by Ranae Rose
Frustrated and bitterly disappointed, she’d told the woman who’d shown her around that the place just wasn’t for her and left, steering her frigid car for Azalea Hall. Though she’d tried not to get her hopes up in the first place, she couldn’t help being disappointed now. A part of her had hoped fiercely that the visit would go great and she’d be able to surprise Paul and Britney with the good news, freeing them to apply for the one bedroom apartment they’d fallen in love with.
Inside, she greeted the receptionist with as much enthusiasm as she could muster and headed down the hall. Herb was nowhere to be seen, and she didn’t seek him out. Instead, she went directly into her father’s room.
Paul and Britney were already there, he lounging on the edge of the bed as she sat perched in one of two visitors’ seats, next to where their father rested in his wheelchair. There was a crack in Paul’s lip, a red line that bisected the lower one, lightly crusted with dried blood. The result of a sparring match, no doubt. Zoe’s stomach balled up at the sight of it, though she knew if she mentioned it, he’d say it was no big deal.
He’d probably been training his ass off all day, pumped up about the tournament. “Hey, Zoe. We were just telling dad about the tournament.”
She struggled to shove thoughts of apartment-hunting from her mind and focus on the conversation. Though the 12 day deadline was eating away at her, no way did she want her dad to catch on that anything was wrong. It went without saying that Paul and Britney hadn’t mentioned their housing troubles to him. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
As Zoe sank down into the second chair, Britney changed the subject. “How was work?”
“Not bad,” Zoe said, trying and failing to come up with some inane detail from her work day that she could spin into an amusing anecdote. Unfortunately, all she could think about was the phone call she’d made and the disappointing trip that’d come afterward.
“I taught one of my new yoga classes for the first time at the gym today,” Britney said, flashing a bright smile around. “A dozen people showed up, which is actually pretty great, especially for a first class.”
Zoe listened, or tried to, anyway, as Britney talked about how the class had gone and her hopes for future sessions. She wanted to be excited for Britney – and she was happy for her – but guilt overshadowed her other emotions. Britney was a saint, as far as future sister-in-laws went. She cared about Zoe and Paul’s father like he was her own. Her selfless nature had long since endeared her to Zoe, and now it added fuel to the fire that was her determination to find a place of her own.
Maybe it would’ve been easier to pretend she hadn’t overheard Britney and Paul talking in the first place. Then they could just go on looking for another place where the three of them could continue to live together. But she just couldn’t. After all, she still had twelve days, and the same sense of stubborn, unlikely hope that had carried her through her mother’s illness and now her father’s wouldn’t allow her to give up.
* * * * *
The pencil skirt was back. Zoe was wearing it again – this time with a red blouse. Noah had hardly thought of anything else since she’d walked through the door that morning, a fact that meant he’d been aching for a couple hours now, hoping no one would notice he was half-hard as he sat through a telephone interview with a local reporter, shot off a few e-mails and paid for several ads promoting the opening rounds of the Elite East Championship Tournament. They didn’t come cheap, but the cost would be worth it to get the word out, especially for the first round of fights.
Hopefully the word would spread and excitement would build with each phase of the competition. Ultimately, the final, title bouts would be held at the Consol Energy Center, though they’d secured smaller venues for the events leading up to that.
Signing a contract with the Consol was a big deal for Elite East. It wasn’t like they were an MMA giant with TV contracts and household name status. The venue was top-notch – big and expensive. And it was up to him to make sure that they’d be able to fill the seats they’d be shelling out so much cash for.
Not for the first time, he felt the seriousness – the necessity – of his job, all the way down to the marrow in his bones. This wasn’t just a business, it was his business. His and Jay’s. Everything they’d spent years working for was on the line with this tournament, not just money.
The money was serious too, though. This championship would be funded largely by a business loan and a few investors, plus years of marginal profits they’d scrimped and saved while coordinating other events throughout the Mid-Atlantic. None of them had been to the same scale the Elite East Championship Tournament would be, and this event would either make or break them. It was a lot of pressure, but he liked it that way. Knowing he’d either succeed or have his ass handed to him worked wonders to motivate him – he’d always been that way.
Which was how he’d gotten into this business in the first place.
And as much as he loved the business, when lunch time rolled around, he abandoned his desk and computer in the span of a single heartbeat, pulling something out of his desk drawer.
Yeah, he’d bought another box of truffles. Overpriced or not, he would’ve gladly paid a small fortune to have an excuse to spend time with Zoe during her lunch break. Heart beating a little faster, he crossed the office space, approaching her desk.
“Still think you can live on chocolate and coffee?” he asked, presenting her with the box.
She looked up from her computer screen, but didn’t take her hands off the keyboard. “Huh? Oh…” Briefly, her lips curled into a smile, pretty and glossed a berry pink. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”
He popped off the lid and set the chocolates down on her desk. “I’ll grab the coffee. Cream and sugar?”
“No need. The chocolate will be sweet enough.”
When he returned, she was still focused on the screen. A glance at her slender, fuchsia-nailed hand showed that she was scrolling at the speed of light. “You know, a break is a break. Don’t feel like you have to work while you eat just to impress your boss.”
He shot her a grin, but the smile she gave in return was weak. “I’m not working, actually. Just doing a little personal browsing.”
“Online dating?” he teased.
Her thin smile stretched a little wider. “Nah. I prefer to meet men in real life, spontaneously. Makes for better how-we-met stories.” Despite her light tone, a little line was visible between her eyes, and she didn’t stop scrolling.
He sat her coffee down close to the keyboard, where the aroma could rise up and tempt her.
She seemed impervious to its allure, even as the steam curled upward into the air, a ghostly java-scented fog that had to be calling to her. Despite the tight budget Elite East was operating on, he hadn’t skimped on the office coffee. As far as he was concerned, setting out cheap, weak java should’ve been a jailable offense.
“I can leave you to your browsing if you’d prefer,” he said, dying a little inside. “But I’ve gotta ask first – is everything okay? You don’t seem like your usual self.” Sure, he hadn’t known her long, but it was obvious that something was bothering her. Her normally lush mouth was pressed into a thin line, and her gracefully-arched brows were knit in concentration. Not exactly the expression most people wore when checking their e-mail or social media profiles.
“Yes. No. Sorry.” She sat up straight, finally stilling her hands on the mouse and keyboard. “I’m trying to find a new place to live. You know – roommates.”
He lowered his coffee cup. “Guess the leaky roof was the last straw, huh?”
“It might’ve been…” She clicked something, her frown deepening. “When my brother called our landlord to complain, he evicted us. Says the townhouse is more trouble than it’s worth and he’s just going to sell it. We have eleven days left to move out.”
“How come you’re looking for roommates when you’ve been living with your brother and his fiancée?”
/> She looked up from her computer screen. “Because I’ve been living with my brother and his fiancée. I’ve been wanting to strike out on my own for a while now and…” Briefly, she explained that her brother and his fiancée had found the perfect place to live – without her.
“So they’re leaving you out in the cold.” He frowned. Eleven days wasn’t much time.
“What? No.” Zoe looked taken aback, her dark eyes going wide, the same color as her untouched, unsweetened coffee. “I haven’t even told them I’m looking for roommates. They still think we’re all three going to live together, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Not without trying my damndest first to find a place of my own. Well, a place with roommates – I’m not in a financial position to rent an apartment independently.”
A little of the stiffness went out of Noah’s spine as relief swept through him, quickly followed by surprise. “No wonder he’s willing to kill to protect you – you’re a saint, when it comes to little sisters. I should know – I’ve got two of them.”
She didn’t smile like he’d hoped, and that just about answered his next question for him.
“Any luck so far?” He asked anyway.
“Not really. I went to look at a place after work yesterday, but it wasn’t what I’d hoped.”
“Bad neighborhood?” He knew money was a concern for her, and it grated to imagine her moving into some dive. She wouldn’t put herself at risk just so her brother and his fiancée could move into the one bedroom apartment they wanted, would she?
She shrugged. “It wasn’t the best neighborhood, but it wasn’t the worst, either. What really bothered me was…” She told him about the smoky, overcrowded apartment, the space that would’ve been her living quarters and the kitchen, which basically would’ve been a biohazard area for her.
“So let me get this straight – you were willing to live in a closet so your brother and future sister-in-law could get the apartment they want?”
She barely hesitated before nodding. “There was enough room for a bed. Or a futon, at least. I could’ve made it work. But the health issues were something I couldn’t overlook.”
“Good. That’s how it should be.” He felt an irrational sense of irritation rising up inside him, and he worked to quell it. “Zoe, you can’t just throw yourself under the bus for your brother and his fiancée’s happiness. I’m sure no one would expect it of you.”
“It’s not just for them,” she said, a stubborn light flashing in her eyes. “I want to live on my own. I love them both, but a little privacy would be nice. Especially since they’re planning to get married. Things are already awkward at times. And the rent on the place they want really is a great deal. It would mean—”
She cut herself off, like she’d said too much.
He sensed things unsaid, truths and motivations behind her words that he couldn’t quite grasp. He didn’t push, though. “Just be reasonable, that’s all. And safe.”
She didn’t say anything, reaching instead for her coffee, finally taking a sip. “Coffee’s good,” she said eventually, voice quiet as she looked away, toward the nearest window, her gaze wistful as she stared out at the city.
An idea hit him then, like a bolt of lightning, and he felt it sizzle over the surface of his mind, brilliant and striking. Maybe it was a little extreme, but on the other hand, it made complete sense. It was both unconventional and completely rational. “If it means so much to you, why don’t you move in with me? My apartment’s got two bedrooms and I don’t know what I’m gonna do with the second one.”
Her gaze snapped back to him, and her eyes went wide.
For a moment, no one said anything. Noah was acutely aware of Andy walking through the door, back from the lunch break he’d recently taken.
“Are you serious?” Zoe asked.
“Yeah.” She’d be much safer living with him than in a place like the one she’d gone to check out the day before.
“Living with my boss … who I’ve also been dating.”
He could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she mulled his suggestion over. Did she feel the same jolt of excitement he did when he thought about what it would be like?
“Is that against any kind of company rule?”
“I wouldn’t have offered if it was.”
“I just… I can’t believe you’d be willing to let me stay with you.”
They’d only recently met – she didn’t have to say that out loud; he sensed the words hanging in the air.
“I can’t stand by and watch you hole up somewhere in some stranger’s closet. And it – having you at my place – wouldn’t be a burden. I had a roommate back in Buffalo and I liked living that way just fine.”
Not that living with her would be anything like living with Brian, his thirty-two year old male computer programmer roommate back in Buffalo, had been. “And it wouldn’t have to be long-term if you didn’t want it to be. Eleven days isn’t long enough to find a permanent living situation. If you want, you can keep looking for something else while you’re staying with me temporarily. That way you can stop stressing and take your time.”
She appeared to think what he’d said over, clicking her nails lightly against her desk, then looking up to meet his eyes again. “It’s a generous offer, but I don’t know if I could afford it. I have no idea what your place is like or how much you pay for rent.”
“Why don’t you come by after work and check it out? It’s not exactly a deluxe apartment in the sky, but it’s no dump. As for rent, I’m sure we could work out something that suits your budget.” He shrugged. “I’m already paying for all of it, and I hadn’t planned on looking for a roommate anytime soon – I just don’t have time. So anything contributed would lighten my financial burden.”
“I have to head straight to my shift at Hot Ink after this. It’d be late before I could come over.”
The thought jump-started his heart despite the fact that he was trying hard to be all business. As if he could ever be that with her. “That’s fine.”
“If you write down your address for me, I’ll see you there tonight.”
* * * * *
“This is a really nice piece,” Zoe said, hanging a sheet of flash art Abby had drawn. Jed’s rule was that the only pre-designed art displayed at Hot Ink was stuff by Hot Ink artists – and Mina’s little sister, Jess. It was a nice rule. Because of it, an entire wall was covered in unique designs, which were taken down as soon as a client chose them. Not custom, exactly, but unique.
“Thanks,” Abby said, tucking a strand of pale blonde hair back into the knot she’d secured her locks in. “I’m pretty partial to it myself. I was zoning out in front of a nature documentary with the twins – they were completely fascinated by all the birds – and that’s where I got the inspiration.”
Zoe stepped back, admiring the latest addition to the tapestry of sketches that covered the drywall. “I think you should call this design ‘the lovebirds’.” The two birds of paradise – long tails entwined – reminded her of tropical heat and passion, and the way their beaks touched, forming a heart shape in the negative space between their arched necks, was an extra-cute touch.
“Funny,” Abby said. “Sam said something similar.”
“How is Sam, by the way?” Now that Zoe thought about it, she hadn’t seen Abby’s husband since the Hot Ink New Year’s party Jed had thrown more than two months ago. Which wasn’t totally surprising, seeing as how he and Abby balanced three careers and two babies between themselves, with a little help from friends and family.
“Good. You’d never know what happened a year ago, to look at him. He’s back in the swing of things at work – has been for months.”
“That’s great.” At the party, Zoe hadn’t noticed any sign of the injury Sam had sustained to one arm – just the tattoo Abby had inked over it, the dark design masking most of the scar.
“What about you – how did the apartment visit go yesterday?”
Zoe’s stomach
knotted instantly. “Not so great.” Briefly, she described the tour she’d been given.
“That’s too bad, but at least you tried. I’m sure your brother and his fiancée will appreciate that.”
“Yeah.” Zoe almost kept talking, thinking not of Paul and Britney, but of Noah. She bit her tongue at the last second, though. There was no need to ask Abby whether she was crazy for considering the offer Noah had made her.
She knew she was.
CHAPTER 6
Noah’s apartment was just like his car: nice. Newish. Not over the top, but better than where she lived. All those facts registered in the nanosecond it took him to answer and open the door after she knocked.
“Hi,” she said, unable to muster more than the single word as she stood at the threshold, clutching her purse.
He was motionless for a moment, eyes locking with hers, before he took a step backward, pulling the door wide open. He wore jeans, a t-shirt and socks; it was the most casual she’d ever seen him dressed, and somehow, his apparel made showing up at his home seem even more intimate. “Come on in.”
She did exactly that, stepping inside and catching her toe on the doorframe because she just couldn’t break eye contact.
At least she didn’t trip. Diverting her gaze from Noah’s, she stared around the living room.
The white walls, beige carpet and moving boxes didn’t provide much fodder for comments. A scruffy orange something peering out at her from behind one of the boxes did, though. “Oh, you have a cat.”
She wouldn’t have guessed, just like she wouldn’t have imagined all the ink his suit had hidden the first time she’d met him. Noah was full of surprises – in this case, a fluffy, kind of ragtag one. As she took a step toward the animal, it became clear that it was missing the tip of one ear, and calling its tail a stump would’ve been generous.
“That’s Schubert,” Noah said. “You’re not allergic, are you? I didn’t think to ask.”
“No.” Crouching, she reached out, half surprised when the cat didn’t flee, blinking up at her instead with yellow eyes and calmly accepting a gentle scratch between his ears – or ear and a half, rather.
