“Are we at King Soopers?” she says when I get back in. “I smell the gas station.”
“Did you really not peek?” I say, laughing.
“Of course not,” she says. “I keep my promises.”
After settling my purchase on the floor of the back seat, I turn to India. The only location I can think to take us is my place, but…I don’t bring women there.
She’s not that kind of woman,I reason.She’s India. There’s a difference.
I’m pretty sure I made fun of Cyrus not too long ago for the exact same logic, but I sort of get it now. She’s not in the same category as the women I date casually, and she’s not a friend like Cyrus or Poppy. She’s just…herself. In her own class, whatever that class is.
I nod, feeling more secure. We can’t go to her place, anyway, because I’m sure the girls are back there by now, and it would be weird to go to Cyrus’s.
“Onward and upward,” I say, starting the car. “To our next destination.”
“Can I open my eyes?” she says, and I grin.
“Yes. Open them and take a look at me. You’ve been deprived of my handsomeness for several minutes now, and it’s probably not healthy.”
She does open her eyes, but it’s only to roll them and look pointedly out the window instead, muttering something aboutunbelievableandegounder her breath.
“I know,” I say. “It’s unbelievable that my ego is so small when I’m this good looking.”
Her snort of laughter feels like a major win, and we drive in comfortable silence for the rest of the way to my place.
“Here she is,” I say, pulling into my parking spot. “CasaCaine.”
She straightens up with interest. “Your apartment?” she says. She unbuckles and peers out the windshield at the townhome. “These are nice!”
“It’s great,” I say with a nod. “A place to lay my head and cook my food and whatnot. Come on in.”
It occurs to me roughly half a second before I unlock the front door that I don’t quite remember the state of the interior—specifically how tidy it is. I think back to this morning before I left; I don’t remember throwing any dirty clothes in the living room or leaving a bunch of moldy pans in the sink.
We should be good.
So I lead her inside, toeing my shoes off by the door and watching as she does the same.
“I’m worried my feet are going to stink up your place,” she says, her nose wrinkling as she looks down at her tennis shoes.
“I’m not concerned,” I say as I hang my keys on the little hook. My purchase swings from my arm, plastic rustling whenever I move. “Come into the kitchen.”
And I shouldn’t care that she’s here, in my space, where I never let anyone—it’s just India, after all. I shouldn’t care what she thinks. But I realize, as I watch her meander through the living room and into the kitchen, that Ido. I find myself trying to look at my home through the eyes of an outsider. Is it dirty? Ugly? Stuffy?
Something uncomfortable prickles through my lungs as I force myself to take a deep, steadying breath.
She’s just a friend. She’s not judging me for my apartment—or anything else, for that matter. As much as we joke and tease, India is one of the least-judgmental people I know. So I shouldn’t care that she’s here, looking around.
“Felix,” she says, turning slowly as her bright eyes wander and then finally land on me. She smiles. “This place is so cute!” She pauses. “And so…normal?” Her red ponytail flicks back and forth as she turns her head. “I thought there would be a few giant portraits of you, you know?”
I nod. “Something to soothe my egomaniac tendencies, you mean?” I sigh dramatically. “I did have my eye on one, but it was too big to get through the front door.”
She gives me a small but genuine smile. “What a tragedy.”
“I’m in mourning,” I say, my lips twitching too.
And for a second, we just look at each other in the silence, our gazes locked. There’s a sheen to her skin that glistens in the overhead light, borne no doubt from her earlier run, and her cheeks are still faintly pink. Her hair in its ponytail is wispy around her temples, and there’s a light smudge of flour on her shirt.
Adorable.The word pops into my head as my lips try to tug into a smile. She’s adorable. Delightful. And I could pick her up and settle her on that counter, right there, and I could kiss her for being so cute, take her mind off everything that’s happened?—