A Thin Line(2)

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you look like?”

She froze to a stop. Did she want to describe herself to him? Not really. He probably wouldn’t like what she’d tell him anyway. Instead, she threw the question back at him. “What about you?”

“I’m six feet two. Blonde hair, blue eyes. I don’t like shaving on principle. What else? I’m a sports agent. I moved into Apartment B last month and I quite like the building and its tenants so far. What about you?”

“I live in Apartment A on the second floor. I’m a freelance translator but I’m trying to find a more permanent position.” She paused then added, “I have a cat called Millie.”

“I used to have a cat,” he replied. “He was a childhood pet, you know? He died last year. My parents were heartbroken.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Were you heartbroken too?” she asked as she stepped closer, basing herself on his voice. He was at the door earlier so hopefully he was still there. Maybe she could take over banging on it, make a raucous noise so they could be rescued. Anything would be better than this, she thought as she rubbed her arms. She was freezing!

Turns out she should have stopped walking while trying to warm herself up. Her feet bumped into something and suddenly she was flying. A harrumph rang underneath her as she shrieked and landed on a hard body. Her head hit the wall and she went still for a second or two, too shocked to understand what’d gone wrong.



“Katie? Katie?” Hands were running over her body. “Did you break something? Are you hurt? Katie, answer me!” Jace pleaded with her, his voice sounding panicked.

“I’m okay,” she finally answered. She grabbed onto the first thing she could find -his thigh?- and tried to push herself up.

“Fuck, you scared me!” Fingers found her waist, the touch so unexpected she squeaked. “Is it hurting?”

“No, no.” She couldn’t tell him it was the long-forgotten feel of a man’s touch that had her blushing. Or squirming in his embrace. “Let me go.”

“I’m trying!” he grunted and she felt even worse. She was too big to be sprawled on top of him like this! But he didn’t complain, simply wrapped his arms around her so he could push her down instead of up. She found herself sitting between his legs, her butt on the cold concrete floor. She started shivering almost immediately, her threadbare jeans not thick enough to be any good. “Katie?”

“My name is Kate!” she repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time, wondering why she was suddenly feeling warmer.



Oh. His arms had gone around her, his chest cupping her back. His thighs pressed against hers and she buried her hands against her midriff in an effort not to touch him more than necessary. “Thank you.”

“You were cold.” That was his only explanation but it was enough.

She couldn’t relax however. She still didn’t know him, even if his self-description earlier had brought a spark in her memory. He was the cute one. She’d seen him leave for work one morning, dressed in an expensive suit, talking on a cell phone and ignoring the rest of the world. He was the typical playboy, or at least he looked like it. “Should we try banging on the door again?” She felt him shrug.

“If you want. Not sure what good it’ll do though.”

“Someone might hear us.”

“It’s what? Four in the morning? Do you really think someone’s gonna come downstairs at this time?”

“I did. You did!”

“I only wanted to check what was making that noise.”

“What noise?”

“You. I thought…I thought you were a thief or a homeless person.”

She blinked. What the hell? “Nice,” she couldn’t help but comment.

“I didn’t think anyone used this room in the middle of the night.”

“So I had to be an outsider.”

“Yeah. It made sense at the time.”

She grunted an unintelligible response and closed her eyes, bending so she was resting her forehead against her knees. Her back arched, her butt rubbing against his crotch. She held herself immobile, a blush spreading across her face. Thank God he couldn’t see her! It was such an intimate position and she really had no right sitting against him like this. Of course, he’d been the one who’d thought it was a good idea but that was probably because he didn’t know what she looked like.

Or maybe he was just helpful like that?



“Tell me about you.”

“Why?”

“I need to talk. I’m falling asleep here and I don’t think we’ll like the consequences if we end up snoozing like this.”