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“No way! What about making your birthday wish, then?”
He shrugged, and she shook her head in disbelief.
“Well, let it be known that on my birthday, this girl needs her cake and her birthday wish. No exceptions.”
He smiled. “When’s your birthday?”
“May third.”
“Noted,” he said. “Wait, do I have to make one myself?”
“Tell you what,” she said. “You can buy one and tell me you made it, and I’ll pretend to believe it.”
He laughed before he put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. “Thank you. I love it,” he said against the top of her head before he kissed her there. The flutters in her belly scattered up through her chest, and she closed her eyes, resting her hand on his stomach.
“This kitchen is incredible, by the way.”
“I know,” she said, her head still resting on his shoulder. “It was the thing that sold me on getting this apartment. That, and the bathroom.”
“What’s so special about the bathroom?”
Leah smiled. “Do you want a tour?”
He unwrapped his arm from around her and gestured grandly. “After you.”
Leah walked out of the kitchen with Da
Da
“Spare bedroom,” she said, waving her arm like a Price Is Right girl at the doorway to their left. Da
“Brace yourself,” she said, reaching her hand into the next room and turning on the lights.
Da
“Right? It’s a spa tub. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
“If a tub could be gorgeous, I guess this one would be. I’m more concerned with that shower, though. Why are there forty-seven showerheads in it?”
Leah laughed. “The guy who lived here before me worked for Kohler. He designed bathrooms for a living.”
Da
“Oh my God!” he said, rubbing his eyes before widening them. “Is this real? I have to be hallucinating. This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life! I’m ruined for all other bathrooms now!”
She stared up at him, completely expressionless, and when she saw the first signs of his dimples, she pushed his chest before stepping back out into the hall.
“You suck,” she said, and he laughed, switching off the light in the bathroom.
He stepped back into the hall with her, and she pointed to the last doorway. “And that’s my room.”
Da
The walls were a warm terra-cotta color, the floor cherry hardwood. Her bed was up against the wall to the right, covered in a puffy cream-colored comforter and several oversized throw pillows. Up against the wall to the left was her dresser with her stereo and a few pictures on top. A flat-screen TV hung on the wall above it.
The far wall was made up entirely of floor-to-ceiling shelves; along the top, there were vases of flowers and a few scented candles. The shelves on the bottom were full of books. And the ones in the center consisted of row after row of Leah’s CDs.
Da
Leah leaned up against the doorframe, folding her arms as she watched him approach the wall. He crouched down, checking out the neatly lined-up books on the bottom.
After a minute he straightened, looking over the shelves with her music. “I don’t think I know anyone who still has CDs,” he said with his back to her as he pulled one of them out, glancing at the cover before sliding it back in its place.
“I love my CDs. All that music is on my computer and my iPod. I just…”
Da
“The politically correct term would be sentimental,” she said, and she heard him laugh softly. “But yeah…I guess I can be a packrat. But only with things that mean something.”
“All these mean something?” he asked, ducking his head to look at the second row.
“In some way, yeah. It might be a song that means something, or in some cases it’s the whole album that reminds me of a certain time in my life. In others, it’s just the memory of buying the CD itself—who I was with, or what was happening when I bought it.” She shrugged, even though he wasn’t looking at her.
Da
She felt slightly u
Da
Da
“Really?” he asked.
N’SYNC: No Strings Attached.
She folded her arms as she looked up at him. “I didn’t buy them all yesterday.”
“I don’t care when you bought it,” he said with a laugh. “There’s no excuse for this.”
“I Thought She Knew.”
“You thought who knew?”
“No.” Leah laughed. “That’s the name of the song that landed that one a spot on the shelf. ‘I Thought She Knew.’ It’s an a cappella song. Really pretty lyrics.”
Da
“Plus, hot guys sing it, so.”
He glanced up with a smirk before he shook his head. “They’re not objects, Leah. They’re real men with feelings and debatable talents.”
She pressed her lips together, fighting a smile as he turned to slide the case back on the shelf, and then he reached up and pulled another one down.
“If you’re go
He laughed to himself before he turned to face her, the case sandwiched between his two hands.
“Which one do you have?” she asked, craning her neck to see, and he turned his body, shielding it from her as he shook his head.
“You’ll see in a second,” he said, walking the few steps over to her stereo and hitting the button to turn it on. Leah watched as he placed the CD into the machine, and then he skipped forward a few tracks before hitting play.
The opening chords to Ray LaMontagne’s “Hold You In My Arms” filled the room, and Leah immediately closed her eyes. When she opened them a few seconds later, he was leaned up against the wall, watching her.
“I love this song.”
“Me too,” he said, pushing off the wall as he walked toward her. “I guess your taste in music isn’t so shitty after all.”
She laughed lightly, looking up at him as he came to stand in front of her.
“Dance with me,” he said, extending his hand.
“Dance with you?”
He nodded. “It’s my birthday, so you really can’t say no.”
“Hey now. Your birthday’s over.”
Da