Page 21 of Drive Me Wild
“You seem a little flustered, Zoe.”
“I told you, Cole is across the street.”
“Uh-huh. My truck is blocking the view of this door. It’s not likely he could see you. But come on up. I’m just getting ready.”
“I can see that.” She blushes again, and that’s when I notice she has two cups of coffee in a carrier. “I brought you this.”
“Thanks.” I follow her up the stairs. “Smells really good.” We reach the apartment, and I enter the bathroom while she settles into the dining table. “I thought you were spending the mornings at the diner before coming here? To keep up appearances.”
“I am. I did. I was there very early.”
“But these aren’t the to-go cups from the diner.”
“How would you know when Avery gives you mugs to hoard?”
I like that she’s comfortable enough to poke fun at me.
“I returned every mug yesterday afternoon. Have to start all over again.” I take a sip of the coffee, and it is damn good. Velvety and nutty. “So where’s the coffee from?”
“The bookstore.”
“Seems early for Mabel to be open.”
“She isn’t open. She let me in early.”
I walk across the hall to my bedroom but pause to study her. This woman has been living here all of four days and she already won over Mabel. It’s no surprise, they are both big-hearted people.
Zoe’s nose is in her laptop, and her low-top sneakers are kicked off. She seems comfortable here, and it makes me feel proud that I’m helping her. I can be more than a grease man and playboy—at least to one person in the world.
“Why’d she do that?” I step inside my room and drop my towel to get dressed.
I don’t hear a reply at first, and then when I do, it’s close.
“I met her yesterday and told her I’d come back for—oh! Oh my god!”
Zoe covers her eyes and runs back into the living room. She got an eye full of me standing at my dresser, buck naked and flying half-staff.
And that’s the thing. I was flying half-staff because she’s in my house, and this little domestic scene of us having a morning together did something to my brain.
I’ve never done mornings with a woman. It’s easy to leave before falling asleep. So, having Zoe in my living room with her coffee and her breezy cotton dress is doing a number on me.
I don’t know what to do about it. About her. For the first time, I feel at a loss around a woman.
“I’m so sorry,” she squeaks when I step out of my room in some jeans and a black t-shirt.
“S’alright. Nothing you haven’t seen before.”
“You were in your swim trunks before.”
“No, I mean, you’ve seen other guys before.”
She bites her lip and stares at the screen of her computer.
“Zoe, you’ve seen other guys before, right?”
“Yeah…yes. I have. But…”
“But what?”
