Page 16 of His Greatest Treasure

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Do you? Because if I hadn’t seen the smoke?—”

Her eyes tighten at the corners as she takes a step forward, crossing her arms and cutting me off for the second time. “What were you doing looking in my window anyway?”

“Are you being serious right now?”

“What were you doing?” she presses, full-blown glaring at me now.

I want to drop the curling iron I’m still holding, but it’s so hot that I don’t know where to put it yet. Choosing to shut the tap off instead, I meet her glare with one of equal power.

“I wasn’t looking in your window. I was going to shut my blinds and then saw the smoke.”

She twists her lips. “If you say so.”

“Why were your blinds open in the first place? Were you looking inmywindow?”

“As if. There isn’t anything I want to see in there.”

“Likewise.”

“Great.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic.” I jab the curling iron in her direction and wait for her to take it from me before squeezing through the non-existent space in the doorway. “I’ll be going, then.”

Her huff is loud enough that the neighbours on her other side probably heard it. “Thank you.”

I stop in my tracks and twist to look back, only having made it a couple of steps from her. She rolls her eyes at my surprise and jabs a finger in my direction.

“Don’t be a jackass about it. Just say ‘you’re welcome’ and leave.”

“You’re welcome, Ary. Just be more aware of your surroundings. Especially considering you were leaving?”

“I was only going for dinner. And I don’t need you to lecture me.”

I laugh tightly. “That wasn’t a lecture. I don’t want your house to burn down. Do you have a fire extinguisher?”

From the quick perusal of her bedroom I managed while sorting out the almost fire, there wasn’t one there, and something tells me that if I searched this place from top to bottom, I still wouldn’t find one.

“No,” she admits, her cheeks filling with colour.

“Does your boyfriend? Husband? Nova’s father?”

Surprise makes her eyes flare, but I don’t know if it’s because of the bluntness of my question or if it has something to do with her daughter.

I won’t deny that I’ve been curious about her daughter’s father. He hasn’t been around while I’ve been home—not that I’ve been looking—and there was no secondary phone number or name on the registration forms she filled out at the studio.

She avoids my eyes. “While it’s none of your business, Nova’s father isn’t my boyfriend. And even if he were, he’s less likely to have a fire extinguisher than I am. He’s less likely to do a damn thing anytime. Thelatmask. And just because I can tell you’re wondering, sometimes women enjoy going out for dinner on theirown, thank you very much.”

The bit of information gets stored deep in my mind along with the second name I’ve heard her speak in that other language. She’s dressed up for herself tonight, not anyone else. I shouldn’t care about that.

“Keep the one I brought, then. And enjoy your dinner.”

“I’ll buy my own extinguisher.”

“Well, I’m not taking mine back with me, so you’ll only have two in that case. The more, the better.” I shrug a shoulder and head back down the stairs before she has the chance to argue further.

A soft set of footsteps follows after me. “You’re an impossible man.”

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