Since when did sweat smell so good?

It was all I could do not to rub my face in, breathing deep. A sniff or two shouldn’t be going too far. Discreetly done, of course.

“Anne. Dude.” The chest vibrated beneath my cheek. “Welcome home!”

I knew that voice. I did. But what the hell was it doing in my apartment? Stunned, I blinked up at a familiar beautiful face. “Mal?”

“’Course it’s me.” He laughed. “You on drugs or something? You shouldn’t do drugs. They’re not good for you.”

“I’m not doing drugs.” Though drugs might have gone a ways toward explaining what I was seeing. Because what I was seeing was surreal. “You’re here.”

No doubt about it. He definitely was. I would know because my hands were still all over his hot, half-naked body. My hormones sidetracked any thoughts about their removal. I couldn’t blame them.

“I know,” he said. “Isn’t it great?”

“Yeah. Wow.”

He nodded.

I stared. How the hell did he get in? The door had been locked when I left.

“How was work?” he asked.

“Fine. Thank you.”

He smiled down at me. “I was expecting you hours ago.”

“Yeah, I had to close up and some people came in at the last minute. Mal, why are you here in my apartment without a shirt on? How did that happen?”

“It got hot moving shit.” He rolled his neck, stretching out the muscles. “You’re only on the second floor, but the stairs start to add up, you know? Nate and Lauren helped out for a bit, then they had to go. Anyway, not like you care, right? No dress code I need to know about?”

I still stared. Words came out of his mouth but they continued to make no sense. Nothing about this did.

His eyes narrowed on me. “Hang on, I’ve got my shirt off and everything and you’re not giving me crazy eyes. What’s with that?”

“Ah, I guess I’m too surprised at seeing you here.”

His brows descended, as did the corners of his gorgeous lips. The man looked seriously sad. “Been looking forward to it all day.”

“Sorry.”

“Never mind. Come on, check it out.” He pulled me into the apartment, my apartment, slamming the door shut behind me. Not answering the important question about his presence even a little. But what was truly upsetting was the way he separated my hands from his body. They wept silently. Either that or I was sweating. Most likely the latter. He had the weirdest effect on me.

“Ta-da,” he sang, waving a hand about in a grand gesture, presenting my small living room to me.

“Wow.”

“Awesome, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! I knew you’d love this.”

I stared some more. Then I rubbed my eyes because they were starting to hurt. It was probably from all the bulging but I couldn’t be sure.

What the hell was happening here?

“You moved in with me somehow.” There could be no other reason for an entire drum kit appearing in the corner, let alone all the other stuff. The Twilight Zone had officially been entered. “You … huh. How about that.”

He grimaced and rocked back on the heels of his Chucks. “I know what you’re gonna say, it’s sooner than I thought too. But Davie threw me out today so I figured, why wait?”

I just blinked, the rest of me being too frozen to respond.

“Okay. Long story short, I accidentally saw Ev naked.” He held up his hands, protesting his innocence. “It was only side boob, I swear. No nipple or anything like that. But you know what he’s like with her, the fucking drama queen. He completely lost his shit.”

I nodded. I didn’t actually have a clue, but it seemed a response was required.

“Exactly. As if it’s my fault. It was in the fucking kitchen! I just wanted something to eat and there they are, dry humping against the wall. I didn’t even know she’d gotten home from work. As if I want to see that. It’s like walking in on your folks. Well, except Ev actually has great tits.” His guilty gaze slid to my face. “Alright, there might have been a flash of nipple but I swear it’s not like I went out of my way to see it. Not my fault she was topless. Anyway, Davie went ballistic.”

“He did?”

“Oh yeah. Huge. Harsh words were said. We may have even wrestled slightly. But I forgive him. Love makes you psycho, right?”

“Right.” There was a sentiment I could wholeheartedly get behind. When my first boyfriend broke up with me at sixteen, my tiny little world had been rocked. And look at my mom. She’d lost her shit completely when dad left.

“Mm.”

“So you moved in with me?” I said, ever so slowly piecing the story together.

Mal shrugged. “Well, hell yeah!”

“No, I mean, you actually moved in with me. Here. Into my apartment. Um, how did you get in again, just out of interest?”

“Is this going to be an issue?” he asked with a long, winded sigh. “Anne, come on. We talked about this last night. If you were gonna have a problem with me moving in, that was the time to bring it up, not now.”

“I thought you were joking.”

“Dude, that’s offensive. Why would I joke about important stuff like that?”

“Because you were drunk?”

“I get some of my best ideas under the influence.”

“I didn’t even think you’d remember.”

“Again, offended,” he said. “I’m not some fifteen-year-old. I know what I can handle.”

“Sorry.” I don’t quite know why I was the one apologizing. But never mind. My legs felt weak. I perched on the edge of the nearest couch. It was incredibly comfortable, though it did little for my sudden light-headedness.

Mal Ericson.

Living with me.

He did indeed look serious as evidenced by the little indent between his brows from frowning back at me. Ever so subtly I kicked myself, to check I was awake and not dreaming. Crap, it hurt. Pain radiated from my anklebone, making me wince. Yep, wide awake. Also, the heel on my Docs packed a punch.

“You’re looking at me weird again,” he said.

“Am I?”

He rolled his eyes. “Women. Honest, I swear, it was a hint of nipple and no more. I meant no disrespect to Evvie.”

I leaned down, surreptitiously rubbing my brand-new bruise. “I believe you.”

“Good. Can you please stop bringing it up?”

I opened my mouth to tell him I hadn’t. But it seemed safer to keep the thought to myself. Who knew what tangent it would launch him into next? Mal Ericson was a hard man to keep up with.

“Shit, you don’t like the couch do you?” he asked. “That’s what the look is about.”

“The couch?”

“Man.” Mal hung his head, hands on his slim hips. “I called Ev to ask what color you’d want but she started asking questions and then she started yelling and it was just a fucking mess. I can’t be standing in some furniture shop arguing on the phone with some chick, you know? I’ve gotta reputation to consider. So I tried calling Lauren ‘cause I figured she might have a spare key to your place–which she did.”

“Lauren let you in?”

“Yeah. And she said to definitely get that one, said you’d go nuts for it.”

“No, it’s … um, it’s really nice.” I ran my palm over the velvet fabric. It felt divine, super soft. No way did I want to know what it must have cost.

“Really?” He looked at me from beneath his brows, mouth tight with concern. Still, the green and hazel of his eyes was crystal clear. He seemed almost childlike somehow, vulnerable. “You’re sure you like it?”

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him to give the item of furniture a proper perusal. No doubt, however, it looked every bit as good as it felt. “It’s beautiful, Mal.”

“Phew.” His sudden grin lit my world.

I smiled back so hard my face hurt. “Look, I’m not saying no to you moving in. I guess I’m still trying to get my head around the concept. But why do you want to live with me?”

“I like you,” he said simply.

“You barely know me.”

“You’re a friend of Ev’s and Lauren’s. We talked. I tackled you. We rolled around on the floor together. It was a real bonding experience.”