Chapter Thirteen
Aries
What isit about this woman that makes me want to help her?Hell, the urge to pick up a hammer and work right alongside her is making me question everything I’ve done in my life to get where I am today.No, I need to keep myself on track.Still, I can’t help worrying about her and the business she’s built.Honest to God, I can’t figure out how she’s managed to keep her company afloat, if you can call it that, going with the meager resources she has behind her.Hell, from what I’ve heard around town, she does 90 percent of the work on each of her flips by herself.
That’s a waste of time.She could be making good money if she’d expand her operation.That’s what I should be doing.I should help her.Hell, my pointing out the error of her ways may be all she needs.Hell, just straightening up the mess inside the house would besomething.But I haven’t time for that.I’ve got my job to get back to.Eventually.
Still.There’s something about Lou Hamlin that makes me pause.I like her.Hell, Iwanther.Maybe if I slept with her, that would get her out of my system since I never go back for seconds.I can’t see how she’d be any different from other women.If I slept with her, I could move on––head back to my life.
The thought makes my stomach flip, and a sense of dread overtakes me.But it is what it is.There’s no reason for me to dwell on it.My life is set.
Set.
Turning to face the front door again, I knock this time in the hopes she isn’t wearing those ancient headphones.When the lock clicks and the door opens, I smile.“Have dinner with me.”Might as well start with my ask.
“What is your deal?”She looks sincerely perplexed.
“My deal?”
“Yeah.Why do you want to have dinner with me again?Our first date wasn’tall that.”
Moment of truth.“I like you.I’d like to get to know you better.”
She stares at me for several seconds.Her eyes move down past my chest and down to my jeans and back up.“Is this a sex thing?”
Surprising.That’s what her words are to me.I cough.Placing my fist over my mouth, I smile behind it.Then, I nod.“Yeah.It’s a sex thing.”
Without a beat, she responds, “I’ll think about it.”The door slams in my face and I hear the lock engage again.
To say that Lou Hamlin is like nothing I’ve ever encountered before would be an understatement.In my whole life, I’ve never met anyone like her.Nor do I think I’ll ever meet another one like her again.
“You’re back.”The door opens wide, and Lou walks back into the house, leaving it open.Stepping through the door, I smile at the sight of her backside.“What’d you bring me today?”
I’ve been stopping by the house every day this week.I’m on day four in a row.Each time I stop, I bring her something.Lunch was Monday.I brought breakfast from the bakery on Tuesday morning.On Wednesday, I paid Norma an exorbitant sum to make Lou a meatloaf sandwich from scratch since she only makes it one day a week.I ordered it with fries.And today, Thursday, I’ve brought ice cream from Allen’s Frozen Treats.
When she sees the insulated bag with the logo on the front, she frowns.“Allen’s?”She looks me in the eye.“Please don’t tell me you brought me Rocky Road.”
“The clerk suggested it when I asked which ice cream you might like, but I went with vanilla with some toppings on the side.”I knew something was up when the guy behind the counter had a weird gleam in his eye as he suggested Rocky Road for Lou.
“Smart man.”She sits on the same stack of wood we’ve been sitting on all week.It’s the same stack of wood that’s blocking the entrance to the soon-to-be dining room.
I hand her a dish of vanilla while placing a container with hot fudge and one with caramel between us.“This has nuts in it.”I watch her build a sundae and smile.“You don’t like Rocky Road?”
“No to marshmallows.”She takes a bite and I watch her lick the spoon of any residue and my dick takes notice.Ice cream was a bad idea.
“Have dinner with me.”
Setting her dessert down, she turns to face me.“Let me ask you a few questions before I answer you this time.”
“Okay.”
“How long are you going to be in town?”
“I don’t know yet.”Forever if I had the option.I don’t.
“Would you say a month?”
“I can’t be here for a month.”Hell, I should be gone already.“Another week, perhaps.My vacation isn’t indefinite.”
