She heard footsteps and felt someone peering through the peephole at her, and then the knob turned and her heart pounded as the door seemed to open in slow motion. And then there he was, the man she’d had on her mind nonstop, standing in all his glory. Half-naked glory, as the only thing he had on was a pair of faded jeans. She’d run her hands over the stacks of muscles and the valleys between in the near dark the other night, but that had nothing on seeing his sculpted body in the cozy, warm light of his apartment.

“Hi,” she said, tearing her gaze from his torso to take in the upward quirk of one side of his mouth, the five-o’clock shadow on his jaw, the glint of heat in his eyes that told her maybe he was happy to see her too.

“What are you doing here?” he said, tilting his head and seeming to fight a full-out smile.

“I just—”

“How’d you know where I live?”

“I have my ways—”

“Never mind,” he said with a little shake of his head. “Get in here.” Peering down at her with a lingering half grin, he took her hand and pulled her in, and Sierra didn’t fight it one bit. He closed the door and locked it, two locks, and then turned to face her again.

Sierra’s attention was drawn to the apartment, and she took in her surroundings, trying to be subtle at first, but then it was no use. “This is not what I expected.”

The living room, where they stood, was connected to a compact kitchen with a charcoal-and-white-swirled granite-topped breakfast bar in between that appeared to serve as his dining area. The kitchen was stunningly updated and masculine, with stainless appliances, dark gray cabinets, and a simple white tile backsplash.

She pivoted back toward the living room to take in the details—a slate-gray couch along the wall, floor-to-ceiling shelves on either side of the TV filled with scores of books, and the element that took a comfortable room and made it cozy, a lived-in saddle-brown leather chair with a matching ottoman angled in front of the only window in the room. On the end table next to it was a pile of three books, a beer bottle, and a remote for the TV. A solid cream-colored rug nearly filled the area, covering what looked to be old but well-maintained wide-planked wood floors.

“What did you expect?” Cole asked, crossing his arms as he leaned his back against the door.

“It’s not in a new part of town,” she said with only a slight hesitation. “On the outside, it looks a little sketchy. That bar downstairs…”

He laughed. “Not your kind of place.”

“I’m not sure I’d go there alone,” she acknowledged. “But this…” She gestured around them. “Your home is really nice.”