Finish the job and move on.
Hell, I never should’ve kissed her back. It was a mistake, and clearly it encouraged her to want more from me. I’m not going there. Don’t have time for complicated relationships.
I pick up a box that was just delivered and take it up to the fourth floor. It’s a replacement sconce I’ve been waiting for to switch out the cracked one in the fourth-floor bathroom. The door to the nearby bedroom is open, and I spot Josie setting her pillow and blanket on the floor as she talks on the phone in a cheerful tone. I told her to move up here before the kitchen demo.
“Everything’s good,” she says. “No worries.” And then she says something that stops me in my tracks. “He finished the top-floor bathroom. Third-floor bathroom is looking great, walls painted, toilet and vanities in.”
I step closer, careful to stay out of sight.
“Mmm-hmm. He just needs to add lighting fixtures and towel bars. Then he’ll call for the counters to be installed. He starts on the kitchen tomorrow morning.” She pauses, listening. “I’m not sure. I’ll find out. I think he goes back to his day job on Monday.” Pause. “Of course I’ll keep you posted!” She goes on with an update on her lack of auditions and how hard it is to wait to hear about the pilot.
I go cold. Now I know the real reason Josie is here—spying for Winnie. And to think I was starting to think Josie was good company. No wonder she shadowed me all week. She went behind my back, just like Winnie. What is it with this family? Slippery as eels.
She says goodbye and steps out of the room.
“Who was that?” Though I’m sure I know. I want her to admit it.
She jumps and puts a hand to her heart. “Skulk much?”
“Spy much?”
Her cheeks flush pink. “Winnie just wanted an update.”
“She asked you to spy on me. That’s the real reason you’re here, isn’t it?”
She grimaces, looking guilty as hell. “It was both. I needed a place to crash, and she wanted me to report back on your progress.”
“Why didn’t she just ask me herself?”
“I told you she was tired of your grumpiness.” At my scowl, she adds, “I only said good things about you!”
I speak through my teeth. “That’s because there are only good things. I thought she trusted me to get the work done right.”
“She does! She totally does! It’s just her fiancé is pressuring her to sell, so she was considering hiring another contractor if it was too much for you. She knows you have a second job.”
I’m so furious I can barely speak. I’m killing myself to get this job done. “Don’t try to make it sound like this was to make things easier on me. She wants me out, and she doesn’t want to feel guilty for firing me.” Especially after the way she left me, I add silently. It was an abrupt horrible surprise. Winnie knows she’s in the wrong where I’m concerned. The least she could do is let me finish what I started.
She steps closer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was a big deal since I was only planning to say good stuff about you. I’d never jeopardize someone’s job unless they were a criminal or something.”
“Wow, thanks so much. That makes it all better.”
“I don’t want you to leave anytime soon. I haven’t slept so well in a year.”
My lip curls. “Well, as long as you can sleep at night.” I narrow my eyes as it occurs to me what else she’s been up to. “You purposely slowed me down with your constant…friendliness.” I refuse to admit it’s her sexiness that’s a distraction. I’m too pissed at her. She betrayed me just like her cousin. I should’ve known they’d be working together behind my back. I can’t even kick her out since she has more right to be here than I do. It’s her grandmother’s house. But I want to so badly.
“Sean—”
I hold up a palm. “I’m finishing this job, and then I hope to never see either one of you again.”
“Wait. Come on.”
I ignore her and head to the bathroom. Finish the job. Get out. I open the box and carefully slide out the new frosted glass sconce.
“Sean, I swear I wasn’t trying to ruin your job.”
Of course she followed me in here. She still needs to report back on every damn thing I do.
“Go away,” I snap.
“I’ll help you make the work go faster. You want me to empty out the kitchen cabinets? Clear the space for the demo? Anything you need.”
I turn to her, keeping my voice low and controlled. “What I need is for you to go away.”
She worries her lower lip, and I focus on installing the sconce. I can feel her watching me, like usual, except this time it’s not flattering. If I ignore her long enough, she’ll get bored and go away. Though, so far, nothing has put her off hanging with me.
I have plenty of good reasons to keep my distance—she spied on me, she’s leaving soon, and I don’t need to get burned again. I’m done with her.
“I still think you’re an uber-skilled construction worker,” she finally says.
I keep my focus on my work, clamping my mouth shut against the harsh thing I want to say. I’m so pissed I can’t even look at her right now.
“I’ll empty out the kitchen, okay? I can’t mess that up. I’ll just put stuff in boxes. Do you have any boxes?”
I turn a murderous glare on her. Sure, I’ll drop everything to find you some boxes. Then you can report back to Winnie how slow my progress is.
She swallows visibly. “I’ll come up with something.”
I finish up and notice it’s quiet downstairs. I’m sure she’s going to try to make herself useful, because that’s what she does, whether I want her to or not. I’m not going to check on her, even though her history in the kitchen is disastrous. The whole thing will be demolished tomorrow, so how much worse could she make it?
By the time I finish in the third-floor bathroom, I have a plan to get rid of Josie. She likes to think of me as her guard, but I don’t want to be her muscle anymore. Not that I ever did anything but exist in her space. I pull my phone out and call my cousin Silvia. She’s from the royal side of the family, a princess, who lives in the city with her husband, and guess what? She has a guard. Palace rules. He lives in a nearby apartment and shadows her whenever she goes out. If I can get Silvia to let Josie crash on her couch, she’ll feel safe with an actual guard nearby. Some part of me can’t leave Josie unprotected, even if I do want to pawn her off on someone else.
“Hello,” she answers warmly. Silvia is the nicest person I’ve ever met. I credit her as the main reason the two sides of our family reconciled. She connected with my family here when she was a student at Yale and worked her magic to get us all invited back to Villroy for her twin, Adrian’s wedding.
“Hey, Sil. How’re ya?”
“I’m doing well, thank you. I just got back in town yesterday. It was a lovely wedding, wasn’t it?”
“It was great. I, uh, was wondering if you could do me a favor.”
“Absolutely.”
“Don’t ya wanna know what it is?”
“I’ll do anything in my power to help out family.”
So damn nice. “I really appreciate that. I told ya how I’m renovating Winnie’s place in my spare time, and now I’ve got a tight deadline. So, Winnie’s cousin showed up here ’bout a week ago to crash on my couch. She needs to feel safe with a guard. Do ya think she could crash with you since you have a guard? She’s slowing me down here, and I need to focus.”
“I don’t understand. If she needs a guard, what’s she doing there?”
Spying on me, distracting me, tempting me. I can’t say any of that without making her sound like a person you don’t want on your couch. I need to sell her good points. “I guess Winnie thought I fit the bill as guard since I’m big and protective. Josie just needs to feel safe, but I don’t think I’m the guy for that. I’m not exactly trained as a guard, and I’m busy.”
“Is someone stalking her?”
“No. She just ha
d a bad experience with an aggressive guy.”
“Is he still a danger to her?”
I rub the back of my neck. “No. He’s in LA. But she’s vulnerable. She’d do much better at your place with your guard.”
“Hmm…”
“Sil, she can’t stay here. She’s a distraction.”
“So first she’s vulnerable and now she’s a distraction. What’s the real problem?”
I hesitate, not wanting to admit the truth.
“Sean, I can’t help you if I don’t know the whole story. Is it because she’s Winnie’s cousin?” Her voice takes on a sympathetic tone. “Does she remind you of Winnie and it brings back bad memories? I know sometimes it can be hard to get over an ex, especially one that betrayed—”
I can’t take the sympathy. “She’s spying on me! My ex planted her here to report on my progress. She admitted it!”
“Wow, she’s really got you riled up. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you so out of sorts, even when Winnie walked out on you and, if ever there was a time to be riled, it was then.”
My lips press in a flat line. So much for nice Silvia making my life easier. “Look, I can’t kick her out. It’s not my house. Can ya help me out?”
“Bring her for Sunday dinner at my place. We’ll chat, and I’ll introduce her to Leon to see if a guard is really what she wants.”
“Thank you.” Finally she’s helping me. I’m sure Leon will look appropriately menacing with his earpiece, stone-faced expression, and concealed weapon. Now that’s real protection. And I won’t have to be tempted by an untrustworthy woman. I’ve already been burnt by her cousin.
“No problem,” Silvia says cheerily. “See you both soon!”
I thank her again and hang up, a weight lifted from my shoulders. Now I’ll just grab a bite to eat and take the night off before the hard work of demo tomorrow. By the end of the weekend, my problem will be solved. I head downstairs to the kitchen, expecting a disaster area, but it’s neat. Boxes are lined up by the couch across the room and neatly labeled in black marker. She emptied the kitchen cabinets for me.
She’s not here. My shoulders droop. Do I actually miss her?
I shake it off and go to the refrigerator in case there’s still leftovers. We split a noodle dish last night. No noodles, but there’s a new dinner waiting for me—a large wrapped chicken parmigiana sub with a masking tape label that reads “your dinner.” Something in the vicinity of my heart swells. That was really thoughtful of her.
I take out my dinner, settle at the island, and eat. It’s too quiet. I got used to eating dinner with her cheery conversation. Guilt seeps in. It’s not Josie’s fault that Winnie put her in such a difficult position, asking her to spy. I was too hard on Josie, taking out my anger with Winnie on her. And now Josie went out, and I don’t know where. I don’t know what time she’ll be back, or if she’s safe. Hell, she got to me. I did everything in my power to hold her at a distance, but she wormed her way in. I don’t want to care if she’s okay. I don’t want to care about any woman. I just want to keep my head down, do my work, make a success of myself, and then I’ll think about dating again. This’ll all be so much better once Josie is safely living with Silvia and her guard. It’s only for a couple more weeks, anyway, until Josie flies off for her next job.
I finish my dinner, which doesn’t taste as good as it normally would because I can’t help but think I drove Josie away. Now all I want is for her to come back so I can stop wondering if she’s okay. I snag my laptop from upstairs and return to the couch, shoving a box out of the way with my foot. There’s only four boxes from the kitchen since it was just my stuff. I browse for a movie on the laptop, but nothing appeals. It’s Friday night. I should go out. I deserve a night out after all my hard work.
The door opens, and Josie steps inside, carrying a brown bag. “I got some beer, roomie.”
I smile, relief flooding me. She’s okay, and she brought a peace offering. “Thanks, and thanks for packing up the kitchen and for dinner too. That was a real help.”
“You’re welcome. I ate the noodles, but I thought you’d need protein to keep up those muscles.”
My chest puffs out over the compliment. I guess I kinda got used to her compliments.
She heads for the kitchen, setting the bag on the island. I join her, watching as she pulls two beers out and puts the rest in the refrigerator.
She turns to me. “I think I packed the bottle opener.”
“I got it.” I lever the bottle open using the edge of the island counter and hand her the first beer before doing the same for my own.
“So we’re cool?” she asks.
“Yeah. I was hard on you earlier, more mad at Winnie than you.”
She waves that away. “No, it’s fine. I should’ve been up front and told you Winnie asked me to report on your progress.”
“She put you in a bad position. Just don’t do it again, okay? I’ll give her progress updates.”
“I wasn’t going to. I felt bad about it, even though I was saying good things.”
“I’m over it. You wanna watch a movie?”
“Sure!”
After a short debate on the merits of old black-and-white romantic comedies (her favorite) and superhero movies (mine), we agree on a thriller. Before I hit play, I tell her, “My cousin Silvia invited me to dinner on Sunday night. She said you’re welcome to join us.”
Her eyes widen. “You mean Princess Silvia?”
I settle back on the couch next to her. “Yeah. You’ll like her. She’s really nice.”
“Wow. Dinner with a princess. I’d love to. Did you tell her about me?”
“Yeah. I mentioned I had a guest.”
“It was nice of her to invite me.”
I ignore the stab of guilt over the real reason for the dinner, pawning her off on another guard. “Yeah, well, that’s Silvia.”
I put the movie on and set the laptop on top of some boxes so we can both see it. I shouldn’t feel guilty. I’m only sending Josie away for her own good. I won’t snap at her if she’s not here, and I’m sure she’ll feel a lot safer with an armed guard trained to fend off an attacker instead of just me. I’m not trained beyond holding my own with my brothers and the occasional playground bully. Josie needs to feel safe, and that’s exactly what she’ll be with Silvia.
She smiles at me, and my chest warms. “I’m glad we’re back on the right footing.”
“Yeah, sure,” I mutter and take a long swallow of beer.
Then I focus on the movie. Not her sweet fruity floral scent, not her contented sigh, and definitely not her pink lips wrapped around that bottle. I’m stronger than that.
Chapter Six
Josie
I’m still a little hazy on why Princess Silvia would include me in a family dinner, but I’ve concluded it must be Sean’s version of a peace offering. He wants to introduce me to someone interesting and also spend time with me outside our construction-zone home. I’d go so far as to say Sean and I are friends now. After the movie on Friday night, we talked about all of the plot holes in it, and we laughed a lot. He was actually fun with a great sense of humor. Last night he was working on the kitchen, but he did invite me to join him for a quick dinner at a pizzeria down the block. The relaxed version of Sean is irresistible.
I can admit it. I want more of that, more of him. We had one really nice kiss, and tonight feels like a fresh start with him inviting me to dinner with his family. I can’t help but think it’s a little bit like a date and maybe something could happen between us. I know it’s weird with him being Winnie’s ex, but she gave up any rights to him when she cheated on him. An affair of the heart is just as bad as a hookup. She let herself have feelings for Colin before she ended it with Sean. That’s wrong.
I pull a tissue from my purse, blot my red lipstick, and add a second layer. I’m wearing a cute black polka-dot minidress with tiny pearl buttons lined up the front of it. And I’ve got my red purse that perfectly matches my sli
p-on red suede heels. I like to use red pops of color to go with my dyed red hair. I toss my lipstick in my purse. Okay, I’m ready for dinner out with my roomie. And potentially more.
I zip my purse closed and stand there for a moment as it occurs to me I’m leaving soon. I could hear as early as this Friday about the pilot. That’s not fair to Sean to start something. I get the feeling he’s at a point in his life where he’s looking for something a little more serious. It makes sense. He had that recently with Winnie, and he’s a grounded responsible guy in his thirties. I dig that. Most guys I meet are immature. It’s not like Sean would ever move to LA to be with me, where I’ll most likely end up. He’s rooted in Brooklyn with his family-owned construction and real estate development business. Not exactly the kind of job that travels. And I know from personal experience, long distance is hard. I tried it with my college boyfriend, and things fell apart within two weeks. Probably didn’t help that he hooked up with his costar in a play in London right away. For guys, it’s out of sight, out of mind.
Okay, so friends. No problem.
I head downstairs to find Sean waiting for me on the parlor floor, where he sleeps, and catch his look of open admiration before his expression turns carefully neutral. My heart thumps harder, my breath quickening. He’s unaware I’m a student of human emotion—all part of my acting toolbox. He’s dressed nicely in a light blue button-down dress shirt with tan trousers and brown leather shoes. Clean-shaven, too, for the first time ever. He has sharp cheekbones and a square jaw. A classically handsome face. His thick dark brown hair is still a little damp from the shower. He must’ve showered outside because I was hogging the upstairs shower.
I’m drawn to him, like always, and walk right into his personal space. I feel comfortable enough to do that when he’s not scowling at me, and I want to be closer to him. All the reasons to keep my distance fade in my mind.
Rogue Gentleman (The Rourkes, Book 8) Page 6