Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 14
Rafferty
I look around my condo one last time and I don’t see anything out of place. While I usually keep clutter to a minimum, I got up this morning and actually cleaned. Vacuumed and mopped floors, scrubbed bathrooms and dusted.
Farren eventually rolled out of bed midmorning and helped by changing the linens on my bed and in the two guest rooms and made us a late breakfast.
“Sure are going to a lot of effort to impress Tempe,” she observed.
Didn’t bother denying it. I’ve never invited another woman into my home so this is kind of a big deal.
Of course, once that was done, it felt like a lot of nervous waiting. We didn’t have practice so I got in a workout at my local gym and ran to the grocery store. Not Tempe’s store but a specialty market where I was able to pick up some nice salmon fillets and organic vegetables for dinner. One of the things I’ve learned about Tempe is that while she’s not a vegetarian and will eat beef and chicken on occasion, she prefers fish and vegetables, so I intend to accommodate that. I’ll eat anything, so it wasn’t a hardship to determine tonight’s meal.
Now I’m in wait mode, freshly showered and sporting a casual look of jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt. I only have two goals for tonight—feed Tempe a good meal and discuss turning this relationship into something real. I might have hopes we can watch a movie, and yes, my wildest dream is that she ends up in my bed for the night, but that all depends on how our talk goes.
I was surprised to learn that Farren invited Tempe out last night and they watched the game at a bar downtown. I tried to poke and prod to see what they talked about—or rather, if Tempe let on about how she’s feeling—but Farren told me to figure it out myself. I wasn’t too put off by that because if my sister thought I was in any danger of being hurt, or I was going down the wrong path with Tempe, she’d give me a heads-up.
She left nearly an hour ago with a backpack slung over her shoulder. She looked impossibly young with her hair in a ponytail under a baseball cap and a pair of worn Nike Dunks.
“Where are you going?” I asked. I invited her to stay and join us for dinner but asked only that she make herself scarce in her room after so I could talk to Tempe.
“Going to hang with a friend,” she said. “Let you have some privacy.”
“What friend?” I asked. “You just arrived here a few days ago.”
Farren turned to stare at me as if I didn’t have a brain cell left in my body. “I happen to have friends here in the States as well as other countries, Raff. Why you think I wouldn’t is beyond me. Hello, I’m the social butterfly from hell.”
I laughed as it made sense. Farren has never met a stranger, and I’m sure she’s turned her wanderlust and bartending into a surefire way to establish connections all over. I don’t push for more information because as far as I know, she might be seeing a male friend, and I don’t want to know details. She’s an adult and I can’t poke my nose into her business like that, because I know she’ll punch the shit out of it.
The knock at the door startles me and a zing of adrenaline makes my heart skip a beat, almost akin to the way it does when we score a goal.
I take a deep breath and give myself a five-second internal monologue. You got this. Tempe likes you. It will be fine. If not, no harm, no foul.
“Ready,” I murmur and move to the door.
When I open it, as usual, I have that moment of being caught off guard by Tempe’s beauty. She’s wearing a pair of black leggings, a slouchy sweater under a fleece coat, and her hair is wrapped in a messy concoction on top of her head.
She holds up a bottle of white wine. “You said we’re having salmon, so I bought a good bottle from the grocery store.”
“You had to work today?” I ask, stepping back and welcoming her in. I have no clue what she did today because I purposely didn’t ask. I didn’t want to come on too strong with my nosiness.
“Only half a day shift to cover someone who got sick,” she says, her eyes roaming around my condo with interest. “Your place is really nice.”
“Thanks.” And Christ… this is weird. Awkward, even. And it makes me blurt, “I have something for you.”
Tempe faces me, head tipped to the side. I move past her to the island counter and grab the small rectangular paper. “Here you go.”