was put together, I’d organize something.
Until then … I was on my own.
Unless.
I stood and peeked through the peephole in my door to the hallway. Had Jason moved in yet? Was his family still here?
There was only one way to find out, but I didn’t want to walk over empty-handed and beg him to get dinner with me. I stepped back and leaned against the wall. I could order a little extra pizza. Offer to share with him.
Before I could chicken out, I grabbed my phone and found the closest pizza place.
Thirty minutes later, I was armed with two boxes of ooey-gooey goodness. I crossed the hall and knocked on his door. There were a few minutes of silence, and I’d almost given up when he swung it open wearing only a pair of workout shorts.
The body I thought I knew—the one of a teenager—was long gone. This was all man. Broader. Thicker. Muscles that I once found impressive had swollen to three times their size. He was huge. Ripped.
“Taylor?”
I swallowed and met his eyes with zero dignity left. He was smirking, and I almost threw the pizzas in his face.
“I …” should run.
He leaned against the door frame, folding his arms and making all those muscles twist and bulge in new ways. “You have pizza?”
I nodded.
“Are you wanting to share it?”
My eyes trailed up his too large to be real-life biceps, and I nodded again.
“Come on in.” He stepped to the side, and I walked into his apartment. It was immaculate. Everything was perfectly in place like it had been staged by professionals.
I spun around, and he took the boxes from me. “How?”
He cocked his head. “What?”
“Your apartment? When did you move in?”
“The movers finished up yesterday.”
Movers. Right. Cause he was fancy and had people that could put his life together for him. “It looks really nice.”
“Thanks.” He set the boxes down and pulled two plates from a cabinet without even hesitating. How did he already know where things were? Why did I feel like I was falling apart and he was perfection personified?
He led me to his dining room table and sat, leaving the chair next to him pulled out a bit.
“Did your family already leave?” I asked as I lowered myself.
“Yeah.” He took a large bite and smiled. “I can’t believe you remembered my favorite.”
“Pepperoni and black olive isn’t that hard.”
He shrugged and took another bite.
“I wanted to thank them for all their help before they left.” I took a small bite of my ham and peppers slice, trying to keep my eyes above his neck. Would it have killed him to put a shirt on?
“You already did.”
“I don’t just mean saying thank you. I wanted to take them to dinner or get them a gift or something.”
“You don’t need to do anything like that. They were happy to see you again. That was more than enough.”
My shoulders dropped as I leaned back. “It was good to see them too. I never thought I would again.”
He lowered his slice. “That’s my fault.”
“Please, let’s not do that. We’ve moved past what happened. No more blame.” I needed that just as much as he did. If we ever had a hope of moving on, even as friends, we had to let things go.
He sighed and nodded. “I really do appreciate that you’ve forgiven me enough to let me into your life,” his eyes softened, “in any capacity.”
“What does that mean?” I asked before I thought it through.
“If we’re neighbors, I’m okay with that.” He held up his pizza. “More than okay with it, if that’s all we are. But if you want to be friends, I’d like that too.”
Friends? I don’t think we’d ever been just that. When we met in high school the attraction had been pretty instant for both of us. We didn’t waste time in the friend zone before admitting how we felt about each other.
“Can we be friends?”
“I hope so.” He sounded sincere.
“Me too.” There was a voice in the back of my mind telling me it couldn’t happen. This gray area wouldn’t last long. Jason and I could never be just friends. There was too much already between us. Feelings and experiences, both good and bad. How did we ignore that?
“I thought you would be relaxing and celebrating having your own apartment.” He took a bite and waited for me to react.
Would he tease me? Would he understand?
“I was lonely.”
He dropped his eyes. “It’s like that for the first few months. It probably took