With Every Heartbeat
Not good. I really had to stop looking at her legs.
So, I did, forcing my attention to her face. Except her green eyes were so bright and innocent today. They caused a catch in my throat.
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she took her attention away from me to study the mess I’d made of the counters.
“Don’t worry,” I said, motioning to everything. “I’ll clean all this up.”
It still seemed to take her a minute to soak in what I was actually doing, though. Her gaze finally slid back to me. “You’re cooking.”
“I...yeah.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, feeling majorly awkward. “It’s kind of my Saturday morning thing. I...is this okay? I can stop if you want.”
Her eyes grew wide. She obviously wasn’t used to being asked for permission.
“No, it’s fine,” she said. Her gaze drifted over the griddle again before moving back to me. “Do...do you have a key to the apartment, then?”
“A key? No.” Where the heck had that question come from? Then it hit me.
Oh, no.
Cora hadn’t asked her if she minded if I stayed over on some nights, had she?
Since Ten had made it explicitly clear that Cora was not allowed to stay at our apartment, I’d been worried at first when Cora had told me she was going to get a roommate. What if her roommate didn’t want me sleeping in their apartment? We’d never get to stay together overnight again.
But Cora had assured me Zoey was cool with it. As I stared at Zoey, though, I knew Cora had never bothered to even ask her.
“I...uh...I was...already here,” I admitted, flushing hard.
When Zoey turned a bright tomato red as well, I lifted my hands. “Is that okay? If you don’t want me here after a certain time, I totally understand. I’m so sorry. I thought Cora had cleared it with you. She told me you were okay with me staying over some nights.”
“No.” She started to shake her head before she blushed again. “I mean, no, Cora hasn’t talked to me about it yet.” A frown creased her brow as she glanced away. “She must’ve forgotten.”
“Oh,” I said dumbly, still not sure what she thought of me being here.
Zoey glanced at the griddle and then back to me before she self-consciously shoved her sleeve up to cover her exposed shoulder. “You know, it’s Cora’s apartment. Whatever she wants is—”
“No, it’s your apartment too,” I argued, not wanting her to think she didn’t have a say about what happened here. I really wished Cora had just talked to her about it. “You pay half the rent. You have just as much say-so about what happens here as she does.”
Zoey made a face of disagreement. “But she was here first and took care of setting everything up.”
“That doesn’t matter. You still have just as much—”
“You can stay the night, okay,” she burst out, letting me know she didn’t want to argue about this. Then her face turned scarlet as she realized what she’d blurted out.
I wanted to apologize for being an idiot and arguing with her over such a silly issue.
“Okay.” Ducking my head, I cleared my throat and turned back to my batter. I kept my back to her as I asked, “Want some pancakes?”
I knew she didn’t want me there, but I had a feeling if I’d left right then, it would’ve made her even more uncomfortable.
When she murmured, “No thank you,” a muscle jumped in my jaw. I hadn’t realized how much I’d wanted to impress her with my Saturday morning special until the disappointment over her rejection ran thick through my veins.
But I said, “Okay. No problem,” as if it didn’t matter.
Behind me, she cleared her throat discreetly. “So, I guess Cora forgave you last night.”
I glanced over my shoulder at her. She was wringing her hands at her waist and biting her lip as if she wanted to flee but wasn’t sure if she was allowed to.
With a slow nod, I took in her bare feet. They were cute and petite for someone with her height. The toenails were painted a pale pink.
“Well, that’s good,” she said.
I lifted my attention back to her face, and the effect her large green eyes had on me was like a punch in the gut. I turned my attention back to the pancakes and forced a big breath from my lungs. I was never so happy to hear footsteps coming down the hall.
“Good morning,” a new voice greeted as Cora breezed into the kitchen.