“Water would be fine.”
He made his way into the kitchen and came up beside her as she prepped the plate.
“This looks good. Thanks for fixing it for me.”
“It’s no trouble.”
She sat at the table with him while he ate. Or, rather, while he wolfed down the meal in what seemed like less than five minutes.
“Hungry?” she asked.
He laid down his fork and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “Starving. It was a long flight and they don’t feed you shit on the plane.” He took the plate to the sink, rinsed it and put it in the dishwasher. “Thank you again for this. I feel human again.”
“You’re welcome.”
He downed the glass of water and refilled it, then came back to sit next to her at the table.
“How was your road trip?”
“Long. Painful. We lost three games. It sucked.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “It’s over. We’ll regroup. And we have several home games now. That’ll help.”
“Will it?”
“Yeah. The home crowd always motivates us to do better.”
“I hope so.”
“You should come to a game or two.”
She leaned back in the chair. “And you think that would help you win?”
“I know it would.”
She laughed. “I doubt that, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Bring Stella. I’m sure she’d like to see a game.”
“That’s probably true, but she’s busy getting ready for a show. I’ll check with her and see if she’s available.”
He looked around her apartment. “How’s the work going?”
“Good. I’ve gotten a lot done, which was why I called you. I’d like you to try on a few things.”
“Okay.” He pushed back the chair and stood. “Where do you want me?”
She tilted her head back and looked at him. Ridiculously, her first thought in response to that question was, in her bed.
She shook that off and stood. “We need to head over to my work studio. That’s where all the clothes are.”
“All right.”
They put on their coats and headed downstairs to hail a taxi. It was a brisk night, cloudy and overcast, with the threat of freezing rain forecast. Carolina was cold and the taxi’s heater wasn’t exactly in working order. She shivered.
“You cold?” Drew asked.
“A little.”
“Come over here.” He pulled her over and put his arm around her.
She wanted to resist, wanted to keep that line of distance and professionalism between them, but who was she kidding? She was freezing, and Drew’s body was warm. She snuggled in closer.
“Better?” he asked, putting his other arm around the front of her.
“Much. Thank you.”
As soon as the chill wore off, they arrived at the building.