Michael had stopped attending therapy shortly afterward. He couldn’t trust in its effectiveness. He didn’t want to relive the tragedy. He wanted to fucking forget.
Since the experience at Jane’s house, he knew one thing for sure. He could trust his instincts and his instincts were telling him loud and clear Trent Andrews wasnotto be trusted. Michael saw through him. He recognized him for what he was.
Trouble.
Michael had vowed he would never let trouble into his world again.
***
Eight hours later, Michael realized he had to hand it to Emily. Upon having her personal world crumble, she’d spent a long day on set with the rest of the contracting crew, even though she could have gone home. She didn’t even complain when Lacey insisted on getting a couple of shots of her painting a wall, including some cute close-ups of her paint-smudged face. However, as on many reality home improvement shows, much of the work was done behind the scenes. Michael and his crew would spend a long day on site, but Emily didn’t have to stick around. She did anyway, eager to help, and he liked that about her. The woman was a trooper.
Way after the dinner hour, she was still puttering next to Nick in the backyard. The decking crew had removed Nonna Olivia’s crooked paving stones and Nick was showing Emily the plan for transforming the tiny yard into a party-worthy deck. When Michael came upon them, not only were Emily’s clothes covered in paint splotches, she now had mud on her pants from assisting Nick’s people.
He had seen women in various states of dress and undress over the years. Lacey used to wear French lingerie and had taught him the differences between corsets and baby dolls. Other partners had worn silky things for him too.
None of those women looked remotely as enticing as Emily Daniels in her jeans, with paint on her nose and mud on her ass.
Nick’s team had discovered a usable concrete footing and had spent part of the day installing wood-post legs on metal fittings. These would be affixed to the blocks that would support the new deck. Even though they’d only set up the framework, Michael could already envision the final product.
Emily called Michael over. “It’s going to be amazing, isn’t it?”
“You bet.”
“Em’s been a big help today. You should have seen her.”
“I swear to God, Nick, if you tell me you had Em lugging heavy patio stones with her injured hand, I will throttle you.”
“What do I look like? An imbecile?” demanded Nick. “Don’t answer that. Emily only did what she could handle, but she stayed busy. I think we still managed to give her a workout. Show Michael your biceps, Em.”
Emily lifted up her short sleeves so her upper arms were visible and struck a body builder pose. “Behold the guns.”
Michael feigned shock and touched a finger to one of her dainty biceps. “Woman, you’d better put those things away. You’re going to give me a complex.”
Her cheeks reddened. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about in the guns department.”
“Oh, yeah? Want to see mine?”
Nick’s mouth contorted in disgust. “Pardon me while I find something else, anything else, to do.” He called to a nearby crew member and they vacated the backyard.
Left alone with Emily, Michael continued to flirt. It was about the only thing that distracted him from the turmoil in his head. “I’ve been thinking. I know what you need.”
“You do? This should be interesting. By all means, tell me what I need, Michael.”
She might have meant to keep the seductive lilt out of her voice, but she failed. Besides, even if she’d succeeded in removing any trace of huskiness from her voice, the curl to her lips was a dead giveaway. Coy thing.
As she grinned, his gaze slipped to the interesting chain of freckles dotting the corner of her mouth. He wanted to kiss those freckles, to lick a path between them. That was just for starters on the list of things he wanted to do to her. “You need a proper night out. A couple of beers. Some entertainment. Good company.”
“It sounds wonderful, but I don’t know. I’m not into the nightclub scene.”
He motioned at his stained t-shirt. “Does it look like I’m used to ordering table service at swanky clubs?”
“No offense, but no.”
“None taken, believe me. My brothers and I are going out Friday night. Come with us.”
“Michael, you don’t need to babysit me.”
“I don’t see any babies here.”
