“In a non-physical way, I suppose.” I gestured to myself. “I realize this is spectacular and hard to resist, but I ask that you try.”
Her eyes widened. “It is spectacular,” she said, and I couldn’t tell if she was playing along with the joke or not. She lowered herself and sat on the sofa. “It’s nice in here. I like it.”
“It’s a man cave, and you don’t have to be sociable. You can just go to sleep if you want.”
“It is sort of a man cave.” She looked around and sniffed a little, as if she could smell testosterone. “I’ve spent the last week in my grandma’s old-lady cave, though, so I find it refreshing.”
“Fair enough. Does she have poufy curtains?”
“Yes, flowered. And a china cabinet with china she never used.”
“I feel for you, then. Enjoy my tech gadgets and dirty socks.”
I didn’t have dirty socks, actually. I did my laundry, and I had cleaners who regularly cleaned my house. But still.
Tessa pointed at my workstation. “What do you do there?”
I ticked off on my fingers. “Code things. Draw comics. Hack websites when I’m bored. Monitor my security system. Watch porn.”
She politely raised her eyebrows. “Oh, really? Sounds lovely.”
“It is.”
“I’ve always wanted to meet my dream man.”
“Of course you have. I’ll consider it, but you’ll have to compete with the other women.”
She looked around pointedly. “What other women?”
“If I told you, the competition wouldn’t be fair, would it?”
She grinned at me. A goofy grin, like she was giddy. “Right.”
I let her stare at me for another minute, punchy with exhaustion, and then I raised my eyebrows. “Well? Are you going to go sleep in my bedroom or not?”
Tessa closed her eyes. “I might just nap on this sofa, I’m so tired.”
“Please don’t.” I couldn’t watch her sleep, those long legs and that bikini top. “Go in the bedroom and close the door so I don’t hear you snore.”
“But I feel rude. I’ve barely even said hello.”
“We’ve talked plenty, and I told you not to be sociable. I sure as hell am not.” I paused, then said more sincerely, “Tessa, go sleep. We can talk when you wake up. The bedroom is down the hall.”
She rubbed her face. “Okay.” She stood up and left the room. I heard my bedroom door close softly behind her.
She was probably asleep in minutes. She had no idea I sat there for a long while after she left, smelling the remains of her scent in the air. Thinking about her in my bed. And wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into.
Ten
Tessa
* * *
Andrew Mason may be an asshole, but his bed was heaven.
It was big, and cool, and perfectly soft. The sheets were dark gray, the manliest possible color except for black. As promised, there were blackout shades on the windows, which I gleefully used to block out the burning hot day outside. Then I tossed off my flip-flops and got in bed.
It smelled good. Clean. A little masculine, but not gross. I pictured Andrew getting in and out of this bed. How exactly did he do it? There were no handle bars on the walls. Nothing that indicated someone whose legs were paralyzed lived here.