Albany's apartment was nothing like I expected.
It wasn't big or spacious and not nearly as clean as her shop. My eyes darted over to the pile of clothes on the floor near her bed and then up to the unmade bed.
My lips twitched but I didn't smile.
Rubbing a finger across my bottom lip, I turned my head to look at Albany and instantly regretted it.
From where I sat, I had a prefect view of her bent at the waist and searching through the bottom drawer of the wardrobe. She had changed into comfortable clothes when we arrived.
Yoga pants and a sweater that had ridden up so, it meant that I had a prefect view of her ass. It was the best view I'd had in ages. A groan fell from my lips before I could stop it.
Albany looked at me over her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
I swallowed, and unable to find my voice, I only nodded at her and looked away. When I was sure that she wasn't looking, I reached down to adjust my pants.
My eyes darted around the apartment again but they almost instantly trailed back to her.
Albany straightened and kicked the drawer closed. With her hands full of envelopes, she turned and made her way over to me where she dropped them onto the couch next to me.
"I always keep the receipts for payment with the pills. These are the ones for the last year."
"And the ones for the year before?" I asked her as I sat up a bit.
"I threw them in some boxes," she said softly. "Crystal let me store them at her condo since I don't have any space here."
"I'm happy you kept them," I told her as I picked up an envelope. "What about the books?"
"Oh, everything's in the one book." She nodded down to it. "It's easier to keep track of things like that. I have this. . . thing where I misplace things. It's also why I leave the book at the bakery."
I nodded and after some hesitation, I slid down to the floor and straightened my legs underneath the small coffee table so I could use it to work on.
"I called Steven," I told her without glancing up. "He does the books for my company."
"I thought you do it yourself."
I chuckled. "I don't have much time for bookkeeping. We have people who do that but Steven does it better, plus it's his way of making extra money."
"And he loves what he does," she muttered.
I nodded. Steven's love for maths was the bane of our jokes during the first few years of university. It used to be funny but now I admire the skills he had. The kid had a good head on his shoulders and he was making the best of it, unlike some of the people his age.
"W-what do you need me to do?"
Smiling, I tilted my head back to look up at her. "What you usually do when you get home."
Albany's eyes dropped. She clasped her hands in front of her body and shifted from foot to foot. Whatever I had said was probably the wrong things to say.
Struggling to my feet, I winced as my knees cracked when I straightened. Walking over to Albany, I stopped in front of her and reached out to press a finger under her chin.
Albany avoided eye contact when I tilted her head back.
Slipping my fingers along her jaw, I cupped her cheek and moved until my eyes caught hers. The look in them knocked the hair from my lungs.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really." She gave me a smile that didn't reach her yes. "I'm okay."
I searched her eyes and waited but when a few minutes passed and she still said nothing, I knew that she wasn't going to open her heart to me.
For reasons I couldn't comprehend, I wanted her to talk to me. I wanted her to spill her deepest darkest secrets to me.
My eyes dropped to her lips and the urge to kiss her increased. I wanted to know what she tastes like. Without realizing it, my head slowly lowered.
It was Albany who jerked away and moved out of reach.
"Are you hungry? I'm hungry, I'll be right back. I'm going to go grab us some food from downstairs. I'll be right back."
She grabbed something from the counter and then hurried out of the apartment with the door slamming shut behind her. I stared at the door in surprise for a few more minutes before I turned and retook my seat on the floor.
I reached for the papers on the couch and started pulling them out of the envelopes. It took me a while to focus on my task but even then my mind kept trailing off to the almost kiss.
It was so close. . .
Had I done something wrong? Had I stepped out of line? Had I read the signals wrong?
A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. Dropping my head back, I groaned before I struggled to my feet once again. Albany wouldn't knock on her own door unless she forgot her keys but then again she never locked the door behind her. Which meant it could only be one person.
"You called?" Steven drawled as he pushed past me and entered the apartment.
I rolled my eyes and slammed the door closed before following him into the living room. His eyes darted around, probably searching for Albany.
"She's not here," I informed him.
"What do you need from me?" he asked.
"I caught Albany going through the books. She wants to take a loan out from the bank to pay some bills." I walked over to the coffee table and picked up the book. "I noticed that some things don't add up."
"What does this have to do with me exactly?"
"I need you to check the books for Albany's Baked Goods." Steven frowned at me. "I'll pay you for it."
He waved his hand and leaned down to pick the book up. "What am I supposed to be looking for?"
"Embezzlement."
His eyes shot up to mine. "Embezzlement?"
I nodded. Handing him the notebook I had written in earlier, I explained what I had seen that made me suspicious. His frown deepened and his eyes darkened in anger.
Steven had just taken a seat across from me when Albany returned with a plastic bag. The smell of Chinese made my mouth water. When was the last time I had eaten it? Probably months ago when I was entertaining one of the investors.
"I hope this is okay," Albany said as she kicked off her shoes. "It was the closest place that was still open this time of night."
She looked up and froze when her eyes fell on Steven.
"Good evening, brown eyes," he greeted.
Albany licked her lips. "H-hi."
Was it my imagination or was she a more nervous than she had been moments ago?
I studied her as she unpacked the food from the bag and placed it on the coffee table in front of us. Albany entered the kitchen to grab some drinks and then she joined us on the floor but she made sure to sit as far away from us as possible.
Her eyes kept darting from me to Steven and then down to the food in front of her. It was clear that she was being affected by our presence just as we were affected by hers.
It was good to know that the attraction wasn't just one-sided.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
The Bucket List (A REVERSE HAREM ROMANCE)
रोमांस*** UNEDITED *** Crystal and I have been friends since fourth grade. We were like sisters even though we weren't blood-related. The two of us had a lot of plans but tragedy struck and I was suddenly all alone. During her last few hours alive, we wro...
