Chapter Three

Ella walked into her apartment after another day at her new job and dropped her keys and phone on the counter.

It felt good to be home.

She had only been living in this apartment in Detroit for a month but for some reason, she felt like this was where she belonged. For the first time in a long time, she didn't feel like she needed to get in her car to go somewhere else. Her job was going well, she was starting to feel comfortable around here, and even the guy behind the counter at her local Coney Island restaurant recognized her now.

On the other hand, her dry spell with men was still dry. She should probably be more frustrated about that, but she wasn't. She had herself to take care of her needs and she had the man with the baseball pants.

Oh, the man with the baseball pants.

Around her second week in the apartment, she felt guilty about exploiting the pictures that had been left behind by the previous renter. They didn't belong to her. She didn't even know the person in them. But, well... she liked them. She liked him. She would lie in her bed wondering what his voice sounded like or how blue his eyes were when he looked at her. She thought about what his mouth would feel like on her lips and his fingers trailing down her skin. She imagined his lanky body spread out beneath her or hovering over her.

Whoever he was, he made her feel happy and warm. She hadn't felt that way in a long time.

At one point, she dug through her own box of trinkets from the past, grabbing her things from her relationship with her last ex-boyfriend, Nick. He was definitely not like the man with the pants. Nick never gave her that look of desire like the one from the man in that photo.

Nick had an old Polaroid camera, and she kept some photos he had taken with it when she moved. But they didn't do much for her, so she dropped them in the shoebox that was left in the closet. Perhaps seeing Nick the next time she lifted the lid would make her desire stop.

Instead, all it did was make her want to see more pictures of the other man. After awhile, her Polaroids got mixed in with the things that had been left behind in her apartment. A picture of her with Nick got stuck underneath the car keychain. Nick's picture of her skinny dipping on a beach in Virginia sunk down under a picture of the man with the baseball pants sitting at a restaurant with a smirk on his face. And at the very top of that pile was always that picture. Baseball pants slung so low on his hips that she could see everything including the desire burning in his piercing blue eyes.

Sometimes she wondered who he was and how he ended up on her bed with those pants. Maybe he played in some rec league or it was part of a Halloween costume. She knew Detroit had a professional baseball team, but she couldn't bring herself to actually look up the team and see if he played for them. That would be just too unbelievable and make her feel guilty again.

Ella had just finally decided to stop feeling guilty about that photo and stop trying to distract herself from what made her feel good. After all, she paid a security deposit and first month's rent for this place, dammit. It was her place now and the things in it were hers too. If those pictures were so important that people shouldn't see them, then people wouldn't have left them.

Ella pushed away the thoughts of that man for later after a long day in the office trying to understand something else new to her. She needed a beer and her leftover Chinese food. The pictures could wait until later.

She was just cracking open the bottle when there was a knock on her door. Ella stared at it, wondering if she should even answer it. She wasn't expecting anyone, but maybe it was her landlord or a new neighbor or something. It would be easy to just peek through the peephole to see who it was. Plus, she had the beer in her hand already so it could be the perfect weapon if she needed it.

But as she peered through the peephole, she almost dropped the bottle. It couldn't be. There was no way. Except it would make sense, right? He obviously had a connection to this apartment somehow. He had been here before and laid on her bed along with probably doing other stuff there.

Ella took a step back to catch her breath. There's a man on the other side of her door and it's no big deal that you recognize him. He's just a man. Act casual.

Ella grabbed the handle and opened the door.

"Jaclyn."

His serious face froze as he realized Ella wasn't Jaclyn, whoever that was. Then his features softened a bit, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly, his hands finding their way into the pockets of his dark blue jeans. His piercing blue eyes began to sparkle with amusement, looking at Ella just the way she predicted they would.

"Well, you are definitely not Jaclyn." He gave her a warm smile and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to bother you, but my ex used to live here. She said she was going to leave a box for me to pick up. Perhaps you've seen it."

"Um." Yeah, Ella had seen it. She saw all of him. Of it! She saw all of the box. In the closet. "Was it a shoebox or something?"

"Yep."

He added a bit of a sarcastic pop to the P on that, making her think he really just wanted the box so he could leave the apartment behind.

"I think I maybe saw it here." Think? Maybe? She was such a liar. "Do you want to come in and I can find it for you?"

He gave her a nod and mega-watt grin as he stepped inside. "I'm Quinn Thatcher, by the way."

He stuck out his hand and Ella fumbled a bit with her beer bottle before extending her own.

"Ella. Ella Parker."

Dammit, his hands were as amazing to touch as she imagined them to be. And now that he was in her apartment and she got a good look at him, the rest of him was amazing too. Just as lanky as she expected him to be. He had a white t-shirt on that accentuated his muscles underneath and some casual but cool dress shoes that matched his outfit perfectly. His hair had been swept back with a little bit of product.

Even without the baseball pants, he was as delicious in person as he was in his pictures.

"So what kind of beer are you drinking, Ella?"

She shrugged. "It's the Oberon Ale from Bell's Brewery. The guy at the grocery store told me it was a good Michigan beer."

"That guy would be right," he said with a smile. "You wouldn't happen to have another one, would you?"

She gave him a teasing smile back and wordlessly headed for her kitchen, grabbing another one from the fridge. "Rough day?" she said as she popped off the top.

"Rough year."

She walked back out to find Quinn staring at the living room of the apartment with a pensive look on his face.

"Did you get a different sofa?"

"No, just got a slipcover for the one that was here."

Ella handed him the beer and he took it even though he seemed a bit distracted by the apartment.

"Jaclyn thought a plaid sofa was more sophisticated, but I hated it. It looks much better now."

Ella couldn't help but smile. She actually got an approval for her slipcover choice from a gorgeous man. But she needed to get some composure. She couldn't let him see her gloating like this.

"So who is Jaclyn?" she asked.

"My ex-girlfriend." Quinn turned and gave her a bitter smile. "She and I broke up when she told me she wanted to go back to her husband and work on her marriage. I guess it worked out."

"Which is why she left the furniture behind," Ella muttered.

She stared out at her living room with Quinn, wondering what it must be like for him to be here now and what it was like for him when he was here with Jaclyn.

Wondering how some woman could push away a man like him.

"So do you live around here now?" she tried to ask casually.

"I live a few blocks away, so that made it easy to have Jaclyn stay with me or me stay here, you know, until things went bad." He shrugged and took another sip from his beer. "So are you here by yourself then?"

She turned to see Quinn intently looking at her now. Yep, those blue eyes were damn amazing. "Yeah, it's just me."

"No family nearby?"

Ella shook her head. "Nope."

"Significant other?"

She laughed. "No, I haven't had one of those in a while."

"That's a shame."

She gave him a skeptical look. "Why?"

He smiled, his face becoming a little less guarded and a little more flirtatious. "I just think it's a shame for a woman like you to not have a man who appreciates her."

Ella scoffed. "I appreciate myself plenty. I don't need a man."

Quinn raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Then I think it's a shame for a man like me to not have a woman like you to appreciate."

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at him. Really? Did he think he was a smooth talker with that dumb line? Yet there was something about it that struck a chord with her. She was an attractive woman and she deserved to have someone else appreciate that.

But Ella's judging stare, despite her inner doubts, didn't seem to affect Quinn. He just shrugged his shoulders, gave her another flirtatious smile, and took a drink from his beer.

"So you have my box?"

"Right, your box. One second."

She put her bottle down on the counter and headed for her bedroom, still unsure about how she felt with this whole exchange. Quinn was in her apartment, teasing her, which was weird for her. But giving him his box would mean he would leave, and that thought didn't sit well with her either.

The shoebox was just where she had left it, sitting on the floor of the closet. She quickly grabbed it, too flustered to think about the photos inside or that car keychain. She had tried to convince herself that it belonged to her because it was in her place. But it was never really hers, just like Quinn was never really hers.

Ella headed out of the bedroom with the shoebox in hand. "Is this it?"

Quinn's flirtatious smile faltered. "That's it," he said somewhat bitterly.

Ella reached forward, holding the box up for its owner to take. And while he did take it, she noticed his reluctance. His hand lingered for just a bit before finally pulling it from her grasp. He gave her an uncomfortable smile that he used to try and hide whatever emotions he had underneath. Gone was the flirtatious and fun Quinn that was there a moment ago.

"Thank you," he said quietly. Quinn pulled the box close to him, tucking it under his arm. Then he grabbed the beer he had set down on the kitchen table. "Could I take this with me?"

"Sure. It looks like you may need it."

"I do. Plus, I can't waste a beer given to me by a beautiful woman."

He gave her a look that was similar to the ones in the photos in the box. It was better than she dreamed. Would it be weird to ask him to stay? Or invite him to eat leftover chicken fried rice with her?

But before she could think of anything, he gave her one more quick smile and headed for the door. He had what he wanted so it was time for him to leave.

"Thank you again, Ella." He stepped into the hallway, then turned to look at her -- really look at her -- in a way that made her feel like she was actually seen. "I wish we had been able to meet under different circumstances."

"Me too. Maybe another time."

"Maybe."

"And you know where to find me," she said with a smile.

"I do." He gave her a teasing smile back. "Thanks again for this."

Quinn raised the box in his hand, then turned and walked away.

Ella quietly shut the door. She should've invited him to stay or asked him to show her around the area or something. She should've come up with some excuse to make him talk to her just a little longer. She was usually good about thinking on her feet, but as she talked to Quinn, words became harder and harder for her. That may have also been because she was trying to avoid saying one thing in particular to him.

She saw that picture. She saw him naked, and she liked it.