Page 57 of Building Romance
He eyes me and then the overnight bag Fletcher is carrying. He smirks. I glare.
“Have fun watching the movie,” he says, giving me an overly sweet grin.
I sort of want to hit him over the head, but I refrain.
I see him look over at Fletcher and he nods. Frowning, I glance back at Fletcher who is looking at me. What the hell was that about? I’m about to ask when there’s a knock at the door.
“Asswipe, you coming down for game night?” Kasen yells.
“Oh, shit. I forgot about that,” Drew says as he runs toward his room. I roll my eyes and open the door to find my large, ex-military neighbor standing there.
“Where’s Drew?” he asks, stepping into the apartment.
“Please, come in, Kase,” I mutter.
“I will,” he agrees and then stops and looks at Fletcher.
“Where are you going?” he asks us, looking Fletcher up and down.
“Just to watch a movie,” I say, wanting to get away from Kasen because I feel like he knows more than he’s letting on. I wonder if he found anything when he was looking up stuff about Fletcher and the new store. He hasn’t said he’s found anything yet but the way he’s staring at Fletcher is making me uneasy.
“OK, gotta go,” I say and quickly pull Fletcher into the hall and down the stairs.
“Slow down,” he says with a laugh.
We get out onto the street and I catch my breath.
“Cam, what the hell?” he asks, now looking concerned as I lean over and breathe. Damn steps! I wish Al would put in a new elevator. I know we’d all have to chip in to pay for it, but right now, I would love to have that.
I hold up a finger. After a few breaths, I stand back upright. “Just in a hurry to go watch a movie. And Drew would have talked our ears off.”
“And here I was worried about Kasen,” he mutters as he opens the car door for me.
I grimace. Should I tell Kasen to call off his attempt to find dirt on Fletcher? I mean, it was just an innocent ask for information, not anything super nefarious.
“Kasen’s…intense,” I manage as he shuts the door and then gets in next to me.
“Intense? He looks like someone who kills twelve people at a time with his bare hands,” he says. I giggle. He gives me a deadpan look.
“Look, Kasen is like a…well-trained tiger? He’s completely docile and you can rub his belly, but if you cross that line…yeah, he’d probably kill you,” I admit.
“Rub his belly?” Fletcher looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
I blush. “You know what I mean,” I huff as I look away and scan the people walking in the city. I do love it here. Growing up in the suburbs is nice but there’s just something about the anonymity of walking around city streets. You’re with people, but you can also be invisible at the same time.
I feel Fletcher’s hand on my leg and I glance down. The memory of what that hand can do to my body has my lady bits coming to life. I feel my blush turn into a full-body flush.
“Are you hot?” Fletcher asks as he reaches down and adjusts a temperature dial.
“No. I-I’m fine,” I stammer as I try to pull myself together. What are we doing? Am I making a huge mistake?
I look over and he’s watching me intently. I’m about to say something when the car comes to a stop. I look up and see we are at a fancy high-rise downtown. I nearly roll my eyes because this is exactly the type of place a billionaire would live. Oh shit, he probably is a billionaire. Why I never thought about this until right now, I have no idea.
My level of feeling flustered just skyrocketed.
I’m about to open my door when I realize Fletcher is already there opening it. He extends his hand to me and I begrudgingly accept it. I hate all this gentlemanly shit, but I’m too far in my mind to care at the moment.
He does that thing where he places his hand on the small of my back, guiding me inside the building where he greets a doorman and then presses his thumb on a security panel beside the elevator. It opens and we enter. There are only four buttons and he presses one.
