“This really isn’t going the way I expected,” she stated.
“How’d you expect it to go?” I asked, trying to resist the temptation to pull her back into my arms. With my sister on her way over, I needed to keep my hands off Brook.
Her cheeks heated, making me wonder if her mind had been going down the same path as mine. “It just seemed like some cliché from a romantic comedy,” she began. “Sexy guy shows up to help the poor helpless woman fix her garbage disposal. You know what I mean, right?”
“I guess it did seem kind of cliché,” I admitted. “Hopefully, you won’t think less of me knowing I can’t replace your garbage disposal. Luke just said you needed it repaired, and I was pretty sure I could handle that, but this job is beyond what I can do.”
“I’m sure you have other talents,” she agreed before quickly adding, “That sounded really bad, didn’t it? Why do I seem incapable of saying anything that doesn’t sound like I’m coming on to you?”
“Probably for the same reason I keep flirting with you,” I replied. Our eyes locked, and I saw my desire reflected back in her hazel eyes, which appeared to be a pale shade of green today. I took a step closer, my eyes moving to her mouth.
“Can I get you something to drink while we wait for Chelsea to get here?” Brook asked, turning away, probably to put some distance between us.
“Sure,” I replied, following her into the kitchen.
“What would you like?” she asked. “I’ve got tea, soda, and possibly a beer or two in the back. Luke brought some over a couple weeks ago, but I don’t know if he finished it or not.”
“A soda’s fine,” I told her. “Whatever you’ve got.”
Brook carefully maneuvered her way through the kitchen.
“What happened in here?” I asked, not sure how a repair job could go this wrong. There were parts everywhere, and at least a dozen towels soaking up water. Since there were two disposals on the floor, I assumed she’d gotten the old one out. My quick glance at the kitchen before calling Chelsea hadn’t given me time to fully take in the mess, and I was certain we’d need to perform CPR on my sister if she saw the room in its current state. Chelsea was definitely a little on the anal side when it came to having a clean work area, something she’d picked up from my dad.
“This looks really bad, doesn’t it?” she asked, looking around.
“Yep,” I agreed. “Next time, hide some of the evidence before anyone gets here.”
“Evidence?” she asked, sparing me a quick glance over her shoulder as she grabbed the drinks from the fridge. “You make it sound like this is a crime scene. What evidence are you talking about?”
“Evidence of your brutal attack on that garbage disposal,” I clarified. “Am I wrong in guessing you hit it with a hammer?”
She handed me a root beer before turning to glare at what I hoped was the old garbage disposal. If it was the new one, we’d need to make a trip to the store to buy another one. “The stupid thing was asking for it.”
“That defense will never hold up,” I warned her, taking the root beer. “My sister is going to lose it when she sees this mess.”
She shrugged. “I’m not worried.”
“You should be,” I told her. “I’m afraid of her reaction, and I didn’t make this mess.”
“I’ll just put the blame on you when she gets here,” she teased.
“You wouldn’t dare!” I feigned shock.
“Oh, I would,” she assured me, looking around ground zero of the great garbage disposal disaster. “Do you honestly think I’m going to take the fall for this mess with a woman who knows most of my secrets?”
“How about if I help you clean it up before Chelsea gets here?” I offered. “Then this whole thing will be our little secret.”
“Deal,” she agreed. “What should we do first? I was going to pick up before Luke got here, but I got a little overwhelmed by all of it.”
“I always find it’s best to get rid of the things that will bother my sister most when working with a time limit,” I began. “We should bury that old disposal in the yard first. Where’s your shovel?”
“How about if I just put it in the garage?” she suggested.
“All right, but I’m sure we’ll have to bury it later so no one sees what you did,” I warned.
“By helping me, you’re now an accessory,” she pointed out.
“And I could use this to blackmail you at some later date,” I added.
“You’d demand money to keep your mouth shut about what happened here?” She was pretending to be offended, but her lips were twitching. Her voice took on that high-pitched breathy quality again. “I don’t have any money, but I’d do anything to keep from having people learn what I did here today.”
My laughter probably sounded strained, but I couldn’t help it. While her banter was meant to be teasing and playful, I was still more than a little turned on at the thought of her offering to let me enjoy her body in exchange for keeping my mouth shut. I made a mental note to add that to my sexual role playing wish list. Yes, I had a sexual role playing wish list, and I was hoping Brook would be willing to help me check off some of the items on that list.
I cleared my throat, trying to get my mind back on cleaning up the kitchen before my sister arrived. “While you get rid of the old disposal, I’ll clean up the water and get these towels out of here.”
Brook nodded and started gathering the broken pieces of the disposal. “How is it that Chelsea knows how to do this and you don’t?”
“Both of my parents come from families where traditional gender roles were really important. My mom can cook, sew, and even knit, but the closest she came to home repairs when she met my dad was changing a light bulb. As for my dad, he couldn’t do a load of laundry, even though he could take apart a washing machine and put it back together. He’s the ultimate do-it-yourself kind of guy.”
“I assume that changed.”
I nodded. “Both of my parents changed a lot. Neither liked the idea of having kids who had to get married to survive, so they did their best to change and raise us differently. My mom may not be on the level my dad or Chelsea are with repairs, but she can handle most simple things, and my dad can feed himself and do his own laundry. I had to learn from both parents so I’d be more well-rounded. As it turns out, I’m a much better cook than Chelsea, and she’s always been more mechanically inclined.”
Brook opened the door to the garage and began moving the disposal pieces out. When she was done, she studied me before speaking. “It’s great that your parents taught you and Chelsea to be more independent.”
“What about your parents?” I asked, wanting to know more about her. I’d never met Brook’s parents, and Luke had never mentioned them being around. “Obviously, they didn’t teach you how to replace a garbage disposal.”
Brook gave a sad smile. “My parents are more the hands-off type of people. That might be why I ended up married right out of high school. There was this part of me looking for the family I’d never had.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you or Luke mention your family,” I remarked, standing from where I’d been cleaning water under the sink.
“Luke knows all about my parents, but I don’t talk about them much,” she admitted. “They aren’t part of my life. I don’t really consider my parents my family. Luke is my family. He’s the best thing to come out of my marriage.”
“Do you still love him?” I asked, my eyes focused on her.
Brook met my gaze, looking confused by my question. “Luke?”
“No, Rob,” I clarified.
She laughed at my question. “No, I definitely don’t love Rob. I’m not sure I ever really did.”
“I always assumed you’d stayed married because you loved him and hoped he’d come back," I explained.
She shook her head and started gathering up her own tools. “Mostly, I stayed for Luke. I don’t know where he would have gone if I’d divorced Rob, but I was worried I w
ouldn’t get custody.”
“So, it was all about Luke?” I asked.
Brook hesitated before responding. “No, it wasn’t all about Luke. He was the biggest reason, but there was more. It was just easier to stay married to Rob. Since I didn’t want to get involved with anyone else, I figured why leave.”
“What changed your mind?” I asked.
Brook’s blush told me that story was somewhat embarrassing. “I just decided it was time to move on to a new chapter in my life,” she hedged.
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for more. “Do I need to resort to blackmail threats to get the answer?”
She laughed, putting up her hands in surrender. “No! Don’t tell Chelsea what I did.”
“Why’d you suddenly decide to get a divorce?” I pushed.
“Rafael died,” she admitted, looking suitably somber while making that announcement.
“I’m sorry about your loss, Brook. I didn’t realize you’d recently lost someone close,” I said, wondering why Luke hadn’t mentioned her being close to anyone named Rafael.
“No, it’s nothing like that. Rafael was my favorite vibrator,” she admitted with a laugh.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or groan. On the one hand, the fact that she was getting a divorce due to the death of a vibrator was funny. On the other hand, thinking of Brook pleasuring herself was fucking hot. I wondered what she was using now that her vibrator had died. Had she picked up a new one when she’d been out with my sister, or was she using the manual method for self-pleasure? Thoughts of Brook slipping her fingers between her legs and stroking herself had my dick rock-hard in less than a minute.
“Do you still remember where the laundry room is?” she asked, pulling me from my thoughts of watching her touch herself. “You should put those towels in there before Chelsea gets here.”
Right. My sister was on her way over. “Sure do,” I replied, my voice sounding strained. “I’ll run these towels up now.” Hopefully, the walk to and from the laundry room would be long enough to get myself back under control. If a man could die from lust, this repair job might kill me.
Chapter Ten
Brook
I couldn’t decide if I was grateful for Chelsea’s presence or wishing she’d leave. Ty confused me. If it was just the attraction, I might have an easier time dealing with the situation. Ty had grown into a man to be appreciated, and I knew I wasn’t alone in my attraction to him. The problem was, it went beyond simply lusting after his body—which I was definitely doing. I also enjoyed talking to Ty. I hadn’t talked to anyone, other than Luke, about my family in years. How our playful banter and not-so-subtle flirting had ended with me sharing so much, I had no clue. The only explanation I could come up with was that I genuinely liked Ty.
“All done,” Chelsea proudly declared after finishing the installation. She’d made me and Ty watch, insisting we needed to learn to handle repairs like this. I, for one, still had no confidence in my ability to replace a garbage disposal on my own.
“I should just call you next time,” I told Chelsea.
“That might be a good idea,” she admitted, probably picking up on the fact that I’d learned very little from watching her. “Never call Tyler for this sort of thing. I’ve shown him how to do this before, and he hasn’t learned a thing. My dad showed him countless times, too, so I have to assume my brother is completely untrainable.”
“Not true!” Ty protested. “I learned to call you or Dad whenever a situation like this comes up, which happens to be the best way to handle it.”
“Then I suppose you aren’t totally untrainable,” Chelsea teased. “I am curious about why you decided to call Tyler to help you.”
“I actually called Luke and asked him to come over, but he sent Ty,” I explained.
“Ugh,” Chelsea groaned. “Lucas is such a pain in the ass. They’ve been friends for years, so he knows Tyler can’t handle anything more than very minor repairs. I have no idea why he sent him over.”
I’d been so caught up in my repairman fantasy when Ty had arrived that I hadn’t thought to ask why Luke hadn’t come. “Why did Luke send you?”
“He was just giving me an excuse to talk to you,” Ty admitted. “I suppose he also assumed I could help you. I can handle some repairs.”
“What’s Lucas doing again?” Chelsea asked. “I heard he gave up on marine biology.”
“He’s going to be teaching seventh grade biology, starting in August,” I replied.
Chelsea shook her head. “What crazy parents would leave their impressionable children with him?”
“Luke is a sweetie,” I argued, not sure why I was always defending him to Chelsea lately. “Seriously, Chels, he’s smart, loyal, and he never got into any trouble as a teen.”
“I still think we must be talking about different people,” Chelsea remarked. “Maybe this is just some prank my brother is playing on us, and his friend, Lucas, isn’t your stepson.”
“Luke was always nice to you,” Ty argued.
“He stole my panties! Multiple times! He is a thief and a dirty pervert!” Chelsea practically screeched. “One time, the two of them used my thong as a slingshot.”
“When did this happen?” I asked. “Please tell me it wasn’t while I was trying to parent him. I know I wasn’t very good at it, but I couldn’t handle it if Luke was a teen pervert and a panty thief.”
“Don’t worry,” Ty assured me. “Luke’s panty stealing days ended before you were in his life.”
“I’m sure he was still a teen pervert while you were raising him,” Chelsea added. “Thankfully, I wasn’t living at home most of that time, so I didn’t have to deal with him or Tyler very often. Actually, I rarely saw Lucas after I moved out.”
“When was the last time you talked to Luke?” I asked.
“My wedding day,” she muttered. “I cannot even begin to tell you what a jerk he was that day.”
“We should order pizza to celebrate the new garbage disposal,” Ty suggested, probably to distract Chelsea from her Luke rant. “Are you both in?”
“I’m in,” I said. “The garbage disposal kept me so distracted, I missed lunch, and now I’m starving.”
“I’d love to, but I have plans tonight,” Chelsea told us.
“A date?” I asked.
“I suppose it might turn into one,” she admitted with a grin.
“Now, I need details,” I insisted.
“I’m having dinner at my parents,” Chelsea admitted.
“Why?” Ty asked. “Mom and Dad didn’t mention anything about dinner at their house.”
“That’s because Mom is trying to fix me up with some guy she met at the cake decorating class she’s teaching,” Chelsea explained.
“And you agreed to meet the guy?” Ty pushed, sounding confused. “Are you okay, Chels?”
Chelsea rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “I’ve been thinking about dating again, so I had no good excuse to avoid meeting this guy. Are you saying I shouldn’t date?”
Ty put his hands on her shoulders and grinned at her. “I’m just saying it’s not fair for any guy to have to put up with someone as bossy as you. You also have a history of luring young men into your room and practically throwing your panties at them.”
She took a playful swing at Ty, but he quickly danced out of the way. “You’re also prone to violence. What guy wants to be saddled with a woman who beats him?” Ty asked.
“Brat,” Chelsea muttered, but she was fighting a smile.
Slipping an arm around Chelsea’s shoulder, Ty gave her a gentle squeeze. “Seriously, Chels, I’m glad you’re dating again. I was just surprised since you’ve been so against it. I’m also not sure why you’re letting Mom fix you up with someone. Her attempts in the past have always ended in disaster.”
“Mom caught me off guard when she asked me to meet him. I’ve been using the excuse that I have no interest in dating for so long, I couldn’t come up with anything else when she suggeste
d it. You know I’ve never been a good liar.”
“Hopefully, he’s a great guy and you hit it off,” I told her.
“He is a great guy, but they won’t hit it off,” Ty stated. When we both looked at him, he continued. “My mom picks guys who are total pushovers. While you may be bossy, Chels, you hate it when a guy just rolls over and does what you say.”
“How do you know what kind of guys I like?” Chelsea demanded.
“He may have a point,” I added. “You want a guy who’s going to challenge you. At least, that’s what I get from the books you read. Hopefully, your mom picked a hot alpha male for you.”
Chelsea snorted. “Not likely, but maybe he’ll be hot enough for me to overlook any flaws. I’d better hurry so I can shower and change before dinner. Mom will lose it if I show up like this.”
Ty walked Chelsea to her car, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Oh. My. God. I was going to be alone with Ty with no big kitchen clean up to distract me from how good he looked and how much I wanted to run my hands all over his body.
Chapter Eleven
Brook
I’d been going back and forth on whether to order pizza while Ty was outside, mostly because I wasn’t sure if Ty still liked pepperoni. That had been what he and Luke had always ordered when they were younger, but Ty might have branched out.
“Is there any reason you’re staring at your phone?” Ty inquired, and when I turned, I found him leaning against the doorframe, regarding me with obvious amusement, which probably meant I’d also been muttering to myself.
“I was going to order the pizza,” I began.
“And you can’t decide what you want?” he asked.
“I couldn’t decide what you want,” I admitted, and Ty’s blue eyes darkened. “On the pizza,” I quickly added. “Do you still like pepperoni?”
He shook his head. “I don’t eat anything with nitrates or nitrites.”
“Really?” I asked.
“It’s true,” he told me. “Now, you won’t be stuck eating greasy pepperoni with me.”
“I like greasy pepperoni,” I stated. “I was thinking about getting the Amici’s combo. It will be loaded with nitrates and nitrites.”
Dirty at 30 (Love Without Batteries Book 1) Page 6