Chapter 11

Ryan

 

 

When I decided to redecorate, I was more than happy to volunteer my time, especially since it meant I would get to spend time with Alissa. One thing that I completely neglected to realize was the fact that in order to transform the house, I would first need to get all the old stuff out. Alissa showed up bright and early, right after the school bus had taken Kayla off to school. Kayla wanted to stay and help so badly, which made me feel better, considering she wasn’t taking the redecoration too hard. When Alissa arrived, she was carrying two cups of coffee and was more awake than I was on my best day. She came bopping through the kitchen, smiling at me as she laid out her plan of attack. I grumbled into my coffee with sleepy eyes and smiled as she looked up at me with her hands on her hips.

We spent the entire day moving everything out of the house for the truck to pick up. She had arranged for a custom shop to pick all of our old things up, minus the art, and have it put on consignment at their shop in the city. The art was actually quickly scooped up, and I mean quickly, as in hours after she left the day before, by a dealer out of Phoenix who was planning on holding a show with all the pieces. They purchased all of it outright so that we wouldn’t have to deal with the show and commissions. They were pretty positive they would sell every single piece almost instantly. I was just glad to get rid of it all, except the piece that Kayla wanted. When we were done moving everything out and stripping the curtains, she went to her car and brought in several boxes containing new curtains, shelves, and everything else I could imagine.

We decided to order all new cabinets for the kitchen because it was quicker and pretty close in price, so the guys were there to take measurements for that and the granite. It was pretty much a circus in the house, but I appreciated that she wanted to expedite the process so that we wouldn’t have to live in a construction zone for very long. She put me to work hanging shelves, and even though I was more than happy to oblige, I couldn’t seem to keep my concentration focused on the task at hand. Alissa looked fucking amazing, with a form-fitting tank top, short cutoff shorts, a sweater tied around her waist, and Chuck Taylor’s. Her body looked even sexier than I had imagined before, and every time she walked past, I seemed to not be able to keep myself from falling into a lustful trance. I knew I needed to be a little more mannerly about the whole thing, but her curves were killing me, and I really wanted to take her right there on the ladder.

As she turned back around, I looked away, going back to focusing on the shelf I was screwing into the wall. I realized very quickly that I had screwed it in lopsided, and I shook my head, reversing the drill and pulling them back out. I could feel Alissa walking up behind me, and I could hear the light giggle coming from her throat.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” I chuckled. “I guess I got distracted.”

“Come on down,” she said, reaching her hand out. “Let’s eat some lunch, and then we can continue. We’ve been killing it this whole time.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

We went down, and Alissa fixed us a couple of sandwiches and some chips for lunch. We sat in the kitchen, staring around at the boxes of dishes and such that we had pulled from the cabinets. It was a bit of a mess, but I knew within a few days to a week, it would look so much better.

“So,” I said, looking over at her. “How did you get into interior design?”

“Well,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I thought, ever since I was Kayla’s age, that I wanted to be an architect, designing skyscrapers that reached the clouds. I really liked the design aspect of the whole thing. However, as I went deeper into those classes, I realized architecture isn’t as glamorous as they make it seem, and I started drifting toward interior design because I liked the artistic side of things. The part where you create the life of the building, not just the structure itself.”

“So, did you switch your major?”

“I did,” she said, nodding her head. “And when I got out of school, I landed an internship with Wyatt Interiors. It was really an eye opener since it is such a large firm, but I realized I’d rather work for myself. So, after the internship, I forged out on my own and haven’t looked back ever since. I mean, I really love having my own business. It was stressful at first, before I got my first real client, but I had been doing free gigs privately while working for the firm, so I had been able to develop a portfolio. It only took me about a month to get my first paying gig. It was a baby nursery, and I was so damn excited. It was probably the most in-depth decorating I have ever done.”

I laughed, remembering my first gig. “My first job was like overkill, too. The people were so impressed that they posted my work on Pinterest and everywhere else. I realized quickly that spending that much time on one gig was going to be impossible in the future, but I am proud of what I did there.”

“Did you always want to be a landscape architect?”

“I didn’t, actually,” I said, chuckling. “I have a degree in computer programming and did that for a quite a while, but it was so boring, and financially, there was a definite cap unless you invented something cool, like the iPhone. So, one day, I said screw it, and I quit. I started working random jobs to see what I was really interested in, and lo and behold, I fell in love with landscaping. I took some classes at the college and then started my own company. The portfolio work I did was mostly for friends and family, but it did the trick for sure.”

“Wow, that’s quite the risk to take,” she said with wide eyes.

“Well, I had been really good with money, and computer programmers do pretty well, so I gave myself a time limit. If I didn’t find anything by then, I would go back into the programming business. It didn’t take me long to realize where my passions were, and luckily, Christina and I had plenty of money left over to start the company and get it off the ground. She was involved for a little while, but once Kayla came along, she stopped working and just handed it over to me.”

“Is there any issue with that now?”

“No,” I said. “When we got divorced, the judge gave me everything. She didn’t even show up for the hearing. She knew she wasn’t getting jack shit after leaving the two of us.”

“Good,” she said with a head nod. “It was your brainchild anyway.”

“That, my friend, is very true,” I said, pointing a chip at her. “It’s funny, though. I hated being at a desk all day as a programmer, but about two months into summer here, I can’t wait to get to the slow season so I can get out of the weather.”

“I can imagine,” she said. “I always hate when I have to decorate a home that hasn’t been moved into yet or is just being built. They keep the temps either stifling or freezing cold in the winter to save money and electricity. I had to put it in my contract that when we were on site working, we were allowed to keep it a comfortable temperature.”

“Speaking of comfortable temperatures,” I said, realizing that it had nothing to do with what I was about to say. “Actually, no, not temps, but time. Kayla will be home soon, so we should get back at it.”

“Yes,” she said, standing up and carrying her plate to the sink.

We continued our day, finishing up the shelves in the spare bedroom and then deciding to go ahead and hang the curtains since that room wasn’t getting any major carpentry work done. I watched Alissa climb up on the ladder, her long legs and round ass tight as she steadied herself at the top. She turned and looked at me. Her cheeks blushed, and her eyes darkened. The sun cast shadows across the room from the window, and I tried not to stare at her hot body as she reached up and drilled the curtain rod into both sides. She got down and pulled the curtains onto the long rod as I sat down on the bed and waited for her to be finished. It was the last thing for us to do that day, but I wasn’t ready to leave her alone just yet. She was incredibly sexy, and I couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

As she stepped up onto the ladder and lifted the rod into the air, the stepladder wiggled underneath her. I stood up to go stabilize it, but before I could, she tripped on the fabric, falling backward. I leaped forward and held out my arms, scooping her into them and pulling her close to my body. The ladder fell to the side, and the curtain rod crashed to the floor. She was breathing heavily and clutching my chest with her hands. I could smell the warm scent of lavender from her hair as she laid there in my arms.

Slowly, she picked her head up and gazed into my eyes, the heat between us hotter than ever. Our lips were so close to each other’s that I could feel her breath against my face. She gazed up at me, her chest heaving and my heart beating rapidly in my chest. I squeezed tightly to her body as I began to lower my head to hers.

“Dad,” Kayla yelled from downstairs as I heard the front door slam shut. “I’m home.”

I stopped moving and pulled my head back, the moment completely shattered. Alissa chuckled nervously and pulled her hair out of her face as I carefully set her back on the floor. I reached down and grabbed the curtain rod and reached up, placing it on the holders. She shook her head and laughed as she picked up the stepladder and closed it, leaning it against the wall.

“Well, that would have been a lot easier,” she said, sticking her hands in her pockets and staring at me.

We stood there for several moments, our eyes latched. Alissa smiled and looked down shyly as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She was so beautiful, and I was regretting not kissing her when I had the chance. The thought of going for it cruised through my mind briefly, but I was interrupted when Kayla came around the corner.

“Hey,” she said, happier than normal and looking around the room. “Wow, I like this. Now maybe we can have guests over.”

“Like who?” I laughed nervously.

“I don’t know, maybe you’ll make some friends or something,” she said smartly.

“Very funny,” I replied. “How was school?”

“Good,” she said, turning from the room. “I’m going to get a snack and start homework.”

“And I’m going to get out of your hair,” Alissa said, walking to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“I’ll be here.” I smiled big.

I may have completely missed my chance, but there was no denying that Alissa felt the heat, too.