Rose hadn't thought that she could blush harder after Nick had spent their walk home trying to get her to resemble his favourite nickname for her, but here she was turning absolutely maroon at his bad joke. If she hadn't already set down her single grocery bag she would have promptly dropped it as she clapped her hands over her red face. "You're terrible, Nicholas Sloper," she told him, referring both to his joke and his comment about the state of her kitchen.
It wasn't until after her embarrassment had ebbed that she realised that Nick was looking around her apartment with interest. "Thank you," she said quietly, too overwhelmed with conflicting emotions to be too self-conscious about the dirty dishes on the sink or the shoes strewn about her front all.