Any Way You Want Me - By Jamie Sobrato Page 0,22
a chance.”
“I told you, I don’t do nerds.”
“That’s my condition. You ask him out, go on a date with him, give him a real chance or no computer help for you.”
“I had no idea you could play so dirty.”
“Like I said, you could go buy a cookbook.”
“I had all my recipes picked out and bookmarked on that cooking Web site you showed me.”
“Should have printed them, huh?”
Yasmine bit her lip to keep from laughing. Kyle was leaning against the door frame now with his arms crossed over his chest, half-smiling as he listened to her conversation. Oddly, she liked him listening in. She found it somehow familiar and intimate in a way she hadn’t been with a guy in too long.
Cass, apparently finished stewing, sighed. “Fine. If he can come fix my computer, I’ll ask him out. And if he’s cute, I’ll take him to bed and screw his brains out.”
“No charity sex. Just be open to possibilities, okay? If he’s home, I’ll have him call you and set up a time to come over. If he’s not available, I’ll call you back.”
She hung up with Cass and gave Kyle an apologetic smile. “I’ll be finished in a sec.”
“Playing matchmaker?”
She shrugged. “I promised Drew I’d hook him up, and as you can see from his date last night, he needs all the help he can get.”
“I’ll be waiting in the tub—hurry up,” he said as he gave her a once-over. “Lose the towel.”
Yasmine dialed Drew’s number, and luckily he picked up. In a mere two minutes, she’d confirmed he was free and set him up to meet Cass. Satisfied that her matchmaker work was done for the day, she turned off her cell phone to save herself any more unwelcome interruptions and headed for the bathroom.
An hour and a steamy round of shower sex later, Yasmine and Kyle were clean and dressed, rejuvenated by doughnuts and coffee, and pulling into a parking spot in front of Yasmine’s apartment. She couldn’t think what they’d do or talk about all day if not for sex, but hey, if sex was all they had in common, she’d be the last girl to complain. Because it was really, really good.
Outside the car, houses in her neighborhood glinted here and there with Christmas lights, while just as many were decidedly unfestive looking. Her own building, a blue and green Victorian that had long ago been converted to four puny apartments, was one of the unfestive variety, since it was inhabited by a Buddhist couple, a pagan and two lazy singles—including Yasmine—who couldn’t be bothered with decorations.
She had an odd sense that she’d embarked on some kind of escape from reality with Kyle, as though she was seeing her own neighborhood with the fresh eyes of a tourist. And maybe that’s what she needed to break out of the doldrums that had settled on her lately—a wild little escape from reality. Maybe this change of perspective would appease her bad-girl urges and she’d be able to return to her rule-following, law-abiding—albeit boring—life with no more tempting whispers from that quarter.
Or maybe she’d just finally be able to finish her current software project with a renewed sense of creativity.
She led Kyle up the stairs and into her apartment, feeling a tiny bit embarrassed that she hadn’t even gotten a tabletop tree.
“So this is my place,” she said, making a sweeping motion.
The cinnamon-colored walls, the iron grillwork she’d arranged as wall decor, the purple sofa, the middle-eastern fabrics draped over the tables and arm of the sofa—it all added up to a warm, cozy place that was distinctly hers. She loved her apartment, small and creaky as it was, and she’d worked her ass off making it a home.
“Nice,” Kyle said as he surveyed the living room. “Makes my place look like a crap hole.”
She tried not to laugh but failed. “Maybe you could use a little decorating help—not that I’m volunteering for the job or anything. You can pay people to do that for you.”
Her Siamese cat, Milo, darted out from his perch on the window and raced across the room, skidding to a stop in the kitchen doorway. He looked up at her with his haughty blue eyes and yowled.
“He’s trying to convince me he nearly starved to death during my absence.”
“Hey, kitty,” Kyle said as he crouched down and extended his hand to the cat, who in turn stood up on his hind legs and swatted at Kyle’s hand.
“Milo, behave!” She said to the cat,