We made it to the door of my building just as lightning struck a tree right down the street, causing me to jump and scramble to get under the overhang. Jon joined me, his hair dripping into his eyes as he regarded the storm bearing down upon us. The wind was picking up, too, and I half worried I'd get blown away before I entered my code into the keypad.

Even knowing this, my fingers hovered there over the metal numbers as I felt myself grappling with a decision I'd already made in my heart.

I was one big, goddamn idiot for even thinking about doing this.

When he saw my hesitation and the fact that I was grappling with some sort of indecision, Jon spoke loud enough that I could hear him over the near-constant thunder. "Thank you for your kindness, Lottie. You should get inside before this storm worsens."

"I've seen way worse storms. Listen..."

The man's amber eyes widened in surprise as he waited patiently for me to come up with what I wanted to say all while the howling of the wind made it nearly impossible to think.

After several moments, I spoke. "I had an ex-boyfriend with gauged ears. At first, I thought it was cute. Then he kept making his earlobes bigger and bigger until I one day made a Dumbo joke. Then he got really annoyed, and he yelled at me cause I didn't like his ears. So, I broke up with him because it wasn't his ears that I didn't like, but it was his shitty attitude. He also smelled like pickles. Not sure what that was about."

The pointy-eared man cocked his head to the side, and I watched the water run down his chest in rivulets as my words faltered and I got lost staring at him while the wind wipped my hair around wildly.

"Lottie—"

"Huh? Oh! Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. Ears." My words had me looking at the tips of his ears peeking out from under his dark hair as thunder crashed again, encouraging me to hurry and finish whatever strange and meandering tirade I was going on. "You don't have anywhere to go, right?"

He smiled genuinely, and I found that smirk comforting. "No. But I'll be alright. You head home. You're freezing."

I was freezing, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right. I didn't need anyone to tell me how I was supposed to feel. With a dramatic sigh, I spoke.

"Okay... fine. If you promise not to kill me, you can stay, but only for tonight. And on the floor. Cause I don't have room for a couch. I've got lots of pillows, though. I'm one of those types of people who puts all her throw pillows on the bed. My bed's more pillow than mattress, to be honest, so I can pretty much build an entire bed for you out of them."

"Are you sure?"

Jon's words drew me to look at his bewildered expression. Despite the calm energy in his voice, his exhaustion was abundantly clear thanks to the gigantic bags under his eyes and the dullness of his brilliantly colored irises.

"Yeah. I'm definitely sure that I've got a lot of pillows. I just can't stop buying them because they're soft and—"

"No. Not the pillows, Lottie." He shook his head, sending droplets of water flying in my direction, not that I minded as I felt the heat from the nearness of his body chasing away the chill from the rain, "Are you sure that you want to invite me in. To stay with you. You've already saved my life. I couldn't bear the thought of imposing on you any further."

I blushed as I hid my embarrassment by turning and entering my code into the pad by the door. "Stop talking like a romance novel. Who says 'I couldn't bear the thought' of something nowadays? And yes, I'm sure. I wouldn't invite you if I wasn't sure. Just... wipe your feet, don't use my towel, and don't murder me. Those are my three rules."

He grinned brilliantly as I opened the door to my lobby for him. The man, however, refused to walk in ahead of me, opting instead to cast a glance over his shoulder at the horrific storm taking shape outside as he gestured for me to walk in front of him. Only once the lobby door was safely locked behind the two of us did he relax nominally, but he still stayed on my heels as we ascended the slightly darkened stairs to my third-floor apartment.

The storm outside sounded atrocious, and I was shivering from the cold, which caused my hand to nearly drop my keys before I unlocked the door to my place. Frowning, I flicked on the light switch by the door, my scowl deepening when I realized that I still had piles of clothes everywhere. Why hadn't I fucking cleaned?

In my defense, though, how was I supposed to have known that I'd be bringing a hot guy back to my apartment tonight?

Behind me, I heard Jon locking the door, which drew me to turn and face the shirtless, pointy-eared enigma.

For some unfathomable reason, my mouth hung open as my eyes slid over him and I stared at him in bewilderment until I finally blurted out. "Do you have to pee?"

The man turned to face me, then raised his jet black eyebrows in confusion. "No. I don't have to pee..."

I snorted as I twisted away from him and set about combining the small piles of clothes strewn about my apartment into one gigantic pile so that the place looked a little more clean. "Okay. Sorry. Dumb question, but if you do have to pee, then do it in the bathroom. It's to your right."

Jon looked in that direction as I told Alexa to play my 'Shitty Day at Work' music playlist. The guy jumped when music began playing through the speakers, and with a huff, I began digging around in my dresser in search of warm pajamas for both myself and the stranger. Unfortunately, all I had left clean were a couple of velour track suits which went out of style in the 2000s, clothing that I couldn't bear to part with because it was as warm and comfy as it was ugly.

"Here." I gently placed the blue track suit on my bed, "This won't fit you, but it will fit enough to cover all the important parts."

Jon smirked as he lifted the pants from the bed and held them to his waist. I could tell just by eyeballing it they were going to be way too tight on him and the cuffs of the pants far too short. Nevertheless, I gave my mind a moment to image just how tight the clothes were going to be until, how well they were going to highlight his muscles.

"What are 'the important parts'?" Jon asked innocently as he stared down at the outfit I'd provided him with.

The man's words caused me to let out a strangled laugh that led me to choke on air and cough as the nasty trash water dripping down his delicious body and onto my white carpet shook me from my reverie.

"Don't!"

My words caused Jon to flinch and drop the pants he'd been holding onto the bed, and I felt a little guilty about startling him as I explained, "You're dripping trash water everywhere and gonna make the clothes dirty."

"My apologies."

The look the guy gave me reminded me of a lost puppy, and my heart pounded strangely as I rolled my eyes to cover up my sodd reaction. "Oh my god. Who says, 'My apologies'? Stop talking like you're from a romance novel! Just... just go into the bathroom and have a shower, trashman. I'll wash up in the kitchen sink."

Jon frowned as he took a step back and into the tiled area that comprised my tiny kitchen floor. "No. This is your home. You should use the shower room."

"Bathroom." I corrected as I watched him absently set his baby blue tracksuit on a clutter-free portion of the countertop. Mercifully, I'd done the dishes before I'd left for work earlier, so the kitchen wasn't as much of a disaster as the rest of the apartment.

Deciding that the suit he'd placed on the counter was in too much of a mess, Jon picked it up and began to meticulously refold it while he explained. "I'm afraid I must insist. You're quite cold."

The pointy eared man's words made me realize just how cold I was, and a violent shiver wracked my body as the thought of a hot shower warmed my soul. "I... okay. Won't argue with you, then. I'll be quick, so you can clean up after me if you want. Here..."

As I trailed off, I dug around in my clean clothes pile for a towel before finding one and tossing it at Jon, who deftly snatched it out of the air.

"Umm, you can use that to dry off. Don't worry about getting it dirty. And.. and there's chicken salad in the fridge that I think is still good. And a couple tiny pints of ice cream in the freezer. But chocolate is mine. Don't eat that one. And the remote to the TV is—"

Jon smiled and looked back down at the blue tracksuit as he replied. "On your nightstand under the book entitled Pleasure Me and adorned with an image of a law enforcement officer."

Now he was busy spreading out the wrinkles on his folded track suit as he spoke, and I was thankful that he couldn't see me as I opened and closed my mouth in surprise before responding. "Damn, you're observant. And ha! It's not a cop, but an EMT. So, you're wrong."

Before he could embarrass me further, I stalked to the bathroom without making eye contact with him. "Make yourself at home and holler if you need anything. And... please don't murder me!"

Jon didn't get the chance to say anything else before I slammed the bathroom door closed behind me, locked it, and then leaned against the wall so that I could wait for my beating heart to still.

Why hadn't I cleaned the entire damned apartment before I'd left for work that morning?