Page 16 of Not That Complicated

I had the feeling that he didn’t mean that in a customer-service kind of way.

Partly because of the tone of his voice, which carried an authority that no one so young should possess, but mostly because of the way he dropped his gaze down to my lips, then dragged it slowly back up.

I clutched my bag tightly and blinked.

His perfect face remained distant and blank.

My skin prickled over with goosebumps.

What was happening?

I was being psyched out—sexually and otherwise—by the manchild my boyfriend cheated on me with.

And I was getting hard about it.

There was only one thing to do.

Retreat.

I’m almost sure I didn’t break into a run.

Five hours later, I wasback at the front desk. I’d hoped that Adam’s shift would be over and he’d be gone.

Today was still not my day.

I’d spent hours trying to sleep. It wasn’t the emotional fallout of unexpectedly finding a dead body in my house keeping me awake. It wasn’t even the unsettling encounter with Adam. It was the noise from the room next door.

Dear god, the noise.

I pulled a hoodie on over my fadedFraggle Rockt-shirt, sweatpants on over my boxers, and stuffed my socked feet into Adidas flip-flops.

The lift doors opened directly facing the desk, or I’d have turned back the moment I spotted Adam, and put up with the noise instead.

Once he’d noticed me, I felt honour-bound to see it through. He watched me all the way across the foyer.

“You did it on purpose, didn’t you?” I snapped, bellying right up to the desk. Going on the offensive. Taking control of the conversation from the start.

I could do this.

“Good evening, Ray,” Adam said.

“It is very much not a good evening, which I suspect you very well know.”

“Mm-hmm. What are you doing down here?” His eyes gleamed. “Are you bored?”

“No, I’m—”

“Looking for company?”

“Almost never.” I was an independent man, damn it.

“Looking for reassurance after the shock of finding a dead guy in your house?”

I mean, I didn’tneedit or anything, what with being an independent man, but since he’d brought it up—

“Or did you come here to flirt with me some more?”

“Absolutely not. I havenointerest in flirting with you. I am here about the sex!”

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