She took a sip of beer and enjoyed the view. Crash reached his hand down under his chair, and she looked over to see him pulling out a half empty pack of smokes and a lighter.
“Mind if I smoke?” he asked, shaking one out.
“Go right ahead. It’s your house.” She watched him light up. “I didn’t realize you smoked.”
He twisted his wrist, looking down at the cigarette in his hand. “I allow myself one at the end of the day. Usually up here.” He gestured to the view.
She nodded.
He took a hit and tilted his head back, slowly blowing the smoke out. Without turning towards her, he asked, “You want to talk about this guy?”
“This guy?” She frowned.
“The one you’re runnin’ from,” he clarified.
She immediately turned her head away, her stomach dropping. Trying to cover her internal reaction, she made an effort at appearing unaffected by taking a sip of her beer. “No,” she replied and felt his head swivel towards her, his eyes studying her.
“You sure?” he prompted softly. “You seemed pretty scared back there today.”
She looked down, picking at the label on her bottle with her manicured nail. “I’m sure.” She felt him watching her. Finally, he turned away and took another hit off his smoke.
“All right, Princess.”
“How long have you lived here?” she asked, wanting to change the subject. Glancing over at him, she caught his grin and realized he knew what she was doing.
“Bought it a couple of years ago. Put in the kitchen and bath. Took about a year to make the place livable.”
“You did all the work yourself?” she asked, impressed.
“Yeah.”
“It’s very nice.”
His eyes came to her, his eyebrows raised. “Fuckin’ pleased you like it. I’ll sleep better tonight.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Just trying to be nice. I thought we had a truce.”
He grinned and took a sip of beer.
“So, what’s your real name, Crash?” she asked.
He took another drag off his smoke, studying the horizon. “You stick around long enough, maybe I’ll tell you.”
“Hmm, cryptic.” She grinned, looked back at the view and took a sip of beer. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched his eyes crinkle up with a smile.
Shannon kicked her heels off and rested her feet on a wooden crate that Crash had obviously been using in the past as a footrest. She crossed her legs at the ankles. Taking a sip of beer, she glanced over and caught his eyes trailing down the length of her tanned legs. Well, well. Maybe he wasn’t as totally immune to her as he pretended to be. With a tiny smile, she rested her head back and looked up at the stars twinkling in the darkening sky. It really was lovely up here.
Crash took a deep drag off his cigarette, his eyes back on the horizon.
Shannon waited until his chest was expanded with smoke to comment, “That’s an awfully big bed you have down there.” A small smile pulled at her mouth as he choked out the smoke, coughing.
When he got his breath back, he rasped out, “What?”
“The bed. It’s huge.”
A grin formed on his face. “Yeah, it is. This conversation headed where I think it is?”
She huffed out a laugh. “Hardly. I’m just curious why a man like you would get a bed like that.”