"Where do you live?" she asked curiously.
He gestured. "Over on North Water Street. Near the river."
"Nice."
"Yeah, it's a decent place. We're practically neighbors."
She smiled. It really wasn't far between their places, although that area was pretty densely populated. On Michigan, traffic swished past them in a blur of lights, the skyscrapers glittering above them, bare tree branches sparkling with little white lights.
"I love Chicago," she murmured, gazing around as they walked along the broad sidewalk.
"Yeah. I like it too."
"Was it hard when you moved here from New York?"
"Getting traded is always hard. I liked New York. I felt really loyal to the team who drafted me and signed me. But the Aces are a great team and it didn't take long to get used to living here. And I'm closer to home."
"You don't go home very often, though, do you? Summers, you said."
"Yeah, that's about it. I haven't even gone home for Christmas the last few years."
"Why not?"
"Christmas is for families. I don't have that kind of family. My mom's always traveling, looking for her next husband. My dad's busy."
Her heart squeezed. "What do you do at Christmas, then?"
"It's only a three-day break in the schedule, so I don't do much. Sometimes the other guys take pity on me and invite me for Christmas dinner, if they're around. Or I order Chinese food and watch a lot of Lucky Dog shows."
"What? Lucky Dog?"
"It's a show about these rescued dogs they find homes for."
"Somehow I'd figure you'd be more likely to watch porn."
He burst out laughing. "Not gonna lie, I may have watched some on occasion."
"You couldn't lie to me about that. Remember? I found that movie on your laptop … "
"I remember. And you wanted to watch it with me, to see what the appeal was."
And they'd both gotten so turned on they'd ended up in bed banging each other blind. She didn't need to say it out loud … she knew he was remembering that too. Her pulse quickened and she sensed Tanner's alertness.
They passed the bright windows of the shops lining Michigan Avenue, soon turning onto her street and approaching the glass doors to enter the apartment complex of the building on the upper floors of the tower.
"Wow," Tanner said, holding the door for her. "Quite the place."
"I'm just subletting from someone." She scrunched her nose. "It's not like I own a place here. And it's tiny … a studio apartment." She hesitated. They stood in the quiet lobby, warmth surrounding them now after the chilly night air. Their eyes met and held as they looked at each other for a long, wordless moment. "Do you want to come up and see it?"
"Yes."
She closed her eyes briefly because this was probably all kinds of stupid, but dammit, it was hard to resist Tanner and the pull he still had on her. She led the way to the elevators, smiling at the doorman on duty. They rode up to her floor in silence and he followed her into the apartment.
"This is it." She held out a hand, smiling. "No need for a tour because you can see all of it from here."
"It's nice. You have a great view."
"Sort of." One of the diagonal support beams for the tall building crossed through her windows, so it wasn't the best view, which was probably why the rent was cheaper. "My kitchen. It's small but nice. The bathroom is down there."
"Is this your bed?" He sat on the ivory pull-out couch. Thankfully she'd put it away today. There were some days she didn't bother if she wasn't going to be home much.
"Yes."
"Very efficient." He smiled.
She licked her lips and took off her coat, hanging it in the closet, then pulled off her boots. "Would you like something to drink?"
"I don't know … I had a lot of wine earlier. Maybe some water?"
"Sure." She padded to her kitchen, opened the fridge, and pulled out two bottles. She returned to hand him one. He'd taken off his hat, scarf, and jacket and draped them over the arm of the couch. She sat next to him.
"It's cool seeing where you live now." He looked around. "I like all the white."
"It's just IKEA furniture. They make lots of great things for small spaces." She was curious to see where he lived too, what his personal space was like now that he was an adult.
She sipped her water.
"So … is this us being friends?" Tanner asked.