Читать книгу Forget Prince Charming - Natalie Stenzel - Страница 11

WHEN THE DOORBELL RANG promptly at six, Haley wiped nervous palms on her jeans. The pants were part of the third outfit she’d tried on this evening. She’d wanted to strike just the right note of casual friendliness. This was not a date.

Still, she couldn’t set her vanity aside so completely as to dress in her scrubbiest clothes. She’d finally settled on worn but figure-hugging jeans, and a pretty V-neck T-shirt in a shade of coral that did nice things for her hair and complexion. Attractive without being provocative. Okay. She was ready.

Plastering a friendly smile on her face, Haley swung the door open. And forgot to breathe.

There Rick stood, sinfully masculine in faded jeans and a white T-shirt. Granted, the outfit was simple, but when those clothes, simple as they were, were wrapped around a body like Rick’s, they took on a life and sexuality of their own.

“Hi.” Rick stood grinning in the doorway, a pizza box in his hands. His grin faltered at her lack of response. “All right if I come in?”

Haley jumped. Inhaled. “Oh, sure.” She stepped back—way back—to admit him. One touch, and dear lord, she’d—

“Great. I brought a six-pack, too. Do you drink beer?” He sent a curious glance over his shoulder.

“Oh, sure.” Do you drink arsenic, Haley? Oh, sure, Rick, anything you offer me with that sexy wave of hair falling over your eye…getting all tangled up with long, silky eyelashes. Oh, heaven help me.

“So where’s our chaperon?” Rick set the pizza down on the table and looked around the apartment, his gaze traveling up the stairs. At the top was a tall, well-chewed baby gate Haley had fashioned in front of the entrance to her loft bedroom. A dark-eyed puppy with floppy ears and massive paws stared down at him. The dog, a chocolate Labrador, whined pathetically from behind the barrier. Rick grinned and turned back to Haley.

“Sherlock?”

“The dog I kidnapped, you mean?” Her senses returning, Haley raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

He grinned sheepishly.

She relaxed, her gaze sweeping upward to study her pet with affectionate resignation. “Yeah, that’s him. He’s a little rowdy with guests, so I usually confine him when I have company.”

“Aw, let the poor guy out.”

She eyed him doubtfully.

“So maybe he’ll jump on me a little or slobber all over the place.” He shrugged. “I can take it. Want me to let him out?”

“Go for it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She watched in expectant glee as Rick loped up the stairs and fumbled with the gate before finally removing the barrier.

With a joyful bark and a romp, the dog planted both paws on Rick’s stomach. With a surprised woof of his own, Rick doubled over and stumbled down a step or two. His chest heaved as he worked to regain the breath the dog had forced from his lungs.

Giggling, Haley watched as Sherlock leaped down the stairs, then ran right back up them. He paused to jump and slobber and whine for the sheer joy of a newfound companion. Then he bounded back down the steps. Before the dog could leap up them again, Rick grabbed the dog’s collar with a practiced hand. “Sherlock. Down.”

Her giggles dwindled to a disbelieving chuckle as she watched her incorrigible puppy sit and stare, unmoving even after Rick released the leather collar. When Sherlock’s rump started to bounce right back off the floor, Rick employed the same, firm tone. “No. Down.” The rump hit the floor again. Sherlock cocked his head in curiosity.

Feeling her own head cock with similar emotions, Haley just stared.

After a long moment, Rick patted the puppy on his silky head and fell to his knees in front of him. “Good dog. Way to go, boy.” He scrubbed and tugged at the dog’s ears until the animal slid to the floor, a boneless mass of ecstasy.

Rick laughed and gave the dog a last pat, then rose to his feet.

“That’s incredible. How’d you do that?” Haley glanced back and forth between dog and man. Her shock gave way to irritation that her own pet would obey this stranger before he’d listen to his devoted mistress.

Rick shrugged, his smile easy. “I’m good with dogs. Sherlock here is just a pup, and he’s got a lot of heart. He just needs a firm voice and consistency. So, ready for dinner? I’m starved.” He shoved his hands in his back pockets. The posture stretched the denim taut across his hips, emphasizing his flat belly and the fullness behind his zipper.

Wrenching her eyes from the sight, Haley swallowed hard and tried for a breezy smile. “Kitchen’s in there.” The direction was basically moot, since the first floor of her apartment was one big room, divided only by the flow of furniture. And the pizza was already sitting on the kitchen table.

“Great.” Rick moved into the kitchen area. A docile Sherlock padded along behind him then dropped down on a braided rug for a nap. Rick casually glanced at an antique teddy bear collection arranged above cabinets painted a cheerful yellow. Smiling at some inner thought, he turned his attention back to the pizza box.

Haley joined him in the kitchen, careful to sidle around the table so it was always positioned between her body and Rick’s. “So, um, have a seat.”

“Thanks.” Rick dropped easily into a chair and flipped open the pizza lid. While Haley lifted a piece out, strings of cheese dangling from the slice, Rick popped the tops of two beers and slid one across the table to her. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just ordered a garbage pizza. I figured you could pick off anything that you didn’t want.”

“Mmm, no. This is great.” She sank her teeth into the loaded-down slice, thankful for the distraction of food.

Once they were both satisfied, leaning back comfortably in their chairs, Haley grinned lazily at Rick. “Thanks for the pizza.”

Ah, pizza, the great equalizer, she mused silently. Watching each other slurp dangling strings of cheese and lick tomato sauce off fingers tended to knock down any barriers to communication. No longer intimidated, she felt downright benevolent. In that mode, she gave way to her curiosity about the man seated in her kitchen, a stranger to her until just a few days ago.

“So, neighbor, tell me about yourself. Are you new in town or just new to the building?”

“Just new to the building.” His face was curiously blank.

“Are you native to the St. Louis area?”

He shook his head. “I grew up in Chicago and moved here about five years ago.”

“Chicago, huh? And so you moved here to work at a bike shop?” She gave him a puzzled look.

He paused. “That’s right. I like St. Louis. Is that a problem?”

“No, of course not.” She shrugged. “I guess you just strike me as a little more cerebral than the average jock. I thought maybe…” She gave him a speculative look.

He returned the look. “You thought that maybe…?”

“Well, I just wondered if you had other ambitions. I mean, I’m sure a bike shop’s a lot of fun, but…”

“But?” His smile was even more challenging.

She studied him, then tried a smile. “But nothing, really. I was just curious. We are playing get to know your neighbor, right?”

“Right.” He relaxed back in his chair, but his eyes were still alert. “So, neighbor, what about you?”

“Well, you know about the toy shop.”

His smile widened. “I like your toy shop.”

“Thanks.” She relaxed, her smile easier.

“So are you from here originally, then?”

“Born and bred in the area. Although there are days when I think I could easily be convinced to move to Timbuktu.” She made a face. “My mother…worries.” Remembering her harsh words earlier that day, and a telephoned apology that didn’t quite make up for it, she felt a tug at her heart. “She worries a lot, actually.”

“I see.” His smile widened. “And should she?”

Haley cocked her head, thinking, then grinned. “Well, now that you mention it…” She waved off the idea before continuing in a more serious tone. “No, not really. I’m pretty tame. Not all that bright sometimes.” She paused, reflecting briefly on her erstwhile boyfriend and various dates who’d been just like him. “But probably not dangerous to others.”

“Just dangerous to yourself,” Rick surmised, nodding. “I guess you’re referring to your love life?”

She looked down at the napkin she’d begun to shred. “What makes you say that?”

“Oh, probably something to do with your geek-hunting project. And that nauseating conversation I overheard at the computer store today.”

She scowled at him. “I thought we were calling a truce, neighbor.”

“Truce or no truce, you can’t just leave me hanging.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think I could leave you hanging very easily.” She stared pointedly at him.

Rick laughed. “By my neck at the end of a rope, you mean?”

“It’s sounding awfully tempting, yes.”

“For such a little thing, you can be pretty blood-thirsty.” Rick’s eyes glinted with mischief. He opened his mouth, no doubt intending to provoke her further.

The screech of her chair sliding back from the table cut off whatever he might have said. She smiled determinedly. “I guess we’re through here.” She stood up and folded the empty pizza box over, dropping empty cans and dirty napkins on top of it. Balancing the mass, she turned to dump it into the trash. “Well, Rick. It’s been fun. I’m sorry you had to leave so suddenly, but I understand how things can be. Don’t be a stranger. Really.” She smiled winningly at him, hoping he’d simply follow her lead.