Drea took the cola.“Thanks, Mo.But I’m good.Sooner I’m done, sooner I can flop in my own bed for a while.”
She took a long drink.The burst of bubbles refreshed her mouth.
“Cujo was just pulling in as I brought this out.”
Finally.Drea got up, set the can on the table, and hurried along a small walkway around the side of the house.Cujo had the tailgate down and was pulling boxes out of bed of the truck.
Damn if he didn’t look cute in black jeans and boots.And the way his navy T-shirt was tight in the right places.Even though she wanted to drown him in Mo’s pool, she could still admire him.
His hair was wet and his board was in the back.The lazy ass had been paddleboarding while she had been working her ass off.She stalked up to the truck and grabbed a box without saying a word.
“What, no hello?”
“We’ve been waiting for these to set the bar up,” she said, and headed back along the gravel path.
His footsteps crunched closely behind her.
“Look, sorry I’m late, but what’s got you so uptight?”
Drea turned on a dime, forcing Cujo to pull up short, missing her by inches.Which was a good thing seeing there were nearly fifty glasses between them.
“Uptight?You’re well over an hour late.And for what?So you could go out and paddleboard.Just bring the glasses in.”She turned back toward the garden.
“You think I was out paddleboarding?”His condescending laugh made her teeth hurt.“Youwouldthink that’s what I was doing, right?Because I’m an ass.”
“You said it, not me,” she threw back over her shoulder
“I don’t fucking believe this.”Cujo shouted.
He caught up with her as they reached the bar, his box hitting the counter with a loud rattle.
“Watch the glassware.We don’t have time to go back for more.”
“Drea, drop the attitude.I can’t deal with it right now.”His phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket, silencing the ringer.
“Well, I could have done without doing the work of two people this morning, but there you go.Can we just get on with this?”
His eyes were a mess of emotion.
“Fine.What next,boss?”
***
“Unload the truck, bring the vases for the flowers so I can get them in water before they wilt.”
Cujo listened as Drea rattled off what needed doing, and cursed silently.The drive over had been a perfect shit-storm of road maintenance and idiot drivers.His phone vibrated in his jeans pocket again and he pulled it out.
Please.Can you at least confirm you are getting my messages?
Damn his dad for getting her a phone.It had been like that for the last hour.Give it another five minutes and there would be another.He hadn’t figured his mom would start to stalk him.She’d had nothing to say to him for nearly a quarter of a decade and now it was all she wanted.She wanted to know what he wasn’t telling her.Well, hey, payback’s sure a fucking bitch.
“Did you get that, Cujo?”Christ, he needed a fucking vacation.Shit, he’d settle for a couple of great nights out with the boys.Some drinks, some girls, some music.
And speaking of music, the Rolling Stones would really appreciate the way they were spread across Drea’s chest.Her hair was swept up in a high ponytail.She looked young, which made him a bit of a dirty bastard for all the things he’d imagined doing with her.
“How old are you?”he asked, watching as she scoured the content of her three-ring binder he’d drawn on.It shouldn’t make him feel so good she was still using it.
Drea looked up, keeping a finger on the item she was up to.“What?I asked if you could move the candy table out of the sun.”
