His eyebrows shot up at her open acknowledgement of their past relationship. Relationship? One-night stand.
Ouch.
He thumbed the pad of paper, fanning through sheets until one piece peeled loose. "Shouldn't you be resting?"
"You already said that."
"Must be early onset Alzheimer's at thirty-five." Absently he picked up the stray piece of paper, leaned back against the bar and started folding. "I understand you need to keep your mind off things, but how about reading a book? Your body has been through hell the past few days. You should take care of yourself."
"I'm a young, resilient twenty-three, not an old thirty-five like you."
He stopped midfold on the soccer paper. "I'm guessing your mother and father encouraged you to speak your mind when you were a kid."
"What clued you in?" She smirked for a full five-second gloat before the fun faded with reality. "And how surprising that you always manage to bring up my dad anytime we speak."
"People have parents."
"You don't."
"Sure I do." His fingers started tucking and folding the paper again, drawing her eyes to his talented nimble hands.
Hands she remembered feeling over her skin too well right now. "Other than our tapioca conversation, you've never mentioned your parents once in all the time I've known you."
"I didn't crawl from under a rock."
She smiled slow and just a little bit impishly vindictive. "That's open for debate."
His laugh rumbled low and long, wrapping around her with far more languorous warmth than the ineffective bubble bath she'd stepped out often short minutes ago. Her body tingled with awareness, her br**sts suddenly oversensitive to the brush of cotton against her bare skin.
"Damn, Nikki, you never did cut me any slack." Shaking his head with a final self-derisive laugh, he bent a last tuck on the paper and extended his hand to her with the finished product cradled in his palm—an origami bird.
She inched backward, then caught herself. This was her home, her life. She stood taller and stood him down. "Stop trying to be charming."
His beautiful smile and laugh faded to a mere echo. "I thought you accepted my apology."
"I did." She wadded the tissue in her hand, tossing it aside with a final sniffle. Cold. Not tears. No more tears over this man. "But you can drop the charming friend act. There's no going back to how things were. You had your chance, and you blew it, dude."
His mouth went tight, his eyes dropping away from hers. Pausing. Holding. Right at her shirt level.
A damp T-shirt she now realized clung to her br**sts that happened to be hyperaware of the sexy blond hunk standing a reach away.
Carson's hands shook from resisting the urge to reach for Nikki and cup her br**sts that he happened to know fit perfectly in his palms.
And damn it all, why did he have to remember the feel and taste and texture of her in his mouth right now? Washed-thin cotton clung to her skin and subtle curves, begging to be peeled up and off so he could dip his head and lick away whatever water remained on her skin.
Water.
He needed to remember what had happened tonight, how she'd almost plunged to her death, would have if not for the pool below. The thought alone served as an effective cold splash on his heated body. That railing shouldn't have given way. This was a new complex with pristine upkeep. He couldn't ignore the possibility that someone could have tampered with the balcony rail, someone who didn't want her to remember what happened that night in Owens's VOQ room.
He could be wrong, but it was a helluva lot safer to err on the side of caution. "You shouldn't stay here by yourself."
Her spine went straighter, which just so happened to press her peaked br**sts tighter against the T-shirt. Counting to ten—twenty—he set the origami bird on the counter.
She folded her arms across her chest. "If you're offering to hang out with me, I'll have to decline."
"I never thought you would agree to that anyway. And quite frankly, I don't think it would be wise."
She bristled to her full five feet ten inches tall. "Because you're afraid I'll jump your bones? Well, you can be sure that even if I'd been the least bit tempted before, you've killed that spark."