Because Of Love

She sucked in a hidden breath as her eyes roamed his exposed body. She may have gone a little too far with the bulging flabby one pack. Clearly he was still pretty fit, but there was no need to give that away.

With a bored look and a raised brow she said, “I think you are regressing to the college dumb jock.”

With a high shrug of his shoulders, he dropped back onto the couch and turned back to the Tv screen. He was trying to look unbothered but Talia knew better. She stared pointedly at the tee shirt on his abdomen, hiding his once upon a time tight abs that looked like someone had curved them out with a chisel and a hammer. She’d struck a nerve. Talia rolled her lips into her mouth to hide her smile.

As fun as teasing him was, it was time they lived outside her apartment.

“Get up, take a shower, we’re going out.”

“Where?” he murmured.

“House hunting,” she responded giddily, bouncing on her feet.

Talia was scheduled to take a final look at the house she’d fallen in love with some months back, before DeLuca’s arrival. The need to have space and a permanent address was the driving passion behind her campaign to get her proposal approved. She used to pass by it at least once every two weeks to make sure no one had snatched it up before she had enough to make an offer. It was a good thing the owners weren’t in a hurry to sell. They were a couple in their golden years, childless by choice, who were currently sailing around the world for the last year after they retired as civil servants just the year before. They wanted to visit every corner of the earth before they died and Talia envied them. So much so, she made them her inspiration. She was going to travel the world too, but two to three decades sooner than they did.

Rafe pushed off the couch with an old man groan. “Great. We’re moving out of the shoe box.”

With a raised brow and a hand on her hip, she snapped, “No one invited you to move in, in the first place. You brought yourself here.”

He smirked, smacked her ass as he walked past her and dragged his feet with a shuffling noise to the bedroom.

Ow, the man could get on her last nerve with his little snide comments. She was sure he said that to get back at her for teasing him.

Whilst he showered, Talia got dressed and ready. She had just hung out with the realtor when Rafe walked out of the room casually dressed in blue jeans, black leather jacket with a black round neck tee shirt underneath. He looked good, comfortable and with his hair still a little wet loose around his face, he looked like a biker. She smiled slyly, shelving this bad boy look as number four, kicking sloppy kicks down to five. No wait, how could she forget the sailor look, in his white linen half buttoned up shirt exposing his chest, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and khaki shorts. She got to see what wind-blown hair in novels looked like and she loved the visual. Definitely a tossup between the two which deserved the fourth spot but sloppy king got demoted to position six.

He pushed his fingers through his hair, combing it back. “I’m going to need to cut this soon,” he murmured, not speaking to anyone in particular.

She watched, as his jacket pulled apart from the movement, the black tee stretching to capacity over his thick chest. Her heart rate kicked up a notch and she bit the left side of her lower lip as she watched the hair bounce back in a wave, kissing his defined cheekbones as they settled around his face. Ow, she definitely loved this bad boy look on him. Congratulations on nabbing the fourth place.

His hand suddenly froze halfway as he came to a sudden halt, his foot half raised. Talia looked at his face to find his eyes roaming over her, from her feet to her face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, worried.

He finished the step, dropped his hand to his side and with a shake of his head said, “Nope. Ah ah.”

“What?” Talia asked, looking down at herself. Were her clothes inside out? She looked up at him. “What?”

“Go change,” he commanded.

“Ha?” Talia looked down at her outfit again. She didn’t understand what the problem was. She was in a baggie tee shirt and long sweater, with a brown headband to hold back her stray curls as her hair sat atop her head in a bun. Yes, she was in shorts but she had tights under them and her flat boots were knee high. There was nothing wrong with what she was wearing. She looked up, meeting his gaze with a confused shake of her head.

He jutted at her legs with his chin. “Cover your legs. Wear jeans or something. The baggier the better.”

Unbelievable! She snorted with a roll of her eyes. Her legs were covered in black tights.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

His eyes narrowed and his brows pulled together. “Do you have an aversion to clothes? Don’t you feel cold?” he snapped and Talia pressed her lips together to hide a smile.

The Neanderthal was already jealous and they hadn’t even left the house yet.

Large leather arms crossed over his chest, he threw down a challenge. “We are not leaving until you do.”

She watched him under a narrowed gaze, gauging to see how serious he was. The hard set of his jaw told her he wasn’t kidding around. The independent woman in her wanted to argue back, but since this was the last day she had to view the house and make a decision, there was no point in butting heads with the stone roller.

“Fine,” she said with a belying sweet smile, then walked past him to the bedroom. She made sure to lock the door behind her in case he decided to supervise.

Talia changed into tall high waist wide leg khaki pants, and in a show of rebellion, she wore a white thin strapped crop top and a matching long sleeved, off shoulder, see through baggy crop sweater that paired well with her white kicks and brown headband that she originally had on. Pleased with her second look, she turned the lock on the door and stepped out of the room.

Five seconds hadn’t gone by before a pained groan filled the room.

Clearly, he didn’t like the crop tops, she thought amused with a sense of juvenile victory.