“I bet. It’s nice they let you off early.”
She’d texted Lyosha as soon as she’d gotten off work in case he’d be able to come over early. She was so ready to get settled into her new place.
“Yeah, one of my managers—Lizzy, she’s got two kids and another on the way—is all about work-life balance. When she found out I was moving into a new place tonight, she told me to get an early start.”
“Lizzy Caldwell?” he asked, surprise flickering in his gorgeous green eyes.
“You know her?”
He gave her a half-smile and nodded.
She had no idea what that smile meant. Shelving her questions about how he knew Lizzy for now, she picked up a box.
“What are you doing?” His accent, which was normally so faint it almost disappeared, thickened a bit.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t need to move anything. We’ve got this.” He looked at her box as if it actually offended him and plucked it from her.
“No way! I’m not going to sit on my butt while you and your friends help me move. It’ll go faster this way.” She grabbed another box.
He grunted and picked up another box, one of her heaviest ones. His arm muscles flexed, the display of his strength way too sexy. “I’m sure you’ll be able to carry a lot with your spaghetti noodle arms,” he said dryly.
She glared, hurrying after him. “Only I’m allowed to say that about myself!” She often joked about her lack of upper body strength. Because it was true.
He snickered slightly. “I’m just messing with you. You have great arms.”
She felt her cheeks flush with heat as they headed down the stairs. She was glad he was in front of her because she had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. She had great arms? No, she had skinny, weak arms but… She would take the compliment anyway. Because it had come from him.
They worked quickly and she’d been right, they packed everything up in the back of two trucks—Lyosha’s and one of the other men’s, she assumed.
With traffic, it took a solid forty minutes to get to her new place. By the time they pulled into the gated parking lot of her condo complex, energy buzzed inside her.
This was a lot different than the cheap apartments with the way-too-thin walls she’d lived in the last decade. Definitely not a college hangout, something she was grateful for. She really was ready to start the new chapter of her life. She just wished… Well, she wasn’t going to waste wishes, because she knew it didn’t matter.
As Lyosha jumped out of his truck, she quickly wrote a text to her now former roommate, then saved it as a draft. She knew Emily was going out tonight and didn’t want to ruin her night with her friends, but she planned to send it tomorrow. Even typing it up gave her a sense of peace. Telling her was the right thing to do.
Thank you again for the gift. I’ll miss living with you. This feels weird to tell you, but your boyfriend made a pass at me. More than that, he made me feel uncomfortable, in a scared sort of way. I don’t like texting this and I really wanted to tell you in person, but it felt way too awkward. I just wanted to tell you because it would feel unfair not to, especially if you’re considering living with him. So you have the information to do with what you will. XOXO
* * *
Mila couldn’t believe how quickly Lyosha and his friends had moved everything into her condo. Seeing her minimum amount of boxes, bare floors and…bare walls—yeah, she definitely needed some furniture, throw rugs, blankets, and some color in here.
“I don’t know how to thank you guys,” she said, looking between the three of them.
They’d been super quiet worker bees, basically grunting at her when she said anything and deferring to Lyosha completely.
“Can I buy you guys beer or pay you, or—”
They both looked at her in horror at her offer to pay, their gazes immediately flickering to Lyosha, who just laughed.
“They’re not taking your money—but I’ll take some beer later if it makes you feel better.”
“Okay,” she said on a laugh.
“Let me walk them out and I’ll be back up.”
She headed to the kitchen as the three of them left and looked around the huge space before drifting to her bedroom. She had an actual walk-in closet that she couldn’t possibly fill up. Not yet, but she had goals. One day, maybe.
The en suite was spacious, shiny white and gray, with a tub and shower. Not to mention her view from her room was gorgeous. It overlooked a beautiful community garden filled with so many brightly colored flowers, palm trees and bubbling fountains she could hardly stand it. And she couldn’t hear her neighbors, which was amazing. She knew the insulation here was supposed to be stellar and she hoped that ended up being true.
“They’re gone,” Lyosha said, his voice startling her.
She turned around and smiled. His T-shirt fitted across his pecs, and his thighs seemed to be straining against his cargo pants—and the man looked like he’d barely broken a sweat despite moving up and down stairs repeatedly. “I’m just enjoying the view. I can’t believe this place is mine.”
He grinned, and she felt all sorts of things lower in her belly that she should not be feeling. Like usual, she ignored it.
“I have a surprise for you,” he murmured, motioning for her to follow him.
She stepped into her sparkling clean kitchen to find two wineglasses that most definitely weren’t hers, and an expensive bottle of champagne.
She let out a gasp. “Oh my gosh, this is—”
“A housewarming present.” He cut her off when she would have said that it was way too expensive. Because it was. But she wasn’t going to say no to such a wonderful gift.
Unexpected tears pricked her eyelids. She quickly batted them away and laughed at the look of horror on his face. “Sorry, this is such a sweet gesture. Thank you.” He’d helped her move for free and now he’d bought her this crazy expensive bottle of champagne. Seriously, how was he still single? He was always so damn thoughtful.
He opened the bottle with a loud pop, pouring both of them glasses before holding one out to her. “To change, and your new chapter in life.”
She clinked her glass to his. “I will definitely drink to that.”
“Let me help you get some of this kitchen stuff put up,” he said after they’d both enjoyed a full glass. It was like he always had to be in motion, doing something.
“You really don’t have to do that. You’ve already done so much. Trust me, this stuff will hold. I’ve got my coffee out for the morning and that’s all I need.” And she’d planned to order takeout to at least try to thank him for helping her move.
He just pulled out a knife and opened one of the boxes marked kitchen. “It’ll go faster if we both work, and I’m here now. I’m surprised your mama and sisters aren’t here.”
She took another sip before setting her glass down on the quartz countertop. “I kind of lied and told them I wasn’t moving in until next week. I knew they’d want to help and bombard me—and give me all sorts of unsolicited decorating advice. And while I love them and will be very appreciative of all the food I know they’re going to give me, I kind of wanted to get settled in by myself first. I wanted to be able to have them over once I have things set up so they can just relax and not argue about what color living room rug I should get.”