“Hey.” She got to her feet to greet me, her hands snaking around my waist.
I turned away from the touch, not in the mood for affection whatsoever. “I have company coming over right now.”
“Oh?” she asked. “What kind of company?”
My eyes narrowed on her face. “Please get dressed and leave.” I was more abrupt about it, giving her simple directions to follow because I didn’t know how else to get rid of her.
Her eyes leaped with a small fire. “I didn’t mean to overstay my welcome—”
“Well, you did. Please go.” I carried my satchel to the dining table and set down my bag.
She followed after me. “Look, I didn’t mean to upset you—”
“Why aren’t you getting dressed?” I didn’t want to stand here and have a conversation. I just wanted her to go. After a long day at work, the last thing I wanted to do was argue with someone who shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
“I just wanted to spend more time with you…”
That didn’t make sense to me. I’d told her exactly what I was looking for. I told her I didn’t want a relationship. I was only interested in one thing. So why was she behaving this way? “I was clear that I didn’t want a relationship. You’re acting like we have one. Stop it.” I didn’t know how else to get through to her.
She looked like she might cry, her eyes squinting just the way Valerie’s did. “Fine.” She turned down the hallway, her feet marching at a quick pace.
I sighed in relief, eager for her to get out of my fucking space.
A knock sounded on the door.
I rubbed the back of my head and sighed, not wanting my brother to enter my residence and witness this idiocy.
He knocked again when I didn’t answer.
“It’s open.”
He stepped inside. “Wow, this place looks like shit without me.” He was in jeans and a shirt, taking advantage of the nice weather that had finally struck the city. “Now it just feels like a cave.”
Natalie came down the hallway, in her spring dress and jean jacket, her heels announcing her presence long before she appeared in the room. “There you go.” She pointed at herself. “Dressed and ready to go.” She turned away and marched off, ignoring my brother and walking straight past him.
My brother shut his mouth, looking uncomfortable by what he’d just walked into.
Natalie left my apartment and slammed the door behind her.
Tucker glanced behind him then crept backward, heading back to the door so he could flip the lock into place. “She seems lovely…” He came back to me, his hands in his pockets.
I fell into the chair, relieved that was over.
“That was the woman we met a few months ago, right?” He helped himself to a beer from the kitchen.
“Yeah.”
“You’re still seeing her?” He fell into the chair, sliding a beer toward me.
“Casually.”
“Let me guess…” He took a drink. “She wants more.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what the fuck just happened. She slept over last night, and she usually leaves in the morning after I walk out. But when I walked in the door, she was sitting on my couch in my t-shirt like she fucking lives here.”
He chuckled. “Oh, that sucks.”
“Then she got mad at me for asking her to leave.”
He shook his head. “Sorry, man.”
“I just don’t understand. I told her I wasn’t looking for a relationship.”
“She wants one anyway. Women say they can do the fuck-buddy thing, but if you see them long enough, they always want more. Want my advice?”
I didn’t want to go through that bullshit again, so I nodded.
“Don’t see them for too long, even if they’re good in bed. Because that shit will happen—every time.” He pointed his forefinger into the table. “Women can’t just have long-term meaningless sex. They form an attachment. And you’re rich, hot, and super intelligent…she’s gonna picture you as the father of her kids.”
It’d been a long time since I’d been single, so I’d forgotten about all this.
“Just mix it up. Shuffle new girls into your deck.”
I understood the analogy. “Alright. You want to go out tonight?”
“I thought we could watch the game here. You’ve got this big-ass TV and a fridge full of beer.”
My brother always wanted to go out, so this was out of character for him. So, I questioned it bluntly. “What’s the real reason you don’t want to go out?”
He took another sip of his beer. “We aren’t exclusive or anything, but I’m seeing Cleo now.”
When she’d asked me about dating him, I didn’t know what to say. I’d just wanted the conversation to end.
“I like her, and I don’t want to screw it up by sleeping around, you know? Just in case…”
I turned my gaze out the window and took a drink.
“But we can go out for you, I guess.”