“Weren’t you guys just leaving?” he said, praying that Kyla wasn’t on the other side of the door as he yanked it back open. Thankfully, she was gone.
“I don’t want to leave now,” Crew said. “Things just got interesting.”
“Tough. I’m going to bed,” Tanner told them.
“At nine?” Lucas asked. “You’re becoming an old man.”
“Yeah, yeah. Well, you’ve been here a couple hours and you’ve already overstayed your welcome. Now, get out of here before I tell your wives what great guys the two of you are.”
There was a short pause. After they threw a few more lame jokes Tanner’s way, they finally exited his apartment. Tanner shut the door then leaned against it in frustration. If only Kyla had waited ten more minutes to show up… This night could have ended a hell of a lot better.
Chapter Thirteen
Tanner slammed the door to his apartment. Another day at the mall — it felt like he’d been there a year — and he was sticky, irritated, and in desperate need of a hot shower.
He hadn’t managed to see Kyla the last couple days, since she hadn’t been at the mall performing her North Pole duties. Of course that thought led to another, that there was another pole he’d love to show her, one that was definitely pointing north. Yeah, he was a pig. He shook his head, disgusted with himself.
Anyway, knocking on her door had done him no good. He was beginning to think that she’d possibly up and moved from the building. Sure, he’d slammed the door in her face, but that was a minor offense wasn’t it? Okay, he’d yet to meet a woman who was forgiving after getting such a cold shoulder, but she should at least give him a chance to apologize.
But he couldn’t fault her if she had moved to better pastures. The place was a dump. As soon as his punishment was over, he wasn’t setting foot in these doors again — not until he managed to get a demolition crew in and he could personally direct the first wrecking ball through its thick walls. Starting, of course, with the very apartment he was imprisoned in.
After taking as long a shower as the ridiculously small hot-water tank would allow, Tanner stepped from the tub and was grateful no one was around to see all his goose bumps from the freezing-cold room. He was wrapping a towel around his waist when he heard a knock on his door.
He wasn’t expecting anyone.
He moved toward the door, and then realized his ankle monitor was on full display, so he rushed back to his room and threw on thick socks. But he didn’t have the time or the energy to do anything about the towel, which was the only other thing covering him. If his visitor had a problem with it, he or she shouldn’t knock on his door.
Beyond irritated and shivering, he stomped over and flung the door open, and then just stood there at a loss for words. Standing before him was a large green pine tree, real needles and all. The smell of the freshly cut tree filled the air and brought back happy childhood memories — ones he quickly tried to squash back down.
“I didn’t know trees knew how to knock,” he said, and much to his surprise, he laughed. Was he bipolar? He couldn’t quite rule that out. After all, he was ready to growl one minute, and the next he was laughing. At the very least he was getting permanent brain damage from who knew what that was seeping from the building’s walls.
Kyla’s head popped around the tree and then Tanner’s ego swelled at the way her eyes widened as they traveled over his half-naked body.
Hmm, maybe he would get his sexy neighbor into his bed after all.
* * * * *
Kyla hated to admit it, but one look at the guy had knocked the breath from her lungs. Tanner was a fine specimen when he had clothes on — okay, in anything but that Santa suit. In a tank top and boxers, he was breathtaking. Magnificent. Wrapped in nothing but a towel, with droplets of water sliding down those solid pecs, he was too good to be true. Talk about a ripped torso.
When she realized she was standing there practically drooling, she snapped her gaze back to his knowing – hell, almost gloating — eyes and tried to form a coherent sentence.
“I…uh…thought you might like to have a Christmas tree for your new place,” she mumbled.
Her impulsive act had probably been pretty foolish, especially since he’d slammed the door in her face the last time she’d seen him. She couldn’t explain why she was doing this. It was just that the man had helped her the other day, and he seemed lonely, didn’t he? Maybe he’d shut the door on her because the men in his apartment had been bill collectors or he had a gambling problem and they were there to collect.
Okay. Fine. Even if she was curious, and she was, she wasn’t going to ask. But if he slammed the door in her face again, she would take the hint and stay away, like she should be doing right now. She was just trying to spread the Christmas spirit, something she hadn’t wanted to do in two years, not since she’d lost her family. Since it was the first time she’d even thought of having a tree after that horrible “holiday” two years before, she’d bought one — and brought it to him. It was just too painful still to have the tree in her own apartment.
Now she was regretting her impulsive act. Tanner was too worldly and cynical to go for such a holiday tradition.
“It’s good to see you, Kyla. And I like the tree. Please come in.” Did he sound a bit stiff? Probably. He took the tree from her and dragged it inside the apartment. “You haven’t been at the mall. Did you quit?”
One of the branches snagged the bottom of his towel; she held her breath and waited, eyes peeled. Sadly, the towel stayed in place. When he leaned the tree against the wall and turned back to her, she jerked her gaze up and met his eyes again, realizing he’d asked a question that she’d never answered.
“I…um…have another job, so I only work part time at the mall,” she said before taking a long breath and trying to sound a little less ditzy. “I don’t need to stay. I just wanted to drop this off and…I’ll…uh…be going now.” Kyla stumbled as she backed toward his door.
“You can’t just drop off the tree and run. I’ll need help decorating it,” he said. His large frame filled the doorway, blocking her exit. “Also, I need to apologize for…um…shutting the door in your face the other day. It was just that the guys that were here were…” He trailed off awkwardly and his cheeks flushed.
She knew it. Those two guys were thugs. That had to be it!