I Flipping Love You (Shacking Up #3)(65)

“See? So sexy.” She runs her fingers down my forearm, skirting the healing nicks and cuts on my knuckles. “You kind of break all the molds. You have to be able to see why I was reluctant to go out with you.”

“Because I fit some kind of stereotype?”

“Because you look like you’re good at breaking hearts and bed frames.”

“I promise the latter is far more likely than the former.” I wink on reflex.

“And you have all the lines.”

“That’s not a line, that’s me being honest. I’m not a heartbreaker. Remember, I’m the one who had my heart broken in the past.”

She settles into the corner of the couch, spinning noodles on her plastic fork. “You can’t tell me you didn’t break any girls’ hearts along the way. You must’ve had a sow-your-oats phase in college or something.”

“I dated, but I didn’t make a habit of stringing girls along.” Back then I’d had freedom, at least a little, and being here now feels like I have it again, even if it’s only temporary. In some ways, what we’re doing reminds me of college nights spent eating takeout and putting off homework or studying in lieu of hanging out with a pretty girl. I should be working on this house, but instead, I’m spending time getting to know Rian.

“Tell me what you were like in college. Did you always have to keep Marley in line? Were you a math tutor? What did you study?”

Rian sets her food on the coffee table and folds her legs under her. “Marley can’t be kept in line by anyone. I probably would’ve tutored if I’d had the chance. I started in math, finances actually, but it got complicated.” She pauses and worries her lip before she continues. “So I ended up dropping out partway through my first semester.”

She’s clearly math brilliant, so that’s a shock. “What happened that you had to drop out?”

Her gaze flicks up to mine before dropping again. “My, uh … grandmother passed away, and we ran into some financial difficulties that made college tuition a problem.”

I think about the time I followed her around the grocery store and how she’d been price matching everything in her cart, about the way she’d wrangled the repair bill down and avoided insurance, how she drove a beater and her sister drove a nice car. “What about loans?”

“We were left with some debt; it took a while to sort it all out. Anyway, eventually Marley and I took real estate courses and here we are.” She smiles, but she looks sad.

“Is this the grandmother who was friends with the people who owned the Mission Mansion?”

She nods. “We spent most of our summer with her. I miss her, a lot. She was an incredible woman.”

I grab her ankles and pull her across the couch into my lap. “So are you.” Skimming the hollow under her eyes with gentle fingertips, I expect the almost-tears there to fall, but they don’t.

She shakes her head. “I’m really not.”

“Stop being disagreeable.”

She laughs, her eyes warming. “Says the most antagonistic man on the planet.”

“That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?”

“At least in this zip code, then.” She runs her fingers through my hair and down the sides of my neck. Goose bumps rise along my skin, a visceral reaction to the way her touch affects me. “Do you know what we should do?” she asks softly.

“What’s that?”

She reaches over my shoulder and grabs the unopened box of condoms and pats my stomach. “We should work off some calories before we feed your six-pack dessert.”

“Good idea. It’s my best asset. We need to keep it that way.”

“I don’t know if it’s your best asset.” She skims my lips with her fingertip. “If we’re talking physical assets, I’d say this mouth is a winner, and then of course there’s one below the waist that’s pretty amazing.”

“I have a great idea.” I slide forward to the edge of the couch.

“What’s that?”

“Let’s take this to the bedroom and we can do a thorough examination of each other’s assets.”

I wrap her legs around my waist and carry her to the bedroom. We eat dessert for breakfast.

*

Despite her assurance that she can get home fine on her own, I drop Rian off at her place the next morning. Well, it’s close to noon, but I have all afternoon to deal with work. Trip is annoyed that he’s been relegated to the back seat. He’s currently resting his chin on Rian’s shoulder. If she minds, she doesn’t say anything. She woke with Trip between us. He was not impressed when I kicked him out so we could have sex without an audience.

“Am I sitting in your spot? I’ll be gone soon and you can have our man all to yourself again.”

I like that she refers to me as “our man.” Purposely or accidentally, either way I’m a fan.

I drop her off at a small, quaint duplex in a decent neighborhood. It’s a mix of renovated homes and older ones in need of work.

“Well, this is me.” She fidgets a little, maybe unsure of herself.

I push Trip’s head out of the way so I can kiss her. “I want to see you later this week. What days are you free?”

She laughs against my lips. “You realize the way you say that makes it sound very unquestion-like.”