No Poodles Detected
Maddox
When I opened the door, Delaney looked flushed and twitchy, like something had her spooked.
I eyed her with concern. "Is something wrong?"
"Nope. Not at all." She bolted into the penthouse, rushing past me before looking back to say, "Sorry, that took longer than I planned."
Huh. My eyebrows furrowed as I turned away and stuck my head out the open doorway. I looked both ways, half expecting to see a pack of rabid poodles yipping down the hall.
No poodles.
The hallway was empty, which shouldn't have been a surprise. This level had only two units, and I had no idea if the other one was even occupied.
Behind me, Delaney gave an incredulous little laugh. "Oh, my God. You didn't."
I shut the door and turned to face her. "I didn't what?"
She eyed the beverage on the nearby side table. "You didn't seriously get me a replacement latte?"
It was a small thing. And yet you'd never know it by her amazed smile. "That was so thoughtful." But then, her smile faded, and she looked a little sheepish. "Unless…that isn't for me?"
I almost laughed. "Who else would it be for?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe yourself?" She rolled her eyes. "How rude would that be?"
No kidding. Only a total dick would order a drink for himself and not his guest.
But then she surprised me by adding, "I mean…like what if I didn't double-check and accidentally slurped down your drink? I'd be the rudest guest, ever."
My drink?
Holy hell.
What kind of assholes had she been dealing with?
But then I recalled the details she'd shared about her family. Tessa was the golden girl. Delaney was the trouble-maker. Obviously, those labels hadn't come from herself.
As I knew firsthand, those monikers stuck. I'd dealt with mine by telling the whole world to fuck off if they didn't like it. For that, I had zero regrets – well, except for hooking up with Sloane in the first place.
Then again, it hadn't been my idea.
I smiled at Delaney. "Slurp all you want. I got that for you."
When she grinned and reached for the drink, I felt a crazy wave of satisfaction – even though the effort to replace it had been nothing.
I watched with ridiculous fascination as she took a tentative sip, cradling the drink with both hands. When she lowered the cup, her green eyes lit with pleasure, making it disturbingly hard to look away.
The new outfit wasn't helping. She'd ditched the loose sweater for a fitted green V-neck that perfectly matched her emerald eyes. The faded jeans were also gone, replaced by black leggings that showed a hint of bare ankle just above her plain black sneakers.
She looked sweet and comfy in a way that had me thinking how nice it would be to curl up on the couch and snuggle with her under a blanket and binge-watch whatever.
I froze.
Holy fuck.
Where had that thought come from?
The whole idea was nuts, because for one thing, I had no couch blanket. And who had time for TV?
Not me, that's for damn sure.
Delaney shifted her drink to one hand and took a long look around, checking out the penthouse. But me? I'd seen it all before.
The place was all sharp lines, floor-to-ceiling windows, and expensive furniture arranged with suspicious perfection.
Then again, my own place wasn't any less polished. I had a housekeeping service that came in daily, and the closest thing I had to clutter was unopened mail, stacked by somebody else.
Even so, I felt like a fraud standing here like this place was my own. Sure, my own place was bigger and nicer, with a better address. But that didn't change the fact that I was lying by omission to a girl who'd been shockingly honest.
Last night, she'd confessed to wearing a borrowed dress. And today, she'd shared more details than I'd had the right to ask.
But I had asked.
And she'd answered everything with very little drama.
How long would it take before she noticed the imbalance?
As if reading my mind, she asked, "So, you like to play games, huh?"