CHAPTER SEVEN
“IT WAS NICE of Sara to let me stay with her until you came home,” Lexie said as they walked into his place.
He tossed his keys onto the console table and locked the door behind them.
“I hope she didn’t make you too uncomfortable.” He knew how Sara could get when she was in an inquisitive mood.
“I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.” Lexie treated him to a smile he recognized as forced.
In the short time he’d known her, he’d come to expect her relaxed grins and easy laughs. She wasn’t feeling at ease now. “Meaning she grilled you mercilessly, like the cop she is?”
Lexie paused a beat. “Let’s just say she saw fit to lay down the law.” She glanced away, her gaze falling on the table by the couch in the living room. “Is that a new laptop?” she asked, obviously changing the subject.
He’d have to find out what Sara said another time. “That’s my laptop. Stolen the other night and returned in the office mail today. Another reason I was late. I had to wait for the cops to dust it for prints and check it over. Not that they expect to find anything.”
She glanced back at him. Behind the frames, her eyes opened wide. “Get out. Whoever stole it sent it back?”
He nodded. “Sounds strange to me, too, and I write this stuff for a living. I thought for sure the hard drive had been wiped clean or the whole thing taken apart piece by piece and sold for scrap.”
She strode over to the table where he’d put the computer. “Do you mind if I take a look?”
“Of course not, but why?”
Lexie sat down on the couch and popped open the top. “Because I want to make sure nobody installed a Trojan horse or hidden spyware of any kind while it was out of your possession.”
He cocked an eyebrow, impressed with her way of thinking. “Never thought of that.”
She grinned. “That’s what you have me for.”
The impact of her words and her genuine sunny smile kicked him in the gut. She was so easy to be around, so happy and adorable, he couldn’t believe how fast he was falling. Deadly for him in the long run, but he couldn’t bring himself to worry beyond now if it meant giving her up before he had to.
“You do your thing and I’ll put the food out for us. I hope you like Chinese.”
“Love it,” she said without looking up from the computer. Already engrossed in her task.
As he set the table with the plates he’d put together from his father’s bar, he realized this was the first time he’d had any woman over for dinner—and he couldn’t even serve the meal on a matched set. Though the guest in question didn’t have an apartment of her own and he figured she wouldn’t mind, it bugged him anyway. Wait till she realized his sheets and pillowcases weren’t much better, he thought wryly, and decided the only solution was to keep her too busy in bed to care.
“How’s it going over there?” he asked when he’d finished arranging the white boxes on the kitchen table.
She muttered something he couldn’t hear.
“Say that again?”
“I said, why can’t the world all convert to using Macs? Everything takes longer and is harder on a PC.”
“So I’m a PC and you’re a Mac. Is that a deal breaker for you?” he teased.
She blew out a breath of air, lifting her hair, which had fallen over her face. “Nah. I think I can live with it. At a glance it looks like your computer is clean, but I’m letting it run a full check just to be sure, which will take a while.”
“Thanks. I never remember to do that stuff on my own.”
“I figured. I’m also updating your virus software and installing some other free programs to keep this thing running well.”
Listening to her explain, he couldn’t control a laugh. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re cute when you talk geek?”
She grinned. “Not in so many words, no.”
He waved her away from the computer. “You can finish that later. Come eat. I’ve kept you waiting long enough.”
She jumped up and joined him at the table. As it turned out, Lexie loved Chinese food. He’d clearly chosen well and her eyes danced with delight as she opened each white box and took a sampling of each. She even ate with the chopsticks provided, while he used a fork.
She devoured the meal with a gusto that impressed him. She had quite an appetite and wasn’t embarrassed to show it. A refreshing change from the women around the office who picked at steamed vegetables for lunch or those he’d had relationships with who’d order an appetizer and call it dinner. Cheap dates, but annoying to be with.
Lexie insisted on helping clean up and they continued the small talk that came so easily to them both. He’d already filled her in on his long three days and she’d done the same. Since she hadn’t mentioned the blog, he figured she hadn’t seen the photo of them kissing. No time like the present to break it to her, Coop thought.
“So how’s your grandmother?” he asked, leading into the subject.
She perched her hip against the counter near the sink. “Odd,” she said.
“Odder than usual?”
Her lips pursed in a wry smile. “Believe it or not, yes. She and Sylvia always seem to have their heads together over the computer. She barely knows how to use it when I’m around, yet she’s always on the thing. And they’re whispering. A lot more than usual.”
She passed him the plates to rinse and put in the dishwasher.
“I’m not surprised.”
Lexie hesitated. “Why?” she asked, meeting his gaze.
“Seems we’re making headlines again.” He described the picture of them in the blog and waited for her to draw her own conclusion.
“Kissing,” she said, her cheeks taking on an adorable flush. “So that would be alone here or…at my grandmother’s. I’m going to throttle her!” Lexie said, her voice rising.
He shouldn’t laugh, but couldn’t help it. “Come on, you have to admit it’s funny. Your grandmother’s got nerve.”
Lexie shook her head. “She’s got me teaching her how to use the computer while she’s snapping cell phone pictures and e-mailing them like a pro!”
He chuckled again. “At least she keeps herself busy.”
Lexie rolled her eyes. “She’s still in for a lecture about minding her own business and respecting my personal life,” she muttered.