Center Stage
Page 7

“Nope. It’s a nice, little place.”
She could feel herself tense the closer she got to him. “No. Is there a leak or wiring problem or something?”
He only shook his head.
She dropped her shoulders. “Did you sleep here last night?”
His eyebrows drew together. “Yes,” he said slow and drawn out.
She didn’t expect that short, little word to rattle her. She swallowed hard. “Oh. You did.” She stepped back. “So you’re seeing someone?”
He looked her over as though he thought she’d lost her mind. “I think you need some coffee. Want some?”
“Coffee?”
“Yep.” He started back down the steps to the door of the apartment.
Was he seriously going to take her into the apartment of the tenant he was sleeping with? It was six in the morning. She wasn’t dressed. This wasn’t how she wanted to meet the person who would be sending her rent checks. Nor did she like the fact that thinking about John with someone else was eating her up. This man was just an acquaintance, not the man fated to be hers. They’d gone to two weddings together. He took her to dinner and gave her a few rides. That does not signify that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her—or expected to.
But before she could protest, he had the door open and had walked inside.
Arianna stood at the threshold and looked inside. This wasn’t an apartment of any woman. It was dark not only because it was so darn early, but because it was decorated in dark hues. She hadn’t remembered the space ever looking so nice.
The walls had been painted in browns and greens, and did it have hard wood flooring before? It must have. Who would just put that kind of thing into a rented apartment?
There was a small, leather couch under the two windows and a big Lazy Boy recliner with a small end table next to it. Both sat facing an enormous, out-of-place-in-such-a-small-space TV.
She could hear John in the tiny kitchen filling a mug with coffee, and she’d forever be grateful for that. When he came back into the room, he handed it to her.
“Thank you.”
“You look like you can use it.”
She nodded and enjoyed the warmth of the mug against the palms of her hand. “I take it that it’s not some woman who lives here.”
“Nope.”
“But you didn’t mention that you lived here.”
“Sure didn’t.”
His short answers were frustrating. “But you do?”
“Yep.”
“You’re my nice guy tenant you told me about?”
“Yep.”
What was she supposed to say to that? “Okay. Well, it’s nice to know I’m in good hands then.”
He nodded again, but this time with a glance at his watch. “You’re welcome to more coffee if you’d like. I have to get to work.”
“Oh, sure.” She turned toward the door and then turned back to him, again standing very near to him. “You wouldn’t object to me taking the coffee pot upstairs with me, would you? Mine won’t arrive for a few more hours.”
Arianna hurried up the cold, back stairs with his coffee pot in her arms and waved to him as he pulled out of the back drive. She disappeared into the house, and he sat there watching her figure move in the kitchen window.
It had been a long time since he’d see a woman, her hair mussed from sleep, in flannel pajama bottoms and an old T-shirt. The sight had stirred him immensely.
A pang in his chest let him know he’d missed having someone tell him goodbye in the mornings.
Common sense quickly jolted him back into place. There had been a reason he hadn’t had a woman in his life regularly to tell him goodbye in the mornings. He needed to remember that.
But the image of Arianna, fresh from sleep, continued to play in his head as he drove to the site. Perhaps he’d try to wrap things up early today and head back to help her move furniture around. That would be the neighborly thing to do.
Chapter Five
What good were movers who literally dropped your furniture and boxes off and then ran as fast as they could? Arianna thought they’d help a little more.
She gathered her hair with her hands and then let it drop down around her shoulders as she looked at the mess in the once empty house. How did she have all of this stuff in one apartment?
The coffeemaker. She was going to dig through the boxes and find that stupid coffeemaker first, even if the thought of sharing one with John was appealing.
She moved boxes around the kitchen until she came to the one she knew must have the coffeemaker buried in it. Bent over at the waist, she reached into the box when she heard the knocking on the back door.
Her head snapped up out of the box and she spun around, nearly falling into the box. There stood John at the back door with the most adorable grin on his face.
Arianna wasn’t sure if it was endearing or one of those quirks that was going to piss her off.
She pushed through boxes to get to the door and flung it open.
She fisted her hands on her hips. “What are you grinning at?”
“You’re supposed to bend at the knees, not at the waist.”
“Oh, you didn’t like my ass up in the air?”
The comment was meant to be a bit snotty, but when she saw the flush in his cheeks and his eyes opened wide, she knew she’d caught him on exactly what he’d been grinning about.
John cleared his throat. “I cut out of work a little early to help you. If you need it.”
Arianna grabbed his arm and twisted it just enough so she could look at his watch. “It is five o’clock. You call this getting out of work early?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. Stopped and looked at a building on my way home.”
“Something new?”
“Maybe.” He scratched his head. “You want a beer?”
Arianna let out a sigh. “I’d love one.”
John took the steps down to his place slowly. He needed to clear his head.
What was it about Arianna Keller that made him do ridiculous things? He had been looking at her ass in the air, just as she’d hinted. That wasn’t his way. He didn’t find it amusing when the guys on site did it either.
And then there was that building he’d been looking at. The Rockwell Theater on the edge of town was slated to be torn down if it wasn’t renovated. All he could think about was helping Arianna fix it up.