by Natalie Ann
He grinned because it was the only thing he could do when his cock started to shift in his shorts. “You enjoy doing that, don’t you?”
Her smile dropped. “Sorry. Inappropriate again.”
“No, it’s not. Not when I like it. I just asked a question.”
“Then yeah, it’s fun when it’s something I want.”
He kept his lips sealed at that point and jogged back home to get what he needed from his garage.
When he returned, she was waiting outside by his truck. “Let me get the ramps up and I can slide it onto the cart and you can guide it.”
“What’s that?” she asked of the straps on his cart.
“Pulleys. That is what is going to easily get this down your stairs without either of us getting hurt or damaging a wall.”
“You’re a handy guy to have around.”
“You’re not going to argue with me?” he asked. “I fully expected you to do that.”
“I don’t have much of a choice, I’m guessing. I have a feeling you’re more stubborn than I can be.”
“I’ve been told that a time or two,” he said and then got to work.
Twenty minutes later, the treadmill that was still in the box was in her basement with Evan pushing it across the carpet into the room she was going to set it up in.
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll get it together later this weekend.”
“What?” he said looking at her. “You’re going to put it together yourself?”
“I’m sure I can figure it out, but yes.”
“No,” he said.
“You’ve done enough,” she said. “I can take care of things on my own.”
And this was the argument he anticipated. “I’m sure you are fully capable of it, but I’m here and am positive I can do it much faster.”
“You probably can, but I don’t need a man to do stuff for me.”
He ground his teeth. He should be happy she was saying this and wasn’t sure why he wasn’t.
Didn’t he say he didn’t want a neighbor bugging him about stuff like this? And yet here he was volunteering.
Of course none of his other neighbors kissed like her and kept him up at night imagining them naked.
“You don’t, which is why it’s not a big deal to offer. Didn’t your brothers put your grill together?” he asked.
“That’s different,” she said. “If I didn’t give them something to do they’d go nuts. It was easy enough and I cooked them dinner for it.”
“Fine,” he said. “You can do the same for me.”
She stared at him and then started to laugh. “So that’s your way to get dinner out of this.”
“If it gets you to loosen up the bolts on your spine and let me put this together, then yes. It also allows me to spend more time with you. Unless you’ve got things to do.”
He hadn’t even thought of that. Maybe she didn’t want to spend the entire day with him. Hell, maybe he didn’t want to spend it with her.
No, he really did. Even if it was just looking at her on the deck.
Shit, when did he turn into a man that would do anything to get to know a woman more?
“I don’t have a lot to do. I’ve got a few strip steaks I could throw on the grill if you want.”
“Sounds great to me. I’m going to get some tools out of my truck.”
“I’ve got some,” she said, turning to leave.
“No,” he stopped her. “I’m sure yours are fine, but I know mine better.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Wow. I’m surprised you would admit that.”
“Do I come off as that much of a bitch that I wouldn’t know that you would have better tools than me? You do own a construction company.”
“I don’t own it,” he said. “Not really. At least not yet.”
He didn’t want her getting ideas in her head. Though he didn’t think she would and he had to stop lumping her in a category because it seemed like she was used to that too.
“You know what I mean. I don’t care what you’ve got or don’t have and get that right out of your head. If you think that of me, then we are done here.”
Yep, stick up her ass. But many might say there was one up his. “Sorry. Looks like we’ve both got some baggage when it comes to assumptions.”
“We do. You didn’t answer me about being a bitch,” she said.
He thought she might have been joking but then realized she wasn’t. “You’re not. I can understand where many think that of you or have in the past, but you’ve given me no reason to feel that way about you other than you’re stubborn and have a lot of pride.”
“Maybe I’m a bit like you then,” she said, moving closer to him and running her hands up his chest.
He wrapped his fist in her hair and yanked her mouth to his. “I think we might be more alike than either of us knows and it could prove to be an advantage.”
“Or a disadvantage,” she said right before his mouth crushed hers. “We could have some serious disagreements.”
“And some explosive makeup sex.”
She laughed. “There is always that.”
Now that he was hoping for it. He hadn’t gotten more than his mouth on hers but was wishing for more soon when he wasn’t a person who wished for much in his life.
Why would he?
He’d learned if he wanted something, he had to work for it and take it. He wasn’t going to wait for it to fall in his lap.
He had a feeling Parker was the same way and knew that he might be in for one hell of an adventure.
The question was whether he wanted the headache or distraction of it.
The answer was, yes. Yes, he did.
11
Weave And Bob
Parker was trying not to get too annoyed over Evan’s controlling ways.
Maybe it was because she liked to be in control too and knew they were going to butt heads majorly. She wasn’t used to that with a man and then had to remind herself she hadn’t dated all that much in years.
In high school most of the boys she dated were athletes like her. They hung out together at parties and at school.
Those boys wanted her and the girls hated her for it. Some of the boys hated her too if she wasn’t interested.
Then she went to college and decided it was time to focus on school more. She had it in her head what she wanted to do. She was going into medical administration. Her brothers were doctors, but she decided she might want to be the one to tell those doctors what to do.
That meant at least getting her MBA.
And she did. She got into a program that allowed her to finish her four years with a bachelor’s in biology and her MBA. It was a five for four program and she busted her butt to keep at 3.7 GPA while she did.
Nope, she wasn’t top of her class and never would be. She wasn’t smart like her brothers. But she swam and got a scholarship and managed to be competitive there and with her grades.
She’d come home looking for a job and found it wasn’t that easy.
Ending up in sales wasn’t what she’d imagined but learned that sometimes in life, you have to weave and bob or you got punched in the face. She’d been hit enough and weaving and bobbing was working out well.
She liked her job. She liked that it allowed her to set goals and still be competitive in her own right. The better she did, the more money she made. The more contacts she had at these hospitals, the better her chances were at moving on if she chose to.
But right now, she enjoyed what she was doing; only she knew it was going to wear thin being on the road forever. Especially if she settled down and had a family of her own.
Time yet for that.
First she needed a man. Someone to make time for when she barely made time for herself.
Not that she was looking at Evan for that.
No way. He might be a nice distraction, but she wasn’t thinking long term at this stage of her life with anyone.
She wasn’t big on comp
lications, yet she was thinking of how she could get her sexy neighbor in her bed. If that didn’t smack of complications, she didn’t know what did.
“Thank you again,” she said during lunch when she was assembling sandwiches for both of them. “I appreciate you putting that together for me and mounting the TV.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “Was that so hard to say?”
“No. Mainly because I know I could have done it myself, but it did save me the time. Lunch is for the TV. Dinner for the treadmill.”
He smiled at her. His nice straight teeth and full lips. Talk about yummy. She’d never been one for facial hair before, but on Evan Butler it was warming her up and making her want to strip to cool off.
“You like to keep things even, don’t you?” he asked.
“It makes life simpler.”
“I would think you of all people would know that life is hardly simple.”
“No, it’s not,” she said, dropping her head down.
“Sorry. That was wrong of me to say that.”
“You don’t come off as someone that apologizes much,” she said. “So you can stop.”
“I don’t. Not unless I’m wrong or say something that was uncalled for. I don’t want to purposely hurt people or be careless with my words even when many say I did that in life.”
“Same here. I say what I’m thinking, but I do think it over before it spills out. If it hurts people I can’t always control that, but it happens.”
“Again, making us more alike.”
They each picked their sandwiches up and started to eat them. “So did you have any plans today? I don’t want to keep you if you’ve got stuff to do. I’ll still cook you dinner,” she said.
“No plans. Not unless you want to get a tour of my house when we are done here.”
“I might like that. Then I can feel jealous of your big house in my tiny house.”
He laughed. “Not many think a two-thousand-square-foot house with a finished basement is tiny.”
“No, it’s not. It’s much bigger than I had and might even be more than I can handle on my own, but it is one of the smaller ones in Paradise Place.”
“It is,” he said. “The previous owners outgrew it. They had two kids and she was pregnant with the third. I can tell you I was jumping for joy when that for sale sign went up.”
“Why is that?” she asked. “Don’t you like having kids around? I didn’t get that impression seeing you with your niece.”
“I have no problems with kids. It was the husband and wife that drove me insane. They built that house and when they found out I lived across the street after they moved in, every noise and creak, they were knocking on my door to come look at it.”
“That would drive me nuts,” she said.
“It did. It didn’t stop either.”
She had a feeling Evan wasn’t the type that wanted people asking him for things, which didn’t explain why he was here today helping her out.
Or maybe it was because she hadn’t asked and that drove him crazy. Who was she to judge at this point? The work was done and she’d be cooking him dinner.
They talked a bit more while they finished their lunch and then she said, “Well, can I get a tour of your place now?”
“Sure,” he said, standing up. “I’ll bring back the cart and pulleys while I’m at it.”
“I’ll get your toolbag for you too.”
She could see he wanted to argue, but only said, “Just throw it in the back of the truck where it normally is.”
She should have realized that. “How about I push the cart over while you move your truck back?”
Again, he eyed her and finally sighed. “I suppose that would work.”
He grabbed his keys when their lunch was picked up and then got in his truck, her pushing the cart over that had been sitting in her driveway. It wasn’t heavy or even bulky and she had no idea why he was having such an issue over it.
He parked in the garage, her following him there, and that was when she saw it was a three-car one and full of tools in one bay. His garage curved, never really allowing anyone to see the doors or how big it was, being the last house on the street, where her garage was front facing.
“You have a lot of stuff in here and it’s very organized,” she said.
“I have to be. Maybe it’s OCD, not sure, but clutter makes my brain hurt.”
“Same here,” she said. She’d noticed how neat and tidy his house was the other day when she was in it.
They went in through the garage and into a mudroom. “Laundry room to the right,” he said. She followed along behind him. “You’ve seen the kitchen, eating areas, and living room.”
“I have. You have a formal living room in the front and I’m guessing an office across from it?”
“Yes. I don’t spend a lot of time in it, but sometimes I do. Want to see it?”
“Nah. Seen one office, seen them all,” she said.
“True enough. Then let’s move upstairs. Four bedrooms and three full baths up here. I’m assuming you saw the half bath off the mudroom?”
“I glanced in,” she said. His colors were basic like hers. Different shades of gray. Kept neutral and even to decorate around, not that he had a ton of art, but some.
“There is a bonus room over the garage,” he said, opening the door to the left at the top of the stairs. “It’s empty. I figured someday I’d have kids and they could have their own space to fool around away from the rest of the house.”
“Nice and big,” she agreed of the empty room.
They moved to the right. “I like the high ceilings and how you can look down below when you walk to the rooms,” he said.
She looked over the railing and thought the view was nice. “This is a massive amount of space.”
“It is. But I don’t plan on moving any time soon. I’ve watched my parents add onto their house a few times rather than move. I didn’t want to do that. I figured if I started out with more, it’d be better. I’m not sure how my brother moves once a year like he does, but it’s his life.”
“This is only my second place. I lived at home a year after I started to work and then moved into my last place. I hope to be where I am for a while. It’s more than enough room for me and I have to say I’m proud of it.”
He nodded his head. “As you should be. And as long as you don’t have a ton of kids it should be plenty of space.”
“Not in the plan,” she said. “One or two is more than enough.” She didn’t have a job conducive to it. At least right now. Kids would slow down her future plans.
Then she told herself it was wrong to think that way. It reminded her of her mother. Parker had told herself she was going to start living for now and not the future anymore. That she had to because no one knew what the future brought.
It was hard to change her mindset after so long, but she was determined to. Starting very soon with Evan.
“I’ve got no plan myself, but if my parents have their way, we will all have grandkids for them. I expect Kaelyn will have another at some point. Scarlet is fifteen months old and Kaelyn always said she’d like kids close together.”
They moved down the hall, him opening the doors to the spare rooms and her seeing furniture but nothing exciting. “Where are the bathrooms?” she asked.
“There is a Jack and Jill that connected the first two rooms. The other room has a shower, sink, and toilet en suite.”
“Nice. Everyone has their own then.”
“Pretty much. And here is the master.”
He opened the door to the light blue room. It wasn’t nearly as big as she expected it to be, but each of the other rooms was big. “Not a ton of space?”
“Big enough for a king sized bed and dresser and plenty of walking room. I don’t need a seating area when I’ve got more than enough of them in the house.”
“Good point.” She followed him to the bathroom. “Wow. Do you use that tub?” He had a nice big freestanding tub that was
easily big enough for his body.
“Maybe,” he said grinning. “Some men like baths.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” she said. “This is beautiful.”
“Thanks. I’m simple. The counters and cabinets are the same in all the bathrooms, though not the same size.”
“You can’t go wrong with the gray.”
“That was my thought,” he said. “Let’s go to the basement now.”
They went back down to the main level and then he opened the door to the basement and there was a massive family room with a huge TV on the wall, a wet bar in the corner and a pool table in the back, a poker table in the far corner. “Okay. This suits you.”
“Yeah, I know. Which is why there is a space upstairs for kids someday.”
“What’s behind those doors?” she asked.
“Another bath with shower.” He opened the door and she saw it was the same materials as the one in his master. “Spare bedroom here,” he said of another room that wasn’t that big right next to the bathroom, “and weight room here.”
“So how do you keep this all clean?”
He laughed. “It’s just me and I’m not that dirty of a person, but I will say I have a cleaning company come once a month and go through the whole house cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming. Mainly getting dust, but it can build.”
“You did a beautiful job with this place,” she said.
“Thanks, I’m happy with it.”
They were back in his kitchen and she turned and put her arms around his neck. “You could make me happy too,” she said.
“Really?” he asked, picking her up and putting her on the island, then standing between her legs. “And how is that?”
His hands were on her thighs, rubbing up and down on the bare skin, just teasing the edge of her shorts. “I think you know. Or do you need to be told?”
His mouth covered hers, his hands sliding up some more. Yeah, he didn’t need to speed, he knew what he was doing when the tip of his finger slid under her panties and touched the dew collecting.
She moaned and squirmed a bit to give him better access, but he shifted and decided to help himself by unbuttoning her shorts and sliding his hand in.
Their tongues were dueling and her body was heating up when he thrust two fingers in her. She gasped and gripped his shoulders to hold on to the sudden lovely shock to all her senses.