Delectable

by R. L. Mathewson

  laugh, but he could honestly say that nothing, and he meant absolutely nothing, could compare to what he was seeing right now.

  “I’m going to kill her. That’s all there is to it,” Kasey muttered with a resigned sigh as she closed her eyes and dropped her head in defeat as he stood there, trying to remember how to breathe.

  When Sara had dragged him off Jason and shoved him towards the house and told him that Kasey was in trouble, he hadn’t asked any questions. He’d simply shoved Trevor aside, ignored his grunt of pain, and ran. A hundred things had raced through his head, she was burned, cut badly, fell, or had managed to piss someone off and was forced to run for her life, but nothing came close to the truth.

  Then again, there was probably nothing that she could have said that would have prepared him for this, he thought absently as he took in the scene before him. Kasey was perched on top of the sink where the faucet should be, the sinks were overflowing with water and water was spraying out from all around her, her shorts were shredded, revealing an indecent amount of skin, and her large breasts were barely concealed by her arm.

  “Before you do anything, I just wanted to get a picture,” Sara said, smiling hugely as she joined him, holding up her phone and snapping away while Kasey sat there, sighing heavily and muttering, “I hate you.”

  “You really don’t,” Sara said, as she turned the camera to the side for a better angle and snapped a few more pictures. “This is going to make a great Christmas card.”

  “I really hate you right now.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you do,” Sara conceded with a nod and a pleased sigh before she threw him a wink and said, “Have fun.”

  With that, she was gone and he was left standing there, feeling like an idiot. Shaking his head clear, he moved his ass and carefully made his way to the sink. One look at the damage told him everything he needed to know and in seconds he was reaching under the sink and turning the water off.

  Once that was done, he stood up, telling himself that enjoying this would be wrong, and asked, “What the hell were you doing?”

  “I don’t really think it would be in my best interest to disclose the events that took place today,” she said with a sniff, refusing to meet his gaze.

  “So, you’re pleading the fifth?” he asked, leaning forward so that he could get a better look and frowned.

  Why was the faucet embedded in the window? Of course, the better question would probably be why she was trying to block the leak with her ass, but he figured that she would tell him eventually. He shifted to the other side and noted that the broken faucet handles were wrapped around her jeans and digging into her lower back, keeping her trapped.

  “Any chance that you can help me out here, Yummy?” she asked him as he took a closer look to see how bad it was and not because it gave him a better look at the curve of her ass, he told himself, but he was a fucking liar and at the moment he simply didn’t care.

  “Just give me a second,” he said, as he tried to make sense of the mess she’d made.

  “Okay,” she said with a hiss of pain when she shifted, drawing his attention back to the broken faucet lodged in the window. He moved closer and that’s when he saw the small welt in the middle of her back from where the faucet was digging into her skin.

  Biting back a curse, he reached for his shirt only to remember that he’d taken it off at the beach. After a quick glance around the kitchen and finding nothing, he forced his hand between her skin and the jagged faucet, ignoring the sting to the back of his hand and said, “Lean forward and cover your eyes.”

  As soon as she did it, he wrapped his hand around the faucet and forced it the rest of the way through the small pane of glass, careful to release his hold before his hand went through the glass. Once that was done, he put his hand on her bare shoulder and gently guided her to sit back up so that he could get a better look at the mess that was keeping her trapped.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked, trying to twist around to see what he was doing.

  “Getting you free,” he said absently, seriously wondering how she’d managed to do this.

  “Well, maybe we should-” she started to say only to end on a startled gasp when he reached behind her and finished the job the faucet had started by ripping the right side of her cutoff jeans in two.

  “No, wait! Let’s talk about this!” she said, trying to shift out of his reach, but since she was still attached to the broken faucet and she couldn’t move her arms without giving him one hell of a show, she wasn’t able to do anything more than give him better access to the other side of the mess she’d made.

  With a, “Hold on,” he grabbed hold of the torn and twisted material and-

  “Wait!”

  -tore it in half. Before she could argue, and something told him that she was going to argue, he was pulling her into his arms.

  “Reese, wait!” she gasped as he picked her up and-

  Groaned as the move forced her to throw her arms around his shoulders and brought her bare breasts against his chest. As she slowly slid down his body, because for the life of him he couldn’t seem to put her down any faster, he couldn’t help but lick his lips hungrily as hard nipples traced a path down his chest and his hands found her soft, round bottom, making him realize that she was completely naked. Lost to the feel of her in his arms, he watched her, noting the way that her beautiful blue eyes met his, the way her mouth worked soundlessly as her grip tightened around him as he became aware of every enticing curve pressed against his body. In that moment, only one word came to mind.

  “Delectable.”

  Her eyes went wide a split second before she shoved him away with a muttered, “Thanks,” and hurried out of the room, leaving him standing there, groaning at the loss of all those delectable curves.

  Needing something to do, because he wanted to go after her and pull her back in his arms so that he could find out if she’d really felt that fucking good in his arms or if he’d imagined it, he forced his attention back to the mess that she’d made. Slowly exhaling, he plucked a hammer out of the sink and waited for the water to finish draining. Once that was done, he took another look around the kitchen, noting the broken window, broken sink, soaked wallpaper falling off the walls, and water dripping onto the floor from the counter before deciding that he couldn’t leave her with this mess, especially since he hadn’t got his answers yet.

  Which was fine with him, he decided as he walked over to the refrigerator and helped himself to the leftover fried chicken and macaroni and cheese from yesterday, because he was in no rush. Sooner or later she would have to leave the safety of her bedroom and they both knew it and when she did, he’d get his answers.

  *-*-*-*

  “Mom?” Mikey said loudly when it should have been more than obvious that this was a conversation that required whispering.

  “Is he still here?” Kasey whispered through the keyhole, telling herself that it was perfectly normal for a grown woman to hide in her bedroom for two hours in order to avoid the man that had called her delectable.

  “Who? Reese?” Mikey asked loudly, making Kasey wonder where she’d gone wrong.

  “Yes! Reese!” she whispered harshly, shifting to get more comfortable, but after two hours of kneeling on the thin rug she was running out of positions.

  “He’s in the kitchen fixing the sink,” she said, sounding like she had a mouthful of food.

  “What are you eating?” she asked, shifting back into a sitting position and leaned back against the door.

  “A burger. Reese made me lunch.”

  “He made you lunch?” she asked, genuinely surprised.

  “Yeah, he asked me to ask you if you wanted one,” Mikey explained, making Kasey frown.

  “But, you didn’t ask me,” she pointed out, not that she wanted one, she did, but still…

  “I already told him yes.”

  “Then where’s my food?” she demanded with a sad shake of her head, because the room service in this plac
e was horrible.

  “At the table,” Mikey said, making her close her eyes and bite back a whimper, because there was no way that she was going out there and facing him after he’d seen and touched…things.

  “I’m not hungry,” she muttered pathetically as she resigned herself to eating the Tic Tacs in her purse.

  “They’re really good,” Mikey groaned around another bite of what she was assuming was a burger.

  “I’m not hungry,” she said, forcing the lie.

  There was a slight pause and then, “So, I can have your burger?”

  “No!”

  “But, you said-”

  “I don’t care what I said! Don’t touch my burger!” she said with a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest with a grumble.

  “Fine,” Mikey said with a heavy sigh. “But, you should probably come out here soon.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I just can’t!”

  “O-kay,” Mikey said, stretching out the word while Kasey sat there, well aware that she was pouting and not really giving a damn, not when her burger was getting cold and she was forced to hide in her own house. “Then where should I tell him to put the sink and the cabinets that he destroyed?”

  “What?” she yelled, quickly getting to her feet and yanking the bedroom door open.

  In seconds, she was racing across the house and stumbling to a stop just in time to see Reese rip the sink from the wall. Her mouth dropped open as she took in the destruction that had once been her kitchen. Before she could utter so much as a gasp, Sara was throwing her arm around her shoulders and announcing, “Behold, I’ve found you a contractor.”

  Chapter 11

  “Where’s the new sink?” he asked once he set the old sink carefully down on the towel he’d laid out and stood, facing the two women in front of him and absently noting that Mikey had snuck back into the kitchen, grabbed another burger and happily headed back to her room.

  “Probably in the store?” the woman that was practically bouncing with excitement said, looking immensely pleased with herself while the other one…

  “Oh, crap,” Kasey mumbled as she dropped her face in her hands and whimpered, which wasn’t exactly reassuring at the moment so he focused on her sidekick.

  “You said that she was switching out the sink,” he reminded her, having a bad feeling about what was coming.

  “Well, that’s true,” Sara hedged, still grinning hugely, he’d like to point out, “but probably not until after she finished remodeling the kitchen.”

  “I really do hate you,” Kasey mumbled, still hiding behind her hands and was that a blush creeping up her neck?

  Why yes, yes it was.

  He really liked that blush, he realized entranced as he watched the blush disappear behind her hands. Definitely intrigued, he thought, forcing his thoughts away from that blush and all the places that it might touch and turned his attention to the woman that had bullshitted him.

  “And this remodeling…” he said, letting his words trail off and leaving her to fill in the blanks.

  “We just started this morning,” Sara answered brightly as Kasey mumbled, “Oh, God.”

  “I see,” he murmured, looking down at the ruined sink that he’d torn out of the wall to the damage that had been left behind from their remodeling attempt and nodded, because he did see.

  They were insane.

  “I’m glad that you do, because it will make this a heck of a lot easier,” Sara said, still sounding quite pleased with herself as Kasey mumbled, “Please shut up.”

  “And how exactly were you planning on accomplishing this remodel?” he drawled, noting the broken and thoroughly rusted hammer laying in pieces on the floor.

  “Mostly through YouTube videos and Google,” Sara admitted with a shrug, which of course was met with a, “You really need to shut up now.”

  “I see,” he said, doing his best not to smile, but there was just something about seeing the woman who’d named him, “Yummy,” embarrassed.

  “And you were planning on doing it with hammers?” he asked, innocently.

  “That was the plan,” Sara agreed, nodding solemnly as Kasey muttered, “Seriously. Stop talking.”

  “And your permits?” he asked, already knowing the answer to that, but he wanted a reason to torment the woman a little more simply because he couldn’t help himself.

  “Were unnecessary,” Sara ventured with a shrug.

  “I-I’m going to kill you,” Kasey choked out as that blush that intrigued him somehow turned a darker shade of pink.

  “What?” Sara asked, blinking innocently. “He asked.”

  “Did you at least have plans drawn up?” he asked, as he glanced around the large kitchen, mentally going over all the changes that he would make if the choice were up to him, but alas, it wasn’t.

  At least, not until she made it interesting for him, he amended a second later when she released another miserable sigh and mumbled, “Not exactly.”

  “So, no plans, no permits, no tools,” he said, going over everything that he’d learned so far as he watched her while she shifted nervously, obviously debating the situation until finally, she dropped her hands away from her face, mumbled something inaudible and asked, “What do you want?” which pleased him immensely, because that meant that they were finally getting somewhere.

  *-*-*-*

  “Let me handle the negotiations,” Sara said, smoothing her ruined designer tee shirt down while Reese stood there, arms folded over his bare chest, undamaged eyebrow cocked and clearly waiting for the bullshit to begin.

  “You’ve handled enough,” she said, walking past Sara, absently noting that the floor was dry and sat down at the table with a groan, grabbed the burger that was waiting for her, took a bite, and nodded her approval, because this was a damn fine burger.

  “I’ve got this,” Sara whispered, clearly intent on ignoring her, as she sat down, folded her hands on the table and waited for Reese to join them.

  “You’ve got nothing,” she felt obligated to point out as she took another bite of the delicious burger and resigned herself to Sara making this worse, only to have Eric walk in and do the honors.

  “What the hell happened?” Eric demanded, as he threw an accusing glare at her. “You promised that you were going to wait for me!”

  “I lied,” she said with a shrug as she grabbed a chip and popped it in her mouth.

  “But, I bought a belt and everything!” he said, holding up a bag that she was assuming held the, “belt and everything.”

  “Too bad, so sad, we’re in the middle of negotiations so go away,” Sara said dismissively before she cleared her throat and faced Reese, who she’d like to point out was watching her every move, hers, not Sara’s, and looking terrifyingly predatory. “Now, where were we?” Sara asked, wearing what Kasey liked to call her “car salesman” smile, because it was just plain creepy.

  “We were talking about you starting without me,” Eric said with a huff as he gave the bag in his hand a shake, reminding them all that he’d come home prepared to do a job that no one in their right mind would allow him to do.

  Then again, after today’s incident the same could probably be said about her, but since she couldn’t stop blushing and the bastard wouldn’t stop staring at her, she kept that to herself and focused on eating the delicious burger, hoping that he’d shift his attention to someone else so that she could think about something other than the fact that he’d seen her naked.

  “Eric, I’m going to need you to keep up here. We’ve moved on and so should you,” Sara said with exasperated patience before shifting her attention once again to Reese, who was still staring at her!

  “Now, Reese-” Sara began only to once again get cut off.

  “Why’s he here?” Eric asked, gesturing to Reese, who was still freaking watching her!

  “He’s a contractor,” Sara said with a pointed glare for him to shut up and go away.

  “I
thought he was a cop,” Eric said with a frown as he dropped the bag by his side.

  “I’m both,” Reese drawled, still. Watching. Her.

  Or was he…

  Deciding to test this theory, she shifted to the right, noting that he shifted his head slightly to follow the movement. Worrying her lip between her teeth, she shifted all the way to the left, watching as he followed the move. Curious, she popped a chip in her mouth, steeling herself for what must be done. She stood up and slowly walked over to Eric, well aware that Reese was still watching her every move.