Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,76
rummaged in her purse and pulled out a couple fortune cookies and dropped them on the counter. “Never let it be said I skimp in the hospitality gift department.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
She took her coffee and strolled into the living room, taking the opportunity to examine his sweet apartment in the bright light of day. There were archways between the rooms, a charming little historical touch that broke up the large space. And he had good furniture—mostly midcentury teak stuff, but then his big, amazing, fluffy, pale-blue couch. The first time she’d come up here, she’d thought it was weird that his apartment was so nice while the bar was kind of rough. The bar was spotless, but between the wood-paneled walls and the wooden floors and booths, it was sort of dark and heavy feeling. But now she wondered if the fact that it looked like it was 1955 inside the bar was more a function of the family legacy thing than it was a reflection of Benjamin’s taste.
She strolled across the cushy living room rug to the front window. It was silly, but she liked to look at her apartment from his apartment. Well, really, she liked to do the reverse, to look at his apartment from hers. Since they were both up late due to their jobs, she was often still awake when he closed the bar. So she’d see his place dark, and later the lights would come on. She’d imagine him puttering around as he unwound and got ready for bed. After a while the light in this room would go off, and sometime later the light in another window she assumed belonged to his bedroom would go off, too.
It felt kind of weird that she hadn’t spied on him in recent weeks, because she’d been living in the Mermaid.
Had Holden spied on him from her apartment?
Nah. Holden wasn’t that observant. She smiled. She had developed a certain affection for her leading man, but she definitely no longer had stars in her eyes. That was probably helped along by the fact that he kept propositioning her. She’d assumed, that time they’d been dancing, that his suggestiveness had been a result of his drunkenness, but it turned out that no, he genuinely wanted in her pants. She had no illusions that it was anything other than that he was bored in this town, and she was convenient. They’d made sort of a joke of it—him asking and her rebuffing. But he kept trying—like yesterday, when he’d popped into the flower shop unexpectedly.
Who would have ever thought she’d be in a position to turn down sexual advances from a member of Two Squared?
“What’s so funny?”
She turned. Benjamin’s hair had clearly been towel dried, because it was merely damp now. He was wearing a bright-green Heineken T-shirt. It was worn-looking and, she was sure, incredibly soft. You could tell by looking at it. It also made his eyes, which were a few shades darker, pop like crazy.
She pointed over her shoulder at the window. “Do you ever see Holden from here?”
“No. He never opens the curtains.” His lip curled. She wasn’t sure if that little sneer was inspired by the idea of someone eschewing daylight or by Holden specifically.
She moved from the window and sat on the couch before she realized he was still standing, looking at her. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something but then shut it.
“Sorry I alarmed you with that text,” she said, but then had to stifle the urge to clamp her hand over her mouth. She never apologized to Benjamin, even on the extremely rare occasion when it might be called for.
“No, I’m the one who should—”
He didn’t clamp his hand over his mouth, but he did cut himself off rather abruptly.
Whatever. It was the first match of the season, and they were watching it live! She shook her head, scooched around so she could really get comfy on his perfect sofa, and let the excitement course through her. She’d been so incredibly busy rehearsing—and managing Holden—that she hadn’t had time to savor the anticipation.
“I see you dressed up for the occasion,” he said.
“I sure did.” She was wearing her Crystal Palace dress. It was nothing special, just a soft, comfy knit sheath dress. She’d paired it with her red glitter Cons, which she’d laced for the occasion with bright-blue laces. “Ahh! I’m so excited!”