Page 21 of Wicked Flirt
Ellie put her hands on her hips and called out to Marcus in a saucy tone, “Whatcha got there, boss man?”
Marcus held up a keychain. “Apartment key.” He handed it over.
“Thank you,” Ellie chirped. She stuck the key in her jeans pocket and walked away.
So Ellie had an open invitation to the boss’s apartment.
Lexi clenched her teeth, taken aback by the stab of jealousy. Dammit. Marcus had gotten under her skin. She found herself wanting to believe in him, wanting to believe he’d changed, that he was no longer a cheating, lying player with a long trail of shattered hearts.
An uncomfortable lump of emotion lodged in her throat. She swallowed it down, reminding herself it was better if she and Marcus were just friends.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Six
Marcus took his seat in the booth and smiled at Lexi. She did not smile back. “Got the checkbook. I’ll pay you half up front.”
“Thanks,” she said tersely.
“Something wrong?”
“You and Ellie together?” Her tone was flat.
“No.”
“She has your apartment key.”
He studied her for a moment. The fact was Ellie was renting the apartment next door to The Burrow. He’d recently bought the adjoining building, which would soon have a coffee shop on the lower level. He gave her low rent by Manhattan standards and a pay bump since she’d stepped in as part-time manager in his absence.
“Are you jealous?” He kinda hoped she was because that meant she was into him. She had said he was an orgasm-inducing eye-fuck of a man with his shit together and she couldn’t think of anything better than that. She’d definitely grown on him too.
She stared at her laptop. “It’s none of my business.”
“That’s true.” Was this a good time to make a move? Or would it screw everything up? She was making such great progress with his mom he didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it. “Lexi, I don’t play where I work.”
She typed furiously, not looking at him. He waved his fingers in front of her face, and she finally looked up from the laptop. “What?”
He leaned close, lowering his voice. “I know you got the goods on me from my mom, but there’s more to me than a handful of buff baby pictures.” He thought that might coax a smile from her, but she wasn’t budging. “All I’m saying is maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
She gave him a sour look. “I know you’re a flirt down to your bones. Some women might take it to heart. Not me. Other women.”
“Flirting is just my way of being nice.”
She shut her laptop with a snap. “So if you flirt with women to be nice, how’re you nice to guys, then?”
He wasn’t sure why she was asking, but whatever. “I play basketball with them, buy them a beer. Bro stuff.”
“Do that with me.”
“You want me to treat you like a guy?”
She nodded emphatically. “I’d like that very much.”
“All right. Well, I guess we could play pool. I’d do that with my bro. There’s a table upstairs.”In a very private room.
“I have to get back. Live by the train schedule.” She tucked the laptop back in the bag and then just sat there, staring at him for a solemn moment.
He waited, unsure where she was at. He’d never felt so off-balance with a woman before. One minute he was sure she was into him, the next she was fleeing the scene. Maybe she was nuts. But would a crazy woman be such a generous friend, helping him out with his mom’s condition? No. It must be something about him that sent her on the run. He decided right then and there to treat her exactly like she’d asked to be treated. Like a guy. That was the only way to keep her comfortable, to keep her from running away from him.
