A Bark In the Park

8. 3pm

Harlie stood outside Noah's apartment. Her palms were sweating and she compulsively rubbed them on her jean shorts. Summer was in full swing and it was hotter than Lucifer's ass. She rang his doorbell and waited. There were no sounds coming from behind the door. With a grimace, she pulled her phone from her back pocket to check the address Noah had sent her. It was correct.

Ringing the doorbell again, she continued to wait. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Unfortunately, she couldn't blame summer on that. The hallway of his apartment building was comfortably cool. She waited a few more minutes then rang the bell for the last time. She refused to stay outside a man's apartment, looking desperate. A small noise came from behind the door and she took a deep breath. A strong smell of onions hit her nose. She panicked. Attempting to do a quick check of her deodorant. Someone cleared their throat when she had just shoved her nose in her armpit. Harlie spun around with her face still in her pit.

"Hi," Noah said with a sheepish grin.

"Hi." Her voice was a bit muffled, thanks to where her face was.

She stood straight, trying to play off that she wasn't just checking her deodorant's durability.

"Wanna come in?"

Harlie turned back to the door she'd just been accosting. "Isn't this you?"

Noah shook his head. "No. The stupid number keeps coming unglued and swings down. I usually tell people that, but I was so excited you'd agreed to come over that I forgot to tell you. Sorry."

"Oh. I hope I didn't just disturb your neighbor."

"Nope. That's an empty apartment. It was just me who noticed you were checking to see if you put deodorant on." He huffed out a laugh.

Harlie felt her face heat.

"Come on in. I want you to meet Reggie."

She smiled at him then followed him into the apartment. Harlie looked around the impressive apartment. They'd never talked about what Noah did, but from the looks, it was pretty high profile.

"Harlie. Want anything to drink?" Noah said from the kitchen.

"Sure. Water would be great," Harlie said absently as she wandered through his expansive living room.

She was looking intently at a family photo when she heard a humming noise coming toward her. It was one of those automatic vacuums. When she went to turn back to the picture, the vacuum caught her eye. Riding on top of the vacuum was a rodent wearing a crown and cape.

"What the fuck?" Harlie said.

Noah came in with two glasses and looked where she was looking. "That is Reggie. However, he likes being addressed as Sir Reginald Von Boopersnoot."

Harlie blinked at him. Now, she knew why he was single. Noah was a sandwich shy of a picnic.

"I don't know what to say," Harlie managed to sputter.

Noah sat on the couch and watched Reggie riding around. "He's weird. My sister moved with her husband when he got stationed over in Germany. They weren't allowed to bring Reggie. So, last weekend I became a chinchilla owner."

"A chinchilla," Harlie muttered. Finding words was pretty difficult in her brain at that moment.

"Yep. He's a pain in the ass. Good thing he's cute."

"So, did you just invite me over to have sexy times? You didn't have to pretend about training."

He choked on the water he'd just sipped then began coughing. "Sexy times?"