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the whole incident while walking back to their respective apartments. As they turned the corner, Nikki came to an abrupt halt.
    “Oh, no.”
    Dallas stopped, too. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
    Standing outside her doorway was Matthew. Her heart leaped into her throat. His hair was longer, and she was pretty sure he’d lost a bit of weight, too. He still looked great to her, and all she could think was that she was sweaty and dirty and gross from her run, followed by her elevator escape.
    “Matthew? What are you doing here?”
    “Gail said you stopped by my office earlier. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
    “How did you know where I’m living?”
    “I had to practically bribe Jenna into giving me your new address,” he said, keeping his eyes on Dallas the whole time he spoke. “So, ah, is everything okay?”
    “Oh—oh, yeah. Right.” Shit, how was she going to explain this one? “I, ah, I found one of your T-shirts when I was unpacking and wanted to return it to you. That’s all. I should have left it with Gail, but…”
    Matthew eyed her and then Dallas.
    “Oh, sorry. Matthew, this is Troy Dallas. Dallas, this is Matthew.”
    Dallas extended his hand, which dwarfed Matthew’s. She caught Dallas giving her a look that said, Him? This is the guy?
    Poor Matthew. Nikki had always thought he was tall, but Dallas towered over him. And Matthew was handsome in a boyish way that she loved, but c’mon, Dallas was raw sex. There was no comparison between the two. But at least Matthew was wearing a nice suit and her favorite tie, the lavender paisley one she’d picked out for him one day, just because. He did always dress nicely, and she liked to think she had something to do with that.
    The three of them paused awkwardly outside her apartment door.
    “I should probably get going,” Dallas said finally.
    “Remind me never to take the freight elevator again,” she said with a nervous laugh.
    “You got it. But hey, if I had to get stuck in the lift, I’m glad it was with you.” Dallas winked before turning to Matthew. “Good meeting you, mate.”
    Matthew grunted. “Yeah, man. See ya.” Matthew stared at Dallas’s door after he’d gone inside and closed it. “So that’s your neighbor?” he asked.
    “Oh, yeah.” Nikki pulled her key from her jogging shorts pocket. Should she invite him in? She so wanted to. “He’s a nice guy,” she said, just to have something to fill the silence.
    “Yeah,” Matthew said, sounding unconvinced.
    “Do you, ah, do you want to come in and see my new place?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer.
    “Sure.”
    She fiddled with the key, trying to fit it in the lock as her mind raced ahead. Has he finally come to his senses about us? “It’s really small,” she said. “But I’m getting used to it. It’s, you know, really small.” She was nervous. It was like this was their first date or something.
    Matthew stepped inside and unbuttoned his suit jacket, resting his hands on his hips as he surveyed the place. “It is a little on the small side, but it’s still nice.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Leave it to you to already have the place unpacked.”
    She smiled, though she wasn’t sure if he meant this as a compliment or as a dig about her being what he’d once called so anal .
    “So how long have you been hanging out with Texas over there?”
    “Dallas. His name’s Dallas.”
    “So how long have you been hanging out with Dallas ?”
    “I just met him. We got stuck in the freight elevator together.”
    “So I gathered.”
    Nikki went over to the closet and pulled open the doors. “There’s lots of storage room in here. See?”
    “This guy lives right across the hall from you?” Matthew stood with his hands on his hips, staring in the direction of the door.
    “And the kitchen’s really nice. Don’t you think? Granite countertops. Stainless steel appliances.”
    “I’d be careful around him if I were you,” Matthew said.
    Nikki