Page 32 of Firecracker

She pushed up out of the water and ran her hands over her eyes.

Liam was going to give her a lesson in beer and cocktails. That should be fun. She wassonot a beer girl.

Didn’t matter. This was her livelihood now, and she was going to kick ass at it if it killed her.

She reached for her can of passion fruit-scented shaving foam and her razor, and took care of defuzzing underarms and legs. She scrubbed up with her sponge, then shampooed and rinsed her hair using the handheld attachment.

Out of the bath, she combed through her wet hair as the tub drained, then considerately cleaned out the tub. It was nice of Tyler to let her use his place; she didn’t want to leave it in a mess. She wiped down the vanity too, then dressed and gathered up all her things to leave.

It still seemed weird that they all left their doors unlocked, but they were friends and trusted one another. That was kind of comforting, actually, to know she was living among people who had one another’s back.

She wouldn’t see much of Jamie and Mila when she was working late shifts, but now she had a schedule for the next week, and there were some days she’d work earlier. She’d been chatting online with her friend Emma, who also worked a nine-to-five type job, though it sounded like Emma too worked long hours. They’d been trying to figure out a time to get together with Arden now back in Chicago, and now that Arden knew her schedule, they could arrange something. She was excited to see her best friend again.

She opened the bathroom door and poked her head out. The hall was empty, so she stepped out, all her things rolled up in damp towels.

“Hey.”

She jumped, nearly throwing her bottles of shampoo and conditioner down the hall. She turned to see Tyler coming out of his bedroom, wearing a pair of athletic shorts sitting sinfully low on his hips, his hair all mussed. “Jesus! You scared me. I thought you were sleeping.”

He gave her a slow, slumberous smile, his eyelids heavy. “I think you might want to cut back on the caffeine. You’re as jumpy as peas on a hot griddle.”

She couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up. He was right, though. She’d been on edge for a long time, and the stress of picking up and moving across the country hadn’t helped that. “I guess that long bath I just had didn’t help me relax much.”

“You had a bath?” One eyebrow rose and his eyes took on an interested gleam.

“Yes. I hope that was okay.”

“Yeah, that was okay. I told you, you can use my bathroom any time.”

“That tub is amazing. I love it.”

“Hmmm.”

She blinked.

“Well, good. I need coffee. You need coffee?” He moved toward her down the hall.

“You just told me to cut back on caffeine.”

He brushed past her with a smile. “How many cups of coffee have you had today?”

“None.”

“Then you’re good. Come on.”

“I should go…” She had wet hair dripping down the back of her T-shirt and no makeup on.

“Have a cup of coffee.”

“Did I wake you up?” She followed him slowly to his kitchen, watching the muscles in his back, the shorts so low she could almost see the shadow of his butt cleft. She swallowed. They really had to stop meeting like this…

“Nope.” He grabbed a package of Tassimo cartridges and checked the machine for water. “Just woke up. I only needed a nap, since things were quiet last night.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

“It was good. Busy day yesterday.”

“Did you rescue any cats from trees?”

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