Lord, he loved her sharp wit, that whatever he threw out, she had a quick response. “Does that bother you?”
“Of course not. You can do whatever you want. In your apartment. With your bimbos.”
“They aren’t bimbos.”
“They’re not bright and upstanding citizens.”
“For all you know about them, they could be.”
“I know they spent the night with a man who used them so that checks bright right off their list of attributes.”
“Sex for mutual pleasure isn’t my using them any more than it is their using me.”
“So it’s a case of mutual using and that somehow makes it okay? Keep fooling yourself if you want, but there are some of us smart enough to know better.”
He was standing so close to her now that he was looking straight down into her eyes, was tempted to remove her glasses so he could more fully see into their depths.
“I suppose a really pessimistic, prudish person might see mutual pleasure that way.” He egged her on, liking the spark his words elicited.
“And who are you? Mr. Optimism? Going around spreading happiness and cheer?” she scoffed with an exaggerated eye roll. “More like spreading something else with how many different women I’ve seen come out of your apartment.”
His lips twitched. “You keeping tabs?”
“Hardly, but I’m not blind.”
Arguable with those ugly glasses she wore.
“For the record, I’m not spreading anything.” He wanted the record straight. He wouldn’t let himself delve into why it mattered, but he needed her to know the truth. “I’m a safety kind of guy. Always.”
“Who runs into burning buildings when everyone else is running out? Yeah, try selling me another one.”
“Someone has to do it.”
Her chin tilted upward and her gaze didn’t waver behind the thick glasses. “Good thing there’s you.”
“Yeah, good thing.”
* * *
A bone-weary Sarah ninja-ed down the hallway and stealthily let herself into her apartment, pausing in her open doorway to glance at Jude’s closed door.
So much had happened since that morning when he’d been standing in that doorway.
He’d been flirting with her at the hospital.
She should have checked him for hypoxemia-induced psychosis related to smoke inhalation.
Because no way was he in his right mind.
Or maybe it was her who wasn’t in her right mind.
Maybe she’d accidentally inhaled some anesthesia or hallucinogenic medication that was messing with her head.
Something was messing with her head.
More like someone.
Because Jude’s teasing and hot looks refused to leave her mind even long after he’d left the hospital.