His jaw clenched. He’d like to bury these men under some of his current landscaping projects.
“Indeed, but my brother has a shady friend who helped find that douchebag.” She shook her head, then added quietly, “You’d think I’d have learned my lesson, but no. Next came the weekender—a married guy. He rented. Well, I thought he was a renter. Turned out to be another liar, just a different kind.”
Max’s lip curled. “Some people are shits.”
She grinned. “At least I got back at the shitty cheater. He invited me over again, after I learned he was married, I brought over sometoys.” She waggled her brows in a way that suggested these items wouldn’t be in any kid’s toybox. “I hid them in odd places that would lead to so uncomfortable conversations with his wife.”
Max straightened. “Holy shit! That was you.” Asher had told him the story of Lilith’s kitchen clogged with a butt plug. He’d figured it had something to do with Lilith’s douche-bag ex-husband, Marshall. But, damn, knowing Paloma was who had hidden kinky toys all over in an act of revenge. He belly-laughed. “Oh, damn. I have to tell Asher. He’d laugh his ass off.”
“Me and my big mouth,” Paloma muttered, then gripped his forearm. “Please don’t tell him I put the toys in the house.”
“Wait. Are you telling me there’s more?” His admiration grew. She didn’t get mad and sulk. She got even. “How many are we talking?”
“That’s not the point. The point is, you can’t tell anyone.”
“I think it’s hilarious.” But hearing the slight panic in her voice, he said.“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thank you, I’d rather she didn’t know I was with her ex-husband while they were still together.”
“Technically, they’re still married. She served him papers, but he’s refusing to sign them.”
“Why? He seems like a guy that’d love to be single?”
Max shrugged. “Got me. I only know what Asher told me the first time I met her.” He grinned. “I bet you two would make great friends. You already have something in common . . .”
Her lips twitched. “What’s that?”
“Similar taste in men.”
She picked up a small pendant light from the display, pretending to aim it at him. “Shut up.” Setting it back among the rows of artistic fixtures, she glanced over his shoulder at the wall of options. “How did we even get on this topic?”
“You saying you’re glad we didn’t sleep together.” He gestured toward another section of pendant lights. “What about these hybrid ones for the indoor garden?”
She nodded, walking toward them. “Ah, yes. Your refusal was another ego-popping moment.”
“Believe me, anyone there would have taken you home. You were hot as sin in that red dress.”
She picked up two similar pendants. Putting them down, she looked at him. “Anyone but you.”
He put his hands in his pockets. “I’m not into being someone’s consolation prize.”
“How are you a consolation prize?”
“You were there for my friend. But when that was over, you came to me . . .”
She blinked, then looked away, sucking the side of her bottom lip. “Damn, that was shitty of me. Sorry.”
People said that word easily, but her apology held true remorse. He appreciated it, but didn’t want to linger on that night—the memory of how badly he’d wanted to say yes still made his skin prickle with heat. Shrugging it off with a smile and nod, he moved toward a display of modern fixtures.
She stopped him with a hand on his arm, and he stilled. “Really, I wasn’t thinking along those lines at all. More like. ‘Well, that’s over with Asher . . . but on the positive side, this guy is hot.’”
He searched her eyes, and the sincere focus on him made his pulse race while soothing his ego. His gaze moved to her plump red lips, and she licked them. She probably tasted like cherries and desire. And what would desire taste like? Paloma.
“But this is better.” She sighed, and he swore he heard longing in her exhale. “I have a feeling one night with you wouldn’t be enough. And I need these projects to be a success.”
He tilted his head. “Projects? There’s only this one job.”
Would she be interested in the possibility of more after they completed the Thompson house? Business was over, and they could focus on the pleasure.
