I want her. It’s been years since I’ve been this attracted to a woman. Everything about her, from her back off stance, searching hazel eyes, full pouty lips, and gentle curves calls to me.

She sneezed on me.

I laugh out loud and then shake my head.

What the hell have I gotten myself into? Today did not go as planned. I walked up to that house hoping to generate a little business. Within a minute of talking to Finley I knew I’d agree to just about anything, helping her fix up that God damned house, to spend more time with her.

Helping her covers two bases. I get to be close to her, and keep her from injuring herself. I must be losing my mind.

If my brothers find out I’m crazy for a woman I’ve just met, they’ll never let me live it down. When I get to my office, I call Abby.

“How’d it go?” she asks instead of saying hello.

“You should have talked her out of buying it,” I grumble.

But if she had, I never would have met her.

“I was the agent for the seller. She came to me,” she argues.

I lean back in my chair and prop my feet up onto my desk. “It’s a mess Abby.”

“Are you going to help her?”

My eyes shift to the mountain of paperwork on my desk. “Yeah.”

There’s silence on the line before she pushes further, “What aren’t you telling me?”

Abby has an uncanny ability to hear things unsaid.

“I’m going to help her,” I reply defensively.

“So she hired you?” She says.

“Not exactly.”

“Noah,” she warns.

I laugh at her tone. She inherited it from our mom.

“I’m going to help her as a friend,” I explain.

“As a friend,” she scoffs. “You’ve known her a day.”

“That’s true,” I say.

There’s noise in the background. “I have to go, my client just got here. As soon as I’m done, I’m calling you back and you’re going to tell me everything.”

“Alright Abs. Talk to you later.”

My next call would be to Gideon, but since he never answers his phone I send him a text instead. He surprises me by calling me.

“Hey,” I answer.

“What do you need my destroyer spray for?” He asks by way of answering.

“Don’t worry about it,” I reply nonchalantly, hoping not to pique his interest.

“Fine,” he grumbles before hanging up on me.

I stare at my phone and shake my head. Then I set it on my desk and get to work. Last thing I need to think about right now is Gideon sniffing around her. There’s a reason I buy him condoms in bulk. I’d hate to have to kick his ass for even looking at Finley.

Two hours later the pile is significantly smaller.

“Knock, knock.”

At the sound of my sister’s voice, I look up to see Abby peeking into my office.

"I thought you were going to call." I move, shifting to my feet.

She pushes the door open and crosses the room to me. "I can't tell when you're hiding stuff over the phone."

I hug her. "What could I possibly have to hide?"

Letting her go, I move back to my desk and motion for her to sit in one of the armchairs that face it.

"Don't try and BS me. What's the deal with you and Finley?"

I deflect. "How well do you know her?"

"Ahh, pumping me for information about her. That must mean you're interested in more than just her house."

I shrug, neither confirming nor denying her words.

She leans back in her chair before toeing off her heels and crossing one leg over the other. "She got the house for a steal, even considering its condition. She paid for it outright and while I was obviously not the Realtor on the sale of her house in Texas, I do know she made decent money on it and used that to pay for the rewiring. She plans to use more of it to start the remodel.

“She’s going to work from home. She does some kind of remote customer service thing for a travel insurance company.”

She pauses, waiting for me to respond. As a contractor, what she told me should be everything I would normally care about. In this case, with Fin, it's not.

"Do you know anything about her personally?" I ask, and by asking make it clear my interest is more than professional.

Abby starts the smile, but catches herself from grinning outright. "She's recently divorced."

That explains the two last names she gave me.

"If she has children, which I don't think she does, they're staying in Texas. She's sweet and easy to work with. In any real estate transaction there are a ton of forms to sign. She was prompt and didn't complain about the process. She was also understanding with the owners. I like her."

Finley’s hazel eyes flash in my mind and I admit, "I like her too.”

This time she does grin.

"Was that your plan in sending me over there?" I ask.

Abby has a bit of a matchmaker in her. If this was her ploy, it wouldn't be her first attempt at it.

"There was something about her that reminded me of you," she replies.

"Care to share what it was?" I ask when she doesn't elaborate.

"She's a grounded dreamer," she explains.

I blink.

What the hell does that mean?

When I don't say anything, she goes on. "Eli is all grounded, no room for exceptions, total stickler for the rules and stubborn as hell. Asher is in his own dream world, and we're lucky he remembers we exist, and Gideon is used to getting whatever he wants whenever he wants it."

Her descriptions of our brothers are pretty spot on. "And I'm a grounded dreamer?"

She nods, pleased with herself. "Yep, you've got a bit of all of them since you're older, Asher and Gideon got those traits from you."

"Don't let Gideon hear you say that," I joke.

She shakes her head. "He gets defensive when you give him advice. He thinks you try to parent him."

The remark hits home because it drives me crazy when Eli bosses me around. "Do you think I try to parent him?"

She grimaces. "You have your moments."

“But dreamer?” I lift my hands to show off my office. “It’s not like my head is in the clouds. Running a contracting company is about as grounded as it gets.”

She shifts in her chair. “You’re taking me too literally. You’re grounded in your work and a dreamer in the rest of your life. You’ve dated, a couple of times seriously but never asked a woman to live with you and broke up with the ones that asked you to move in with them. You’re thirty-eight years old and a great guy. You haven’t been able to settle down because you’re a—“

“Dreamer,” I mutter, cutting her off. “I lived with someone after college.”

She cocks her head to the side, her jaw going slack. “Who?”

I shake my head, happy to still have one part of my life a secret.

She frowns and I suspect the minute she leaves my office she’ll call our mom to pump her for info. Annoying her has never stopped being fun.

“Are you going to ask her out?” She finally asks.

I shrug. “Maybe.”

“Don’t boss her around,” Abby warns.

“Grounded dreamer,” I murmur, then I add, “I promise I’ll go easy on her.”

She stands, slipping her shoes back on one by one. “I want updates.”

“I love you too,” I tease.

She pauses in the doorway of my office. “Updates.”

I shake my head as I watch her leave.

“Noah, it’s almost four,” my assistant Justin calls from the hallway.

“Shit,” I grumble.

I lost track of time when Abby stopped by. Now if I don’t move my ass, I’m going to be late for a client consult.

“I’m leaving. If they call, tell them I’m on my way.”

He nods.

When I hit the main door, I look back at him. “The files on the left are ready for invoices.”

Justin lifts his chin in ascent. He’s one of Jon’s sons. We took him on a couple years ago to help around the office. He handles the phone messages and keeps me from double booking Jon or myself.

He’s still in college. Jon is paying his tuition and he still lives at home so he’s working for spending cash. Once his classes are done, he comes in after lunch and works until five, sometimes six.

He’s a good kid. Jon wishes he’d go into contracting, but his current major is chemical engineering. Jon blames his wife Emily. She’s a middle school science teacher.

With moderate disregard for speed limits, I make it to my four o’clock appointment on time. The meeting doesn’t go as well as I had hoped. They already had a competing bid that ended up being a lot less than our quote. I couldn’t tell them the company they were choosing, Hill Top, did shit work and cut corners.

“If you change your mind. You know where to reach me,” I reply, offering the client my hand.

I call Jon from their driveway to give him the bad news. They’re wrapping up at the job site so he asks if I want to meet him for a drink. There’s a bar near the office that we decide to meet at.

I get there first and order a draft for both of us. Jon shows not long after, slides onto the stool next to mine and takes a long pull from his drink.

Jon gives me a half smile. “Tell me about this woman.”

I blink. “How’d you find out?”

He grins. “Em bumped into Abby.”

Fucking gossipy little sisters.

I scratch the back of my head. “She’s cute.”

“Cute usually isn’t what you go for,” Jon replies.

He’s right. I’m no monk, no strings was what normally turned me on before Fin.

“She sneezed on me,” I laugh.

He nods his head, seeming to understand that odd statement.

I shake my head, hoping to get some understanding myself. “I can’t explain it.”

“Em slipped and fell.” He smiles and lifts his shoulders.

“What?”

He spins his stool to face me. “The first time I saw her, Emily slipped and fell. There were a bunch of us out skating on some pond and she was in front of me on the ice. I noticed her legs and was working up the nerve to try and talk to her when she fell on her ass. She laughed at herself, tried to get back on her feet and then fell again. I stopped to help her up and the rest is history, so I get you.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I caution.

“Emily will want to meet her,” he replies, twisting his stool back to face forward.

“Should I expect a call?” I ask.

His wife is as nosy as Abby is. He smiles, which confirms my suspicion.

“I’m going to tell her about the sneeze. She’ll love that shit.”

It’s pointless to tell him not to. Jon and Emily tell each other everything. I’m going to regret sharing that.

I drink my beer. For the first time, it hits me that when we leave this bar, Jon’s going home to his wife and family and I’m going home to my empty house.

“Want another?” I ask when he finishes his drink.

He shakes his head. “I’ll buy you one if you’re staying but I need to go. I’m in charge of getting Brit to her piano lesson since Emily is taking Joey to a Scout meeting.”

“How do you remember all of this but you need weekly schedule printouts?” I joke.

It isn’t a new joke.

He taps his head and chuckles. “Only got room for so much. You staying for another?”

I nod. He signals the bartender and leaves enough bills on the bar top to cover another beer.

“Thanks man.”

He pats my back. “See you later.”

“Tell Emily and the kids I said hi.”

He pauses. “Still on for Thursday?”

“I’ll be there,” I reply.

He leaves and I pick up the food menu. I end up having dinner at this bar more nights than I’d like to admit.

“Mind if I join you?” A female asks from beside me.

Turning my head, I see an attractive tall blonde standing behind the stool Jon was sitting in.

“I’m not much company,” I reply, my eyes moving back to the menu.

“Let me be the judge of that,” she says, sliding onto the stool.

I push the menu away; I’ve memorized it ages ago.

Her hand moves in front of me. “I’m Angie.”

I shake her hand. “Noah.”

She grins. “I wouldn’t say no to riding your ark.”

Yep, she’s so clever. I’ve never heard that joke or some version of it.

I’m saved from having to respond by the bartender coming over to take Angie’s drink order. Instead of ordering food, like I had intended, I use this opportunity to finish my second beer and slip away.

Angie seemed nice enough but I wasn’t interested, in small talk or whatever else she was hoping for. All I wanted was to eat in peace. I get takeout and have all the peace I can get eating in my living room in front of the TV.

I have a simple two-bedroom ranch style house. The attached two-car garage is what made me buy it. Jon and I didn’t have a separate office back then so I used half of it to store our tools and office files. We decided to rent the office space when our business grew. It helps to have a place where we can meet with clients and their designers. My garage worked for storage but not for much more.

Even after we started working out of the office, I stayed living here instead of moving to a bigger place. What’s the point? I have a guest bedroom and all the space I need for myself.

Abby claims it needs a woman’s touch. She tried giving me multicolored pillows to put on the sofa but I ended up throwing them into the spare bedroom. Then she tried to hang up pictures of trees. After I threatened to take away her spare key, she stopped. I don’t have anything against trees, or artwork in general. The prints currently hanging in my place are old but ones I picked out myself. When it’s time to change them, I pick out what replaces them, not my kid sister.

For having remodeled my kitchen myself, it doesn’t get much use. The cabinets are dark walnut with custom under cabinet lighting. All that work and the thing I use most in it is the fridge. I open it now to grab a fresh beer.

When I’m done with my food, I shove the cardboard containers onto the rest of the cardboard containers already filling my trashcan. It’s a reminder of how often I eat alone. I’m not lonely. I’m too busy with work, friends, and my family.

This Thursday I’m having dinner over at Jon’s place. This weekend, I have a dinner at my folks with the rest of the family. We’ll see if Brooke shows with the kids, and if she doesn’t what excuse Eli will give for their absence.

I’m not sure what has me thinking about my somewhat singular existence. I never noticed the takeout containers filling my trash or the fact that I’d be coming home to an empty house before today.

Something about seeing Finley in that big house all by herself triggered something. I didn’t like knowing that she was alone. Even from our first meeting in that drug store, she captured my attention in a way the blonde at the bar never could.

I have an almost visceral need to take care of her. Knowing she’s sick, alone, and camped out on a crappy air mattress is driving me nuts.

She has no one to watch over her. It wouldn’t be good to go back over there tonight. She needs her rest. I can wait until I see her tomorrow. Yeah, I told her I’d call first but I’ve changed my mind since then.

My schedule is open tomorrow morning. I’ll go over early. With that decided, I settle as well.

My bedroom is my favorite room in my house. It’s the one spot in my house that a guest needs to be invited into. It’s also where I display my favorite things. There’s no rhyme or reason to them; there’s a framed picture Aiden drew, the hockey puck from my first varsity game, and a pair of vintage skis I mounted over my bed. I also got a good king-sized mattress and a matching set to go with it. The furniture is solid mahogany and well made.

As I relax against my pillows I wonder what all of Finley’s dark brown hair would look like spread across them.