Nicholas opened the door, but before he walked through, he turned and dropped a kiss to Sloane’s cheek, just an inch away from her mouth. She froze, feeling like her heart was going to explode it was racing so fast. But again, not like a panic attack.
Her hand went to her cheek, touching the spot where he’d kissed before she realized how ridiculous she must look and dropped it back to her side.
The edge of Nicholas’s mouth tipped up as he watched her hand. “See you on Wednesday.”
Then he was whistling as he walked down the couple stairs from the porch to the yard and out to his waiting car.
Sloane watched him go, struck dumb, her heart in her throat. He looked back and when he saw her watching, he gave her a wave and a smile before getting in his car.
Sloane pulled back and shut the door quickly, not wanting to seem desperate by just standing there and staring after him. And just like she thought she would, she spent the rest of the day replaying every moment with Nicholas. Every touch. She set the cupcakes he’d frosted safely to the side when it came time for the sploshing party.
And later that night, as she moaned and sat her naked ass down on the beautifully decorated red velvet cake she’d spent the afternoon decorating, her thoughts were full of Nicholas.
Chapter 6
SLOANE
“Show me around your house.”
Sloane bit her lip as she read the chat box message. It was Saint again. She’d hesitated for a moment before accepting his private chat request. But he’d again paid 20,000 tokens up front and who was she to turn down that kind of money? She’d opened up a new bank account and put every security measure in place she could think of but her balance was still pathetically low.
Especially when it looked like she was going to need to pay for a new roof. And to get the carpet upstairs all ripped out and redone because of water damage caused by her current crappy roof.
Tom had mentioned a couple times that her roof was looking rough. He even told her about a local company that his neighbor had used to get theirs done. She’d blown it off though. For all her anxiety problems, she was surprisingly good at ignoring things she couldn’t handle thinking about.
Like the fact that her beloved house might be falling down around her. She’d been forced to face facts during a rainstorm last week when water had started dripping from the ceiling in a corner of the den.
And if it was dripping onto the first floor, she couldn’t even imagine what was going on upstairs. She’d freaked out and called Nicholas. He came right over.
They’d been spending more and more time together. It was just once a week at first. But then he suggested they start doing a movie night every Thursday, his other day off.
She’d barely been able to pay attention to a thing going on during the movies, though, she was so conscious of Nicholas’s big body on the couch beside hers.
Sloane only realized how awkward it might be inviting Nicholas over for an intimate movie night after they were cozied up on the couch.
But Nicholas was a consummate gentleman. He didn’t once try to make a move on her. Well, he put his arm over the back of the couch and she’d been sure he was going to try something.
But he didn’t.
Which just confused the hell out of her.
Did he like her, like her? Or had she been friend-zoned without even realizing it? Like he thought it was cool to come and hang out with the agoraphobic chick as his good deed for the week?
And that confused her too. Did she want him to make a move on her? Wasn’t it nice to have a guy appreciate her for more than how well she could get him off?
Then there was the fact that whenever they spent time talking—which somehow they could do for hours even though she could barely remember what it was about afterwards—she’d swear he didn’t look at her just like a friend would.
At least a couple times she’d caught his gaze dropping to her breasts. And okay, she’d worn an especially cleavage-baring shirt just for that purpose, sure, but still—she was pretty sure he wasn’t gay. He appreciated her like a man appreciated a woman.
Then again, it had only been a few weeks. Maybe this was what guys in the real world did when they liked a woman. The good ones anyway.
He’d also been helping out here and there around the house. He’d even cleaned out her clogged gutters. And he’d reaffirmed what Tom had said, that she really needed to think about reroofing the house.
But God, that sounded like such an enormous task. And the thought of having strangers crawling around her house and on her roof… uh, no. She’d just waved Nicholas off.