Page 31 of Ride or Die

“Uh… sorry about the mess.” She hung the leather jacket on the hooks behind the door, stretching it across several to dry better. Water dripped on the floor. She grabbed a hand towel off the oven handle and kicked her sneakers into the corner.

“This isn’t a mess,” Saint said. He looked around her tiny apartment like he was scanning for something or searching for someone. Little plants dotted the windowsill, and her bed was partitioned from the rest of the space by a standing screen, draped in her clothes. The bathroom was to the left of the front door, small and cramped. Nothing out of the ordinary for a small apartment on this side of downtown.

She stopped wiping the floor. “No one else is here,” she pointed out. Her apartment was too tiny to hide anyone. His chin dipped in acknowledgement, but he completed his search.

He slid off his boots and took a seat at her small table in the kitchen. His socks left footprints on the linoleum floor next to her smaller ones.

“Do you want a coffee, or tea?” Riley asked, mopping more drips and footprints. It was almost dinner time, but she wasn’t sure she should suggest that. They’d been together all day—not that it felt like it—and she didn’t want to come across as needy.

She hadn’t dated since grade eight, when Andrew had already been a done deal, so it didn’t really count. She should have talked to Kristi more about this. Done more research.

Riley forced herself to slow down, breathe. She didn’t even own tea. And she was freezing. Saint’s patient gaze tracked her as she fussed over the floor.

She stopped. The floor would dry on its own.

He was already interested, or he wouldn’t have come in.

“Actually, I’ll just be brave. Do you want to shower? I think we’d both be more comfortable warmed up.” She’d have to find something he could wear while his clothes dried. The dryer door fought her, but she got it open and checked inside. It was happily empty, and she could have their clothes dry in an hour.

The apartment was oddly silent.

Riley glanced over her shoulder. Saint’s mouth tipped up in a very male and very satisfied smile.

“What?”

He leaned back, knees widening. His gaze roved over her. “Maybe you want to get dinner first?”

She closed the dryer door, and her cheeks ignited. Oh god.

“I didn’t mean together,” she blurted and took a step back. “I mean, not that that’d be bad or anything, I know it came out like that but I didn’t mean it, I just meant—I’m cold and you’re wet and—” Jesus. The panicked rambling cut off as she brought a hand to her mouth.

Saint laughed low, and she hid her face in her hands. “I’m sorry I propositioned you on our first date. I didn’t mean it quite like that, although… No. Sorry,” she said, the words muffled. She peeked over her fingers.

Saint left a wet puddle on the chair and crossed the studio in easy steps.

He gently pulled her hands from her face and held them. Her hands looked tiny in his calloused ones, and warmth coursed between them.

“Nothing is going to happen that you don’t want,” he told her. Riley swallowed, and he squeezed her hands. She tightened hers in response, the lightest pulse. The proximity was short-circuiting her brain, and all she could think about was where their skin touched and what it would feel like if there was more touching.

The shower seemed like a great place for that.

“Okay,” Riley whispered. He was all calm and sensible while her heart pounded. “What about things I do want?”

A smile teased, barely moving Saint’s lips. “All you have to do is ask.”

A shiver rippled from her head to her toes.

Asking was easy. She could ask anyone for anything. Especially from the tall hot guy who looked at her like… this. No problem.

Riley did not ask.

Saint let go of her hands, and cold rushed in like the stormfront had earlier. He crossed to the bathroom, paused at the door, and looked back over his drenched shoulder. “I knew it was a date.”

Of course it was a date.

Friends didn’t get tongue-tied and become incapable of maintaining eye contact.

Saint pulled the door closed behind him, and she stood there in stunned silence. The baseboard heater ticked as it kicked on.