by Mia Madison
He seemed amused by my lack of verbal acuity this morning. “You said there were leaks the last time it rained.”
Oh. Was that why he’d come? All week I’d wondered about his offer of a loan. He’d always been kind and generous, but it had seemed so above and beyond. Still, I’d agonized over if I’d been rude when I rejected it. And now he was here, apparently ready to climb up on the roof and fix it himself. Did software gurus know how to do that?
“Most of the leaks were in the upstairs hallway. Kait will show you, won’t you, Kait?”
Gabi’s glare from behind Tyler’s back was even more fierce than when she’d demanded I put on mascara. Clearly, she wanted me to get it together.
“Yeah… I’ll show you. You can see watermarks on most of the spots on the ceiling.”
“Great,” he said. He knew where the stairs were as well as I did, but he waited for me to lead the way.
I felt self-conscious as I climbed the stairs in front of him. Thank god I had my favorite jeans on. Still, it was a little daunting to know that he was following right behind me. Was he checking me out? The man looked like a movie star. Surely, he wouldn’t bother with a mere mortal like me.
Still, it was a relief—mostly—when we were in the upstairs hallway. I showed him the spots where the water had leaked. Since he was at least six foot two, it was easier for him to see the ceiling. “So, it looks like five spots were leaking, right?”
“Maybe six, I’m not sure.”
“I’ll know more when I get up there.”
“Up there? On the roof?”
He laughed. “My skills don’t extend that far. No, I meant the attic. If we find the spots, I can patch them. It’s only a temporary fix, but it’s supposed to rain again on Monday.”
“Oh,” I said, still not quite believing that he was here and that he was planning to spend his Saturday working in the dusty old attic.
While I was still trying to figure out what to say next, the door behind Tyler opened. Sierra stood there, looking bleary-eyed in the t-shirt and shorts she’d obviously slept in. She looked up at Tyler, rubbed her eyes, and looked again. Her gaze traveled from his grin, down his muscled body, and back up again. Then she whispered, “Holy shit,” and popped back into her room. The door slammed shut behind her.
Tyler stared for a few seconds at her door then looked back at me. At the same moment, we laughed, and for a moment, it felt like we were kids again.
Then he inadvertently reminded me that things had changed. “Come on, the trapdoor to the attic is in your parents’ room.”
This time he led the way, striding into my room before he stopped short. “Of course—this is your room now. Sorry… didn’t mean to barge right in.”
“It’s okay,” I said, joining him.
Tyler’s face was troubled. “I never got a chance to tell you how sorry I was that I couldn’t attend the funeral.”
I shrugged uncomfortably. “You were overseas. Australia, wasn’t it?”
He nodded.
“I got your card.”
Tyler gave me a look of sympathy before he scanned my room, no doubt comparing it to how it used to look. “I like how you’ve fixed it up. It used to be so dark.”
I nodded, a bit shy about having him in my bedroom. But I was pleased he’d noticed. When my parents had shared this room, the walls had been covered in a horrible dark maroon wallpaper. The bed had been a huge four-poster king. It had taken three men plus Alex to move that bed out.
Now, I had a queen-size bed with a crisp, white headboard. I looked up to find Tyler’s eyes on it, too. “I remember how you used to always hide under that big old bed whenever we played hide and seek.”
“It was just so big, it felt like I was climbing down into the center of the earth. I guess I was too young to realize that a consistent hiding place wasn’t the best strategy.”
He chuckled, a warm, sexy sound that made my skin tingle. Then his eyes returned to the bed for a long moment. Thank god I’d taken a minute to straighten the covers after I got up.
Tyler cleared his throat. “Let’s see if we can get that trapdoor open first. Then I’ll get my tools and a ladder.”
Again, he moved without hesitation. A faint memory emerged… my parents’ closet had been an occasional hiding place of his, too. Back then, it had been filled with dark, heavy clothes.
Now, as he pulled open the white double doors I’d painted myself, it was filled with my clothes, most of them light-colored. Shoes lined the floor of the closet.
Tyler pulled the string and turned the light on as he stepped inside. Somehow, he looked even bigger in there.
He squinted upward and I followed his gaze. I’d never much paid attention to the trapdoor up there. Tyler reached up, his long fingers nearly touching the ceiling of the closet, but he wasn’t near enough to push at the small door up there.
Taking a step back, he plunged his large hands into the hanging clothes in front of him, parting them so that he could step closer.
For a moment, he didn’t notice the flimsy garment under his left hand—but I sure did.
My heart stopped beating as I recognized the flash of red. It was one of the few pieces of genuine lingerie I owned. It was a bright red satin teddy, with thin straps, see-through mesh bra cups, and a short flouncy skirt that flowed out from the high waistline.
I’d bought it at an after-Valentine’s Day sale at the mall. The bright red color reminded me of our plan to live red-hot lives, and I don’t know… I guess I thought that the sexy lingerie might feel empowering if I wore it under my clothes. However, I hadn’t worn it—I could see the white tag on it from here.
Tyler hadn’t noticed yet, thank god. Maybe he wouldn’t? He was peering up at the trapdoor again. But as he reached his left hand up to the door again, I saw first one strap and then the other slide off the hanger. Then the slinky material slid down to the floor, brushing against his thigh on the way.
“Sorry,” Tyler said, automatically bending down. I could see the moment he saw what it was. He froze for a moment and then hooked his index finger around one strap. He turned to me with an eyebrow raised. The corner of his mouth trembled as if he was fighting back a smile. “I believe this must be yours.”
Not daring to look him in the eye, I snatched it from him and stuffed it in the top drawer of my dresser. When I finally dared to meet his eye again, he looked amused. “Looks like we’re going to need to clear some things out to get to the attic. Why don’t you work on that while I go get the ladder and stuff?”
I nodded, unable to say anything.
“Good,” he said, a glint in his eyes. “That way we won’t have to risk damaging anything… delicate.”
He left the room, and I became aware that my face felt like it was on fire. I carefully avoided the mirror over my dresser as I began taking clothes out of the closet and putting them on the bed—but I was pretty sure my cheeks were as red as that teddy.
7
Tyler
“Hand me the putty knife,” Tyler said, and I slapped it in his palm as if he were a surgeon asking for a scalpel. So far, we’d already cleared away the wet insulation and located and plugged most of the original leaks plus a few more we’d found. Well, Tyler had done the plugging. But I was the one who moved carefully back and forth on the boards he’d laid down across the ceiling joists.
After he’d set it up, he’d winked at me and said I’d get to do most of the fetching because I was lighter than him. Since he was approximately a million feet tall, of course I was lighter, but still, I liked the way he’d looked at me when he said that.
“Almost done with this one,” Tyler said absently. A light sheen of sweat covered his brow as he squinted up at the watermarks on the underside of the roof. Thank god it was only May… in another month, the attic would be like an oven.
Still, it was nice being with him. It’s funny that I joined his company a month ago and this was the first time I’d actually worked with him. Of course, I s
till didn’t really understand why he was here. CEOs didn’t normally arrive at the home of their most junior employee and start fixing things.
Therefore, he must be here in a “family friend” capacity. He’d always liked hanging out here. I’d been a bit too young at the time to pay much attention, but I knew his parents had gotten divorced when he was in middle school. From what I remembered, it hadn’t been an amicable split. Tyler had never talked about it much.
So that was why he was here. Because my family—and this house—meant a lot to him. Not me. I was just a small part of that. Still, it was hard not to romanticize the situation a bit. I’d never had a man help me with something like this. Well, except Alex, and he didn’t count. I’d had a few boyfriends in high school and college—with emphasis on the word boy—and I think the most any of them had ever done was to find the number of a tow truck when my car had broken down.
“All right, all done. Let’s find the last one… carefully. The joists are pretty waterlogged in some spots. All things being equal, I’d like to continue our track record of not falling through.”
“Me too,” I said. Moving carefully, I followed him from plank to plank until he was nearly doubled over due to the slope of the roof.
“Actually, there’s so little room here, I think maybe you’d better do this one. Think you’re up for it?” Tyler’s face was hidden, but his tone was teasing.
“Sure. I was watching you.”
I blushed the minute I said that. “I mean, I was watching what you were doing.”
“Good to know,” he said, amusement in his voice. He turned and stepped toward me, still ducking down. When he reached me, I saw the problem… we were both standing on an eight-inch-wide board. I tried to step back so that he could get out in the open and I could get around him, but a cracking sound stopped me.
I froze, unsure if we were both about to go plunging into one of the bedrooms below. “Umm… maybe we should quit while we’re ahead.”
“We can’t,” Tyler said. “If you we don’t get all the leaks, the water and moisture will just continue to accumulate. The joists will weaken, plus other fun things like mold. Here…” Tyler took a step to the side, putting one foot on a joist a few feet away.
Now I could step over his foot to get near the leak, but suddenly I was afraid. What if I tripped and fell through a weak spot in the attic floor?
Tyler seemed to sense my fear because he held a hand out to me. I placed my hand in his, and instantly, the attic faded away and I was transported back to the reception at my brother’s wedding. Tyler had taken my hand just like this and led me onto the dance floor. He’d held me in his arms as he expertly whirled me around. All I’d had to do was to follow his lead, look into his amazing green eyes—and try not to lose my heart.
A tug on my hand called me back to the present. With a move that was almost dance-like, he guided me around his leg until I was crouched under the last leak. Still a bit stunned from his touch, I followed his directions as best I could. My brain was still lost in the sensations of the last time he’d touched me.
When I was done, I helped Tyler gather up the supplies he’d used. He kneeled by the open trapdoor and lowered his tools onto the top shelf of my closet which I’d cleared off before. Then he held out his hand to me again. If this was becoming a regular thing, I wasn’t going to object.
Carefully, I sat down on the edge of the trapdoor, my feet dangling over it. Then Tyler dropped my hand and grasped me around the waist. Not even breathing hard, he lowered me down until my feet touched the top step of the ladder. I put my hands on either side of the trapdoor for balance, looking up at him, trying not show how much I regretted it when he let me go.
Fora moment, I just stood there, looking up at him as he hovered over me. “Thank you,” I said. “This was really kind of you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, his voice deep and rumbly in the empty space.
“Very kind,” I repeated, knowing it was inadequate.
He smiled. “I figured I must’ve eaten about a thousand meals in this house. So it’s high time I gave something back.”
I wanted to say that he already had. He used to pitch in around here the same as Alex did. I remembered plenty of times when the two of them had shoveled snow or taken turns mowing the lawn. But instead, I just stared up at him, mesmerized. He was so handsome. And so close. I was practically between his legs right now, my head level with his chest. It would be so easy for him to take me in his arms right now.
He didn’t do that, but what he did surprised me even more. He reached out slowly, the fingers of one hand touching my hair, stroking it gently as he looked into my eyes. My heart rate spiked, and it felt like the warmth from his hand was searing into my skull. I wanted to close my eyes and lean into his touch, but that would mean looking away from his vivid green eyes.
At last, he drew his hand away. “You had a cobweb in it,” he said, brushing his fingers against his jeans. Oh. So that was why he touched me. But somehow, that news didn’t break the spell, especially since his voice was soft and gentle and we were still staring into each other’s eyes.
But then I shifted my weight from one foot to another, and the ladder wobbled, making me yelp. Tyler immediately grabbed my wrist, but I didn’t fall. I’d just temporarily forgotten that I wasn’t on solid ground.
“We should probably get down,” I said.
“Yep.” He held onto my wrist until I had one hand on the top of the ladder. I felt a lot better once my feet touched the carpet even though I knew that meant he’d be leaving soon.
Right now, though, he was back in home-repair mode, telling me to leave the trapdoor open and put some fans up there to dry out the wood. “But get one of those other girls to help you if you do. Don’t climb up there alone, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. To be fair, I probably would’ve said “okay” no matter what he asked.
Tyler brushed himself off and stepped into the main part of the bedroom. He paused when he saw all the clothes piled high on my bed. “Do you want help putting this stuff back?”
“No, I can do it.” The thought of my boss—and my crush—seeing all my clothes was an embarrassing one. I had a few nice things, but far more t-shirts, sweatshirts, and stuff from when I was younger that I’d never gotten rid of. The last thing I wanted was for him to think of me as a little girl. Of course, the scarlet red teddy he’d already seen was clearly for an adult.
Though maybe that didn’t count since it had still had the tags on it. Maybe he thought I was a little girl who’d wanted to play dress up. I was still mulling that over when I realized that Tyler was staring intently at something near the head of the bed.
“What’s wrong?” I followed his gaze but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
As if in a trance, he moved to the bed, pushing several items aside to grasp a padded hanger. He held it up, shiny blue fabric flowing from it. “This was your dress from the wedding.”
“Yes,” I said. “You have a good memory.”
He was staring at the soft fabric and I wondered what else he remembered about that night. Did he remember our dance? Had it been as wonderful for him as it had been for me?
At long last, Tyler set my gown down. “Well, I did see it four times… the other three bridesmaids had dresses like that, too.”
Disappointment coursed through me. So that was the only reason he remembered it. I’d been stupid to think it might be something else.
And now he was leaving, gathering up his things and retreating almost as fast as he had after our one dance. It was suddenly as if he couldn’t get out of here fast enough.
“Don’t forget about the fans,” he called, already halfway down the hallway.
“I won’t,” I called back. “And thank you again.”
But it was a wasted effort. He was already gone.
8
Tyler
I was supposed to be working on one of the biggest projects my company had ever under
taken, and instead my mind was in the closet, so to speak. Specifically, Kait’s closet.
Try as I might, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way it had felt to touch her hair… or hold her hand… or rest my hand on the small of her back as she balanced on the beams in the attic.
Crowded closets and leaky attics… it’s not like those were very romantic locations. Yet I kept thinking about it.
Especially that red lingerie she’d had. I’d only seen it for a second before I’d realized what it was and handed it back to her, but it was like the feel of that slinky fabric was burned into my skin.
Had someone bought that for her? Some college kid who didn’t even know enough to take the tags off when giving a gift to a woman? The thought made my blood boil, which made no sense. I had no claim on her.
The presence of the tags was the only thing that kept me sane. If some asshole had given it to her, she obviously hadn’t worn it for him. But maybe she’d bought it in the hopes of wearing it for someone special?
I don’t know why it mattered, but it did. I suppose she could’ve bought it for herself, but that didn’t seem much like her. She’d never seemed to be into girly, delicate things when she was a kid. It was probably because she seemed to idolize Alex—and to some extent, me. She used to wear the same kinds of things we did—t-shirts, shorts, and jeans.
“Boss?”
Monica entered, and I fought back an urge to pretend I’d been working. I was the CEO—I didn’t have to pretend for anyone. My assistant knew I’d worked my ass off to get where I was today. And to get TR Technologies where it was.
“What’s up?”
“Kait from programming would like to see you. She doesn’t have an appointment, but I figured…”
She trailed off, and I nodded. She didn’t know the whole story, but she knew that Kait wasn’t just another employee to me.
“I’ll show her in.”
A moment later, she was there. Gliding across the room looking breathtakingly beautiful and incredibly young.