by Natalie Ann
“Snow boots and dressy boots. I thought they’d look good with jeans. I saw Brynn had a pair on the other day and I really liked them.”
Why was she explaining that to him, like he wanted to talk fashion with her?
“Oh, they would. Especially with the jeans you had on Friday night.” He moved his head, his eyes skimming over the bags on the floor again. “Are there any more of those jeans in there, by any chance?”
It sure sounded like he was flirting with her. There were two more pairs of jeans like that, but she wasn’t going to say. “Maybe.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and she felt the flush moving over her face. She hadn’t meant for it come out that way, but he took it as flirting back. That was good; maybe she could go with it.
“Do I get to see them?” She reached down into the bag to pull them out, but he stopped her with a laugh. “I meant on you.”
Duh, what was wrong with her? Of course he wanted to see them on her and not out of the bag, with the tags still on, no less.
“Oh, sorry. Sure. I’ll wear them on our next date. With my boots too,” she added, smiling at him. That was a good thing to say, she saw, at least she thought so, since he winked at her.
“I look forward to it. Do you need any help carrying them up to your room? I was heading back up there now.”
“My room. What were you doing in my room?”
“Running wire,” he said pointedly.
Oh yeah, that was what he was there for. “Are you done?”
“We are. Good timing too. I wanted to move your bed back.”
“My bed,” she said, trying not to stutter.
“I had to move it away from the wall.” He bent down and grabbed her bags. “Come on, let me show you what we did. I had to add more sockets and I put two in your walk-in closet.”
“You did? Why?”
“Just getting your house up to code.”
She followed him up the stairs and around the corner to her room. It still looked nice and neat, even with her bed and dresser moved slightly. She watched as he walked to the foot of her bed and easily slid it against the wall, then adjusted her chest. “I can move it. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worrying. It only takes a minute.”
“You patched the wall already in here. Did you do that in my office too?”
“I did. I figured you spent the most time in these rooms, so I focused on them and the men worked on the rest of the house. These two rooms are good to go when you’re ready to prime and paint. Everything is sanded smooth. The boys will finish patching and mudding the rest of the rooms tomorrow. Then they can return to working on your kitchen and be back on schedule.”
“That wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it might be.”
“We work fast, and because you work from home, I asked to send a few more guys over to get it done faster. Most of them are gone now. The rest of the crew is packing up their stuff and moving it out of the way to start fresh tomorrow.”
He’d laid her bags on her bed when he walked in and moved her bed, but now he was heading back toward the doorway.
“So, I can hook my equipment up tonight and get back to work tomorrow?”
“You sure can. I moved your desk and everything else I remembered. I didn’t touch your computers. I had a feeling that might upset you, and I wasn’t sure which one went where. They all looked the same to me.”
He was right: she would be bothered if he touched her equipment. “Again, thank you. It won’t take me long to set everything back up. And now I can run them all and go buy the new computer I wanted.”
“Do you need any help setting it up tonight?”
She wanted to take him up on the offer but decided it was better not to. He’d get underfoot, she was positive.
Not to mention she was mentally exhausted. Not a good combination for someone who needed all her focus so she didn’t come off sounding silly or naïve.
She didn’t discover anything new today with her search on Tim. And shopping always exhausted her.
Right now she wanted to get something to eat and put her feet up, only that would have to wait until her equipment was all set up the way she liked it. That always came first. “I’m good.”
“Okay, then I’ll get out of your hair and go make sure the house is buttoned up before I leave.”
“Are you going to be here tomorrow now that the electrical is done?”
“It sounds like you want to see me again,” he said in a teasing manner.
“Maybe,” she said back. Last time she answered like that it worked in her favor, coming off as flirting. Why not try again?
He laughed. “I can’t figure you out.”
“Is that a bad thing?” she asked, frowning, too tired to process it herself.
“I’m not sure myself, but I’m enjoying the challenge of it.”
Okay, he was much better at flirting than she was, hands down. “I like challenges, do you?”
“I do.” He walked a few feet toward her, but she held her ground. He gripped her chin lightly, smiled at her, and said, “Maybe I’ll have better aim today.” Then he lowered his mouth to hers. Gently, he placed his lips over hers, moved them around slowly for a second and stepped back.
His knuckle trailed along her cheek and dropped away. Her mind went completely blank as she stared into his deep brown eyes. Next thing she knew, she blurted out the first thing that popped into her brain. “You have good aim.”
He laughed at her again. She hadn’t realized she’d said that out loud. She knew she thought it but had hoped she had enough control to not voice it. Crap, she so wasn’t good at this.
“Good to know.” He turned to walk out and stopped in the doorway. “Yes, I’ll be here tomorrow, but I’m not sure after that.”
She watched him walk out, then went to sit on her bed and took a few deep breaths. Wow, that was what she’d hoped for on Friday night.
Meddling
“Hi, Brynn,” Drew heard moments before he was going to rap his knuckles on the half-closed door to Jordyn’s office the next morning. Not wanting to intrude, he waited in the hallway for the call to end.
“No, not a problem. I’d love to do it, honestly. Just send me the addresses and the times I can run over. Thank you again for the opportunity.”
“What’s my sister having you do now?” he asked, causing her to swivel around in her chair after she placed her phone back down.
“Hi. I didn’t know you were here.”
“I came in about twenty minutes ago. My sister?” he reminded her.
“Oh, yeah. She asked if I could take a bunch of pictures for the website today. I guess she lined up a few new owners on the builds and also wanted pictures of the model home. Your home, right?”
“Correct.”
“Anyway, plus there is a rental that will be opening up that she wanted me to get pictures of before the new tenants move in, another rehab starting tomorrow, and a few of the new homes under construction in the development right now.”
“You look so excited over it.” He was baffled, it was just pictures, but then again, she seemed to take pleasure in things others might not.
“I am. It’s all coming together for the site. I’ve got it worked out in my mind, and now I can take pictures for what I’ve got planned out, not work the other way around. Or maybe change my plans. Oh, the possibilities.”
She was almost jumping in her chair over it and he found her enthusiasm contagious. “When are you leaving?”
“I’m not sure. She is emailing me all the addresses and time ranges when I can get in. I’ll do a search for the best route so I’m not driving all over the city and backtracking.”
“Depending on when you go, I can take you around. I’ve been to pretty much every address, I’m sure. If not, I can at least get you in easily since the guys all know me and they don’t know you.”
Not to mention it would stop any of the men from hitting on her. He hadn’t needed to see Eric flirting wit
h her yesterday. The other guys had been making comments about her too. Not bad ones, but comments just the same. She was more noticeable than she gave herself credit for.
“Don’t you have work to do though?”
“I do, but I’m sure I can work something out. Let me know when you get the information.”
She nodded. “Was there something else?”
“What do you mean?”
“You came to see me before you knew I was on the phone with Brynn. Was there something you needed?”
“Yes, sorry.” He was getting distracted again with her. He had to stop doing that. “Paint. Have you figured out paint colors for the rooms yet besides the kitchen and baths that were already being done? All your rooms need paint now that we cut into the walls.”
“I haven’t yet. I probably should do that soon. Maybe this weekend I’ll get a bunch of paint and finish up these rooms.”
“If you need help figuring out how much paint you need, let me know.”
“Thanks. I will.”
“I’ll let you get back to work now.”
She nodded and went back to her computer, and he tried not to get annoyed that maybe she wasn’t feeling what he was. Maybe she wasn’t as into him as he was with her.
***
Jordyn turned her head the minute Drew was out of the room and let out a breath. He was too good looking for her peace of mind. She had to fight an internal battle not to stumble, stammer or blush around him. But now she wondered if maybe she came off sounding dull.
Getting excited over pictures of construction…he probably thought she was a total geek. Well, she was a nerd, she knew it. She didn’t need to be told that her whole life either.
When she heard the ding on her computer alerting her of an email, she pulled it up and saw Brynn’s name. Glancing at the addresses and times, she realized most were after three running until seven. The later ones were the houses with residents, the earlier, the ones that would be open with the workers in them; otherwise she’d need someone to let her in.
Drew’s offer actually came in handy. Should she reply back that Drew offered to let her in if she got behind on her work, or should she try to figure it all out on her own driving around?
It was a nice offer, and she wondered if he did it to help her out, or if he wanted to spend time with her. Probably just helping her out. After all, he said the next date was on her.
She had to get those thoughts from her mind. This wasn’t a date. He didn’t ask her on a date; he offered to show her houses that were owned and being worked on by his employers. Nothing more than that.
She wished she didn’t have to pick apart everything he said and did and always question his motives.
Rather than respond back to Brynn right away, she decided to go seek Drew out first and get his opinion. Maybe he shouldn’t have made that offer and she didn’t want to get him in trouble.
She was swinging her office door wide open as he was walking out the front door. “Drew,” she called out through the open door. Must have been going to get something from his truck.
He stopped and turned around. “Hey, what’s up?”
She started to rub her hands up and down her arms, missing the warmth of her office. “Brynn sent me the addresses and times if you really meant it about helping me.”
He walked forward into the house and shut the door, closing out the cold air, then looked around quickly and ushered her back into her office.
“Yes, I meant it. Why would you think otherwise?”
“I don’t know. I thought you were just being nice.”
“I was. I’m a nice guy,” he said grinning at her. “But I also made the offer to help you out. So what’s the verdict on times?”
“Between three and seven tonight. She said if I don’t do certain ones when there are workers there I’ll need to be let in, so I thought…”
“That it’s perfect for me to go with you,” he finished for her when she hesitated, smiling even brighter. “I’ll let Brynn know, if you want.”
“I can email her back.”
“You can, but I know she’s going to have questions.”
“Why?” What was she missing here?
“Trust me, I know my sister. I’ll call right now, if you don’t mind.”
Jordyn held back her frown, wondering why it seemed like Drew had to do this for her. It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle a simple email back to Brynn. She didn’t want him to take care of this for her; she just wanted to touch base with him before she replied back.
She didn’t have time to argue though, as he had his phone to his ear. “Hey, Brynn. I’m here at Jordyn’s house and was talking to her about your email. I’ll take her around to the addresses and let her in if need be.”
There was some silence on Drew’s part while Brynn replied back, then Drew frowned, started to speak, but was cut off, then he laughed. “I’m not doing that at all.”
A bit more silence, more smiles and then he ended the call with, “I’ll call you later. Bye, Brynn.”
“What was that all about?”
“Nothing. Sibling stuff. We’re set to go whenever you want. Since I’m with you, we can leave earlier than three for the houses being worked on if you want. We can swing by Harper’s to get the keys that I don’t have for the rentals and new rehab.”
“I’ve got some work to do this morning, but could be ready by two, if that’s okay with you?”
“I’ll see you around two then.”
***
Drew walked out of her office and went back to the kitchen before he remembered that he needed something from his truck and detoured back.
“What took you so long?” Eric asked him.
“I was on the phone with Brynn,” Drew replied nonchalantly.
The guys didn’t need to know anything more. It was bad enough Brynn guessed his motives. He’d have his father to thank for that. Meddling old man, he thought with a chuckle.
Live A Little
“This isn’t our second date either.”
Jordyn turned her head when she saw Drew in her doorway again. She’d gotten so lost in her work she didn’t hear him approaching.
Then again, between the construction noise and constant footsteps of the workers, she couldn’t stop what she was doing every time someone walked by her door.
She saved what she was working on and pushed back from her chair.
“I didn’t think it was.”
That was wrong; she was hoping maybe it could be considered that. Sort of. Maybe they could use the time to talk and get to know each other a bit more and she could figure out what to do for the second date because her time was running out. She had decided that Wednesday she’d make the suggestion, which was tomorrow.
“You’re dressed like you want to go on a date,” he said, raising his eyebrows.
She looked down at her new jeans, knee high boots, and sweater. So what if she took her time to make sure she looked nice? She didn’t want to go around snapping pictures in leggings and a sweatshirt. But she drew the line at doing anything with her hair or makeup, still sporting her ponytail.
“I didn’t think it was very professional to stay in my other clothes.”
“Probably not, but I doubt the men would care one way or the other.”
What did he mean by that, and why did it look like his eyes were laughing at her? Better to pretend he didn’t say it. “Are you ready to go?”
“Sure am. We can take my truck, and we need to run to the office quick to get keys.”
She followed behind him and went to the passenger door, but he beat her there, opening it for her. See, it did seem like a date, at least in her mind, but she kept that comment to herself.
After climbing in, she took note of how neat it was inside. She kind of expected there to be tools everywhere on the seat.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, why?”
“You’re frowning.”
She didn’t know she was and
figured she’d better stop. “Oh.”
“Does my truck smell bad or something?”
Crap, how did he know she was thinking about his truck? “No. I guess I was surprised it was so clean,” she said sheepishly. She had a feeling he would have known if she tried to lie just now.
“What made you think I was a slob?” he asked, feigning shock.
“I didn’t think it. I didn’t know what to expect. I kind of thought there would be tools everywhere since it’s not like you had time to straighten up.”
“I’m pretty organized. Not like Brynn, but still, I like to know where things are so I can find them in a hurry. My tools are all in the back.”
She turned her head and saw the back of his truck had an enclosed box-type thing on each side and then some other things lying in the bed of the truck. Pieces of wood and various tools. She had no idea what they were. “Don’t things get wet back there?”
“When it rains or snows they would if they’re out in the open like that. But I take everything out at the end of the day if I don’t store it in the garage. I put a cover on the back in the winter. Just curious again?”
She was, and had to stop all the silly questions that always seemed to fly out of her mouth without thought. “Yeah.”
“Ask away.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know. You seem to have an active mind, always wondering, so don’t be afraid to ask something if you want.”
He got her and she liked that. She’d never had anyone be so easy about her questioning nature before. “I don’t want to offend you.”
“I’ll let you know if you do,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“What for?”
“For being honest.” He snorted and shook his head, but before he could say anything, she jumped in. “Did I offend you?”
“No. I said I’d tell you if you did. Why are you so nervous about everything?”
She shrugged. She thought it’d be pretty pathetic if he knew the sheltered life she’d lived. She figured he had enough glimpses of it to put it together already, so she didn’t need to say anymore.