Page 51 of Instant Bond

“You got a lot done while I was in there,” he pointed out, sounding impressed.

“I just finished,” I said, popping up from the floor like a spring to show him the empty cardboard box. He took it from me, breaking it down to shove in a garbage can.

“You did a great job.”

“Thanks.” I wanted to tell him to be careful about complimenting me too much or I might get used to it. But I knew if I did that, he’d just double down on telling me everything he liked about me. Not that I would have minded. “Are you all done with work?”

I had a feeling he’d done his work here instead of going into the office because I had a day off.

“All done for now, yes,” he confirmed. “Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“Do you want to go out and get some lunch?” He asked. When I hesitated, he reached out to help me up off the ground. “It might be good for you to get out of the house for something other than work, you know.”

“Well… Okay.”

“Don’t sound so excited to go out with me,” he joked. “I’m not sure my ego can take that much stroking.”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” I giggled. “You know I love spending time with you no matter what.”

“I can tell, when I have to convince you to leave the cave to eat.”

“I’m more of a homebody,” I said. “I’d pretty much always rather order food in than go out.”

“We can do that, if you’d rather,” he immediately offered. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, I’m not,” I promised. I wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. “You were right, I probably need some fresh air.”

He did let me pick the restaurant, so we ended up somewhere I could get a decent cheeseburger and didn’t haveto pick from anything weird like raw tuna or snails. He ordered some kind of protein bowl with rice and grilled chicken and lots of veggies in it. I was glad he wasn’t a food snob at least. He’d seemed to appreciate the stuff I’d cooked for him, even though none of it had been anything close to fancy or decadent.

“I meant to tell you earlier, but you look really good today,” he commented, tilting his head a little as he stared at me, like he was admiring a painting in a museum or something.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip of my drink so he wouldn’t see what a goofy smile he’d given me. I knew he wasn’t just trying to flatter me. Even just living with him for a week, I could already tell the dark circles under my eyes were fading. “I’ve been getting some pretty good sleep lately.”

“Is that so?” He asked, giving me kind of a smug look. “It’s a pretty good bed.”

“I don’t necessarily think it’s the bed,” I answered, giving him a flirty little look before popping a French fry into my mouth.

“What exactly are you attributing all this restful sleep to, then?”

“Um…” I pretended like I was thinking hard, before shrugging my shoulders. “If I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

He shook his head, but he was smiling. “I’ll be in suspense until then.”

As we ate, we chatted about day to day stuff. Ty’s upcoming play at school, which we’d both been practicing lines with him for, funny stories about customers at my job, and the new ad campaign Karter’s department was planning. As he talked about the special outfits that were being designed for the models to wear to complement the new makeup being launched, a sudden awareness dawned on me.

“Oh!” I said as I finally remembered. “Cromwell, that’s the model you were in that picture with!” I remembered they’d saidhis name in the article, Lucas Cromwell. But could he possibly have something to do with the company that owned the one that was demolishing my apartment? Why would a model care about some old building? Or maybe his family was involved in construction or something?

Karter froze at my words, like I’d cast a hex on him.

“So? What about him?”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to bring it up and sound like a paranoid moron, in case I was wrong. And besides, I wasn’t even entirely sure they were related. How common was the name Cromwell, anyway? And I didn’t want Karter to think I was jealously obsessing over some guy he’d gone to a bar with once.

“Nothing, really,” I said. “I couldn’t remember his name earlier and I just did. That’s all.”

He gave me an odd look. “Why were you even thinking about him?”

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