Page 69 of Any Second Now
But here I’ve been, questioning my fitness level and being intimidated by the idea of Barrett fucking Steele, the one who is responsible for my injury to begin with.
Which, by the way, he STILL hasn’t apologized for yet.
After kissing Raleigh—twice—there’s some kind of storm brewing inside of me. Maybe it has to do with my father’s fourth divorce. How that truly sealed my own fate as a player and a rake. How could the son of someone like that ever be taken seriously as a romantic partner? It’s impossible. If I was different, I would’ve shown those differences by now.
Lucy is. She’s kinder. Sweeter. An authentic person in relationships, even when she got walked over by her ex-fiancé.
But me?
I’m hopeless.
I was still a baby when Mom divorced my father after finding him cheating with a twenty-five-year-old woman, who he later married. And later divorced.
I played along with seeing Richard with my sister on ‘his’ weekends, but he mostly ignored us when we were there. Lucy would make excuses for him. I was always pissed off about it. So when Lucy went off to college, I was done.
I had no interest in a relationship with that man.
I was worried if I was around him, he’d rub off on me. In case it was nurture over nature. But it was hopeless—I was already a player by the end of high school.
Lucy got our mom’s genes, and I got our father’s.
That’s why I haven’t ever cared to try to date someone.
Until now.
Wait—until now? Do I really want to date Raleigh? For real?
There’s no one else in the elevator, and the muted quiet envelops us as the doors slide closed. Both of us stare at the floor ticker as we ascend.
“Where did we stop the movie last time?” Raleigh asks as thedoors slide open to the long hallway leading to my fifth-floor apartment.
“I think we stopped around when they hunkered down in that pub, surrounded by zombies.” I hold my hand over the elevator door sensors as she steps off.
“Ah, right.”
And now I’m thinking about what interrupted the movie last time. Her ass wiggling on my lap, her mouth on mine, the feel of the soft skin of her waist beneath my fingers.
Raleigh slides her hand around my elbow for the walk to my door. Is her heart beating as fast as mine? I don’t know what to do with my body right now. If this was a woman I was taking home for the night—and it would never be to my own apartment—I’d be all over her, anxious to get started and done so I could sneak away.
But I seem to have lost all game when it comes to Raleigh.
Because it’s not a game with her.
My apartment renovationisbasically finished, the new kitchen appliances all installed and the granite countertop secured. But as we walk in, I watch Raleigh note the plastic sheet still covering the couch to protect from construction dust.
“I can pull that off real quick,” I say. “They’re coming back next week to finish cleaning.”
“Don’t you have a TV in your room?”
I turn to Raleigh, who crosses her arms and looks at me with wide, brown eyes. Dark eyes I could drown in. I’ve never been that guy who loves girls with blue or green eyes. It’s the dark brown ones that really draw me in with their depth and richness.
Like hers.
“Yeah, I do.”
I throw my keys on the side table and lead Raleigh down the hallway, past the guest room where my sister stayed last year. I gesture to the hallway bathroom. Raleigh disappears through the door.
I step into my bedroom and take it in. King-sized bed carefully made. Freshly-vacuumed carpeting thanks to the cleaners, who were here two days ago. Next time I’ll get them to deep clean the living room of all the dust. The entrance to my large walk-in closet is cracked open, revealing carefully hung clothes. I’m a mostly neat and organized person, so I don’t have to dart around straightening things up now.
