Page 13 of Sweeper
My eyes jerk forward as I march into his loo to pull open the cubby located behind the large antique mirror that I had hinges put on. “All sorts of toiletries are in here as well.” I grab a large fluffy white towel and turn around to find him standing in the doorway. I toss it at him.
“I didn’t know that opened.” He blinks back curiously.
I roll my eyes as he struggles to hold the tea towel over his willy and wrap the larger one around his waist. He’s standing there freezing to death while my own body heats to an uncomfortable degree. This is going to be a problem. I turn my back to give him some privacy, trying my best to ignore how sculpted his thighs are too. Good God, footy players and thighs…it’s better than cream and jelly, isn’t it? I glance at the soaker tub. “My word, you must have emptied the entire building’s ice machine.”
“Didn’t want the other recruits to see me doing an ice bath in the locker room.” He exhales a heavy breath. “I gotta look tougher than the other newbies.”
I let out a laugh and notice the sudoku puzzle book on the floor. “So this is an ego thing. Why am I not surprised?”
“It’s a survival thing,” he corrects, his voice firm. “Is using that much ice against the building rules?”
“It’s not against the building rules but only because I never realized I needed to make that rule.” I turn around to find him somewhat covered again, and my traitorous eyes zero in on his hip bones that protrude above the bath towel, giving me a visual that I will struggle to erase from my mind in the dark of night. “Do you want me to turn the heat up in your flat?” Hell, I might need an ice bath after this ordeal is over.
He shakes his head, looking a little sad as he tightens the towel around his waist. “I have to get back in.”
“What does it even do for you? Physically?” I blink back in shock.
“It helps my muscles recover quicker. I can’t be sore tomorrow when I meet the rest of the team for the first time. I can’t.” A look of desperation flits across his face, and I nearly feel sorry for the bloke.
“Well, you’re fine to use all of the ice, but I have to ask, do you have to leave your telly on while you do this? You can’t possibly hear it from in here, and that along with your inhumane screams as you torture yourself make it really difficult for anyone to sleep around here.”
The color begins returning to Zander’s cheeks as he glances at the clock beside his bed. “It’s three o’clock in the afternoon. Why would anyone be sleeping?”
“Because some of us work evenings. And not all of us start our day at six a.m. after pressing snooze a million times.” My cheeks heat in anger at the recent memory of not being able to sleep this morning.
“What?” he asks, a look of confusion sweeping across his boyish features.
“You snoozed your alarm at least ten times today.” I pin him with an unamused glower.
“It couldn’t have been ten times.” He rolls his eyes, the muscle in his jaw shifting as he shakes his head.
I ignore his stupid bare torso as he crosses his arms to tell me I’m out of line. “You’re right.” I cross my arms back and quirk a challenging brow. “I may have slept through the first few times, so it was likely more than that. Though it was slightly hard to hear over the blaring of your telly that you left on all night. I’ll do a poll with the other neighbors in the building and get back to you on the exact number.”
Zander’s brows furrow, his hazel eyes glittering with mirth in the warm bathroom lighting. “Am I being a bad neighbor, Ducky?”
“Your cheekiness isn’t going to work with me.” I hate how he seems to inspect every feature on my face every time I speak to him. It’s unnerving. “Honestly, Zander, who snoozes their alarm that many times?”
He huffs out a laugh, looking a lot less pathetic than he did moments ago and a lot more irritating. “Well, I didn’t know the walls here were so thin. Seems like a construction problem if you ask me.”
“Is it that hard to wake up on the first alarm?” I prop my hands on my hips. “Or can you perhaps edit your alarm to the time you actually have to get up?”
“I need time to come to.” His nostrils flare as he eyes me with blatant irritation. “Not all of us have the luxury of sleeping in.”
Oh, the cheek of him! I take a step closer to him so he can feel the full effects of my annoyance. “I didn’t get to sleep in today because I had to listen to my neighbor’s alarm go off over and over. Which is why I was hoping to get a nap in before my shift tonight when you so keenly had to screw that up as well. You’re two for two on mucking up my day, Soccer Boy. It’s quite impressive.”
It’s then that I realize he’s moved closer to me as well. I have to crane my neck up to look at him as he bows over me, his chest rising and falling as he breathes, making it really difficult for me not to inhale his damp scent. He smells of menthol sports cream and sweat. Not an attractive combination by any standards, but I still slightly wonder what it would be like to have a big man like him wrap himself around me and press me up against the glossy white tiled wall.
Bloody hell, if he could hear my thoughts, his ego would explode.
I force myself to maintain eye contact, but the problem is, his face isn’t all that awful to look at either. The natural curl in his shaggy dark chestnut hair only adds to his boyish features and that crooked smirk. And his eyes are rimmed by dark, impossibly long lashes. Mine are blonde and only visible with the mascara that I have to apply every single day. Men really do have all the luck.
“Just please try to be considerate of others in the building, okay?” I state through clenched teeth, trying to de-escalate this little row we’re currently having in the loo.
“You could work on keeping it down too,” he grates, his full lips resting in a simmering glower that I can’t help but notice is very kissable. “I heard some music drifting through the walls earlier, so you’re no quiet church mouse.”
I deflate slightly at that accusation. This flat Zander’s occupying has sat empty for a year, so I hadn’t even considered that if I can hear his telly in my flat, he can hear my music in his. I’ll have to rework my process a bit. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“So will I.” His eyes glance at my body, where a rush of goose bumps erupts over my skin.
