“Penny, get me a towel and Riley’s robe from the bathroom. Everyone else out!”
“Lily, who the hell replaced the roof? It should still be under warranty, right?” Riley asked, trying not to focus on the fact that Nick was inside her and they were both naked while carrying on a conversation with their audience.
Fred threw his muscley arm around Willicott’s shoulders. “That’d be the Dream Team here. Can you believe she was going to hire a couple of professionals? Ha!”
30
7:56 a.m., Tuesday, August 18
Riley woke with a crick in her neck and a naked man sprawled face down on the rug next to the fireplace. A quick look at the butt and she identified it as belonging to Nick.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “Wake up and put your shorts back on before—”
Too late.
“Good morning, love birds,” Lily twittered as she sashayed into the room. “Oh, my. You are a lucky girl getting to put your hands on a patootie like that.”
Nick was a night stripper. Meaning if he went to bed wearing clothes, he woke up wearing nothing.
Riley tossed a blanket over his ass and nudged him with her foot. “Rise and shine.”
“Mmph. I had the weirdest dream last night that we were having sex and—”
Lily was hanging on his every word, glassy-eyed with desire…or maybe cataracts. Riley couldn’t tell from this angle.
“Shut up, Nick. It wasn’t a dream, and you’re naked on the parlor floor.”
“Is Lily staring at my ass?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“I brought you two breakfast in bed,” Lily said proudly. She dropped the tray on Mrs. Penny’s cocktail bar. “We have coffee, toast, and eggs.”
“Thanks, Lily,” Riley said, stretching her arms and yawning. The green velour divan was not the most comfortable place to sleep. But the soreness she felt in her nether region had nothing to do with the lumpy furniture.
“I’ll call the roofers,” Nick volunteered, shimmying into his shorts.
“Oh, you don’t need to do that,” Lily said with a dismissive wave. “I have two strapping fellows just raring to get back up there.”
“No,” Riley said.
“Absolutely not,” Nick said at the same time.
“Lily, some jobs are best left to the professionals,” Riley told her landlady.
“They are going to be so disappointed. They were talking about starting their own company, you know.”
Nick stood up and stretched. Lily stared at his bare torso and continued to pour the coffee long after the cup overflowed.
Riley cleared her throat and took the coffee pot from her neighbor.
“Thanks, Lily.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She put a distinctly gross emphasis on the word “pleasure.”
“Who’s ready for breakfast?” Riley yawned when Lily left the room.
Burt’s head popped up from the ancient recliner he’d confiscated last night.
