Chapter 11
“Where’s the new sink?” he asked once he set the old sink carefully down on the towel he’d laid out and stood, facing the two women in front of him and absently noting that Mikey had snuck back into the kitchen, grabbed another burger and happily headed back to her room.
“Probably in the store?” the woman that was practically bouncing with excitement said, looking immensely pleased with herself while the other one…
“Oh, crap,” Kasey mumbled as she dropped her face in her hands and whimpered, which wasn’t exactly reassuring at the moment so he focused on her sidekick.
“You said that she was switching out the sink,” he reminded her, having a bad feeling about what was coming.
“Well, that’s true,” Sara hedged, still grinning hugely, he’d like to point out, “but probably not until after she finished remodeling the kitchen.”
“I really do hate you,” Kasey mumbled, still hiding behind her hands and was that a blush creeping up her neck?
Why yes, yes it was.
He really liked that blush, he realized entranced as he watched the blush disappear behind her hands. Definitely intrigued, he thought, forcing his thoughts away from that blush and all the places that it might touch and turned his attention to the woman that had bullshitted him.
“And this remodeling…” he said, letting his words trail off and leaving her to fill in the blanks.
“We just started this morning,” Sara answered brightly as Kasey mumbled, “Oh, God.”
“I see,” he murmured, looking down at the ruined sink that he’d torn out of the wall to the damage that had been left behind from their remodeling attempt and nodded, because he did see.
They were insane.
“I’m glad that you do, because it will make this a heck of a lot easier,” Sara said, still sounding quite pleased with herself as Kasey mumbled, “Please shut up.”
“And how exactly were you planning on accomplishing this remodel?” he drawled, noting the broken and thoroughly rusted hammer laying in pieces on the floor.
“Mostly through YouTube videos and Google,” Sara admitted with a shrug, which of course was met with a, “You really need to shut up now.”
“I see,” he said, doing his best not to smile, but there was just something about seeing the woman who’d named him, “Yummy,” embarrassed.
“And you were planning on doing it with hammers?” he asked, innocently.
“That was the plan,” Sara agreed, nodding solemnly as Kasey muttered, “Seriously. Stop talking.”
“And your permits?” he asked, already knowing the answer to that, but he wanted a reason to torment the woman a little more simply because he couldn’t help himself.
“Were unnecessary,” Sara ventured with a shrug.
“I-I’m going to kill you,” Kasey choked out as that blush that intrigued him somehow turned a darker shade of pink.
“What?” Sara asked, blinking innocently. “He asked.”
“Did you at least have plans drawn up?” he asked, as he glanced around the large kitchen, mentally going over all the changes that he would make if the choice were up to him, but alas, it wasn’t.
At least, not until she made it interesting for him, he amended a second later when she released another miserable sigh and mumbled, “Not exactly.”
“So, no plans, no permits, no tools,” he said, going over everything that he’d learned so far as he watched her while she shifted nervously, obviously debating the situation until finally, she dropped her hands away from her face, mumbled something inaudible and asked, “What do you want?” which pleased him immensely, because that meant that they were finally getting somewhere.
*-*-*-*
“Let me handle the negotiations,” Sara said, smoothing her ruined designer tee shirt down while Reese stood there, arms folded over his bare chest, undamaged eyebrow cocked and clearly waiting for the bullshit to begin.
“You’ve handled enough,” she said, walking past Sara, absently noting that the floor was dry and sat down at the table with a groan, grabbed the burger that was waiting for her, took a bite, and nodded her approval, because this was a damn fine burger.
“I’ve got this,” Sara whispered, clearly intent on ignoring her, as she sat down, folded her hands on the table and waited for Reese to join them.
“You’ve got nothing,” she felt obligated to point out as she took another bite of the delicious burger and resigned herself to Sara making this worse, only to have Eric walk in and do the honors.
“What the hell happened?” Eric demanded, as he threw an accusing glare at her. “You promised that you were going to wait for me!”
“I lied,” she said with a shrug as she grabbed a chip and popped it in her mouth.
“But, I bought a belt and everything!” he said, holding up a bag that she was assuming held the, “belt and everything.”
“Too bad, so sad, we’re in the middle of negotiations so go away,” Sara said dismissively before she cleared her throat and faced Reese, who she’d like to point out was watching her every move, hers, not Sara’s, and looking terrifyingly predatory. “Now, where were we?” Sara asked, wearing what Kasey liked to call her “car salesman” smile, because it was just plain creepy.
“We were talking about you starting without me,” Eric said with a huff as he gave the bag in his hand a shake, reminding them all that he’d come home prepared to do a job that no one in their right mind would allow him to do.
Then again, after today’s incident the same could probably be said about her, but since she couldn’t stop blushing and the bastard wouldn’t stop staring at her, she kept that to herself and focused on eating the delicious burger, hoping that he’d shift his attention to someone else so that she could think about something other than the fact that he’d seen her naked.
“Eric, I’m going to need you to keep up here. We’ve moved on and so should you,” Sara said with exasperated patience before shifting her attention once again to Reese, who was still staring at her!
“Now, Reese-” Sara began only to once again get cut off.
“Why’s he here?” Eric asked, gesturing to Reese, who was still freaking watching her!
“He’s a contractor,” Sara said with a pointed glare for him to shut up and go away.
“I thought he was a cop,” Eric said with a frown as he dropped the bag by his side.
“I’m both,” Reese drawled, still. Watching. Her.
Or was he…
Deciding to test this theory, she shifted to the right, noting that he shifted his head slightly to follow the movement. Worrying her lip between her teeth, she shifted all the way to the left, watching as he followed the move. Curious, she popped a chip in her mouth, steeling herself for what must be done. She stood up and slowly walked over to Eric, well aware that Reese was still watching her every move.
Needing a moment, she stepped behind Eric, wishing that he was bigger and slowly exhaled, telling herself that everything was fine and that the incredibly handsome man that had seen her naked didn’t make her nervous.
He didn’t.
She was just overwrought by the loss of her precious hammer, she told herself as she risked a peek to find him watching her with a look in his eye that made her heart skip a beat and had her licking her lips, because that look in his eye wasn’t going to work for her.
Not. At. All.
“So, Reese, how long would it take you to renovate this kitchen?” Sara asked with that creepy smile, even as she threw Kasey a look that clearly asked, “What the hell is wrong with you,” for which Kasey promptly shook her head with a shrug, because she had absolutely no idea what was going on here.
“Two months, give or take a week,” he answered Sara even as he kept his gaze locked on her, which only left her feeling unbalanced. It was not a feeling that she welcomed.
“And how much would it cost for you to do said remodel?” Sara asked, pointedly clearing her throat to get his attention, but he didn’t take the bait.
He also didn’t shift his gaze away from her.
“I could do it for free,” Eric offered, sounding hopeful and she would have rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to move, not with Reese watching her.
It was stupid and foolish and she had no idea what was wrong with her, because men didn’t make her nervous. They didn’t make her heart skip a beat, make her palms sweat, make her mouth go dry, leave her trembling, or make her wonder what it would take to have his arms wrapped around her again, because that wasn’t something that she wanted.
So, why did it feel like she was lying to herself?