap—forest green, embroidered with the word Franks—and pop it on my head.
“How do I look?” I ask, standing in front of him.
“Like you dressed up as me for Halloween.”
“The correct answer there was ‘beautiful,’ ” I say, flinging the cap toward him. He catches it with a laugh and sets it on the dresser.
“Was it? My bad.”
He moves toward me.
“I think I’ll keep the T-shirt,” I muse.
“In that case, I better do this,” he says, and before I can ask what this is referring to, he’s peeling the T-shirt back up over my head.
“Hey,” I protest, snatching it back out of his hand. “I need that.”
“You definitely don’t.”
I wrap my arms around his shoulders and hop up into his arms. “At least let me put it back then.”
—
Like the living space, the bedroom faces out toward the water. The city is quieter this late, but there’s still the low hum of traffic, playing like a soothing background track.
We’re tucked into bed now, our heads on the same pillow.
The moonlight shining through his bedroom window offers just enough light that I can see the angles of his face.
Connor runs his hand up and down over the curves and dips of my waist while I trace the edge of his shoulder, both of us content to explore.
He never explicitly asked me to stay. It was more like the thought of me leaving never crossed his mind.
“I like it here,” I tell him.
“Yeah?”
If you had asked me before to imagine where Connor lived, I’m not sure I could have even pictured it, but now that I’m here I can’t fathom anything else. It’s so quietly grown up.
“You make more sense to me now. You know, it’s weird. We spend all this time together, but I feel like I don’t know that much about you. I’m always wondering what you’re thinking.”
He fights a smile. “Well, that’s a coincidence, because I’m always wondering what you’re thinking.”
“You first.”
“OK. What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” I say. My mind finds its most pressing question. “What did you think of Dan?”
“He was much as I expected. Not who I’d marry, but he seems mostly harmless.”
“Did they seem happy to you? My mom says yes, but I think she’s wrong. I think Shannon wants to dump him.”
“You think or you want?”
“Think,” I insist. “I get the vibe she doesn’t want to marry him.”
“And if she does?”
“No way. I’m far too loyal to Shannon to let her ruin her life like that.”
“Sometimes being loyal means knowing someone you love is probably making a mistake and being there for them anyway,” he offers, gently pushing the hair back from my forehead. His bicep ripples with the movement.
I don’t like where this conversation is heading. I change the subject.
“Next question,” I say, my attention turning to something more fun. I don’t have the finesse to go fishing for a compliment. I am about as subtle as a battering ram.
“When did you start to like me?”
“Hmm, let’s see,” he says, lying flat, linking his hands behind his head. He takes the time to think. “I can’t say for sure, but I think it was around the time you tried to tell me SQL stands for Super Quality Leads.”
“That is what it stands for.”
“You’re still sure about that?”
I shrug, refusing to incriminate myself any further.
“Are you telling me you’ve been trying to lure me in this whole time?”
“I wouldn’t say that, exactly,” he says. “I didn’t think I could lure you, honestly. You really snuck up on me. I went from having no idea you existed, to obsessing over your every movement. I never really thought we’d end up here.”
“Why not?”
“I mean, talk about not knowing what you’re thinking,” he says.
“It was so hard to get a read on you. One minute I think you’re flirting with me, the next I think I’m crazy to even take a shot with you.
The day you reacted so badly to me going out with Carrie was the first time I thought I hadn’t made the whole thing up.
Up until then, I was convinced I was cursed to have this demented crush on the girl I sit beside.
A very particular kind of torture, let me tell you. ”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Every revelation sets off a reaction inside me like candy popping on my tongue. I’m so overwhelmed I don’t know what to say.
He rolls back onto his side. “And then of course, you hit on Ben.”
“What? No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“I have never hit on Ben.”
He gives me a very pointed look. “You asked him if he was single.”
“I wasn’t hitting on him!” I say, indignant. “I wanted to set him up with Carrie.”
I think back to that day, laughing out suddenly. “Oh my god. Is that why he was so weird with me in the elevator?”
Connor’s smile creeps higher. “Was he?”
“Yes! He told me workplace relationships were forbidden and that you’d be mad if you knew we were even talking about it. He said we could get fired!”
“I mean—he wasn’t lying. It is technically against company policy.”
“I can see how seriously you take that.”
He grins.
“So you like me.”
“A lot,” he confirms.
“You like me a lot.” I nod. “But you don’t know whether I like you. Despite the fact you’ve seen me naked.”
“You introduced me to your sister as your boss.”
I wrestle him onto his back and slide across him to straddle his waist. “I already told you, Connor. You’re so much more than my boss.”
“Do this again and you’re asking for trouble,” he warns, his hands sliding up my thighs.
I lean forward anyway, our noses nearly touching. “You’re also…my team captain.”
“Right, that’s it,” he says, flipping our positions in one swift movement. “I’m reporting you to HR.”
I giggle. We’re pressed right together now, one on top of the other. I wrap my arms around his shoulders. His lips find mine. Time melts.