The good will I’d felt toward Cash when he’d barged in and saved me from Grandmother’s quiz about a book I’d never read was draining away at a dangerous speed.
Dangerous for him.
He was out there chatting up my grandmother like they were old pals while I was stuck in the kitchen checking the date on a dusty can of beans I hadn’t even known I owned until fifteen seconds ago. I chalked it up to another gift left behind by my old roommate, because there was no way I’d ever spent my hard-earned money on a can of kidney beans.
Gag!
I wasn’t a bean eater, and if I wasn’t very much mistaken, neither was Grandmother. I shoved the can back into the dark and cobwebby recesses of my cabinet. It would make a nice housewarming gift to whoever rented this place after I moved out. Waste not, want not, as my mom always used to say.
I swallowed my frustrations and called out with a voice so sweet I even startled myself, “Cash, can you come to the kitchen for a minute?”
My fingers drummed on the counter as he stepped through the door. The smile on his face was made even more annoying by the way it made my body tingle.
I’m immune. I’m immune.
The more times I had to repeat that dumb mantra to myself, the more I questioned its truthfulness.
“What’s up?” he asked with his brows raised high, and his round eyes blinking innocently. I’d never noticed just how long his lashes were until that moment. I couldn’t be sure, but I was willing to bet that each blink sent a tiny gust of wind my way. I wondered just how close I’d have to get to feel it.
I tore my eyes away from his, reminding myself that I was severely annoyed at him for the position he’d put me in.
“What’s up?” I said, jamming a fist onto my hip. “That’s my question exactly. What’s up with you asking my grandmother to stay for a meal? And what in the world is linner supposed to be?”
“It’s what you call a meal between lunch and dinner. And what’s wrong with asking her if she wants to eat with us? Isn’t that what families do?”
I raised both my hands in protest. “Hold your horses there, cowboy. You and I are not family.”
“Thanks for the reminder, Princess Obvious, but what about your granny? Isn’t she your family?”
“Well, yeah, but I don’t have anything she’d like to eat.” I opened my refrigerator and waved my hand at the interior like some kind of showroom model. “Actually, I don’t have any food at all. And I’ve only got the thirty bucks I was going to pay you to move the couch. That’s not going to buy enough food to feed all three of us with her tastes.”
“I don’t know, she seems pretty down-to-earth to me.”
“The operative words in that last sentence wereI don’t know.You don’t know her. I do. And thirty dollars isn’t going to cut it.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got it covered,” he said, turning to leave.
Without thinking about what I was doing, I reached out and grabbed his arm. Dangerous sparks tickled my fingers and ran up my arm. They settled in the deepest part of my stomach and kept going off until I pulled my hand away.
“So, does this mean you’re in? Thirteen thousand dollars to be my fake boyfriend for the day?”
“I guess it does.”
“What changed your mind?”
His brows drew together, and the concern in his eyes was almost enough to make me feel bad for how frustrated I’d been with him. “It was something about the look on her face when she mentioned her heart troubles.”
I held his gaze for a few moments. The man standing in my kitchen looked nothing like the guy who always seemed to get such pleasure from pushing my buttons. This fine specimen of a man was so different, he deserved a new name.
I decided to call him Thoughtful Cash. Did I dare admit to myself that I kind of liked this version of my impossibly handsome neighbor? No. But I did admit that I needed more time to study this fascinating new creature in depth.
Much more time.
Unfortunately for my research, Thoughtful Cash was an elusive creature and only came up for air every great once in a while. I wasn’t sure what happened, but something spooked him, and he disappeared, leaving Incorrigible Cash in his place.
His eyes flashed with mischief. “She seemed genuinely pleased that you got your hooks in an awesome guy like me, and I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her.”
Correction. This wasn’t just Incorrigible Cash. This was Incorrigible, button-pushing Cash at his finest. The tips of my ears heated. “Got my hooks in you?”
