Landlord Wars(39)

“A butler.”

“—and a spiral staircase the size of Coit Tower.”

“That sounds like an exaggeration.” She continued munching on her sandwich. “However, Max paid for our drinks the other night, and he owns the building you live in. Are you really surprised he’s wealthy?”

“No,” I said, grudgingly. “What was surprising was the kiss he gave me the night before his mother ordered me around like a servant.”

Elise stopped chewing. “What?” She set her sandwich on her plate. I’d finally said something that won the battle for attention with her appetite. “You kissed Landlord Devil?”

I avoided her eyes. “He kissed me, but I…reciprocated.”

“Damn straight you did.” She leaned back, hand on her head as though excited or shocked or both. “I’m missing how this is a bad thing, Soph. Max has his shit together, and he isn’t hard on the eyes. Please tell me you aren’t considering ditching him in favor of another of the Paul variety?”

“Did you miss the part about his mother? And if ‘rich’ is your only criterion, Paul’s family was extremely wealthy. Not that I want a repeat of Paul. If anything, I learned a valuable lesson about dating a guy who comes from a wealthy family. As in, think twice.”

Elise shrugged and picked up her sandwich. “Rich people are raised different. Everyone is probably a servant in Max’s mother’s eyes. Don’t take it personally.”

“How can I not?” I said and picked my fork back up. I pushed salad around on my plate to distract myself. “We’re not equal. I can’t kiss Max anymore. Down that path lies destruction.”

Elise let out a light sigh. “It was just a kiss. Go out with the guy and see if you like him.”

That was the problem and the reason I’d spent most of my waking hours today thinking about him. I didn’t want to like Max. He stole my chocolate, and generally drove me nuts, but I didn’t need to go on a date with him to know if I liked him. I already knew that I did. The kiss had sealed the deal.

I’d hated Max up until he flipped the switch on me and showed me that he wasn’t as shallow as I’d imagined. He’d been kind to my mother the day he met her, and then he’d escorted me home. In contrast, Paul’s reaction to meeting my mother had led to our breakup.

Max had kissed me after meeting my mother. And with kissing skills no man should possess. Not if a woman was supposed to remain upright and not melt into a puddle of drool and dirty thoughts.

“What if it was only a kiss to him?” I said. Max might very well be toying with me, but I could easily see myself falling for a classy man with kissing skills. My lips were not immune, and neither was my heart. I pointed my fork at Elise. “Besides, you act like dating Max would be no big deal. If it’s no big deal to put your heart out there, what about you and Jack? Because clearly there’s an attract—”

“La, la, la—anyway,” Elise said, cutting me off and sticking her fingers in her ears. “As I was saying, did you like kissing Max?”

I glared. “Kissing Max was like the stupid mansion—I couldn’t comprehend the indulgence before I experienced it.”

Elise paused a beat, then said, “That was poetic.” She tilted her head and tapped the side of her chin. “I did not see this coming. I should have, with my talent for sniffing out your love life.”

I shot her a disbelieving look. “Since when have you been a bloodhound in the romance department?”

“Since I predicted Paul would leave you.”

Ouch.

Elise had told me to throw my ex back the very first night she met him. Then I proceeded to date him for a year. So, she had me there. “Well, apparently, you were too busy sniffing out my roommate to notice the sparks flying in the other section of the apartment.”

Elise’s face turned bright red. “We will not discuss that other individual. Back to LD. What happened after he kissed you?”

“LD?”

“Landlord Devil.”

I took a sip of water. “I ran away, of course. I’m not capable of mixing hate and love.”

“But is it hate?” she said in an annoying, squeaky, high voice. “Maybe he’s been eating your chocolates to get your attention.”

“Like a ten-year-old boy?”

“I’m just saying, never overestimate the emotional maturity of men. They resort to caveman tendencies when faced with perplexing situations. Like, say, having feelings for a woman they weren’t planning to like.”

I blinked several times. Some of what she was said made sense. “How can you dish wisdom like this one moment, then slither down a fire escape the next?”

“It’s a talent,” she said, and picked the tomato off her BLT, leaving her with the L and the B. “As far as cave brain goes,” she said, chewing another bite of her sandwich, “women have their own fight-or-flight instincts.”

I swirled the ice cubes in my glass. “I can’t date Max, no matter what that kiss did to me. His mother treated me like the help. That’s a power struggle I want no part of. Even so…” I gave her a tentative look. “What if he doesn’t have plans to date me, Elise? What if I was just a booty call?”

“Did you give him booty? Because if you did, I’m impressed. You typically make your boyfriends wait months before you put out.”