When I heard Larissa plodding up the stairs at ten in the morning, I opened my door, waiting for her there. She did a double take when she saw me; then she hit me with a full-on smile, and I almost did a double take of my own.

“Hey.”

She walked over to me. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Yeah, fancy that.” My damn hand that had a mind of its own pushed a wavy lock of hair off her face. “I knocked on your door a couple times yesterday to see if you wanted my help unpacking…”

Her eyebrows went up. “You did? I wasn’t sure if that was a real offer.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I told you it was.”

She bit her bottom lip and glanced down for a moment. “Ah, well, I spent the day with my sister’s family. Sorry I wasn’t here.”

“It’s cool. I’m not doing anything today. Still want help?”

“Definitely. I’m actually just getting home from my sister’s, so give me a minute to change, and then come over, okay?”

I sighed with relief inwardly that she wasn’t coming home from spending the night with some douchebag. Not that it was any of my business. But I kinda liked her. If she went home with any douchebag, I wanted it to be me. Not that I was a douchebag. More like former douchebag. I was reformed from my douchey ways.

I waited exactly one minute before I went to her place and knocked. I heard her yelling that it was open, so I let myself in.

“Give me another minute! I can’t find anything in here!” she called. I looked in the direction of her bedroom just in time to see her walk by her cracked door in a black bra and underwear. Shit, fuck, fuck. It was just a glimpse, but the rounded lines of her body were instantly seared in my mind. It was going to be difficult to think of anything else.

To distract myself, I studied the books lining her shelves. The subjects surprised me. They ranged from biology to medicine, from genetics to philosophy. I wondered if Larissa was in med school. For some reason I couldn’t quite picture her being a doctor or nurse though. Probably her lack of bedside manner.

“All right, I’m dressed.”

I turned to face her, drinking her in from head to toe. She’d swept her hair off her neck in a messy bun and I was instantly drawn to the line of her clavicle. It was one of my favorite parts of women, besides the obvious, and hers was exceptional. The bones were softly defined, with a slight dip where they met in the middle. I could easily spend hours licking that line and tasting her skin.

She’d probably just thrown on the first thing she found to wear, not thinking anything of it. But her V-neck T-shirt dipped low, showing lots of creamy, freckled skin. And her leggings did nothing to disguise the roundness of her hips and thighs. She was curvy in every sense of the word and my hands were twitching to touch every soft bit of her.

“You’re really pretty,” I said.

Her chest rose as she took in a surprised breath. Then she looked down, scanning herself. “Really? Thank you. I didn’t make much of an effort today. I didn’t even bother putting in my contacts.”

She had on dark-framed glasses that I thought made her look even more adorable.

“It’s okay to just take the compliment. You don’t have to qualify it,” I said.

She took in another deep breath and met my eyes. She studied me for a beat, then tipped her chin. “Thank you, Yo. That was very sweet of you to say. And thank you for coming over here to help me.”

“You’re welcome, Larissa. How’s your ass feeling, by the way?”

She looked over her shoulder and smoothed her palm over her backside. “Better. I have a grotesque black and blue on one side, but I’m pretty sure I’ll survive my injuries.”

“Phew. I know it was touch and go there for a while.” Glancing around at all the boxes, I asked, “What should I tackle first?”

“Maybe the kitchen? Right now I’m living with one pan and two plates.”

I picked up a heavy box marked “kitchen” and carried it to the island. “Do you want things in any particular place?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Just put things in logical places.”

I watched her bend down to open a box. Her ass took my breath away. She really had no idea, did she? I didn’t think she was actually trying to torture me, but she was. Every time I saw her, I found her more attractive.

Running a hand over my face, I shook my head, trying to rattle the mental image of her bent over out of my brain. Then I got to work, figuring out logical places for her dishes and cookware. Hopefully I chose wisely, but I had a feeling she’d tell me if I hadn’t.

“What do you do, Larissa? I was looking at your books, trying to figure it out, but I’m at a loss,” I said.

She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by another pile of books, arranging them into some sort of order. “I’m a perpetual student, basically. Right now I’m studying for my PhD in bioethics.”

“You’re gonna have to tell me what that means.”

She pushed her glasses up her nose, the corner of her mouth quirking up. “You probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that I have to explain this to pretty much everyone.”

“I’m glad to know I’m not the only clueless dumbass,” I said.

“No, you’re not. Anyway, the short answer is that it’s studying the ethics of medicine and medical research. So, for example, every patient has a right to know their diagnosis and what type of treatment is being done to them. That didn’t always used to be the case, but ethicists helped change that. Bioethicists work for drug companies, in hospitals, and they help write health laws. We’re all over the place. My particular interest is genetics.”

“What do you plan to do once you’re finished with school?”

She sighed. “My hope is that I’ll be able to teach and research. I’m in a pretty competitive program—there are only ten of us—so I should be able to find the job I want when I’m all done. I’m one of those nerds who really love school. I never want to leave academia”

“Cool, cool. I’d love to read your studies so I can get a better grasp on what you actually do.”

She fucking beamed at me and my heart started pounding, trying to break through my chest wall to get to her. This woman affected me in a big and unfamiliar way.

“I think this is the first time someone outside of school wanted to read my research. I’ve sent my parents and my sister my papers, but I’m not certain they’ve actually read them.”

“Well, I’m interested.” What I didn’t say was that I was interested in everything about her, not just her research.

“Before you go, I’ll give you one of my grad school papers.”

I winked at her. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

She giggled softly.

“What?” I asked.

“The winking. It’s cute. I didn’t know people actually did that.”

I winked at her again. “Oh, is this cute?” I walked toward her, winking wildly with each eye. “You like this? Still cute?”

She held her hands out to shield herself. “Oh my God, you’re a wink monster!” Her giggles had turned into laughter and when I got down on the floor in front of her, winking in her face, she was full on belly-laughing.

It was a gorgeous sight, especially this close up. Sitting back on my knees, I laughed with her. I just kind of had to. Her laugh filled my gut and chest so much I needed that release.

Larissa grinned at me through tear-filled eyes. “I don’t even know why that was so funny.”

I held my palms up. “Sometimes you just gotta let it out.”

She swiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “You’re right, you know. I am serious. But it feels good to laugh with you.”

“Nothing wrong with being serious. Just not too serious.”

I stayed there on the floor with her, taking books out of boxes. I’d always been a reader, but I didn’t own a lot of books. Mostly I went to the library or downloaded ebooks. But I always had one or two books going at once.

I held up a book on genetic mutations. “Can I borrow this?”

She made a face. “Really? Why?”

I flipped through the pages quickly. “Don’t know. Looks kind of interesting.”

She seemed bemused. “I don’t see why not. Sure, you can borrow it. Is genetics your field of work?”

I scoffed. “Not at all.”

“I didn’t think so.”

Frowning, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean anything by it. You just don’t strike me as a scientist. You seem like you’d have a creative job.”

“I’m a hairstylist, so yeah, I do have a creative job.”

I’d never been ashamed of my career. Growing up, it was never a question in my mind that I’d follow in my parents’ footsteps and become a hairstylist. It was just what my family did, and had done for a couple generations. I’d been confronted with assholes who assumed I couldn’t be straight because I did hair, but what the fuck ever. I never let someone thinking I was gay bother me though. It’s not like it was an insult, it just wasn’t who I was.

But now, in front of this brilliant, educated woman, I was honestly a little intimidated. Yeah, I made good money and I felt fulfilled in my career, but she spent her time with people who did big, life-changing work, while I just cut hair.

But when I really thought about it, that was bullshit. My job was important. I might not change the world, but I made women feel good about themselves. My brain was used just as much in my job as Larissa’s, I just used a different part of it.

Her eyes widened and she touched her messy bun. “Really? I’m surprised, but not really. I hope you’re not judging my hair though.”

I reached out and ran a strand that had fallen down through my fingers. “Not judging. You have kind of drool-worthy hair. To be honest, it was the first thing I noticed about you.”

She tipped her head just slightly toward my hand. “I haven’t had a haircut in months. Not since I moved down here from New York.”

“I’d love to get my hands on you.”

She grinned. “You mean my hair.”

I winked again. “That too.”

“Do you ever not flirt?”

“Not when I’m around you,” I said.

She sighed like she was the most put-upon woman in the universe. “Fine. If you must flirt, as least keep unpacking.”

I laughed. “I think I can manage to do that.”

We worked steadily, getting things put away, breaking down boxes, and hanging up pictures. After a few hours, her place looked like a home and I thought we both breathed a sigh of relief. Larissa offered me a beer and a snack, two things I never turned down, and we sat at her little table surveying our work.

“I feel like I can breathe again!” she said.

“Yeah, the mess was stressing me out through the walls.”

She smacked my arm. “Oh shush. No it wasn’t.”

“I swear it was! I don’t like knowing there’s a job left undone.”

“You’re an interesting person, Josef...what the hell is your last name?”

“Friedman. You?”

She held her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Josef Friedman. I’m Larissa Miller.”

Smiling, I took her hand in mine. Before she could pull away, I kissed her knuckles. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“You are way too much,” she said.

I cocked my head. “Or am I just enough?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure how seriously to take you.”

“About halfway,” I said.

“But which half?”

I held up a finger. “That, you’ll have to figure out yourself.”

She eyed me as she took a long pull from her beer. “What are you doing tonight for Hanukkah?”

I tapped my fingers on the table, making up my mind right then and there. “I was actually going to ask you that. I’m going over to my cousin’s house for pizza and candle lighting and I’d love for you to come too.”

She twisted her lips. “I don’t know…”

“Come on, it’ll be fun. They have a baby that’s super cute.”

“Is this the one you babysit?”

“Yeah, his name’s Logan. You’ll have to ask them who they named him after.”

She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. “Okay, now I’m intrigued enough to say yes.”

I pumped my fist in the air. “Yes! I knew that would lure you in!”

She rubbed her thumb over her bottom lip. “I would have come just to hang out with you.”

My stomach jumped out of an airplane without a parachute. This girl…

“Good. I’ve got you caught in my web,” I said.

She looked up at me from under her lashes. “Maybe.”

Larissa wanted to shower and change before we left, so we made plans to meet on the landing in a few hours. I knew I’d go stir-crazy while I waited to see her again. It was kind of crazy since I’d only met her a few days ago, but something in my gut told me I needed to know this woman.