But he had to think about the here and now. And it could be worse. Down a short hallway, he found a roomy bathroom, again with outdated fixtures, but still decently clean. Then there were two bedrooms — with ridiculously small closets. Okay, maybe they weren’t that small, but he was used to everything being larger than normal. That thought brought his first smile of the day. It quickly disappeared when he heard someone call out.
“Hello?”
Who in the world would be coming into his place uninvited? No one even knew he was here, not even his brothers and his sister. He hadn’t wanted to tell anyone. If his siblings got word that he was being forced to don a Santa suit, they’d be first in line to point cameras directly at him.
His only consolation was that the judge hadn’t listed where he was to do his community service when the reporters swarmed around him after the hearing was over. He didn’t doubt that they’d figure it out, though. This would be too juicy a photo op for anyone in the media to pass up. He’d just keep his fingers crossed that it didn’t happen.
Walking back out to the living room, he found a petite blonde with bright blue eyes looking at him, a welcoming smile on her face. Before he was able to say anything, she spoke.
“Your door was open so I thought I’d see who was in here. They’ve frozen any of the apartments from being rented, so…” Her meaning was loud and clear. She thought he was a vagrant who had found a warm place to sleep.
Jeez. She wasn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree to be confronting someone who could be a criminal.
He approached her. “I won’t be here long,” he replied, his manner stiff. “But I am living here for now. Do you always just walk into other people’s homes?”
His unpleasant tone made her take a step back, and he had to give her a few points for at least being a bit nervous.
“Sorry about that, but like I said, your door was open and these apartments aren’t being rented,” she said, leaving it hanging in the air. When he said nothing, she continued. “How long are you staying?” She didn’t look him in the eye this time, but instead looked around the empty room. Nothing in it except for one large duffel bag.
“That’s undetermined right now,” he told her. He’d learned never to give out too much information and he didn’t care what this woman thought about him, so let her wonder how he’d managed to rent an unrentable apartment.
The woman looked at him with wide eyes and a wavering smile, but she still just stood there as if trying to determine whether she could trust him or not. What if he were a serial killer? Did she have no self-preservation instincts at all?
“I’ve lived here for two years. It’s a great place if you can get past the mice,” she said with a laugh. “At least there are a lot of storage areas.”
“Mice?” Tanner looked around uneasily.
“Yeah, but I’ve named them, so I’m not so scared of the little critters anymore.”
“Named them?” Tanner almost found it amusing that he kept repeating what she said. Almost.
“Yeah, you know, like in Cinderella. Or A Little Princess — but Melchisidec was a rat, and there’s a difference, of course. I would say the Disney mice would help you unpack, but you don’t have anything here. Were you making sure you liked the place first?”
Tanner realized that he hadn’t ordered a bed, a couch, anything. He wasn’t looking forward to being here, and he just hadn’t thought that far ahead. Of course he would need some basics, even for only from now until Christmas. His assistant should have been on top of this. Maybe it was time to hire a new one.
“Everything will be delivered later today,” Tanner said as he moved toward the door. Would this woman take the hint?
“Oh, that must be nice not having to move it yourself. I despise moving. It’s so physically and emotionally exhausting and then you always lose something in the process — every single time, no matter how organized you are or how carefully you label the boxes.”
“Yes, moving is unpleasant,” Tanner said dryly. “Well, I have some phone calls to make…” He held open the door she’d blown past when entering his place illegally. He’d really begun to care about legality.
“I’m sorry. I’ll leave you be. My name is Kyla, by the way, Kyla Ridgley.” She walked right up to him and held out her hand.
Tanner looked at it for a moment as if he didn’t know what to do, but then his manners kicked in and he held out his own hand. “Tanner,” he offered, and nothing more.
“Well, it’s great to meet you, Tanner,” she said, and then her warm, slender hand was somehow clasped in his.
Tanner nearly took a step back when their fingers touched. It felt like a spark had just ignited between the two of them.
“Um, great to meet you,” Kyla almost gasped. She jerked her hand from his and dashed through the door.
When she slipped inside the apartment right across the hall from his and quickly closed the door behind her, Tanner stared for several moments at the space she’d been occupying.
Maybe his “jail” time had just become a lot more bearable. With a slight smile lifting the corners of his mouth, he picked up his phone to call his assistant.
Furniture was his first priority.
Then, he was going to find out a bit more about his new neighbor. A three-week fling might just make this situation a whole lot easier to swallow.
Chapter Four
Kyla leaned against her door and took a deep breath. Normally, men didn’t intimidate her. She’d grown up with a loving family, and had enjoyed high school and the first two years of college. She’d had a healthy dating life.
Then…boom.
Her picture-book world had fallen apart in the blink of an eye. On a family vacation, they’d all been driving down a mountain road after a fun day of snowboarding. And then their car had skidded on black ice.
She was the only survivor.
After a week in the hospital, she’d been released, with nowhere to go where she felt safe. After dropping out of school — she couldn’t face anything or anyone — she’d found herself at this apartment, both her place of refuge and a spot where she hoped to heal someday.
She knew it wasn’t her fault that her family was gone. But why was she the only one to live? Why wasn’t it her mother, who did charity work, or her father, who made a difference in the world through his teaching? Why couldn’t her brother have survived? He’d graduated from high school the previous June and planned to join the military after college. He’d have been an officer and a gentleman.