He felt wiped out now that he’d finished work for the day. The cats had been tucked in, the kitchen was clean, and it had been a long-ass day. He was thinking better of his plan to bring Lindsay home, but he didn’t want to let this opportunity pass by. If he waited any longer, she would have likely make some excuse or disappear into the dark night never to be seen again.
“Prospect Heights,” she said.
“Me too. Where?”
“Underhill. Near Eastern Parkway.”
“Okay. I’m on Washington, closer to Atlantic.”
“Not far, then.” Lindsay rolled her shoulders. “Are we really doing this?”
“Yes. Going to my place. I’m getting a car.” Brad held up his phone to show he had a ride-share app pulled up. “But no touching.”
Lindsay was quiet on the short car ride to Brad’s apartment. When they arrived, Brad led her upstairs.
“You have roommates?” Lindsay asked as he unlocked the door.
“Nope.”
“That’s something.”
Brad let her in and then led her to the living room, which involved cutting through the kitchen.
Lindsay looked around. “This is a lot of space. Could use some art, though. And that kitchen is kind of an eyesore.”
“You don’t have to be critical of everything. You know as well as I do what apartments cost in this city. When I was looking, it was basically down to this place or a place half this size but with newer appliances. That was a pretty easy decision.”
“Sure, okay.” She sighed. “Evan lives one block over. And you’ve been right here the whole time.”
“Less than a year, but yeah.” He gestured toward the sofa, hoping Lindsay would sit.
She did, and then she folded her hands in her lap. “So talk.”
He stood in the middle of his living room trying to decide how to approach this. He decided and took a deep breath. “I have two ground rules for this discussion.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. What?”
“One, we’re honest. And two, we listen.”
She crossed her arms. “Okay.” She nodded once, clearly understanding what he meant.
Good.
So, okay, they were doing this. Right now was Brad’s one shot to get out everything he wanted to say, and he had to do it right so Lindsay wouldn’t storm out. He took another deep breath. “Let me get this out of the way. I did not cheat on you. I would never cheat on you. Phoebe came on to me in that kitchen, and then you walked in.”
“Why should I believe you?”
Okay. That was how this was going to be. “When did I ever lie to you?”
That seemed to give Lindsay pause. She glared at him for a moment, then let out a breath. Her posture relaxed as some of the fight leaked out of her. “Fine. Tell me what happened.”
“We were working in the kitchen, Phoebe and I were goofing around a little, and then out of nowhere she kissed me. I was so surprised, it took my brain a minute to catch up. And that’s what you saw.”
“You’re too much of a flirt, you know. You lead people on.”
“Not on purpose. I never meant to lead Phoebe on. I swear, I was never interested in her that way. I wish you could believe me.”
Lindsay closed her eyes for a long moment. She leaned back on the couch. Brad realized he was pacing, so he stopped doing it.
