Chapter 12

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Lara shouted as she dashed from the shower to her door.

Someone was banging on it so urgently that she had run out of the bathroom soaking wet and wearing nothing but a towel.

She yanked open the door, bracing herself once again for some kind of emergency.

But what she saw was a pizza delivery guy.

“Lara Hendry?” he asked, holding the box out to her.

“Uh, yeah, but I didn’t order anything.”

He tutted with a sigh and looked down at his order slip. “~South tower, thirty-second floor, apartment 32H, Lara Hendry~.” He glanced back up at her. “Is this the right place?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t—” She paused mid-sentence as a thought struck her. Pinching the bridge of her nose and taking a deep breath, she asked, “I don’t suppose there was a delivery note?” Water droplets pinged dully off the floor.

After muttering a confirmation, he read out loud, “~Angry bubblegum girl will answer the door. Don’t take it personally.~” He eyed her wet, pinkish hair. “Pretty sure that’s you.”

~Damn him.~ “Yeah, yeah, it’s me. Just give me the pizza,” she grumbled. “He better have paid for it already.”

“’Fraid not. The total is eighteen twenty-one. Plus tip.”

Lara gave him a dry look as she reached over to her purse.

“Cash only.”

“Yeah, I got it,” she snapped. “All I have is a twenty.” She thrust the bill at him.

“Kinda stingy.” He scowled.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll be more considerate the next time I have to pay for food I didn’t order.” She locked eyes with him, daring him to argue.

He simply shrugged and walked away with the last of her cash in hand.

She stood in the doorway in her towel, holding the pizza box and teeming with rage. Before she could think about getting dressed, she stomped across the narrow corridor and banged her fist against his door, but she only got in one blow.

The wood gave way under her pounding and creaked open, but there was no one on the other side.

With a frown, she leaned forward, stuck her face into the crack, and called out, “Hello? Zavien?” Suddenly, the door swung open so quickly that she nearly stumbled through it.

“Hello, Lara—oof.” He grunted under the impact of her colliding into him, pizza-first, and took hold of the box.

Glaring up at his mask-covered face, she wondered why on earth he would be wearing it while at home, but the thought was quickly overshadowed by burning infuriation.

He stepped forward, forcing her back and seemingly trying to block her view of the inside of his apartment. “Breaking and entering now?”

~Was that nervousness in his voice?~

She could have sworn she had seen…something dance across his features, but when he finally looked down at her—at her, not through her—he froze, his shoulders tense and his eyes unblinking.

Lara’s rage and frustration seized upon his silence, and she let her anger flow. “You owe me twenty dollars. Actually, you owe me a hell of a lot more than that.

“I was having a nice, relaxing evening after a long day of dealing with the sick and injured, all their worried and troublesome friends and family, and asshole bosses and doctors, and now, I have to spend ~my~ last twenty on ~your~ dinner. And—”

“And you’re naked.” He was staring at her bare legs and feet, which continued to drip onto the carpeted hallway.

“Yes. Because you have the gift of perfect timing, jackass,” she spat. “I was in the shower when your delivery boy came.”

“You must’ve been pretty angry when you answered the door, huh?”

She wanted to punch him. She wanted to punch him so badly.

“Hope you gave the guy a decent tip.”

“Oh my god,” she mumbled in disbelief. “I can’t believe you are a real, functioning human. I can’t believe that events in your life led you to be this fucking irritating! Why? Why do I have to deal with this?”

Then, she redirected her frenzy to whatever deity was listening, desperately asking what she had done to deserve this.

Unfortunately, she was a little overzealous in her arm movements, and at the height of her pleading to be released from the tragedy of her life, she instead found herself released from the tragedy of her outfit.

Lara’s ranting ceased, and she stood frozen as the towel dropped to the floor. Zavien’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair as he stared completely unashamedly at her.

“Please tell me I’m invisible,” she whispered, her wide eyes locked onto his face.

“Definitely not invisible,” he muttered.

Paralyzed by mortification, she hoped to wake up from this nightmare. Instead, it only got worse as Zavien’s intense, heated gaze lifted to meet hers.

Whatever that look was, it made her feel all sorts of ways that she absolutely did not need to feel, especially when she was butt naked in the middle of a public hallway.

Lara squeaked and crouched down to reclaim her towel, planning to wrap herself so tightly that she would stop breathing entirely. But she had no such luck; her hands were so shaky that she struggled to get it around her at all.

In a flurry of movements too quick for her to do anything about, Zavien—his hands somehow free of that godforsaken pizza—suddenly gripped her towel for her. He then deftly wrapped it tightly and securely before withdrawing his hands.

“Thanks for dinner and a show,” he said with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“Did you really just say that to me?”

“Careful,” he warned. “I wouldn’t get too riled up again until you’ve put some underwear on.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I’ve descended into the ninth circle of hell.”

“If that were true, I think you’d be a little warmer.” He shot a pointed glance at her chest.

Her rage reignited, and she wondered if he had people in his life that would miss him if he were to mysteriously disappear. She was betting on no, given how unpleasant he was. “Are you going to repay me or not?”

“Not,” he answered with conviction.

Lara let out a frustrated bark.

~Wait, I barked? No, that’s not right.~ She looked up at him, wondering if he had heard it too.

He averted his gaze, getting more fidgety by the second, and then it sounded again.

~Definitely a bark.~ Realization dawned on her. “Oh my god.” Her eyes widened in wonder, while his seemed to widen with fear. “Oh my god!” She squealed with glee.

“What?” he snapped.

With her biggest, brightest shit-eating grin, she said, “You have a dog.”

“No, I don’t.” He shifted on his feet and then rested one shoulder against the doorframe while pulling the door snug in front of the other, further blocking her view of his apartment.

“There are no pets allowed in this building.” Lara crossed her arms.

“I don’t have a dog,” he said, but just then, a little brown pug drew her attention by poking its head out from between his ankles and gazing up at her.

She raised her eyes back to Zavien, who was glaring down at his little secret. “Then I think you might have a squatter,” she said dryly.

For once, Zavien didn’t have a comeback. While leaning forward to scan the hall, he tried to shoo the dog away with his foot, but it was more curious about Lara than anything Zavien was doing.

Lara crouched down to scratch the pug behind its ears. To Zavien, she said, “Stop fucking with me”—giving him a warning look—“or you and this little guy are going to be evicted.” She stood and cast one last glare at Zavien. “And fix that door.”

With a huff, she spun around and marched back to her apartment, her dignity as intact as it could be while wearing naught but a towel.