“You want my place?”
She smiled that too-bright, excited smile, the one only Maisie got out of her. “Yeah. I love it. And you obviously don’t care about it.”
“You love my place?”
“My place.” She seemed to get a bright idea, because she dived into her purse and pulled out the kitty statue and one of her picture frames. Removed an old pizza box from his desk, put her things in its spot. “Voila.”
He scratched his head. “Uh. This loft is already occupado.”
Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he’d thought. The light was kind of…glowy.
“It’s occupied by me now. Betcha ten bucks Mr. Coll will agree with me. It’s the condition of my joining. I get to paint! And work in my sleep. Who’d complain about that?”
“The neighborhood’s not so good.”
“Yeah, but I can drown whoever messes with me. You’ll have to move the bed, though. That’s where my easel is going.”
“That’s the best spot.”
“Exactly.”
“You think you can just take over?” Pushy much?
“Not take over. Start over. Shit happens. Happened today for me. What you have to do is start over. No use complaining or crying or huddling in a ball waiting for someone to save the day.” He heard a note of old pain in her voice. “I started over once before, six years ago when my mom died. Maze and I had to live in a tiny studio with a roach problem for two years. This is straight out of a magazine! The before picture of course, but God, wait for the after!”
Still looked like a shithole to him.
“Do you own it? I’ll rent it from you.”
He owned the building, had considered opening a bike shop downstairs. But, come on, he’d met her a couple of days ago. They weren’t moving in together. He wasn’t that kind of man. He lived alone. He’d always lived alone. Clearly, she was the move-in kind of woman.
“I don’t know if we can both live here,” he said. The promise of frequent sex was tempting, but all the other stuff that women did…or were rumored to do, since he had no experience living with them personally? No. “I like you and all…”
“No problem. And no hard feelings. Since you were instrumental in breaking up my old life, you can stay at my old place until you find another.”
That wasn’t what he meant.
She’d moved to one of the long, wide windows and was fiddling with the latch. “Maze will help me clean and paint. Oh! She can live here, too.”
“No, she can’t.”
Jordan smiled over her shoulder. “Mr. Coll will arbitrate.”
Coll would do nothing. “It’s my place, woman!”
Her smile grew.
The sick feeling he’d had upon entering had been replaced with bewildered outrage. The sudden return of the cold desperation that had clutched at him during those years he was on his own had dissipated; he was warmer now.
He almost felt good.
Standing in his own goddamn place, he looked around again, disoriented. Didn’t see any of the ratholes he used to live in anymore. It was full of light.
But a little paint wouldn’t hurt. On top of some minor construction.
And she wasn’t likely to bother him if she was doing art. Not to mention the other obvious perks of having her beautiful body within reach. The girl had nowhere else to go, unless Coll got her a room somewhere, and that would just mean that Rook would have to go there to watch over her until she was truly settled.
He approached and put his hands at the flare of her hips. “How about you stay here, and we just see how it goes?”
“I stay here,” she repeated. “Isn’t that what I’ve been saying?”
No. He didn’t think it was, but because she felt so right in his grip, he wasn’t about to argue.
She seemed to catch his train of thought. “I can’t sleep with you until we’ve shared a meal.” She turned in his hands to face him and made a worried, sorry expression, upper teeth scoring her bottom lip. “It’s a Rule thing I have so I don’t get myself in trouble.”
Damn if he didn’t break a sweat.
Rule thing. Okay. His fridge was empty, he knew that much. There was a drugstore on the corner, but there was nothing there he could reasonably call a meal.
Warm laughter bubbled up from inside her. “The look on your face.”
“I’ve got to touch you,” he confessed. Touch was just the beginning, the most polite word he had for what he wanted to do to her.
“I said I couldn’t sleep with you, not have sex.” That bright smile. “We can have sex whenever.”
Smartass.
“Food later. Promise.” They were going to need their sleep when they were done.