“If I agree, how many hours a week are you going to spend working on my car?”
“Eight hours every weekend.”
“Do I have to be there with you, to work on the car?”
“I prefer that you not be there.”
“Such a jerk!” This time she said it on a breath of disbelieving laughter.
“Still not relevant. Are you going to take the deal?”
She drew one knee toward her chest and moved as if to place the sole of her boot on the seat. “I guess.”
“No boots on my upholstery. And ‘I guess’ is not an answer.”
She set her boot on her opposite knee instead of his seat. “Fine.”
“Fine what?”
“I agree to your deal.”
“If you break your end of the bargain, I’ll know. I’ll be checking up on you.”
“Your trust in me warms my heart.” She spoke in a mocking sweet voice.
“I wouldn’t even trust you to hold my cup of coffee.”
She snorted, then ran appreciative fingers across his sparkling clean dashboard. “The best thing about you is your truck.”
He pulled up in front of his childhood home. “I’m going to stay here and watch until you enter through the front door.”
“Lovely.” She exited.
He watched her disappear inside the house where he’d once lived. The house where he no longer belonged. The house he’d been desperate to get away from. The house that held some of the very best and very worst memories of his life.
Finley would like for you to join her in the play yard,” Kat said to him the next morning when he arrived at work.
Without a word, he stalked toward the play yard. He wasn’t surprised that she’d asked to see him. No doubt, she wasn’t happy with the way they’d left things day before last and wanted to beat a dead horse.
His reaction to her kiss had been desperate. Which embarrassed him. He was not a man who gave up control for passion. With women in the past, he’d calculated how much he’d been willing to give.
With Finley, he’d simply responded. At first he’d been powerless not to respond. Then powerless to stop responding.
Since he’d left her house on Saturday, he’d tried to cut himself some slack. He’d been in prison for a long time. It had been even longer since he’d been with a woman. It wasn’t surprising that he’d slipped. When she’d kissed him, biology had taken over.
He just wished biology had been the only thing in play. That would have been easier to write off. But the largest part of what he felt for Finley had nothing to do with her physical appeal. He genuinely cared about her. He liked her more than he could afford to.
He wouldn’t let down his guard like that again. He had to count on himself because he wasn’t sure if he could count on her not to make another move.
When he reached the play yard, Finley shot him a bright smile. “Good morning.”
Equal parts infatuation and resentment roiled inside him. How could she look so happy after she’d wrecked his sleep for two nights straight? “Morning.”
Her oversized sweater had slipped off the edge of one creamy shoulder. Her hair was messy in a sexy way.
For the thousandth time, he wondered why she couldn’t have been a woman in her fifties, like what he’d been expecting, based on Ed’s age.
Or why couldn’t she have been plain?
