Landlord Wars(6)

Clearly, I’d been deeply deprived of male attention because there were plenty of other things I’d overlooked.

I pressed my lips together and closed my eyes, feeling my chest loosening. This was the best week. The very best week. I had my own space in a swanky apartment, and I was getting better sleep than I had in years. I would not let my ex’s presence ruin this day.

“Excuse me?” the hostess said, peering from above silver-framed glasses that matched her hair. “I can’t find your name, and if you don’t have your reservation number, I’ll have to take the next customer.”

The sound of someone clearing his throat came from behind, and I stiffly looked back.

Paul was standing right behind us now. Tension lined his eyes as he clenched his fiancée’s hand. “Sophia… Is there a problem?” He looked over his shoulder at the growing line. “Maybe you should step back and let someone else through.”

“You know her?” his fiancée murmured.

Shame swept through me, and I stepped aside in jerky movements, wishing to be smaller. I wasn’t with Paul anymore, yet somehow, I still managed to embarrass him.

I’d lost the reservation number. For most people that wasn’t the end of the world, but the truth was, I couldn’t afford this place. I’d wanted to live like the haves instead of the have-nots, even for an hour, and I’d just been bitch-slapped into reality courtesy of my ex, a guy I hadn’t seen in a year.

I looped my arm through Elise’s and moved to leave, when a man said, “Ming, she can have my reservation.”

My head swiveled in the direction of the deep, cultured voice a few feet behind Paul…to find Landlord Devil staring at his phone.

He glanced at the hostess. “A call just came in that I need to take.”

Landlord Devil placed the phone to his ear and turned his back to us.

“Of course, Mr. Burrows.” The hostess smiled and motioned me and Elise toward a pair of double doors and the restaurant that resided just beyond. “Right this way.”

I looked at Max, but he still had his back turned. Though I caught Paul giving Max a sidelong look, and his expression was annoyed.

Was Paul disappointed that Landlord Devil had rescued me like a suit-clad knight in shining armor?

Elise nudged me forward, and I followed the hostess numbly.

Max and I hadn’t made eye contact once, which led me to believe he hadn’t known it was me blocking the line. Just some random woman. And for a moment, I could see him in a different light—one less harsh. Maybe he wasn’t entirely awful. Maybe we’d just gotten off on the wrong foot.

Catching my stiff composure as we made our way through the restaurant, Elise said, “I think he’s in the other dining room.” At my confused expression, she added, “Paul.”

I rubbed my temples. “It’s fine. I was just… I haven’t seen Paul in a long time, and that was embarrassing as hell.”

“No shit. He didn’t even have the courtesy to say hello. Just get the fuck out of the way. But holy hell, the hot businessman? Yes, please! I’ll take some of that.” She waggled her eyebrows.

I stared in horror.

“What?”

“That businessman was—is—my landlord.”

Her nose crinkled. “Landlord Devil?”

“Correct.”

She looked toward the double doors that were now closed, and nearly ran into an older couple leaving the dining area.

“Watch where you’re going,” I mumbled.

The hostess stopped near a table and gestured for us to sit.

Elise leaned in and lowered her voice. “Well, he seemed okay. And he’s a freaking smoke-show, Soph. Why didn’t you tell me?” She pulled out her chair and sat.

Too many unsettling thoughts were running through my mind to respond to Elise’s question. I jerked out a chair and slumped into the seat. Maxwell Burrows was good-looking. Of course I’d noticed—in the split second before he criticized me the night we met. Then all pleasure at a handsome face had dissipated. But he hadn’t been an asshat just now, and I wasn’t sure what to think.

“He probably didn’t know it was me at the front of the line,” I finally said.

“Max is his name?” Elise’s mouth twisted and she shrugged. “Either way, more dim sum for us.” She clinked her water glass against mine, and I focused on the delicious menu instead of on the two men who’d reminded me of all the reasons I was cautious when it came to relationships.





Chapter Four





Max





Fleet Week in San Francisco was the bane of my existence. The planes I enjoyed, but the people coming into the city for the parade of ships, music, and airshows? Them I could do without.

I stood on the sidewalk in front of my building, and a horn blared. Some BMW dickhead had stolen a parking space on the cramped San Francisco street, and a Tesla proceeded to road-rage the hell out of the other car. The scenario epitomized my mood.

The other day, I’d run into Jack’s new roommate at a restaurant, and I hadn’t been the same since. She’d been distraught after she couldn’t find her reservation number, so I’d given her mine. Seeing her upset was unsettling, and I’d had the unprecedented urge to…help. I hadn’t felt settled since, wondering why I’d gone so far.