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“Morning.” Luke, bare muscular legs red from the cold, looked between the pair of them. “Don’t let me interrupt.”
Anna held her breath. Considering how their last talk had gone, God knows what might come out of the older lady’s mouth.
Pearl smiled. “I was just remarking to Anna that it’s a shame the pair of you don’t go running together.”
Luke’s green eyes zeroed in on Anna’s. “Happy to.”
Anna gulped. “Oh no, I’m fine thanks. I don’t want to slow you down.” She gave Pearl a please drop this, stare. “So, anyway, I’d better get through the shower—”
“How are you getting on with the advent calendar Colin left you?” Pear’s gaze swiveled between them both. “Still completing the tasks?”
Luke gave her an almost imperceptible nod which she took to mean you’re handling this interrogation. “Yes.”
“And still sharing the condo, I see. Are you eating together now?”
Oh God. “We are,” she confirmed.
“Good. Much more civilized.” A mischievous glint came into her dark eyes. “And are you getting to know each other more?”
Anna flushed scarlet. “Yes, sort of, but not in the way . . .” she trailed off.
“How’s the doorbell?” Luke interrupted.
Pearl blinked at the sudden change in subject. “Oh, it’s working just fine, thank you.” Regaining her balance with an agility that put Anna to shame, she winked. “You’re obviously very good with your hands.”
Anna didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so what came out of her mouth was a noise that sounded like both. “We need to get going,” she croaked. “We haven’t opened today’s window yet.”
“Oh, well I’ll leave you to it.” Pearl’s gaze darted to Luke before landing back on Anna. “I hope you both enjoy whatever adventure Colin has in store for you.”
Anna felt the heat emanating off Luke’s body as he followed her inside.
“What was the incentive?” He turned and directed his piercing green gaze her way.
There was a time for a woman to play dumb, and this was it. “What do you mean?”
“When I walked in, Pearl said it was an incentive to keep up with him.” He slotted his hands onto his hips. “I presume by him, she meant me. And the incentive was. . . . ?”
Nothing to be embarrassed about, she reassured herself. It was Pearl’s comment, not hers. “To gawp at your ass.” His eyebrows scooted up and Anna giggled. “Oh yes, our eighty-year-old neighbor has a thing for your butt, so you’d better watch yourself.”
The tips of his ears turned pink. “Noted.” He took a step towards his room but halted. “How about you? Do you have a thing for it, too? Because why would she mention it, if you hadn’t already discussed it?”
Okay, now it was her turn to blush, and she had an awful feeling it wasn’t only her ears that were turning red. “Maybe I’m not the only one with a cute butt.” She repeated the same words he’d used on her.
His low chuckle caused a sizzle in the pit of her stomach. “Well, I’m glad we got that cleared up.”
As he strode off to his room, she was certain he added an extra clench to his buttocks. When he reached his door, she yelled out. “My cute butt will meet your cute butt in the kitchen in fifteen.”
She was rewarded with a bark of laughter.
Twenty minutes later, they sat at the table, drinks in hand, each munching on a bagel. And contemplating a life changing event.
“How easy is it to get a tattoo removed if we don’t like it a year down the line?” It was the question that had plagued her ever since she’d opened Colin’s advent window to read, Get memorial tattoos.
“You can dig it out, laser it out or sand it out.”
“Ouch. Have you got any?”
He smirked. “I thought you had an eyeful of my mostly naked body the other day.”
