"I'm not worried," I said, and I meant it. I'd dealt with worse teasing on job sites. The sex though… that was new.
We passed through the roman bath and through a door on the far side. Then it was down a long hallway before we finally arrived at another door with a "SAUNA - CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE" sign taped to it.
Michael stopped and turned to face me. "This is it. Like I said, it was running at almost two hundred degrees before we unplugged it. Be careful when you go in there."
I set my tool bag down and pulled the door open. Even unplugged, the heat that rolled out was intense. I could feel it on my face like I'd opened an oven.
"Jesus," I muttered, stepping inside.
The sauna was a decent size, maybe twenty feet square, with wooden benches lining two walls and the heater unit in the corner. I knelt down next to the heater, pulling out my flashlight to get a better look.
"You need anything?" Michael asked from the doorway.
"Not yet. I'll let you know."
I heard him shift behind me but he didn't leave. I could feel his eyes on my back as I worked, which should have been annoying but for some reason it wasn't. I pulled off the access panel on the heater and immediately saw the problem—the thermostat was completely fried, the wiring melted together in a way that meant it had been stuck in the "on" position for far too long.
"Your thermostat's toast," I called over my shoulder. "I'm gonna have to replace the whole unit."
"Do you have the parts?"
"Not on me. I'll have to order them." I sat back on my heels. “This is bigger than most stuff we work on, so we don’t keep those kinds of parts on hand. Should have them in a couple days though.”
"We can't wait that long," Michael said, and I heard him step into the sauna behind me. "We've got members who've been complaining non-stop since yesterday."
I turned to look at him, wiping sweat from my forehead. The heat in here was already getting to me, even with the unit off. "Look, I can't pull parts out of my ass. This is a commercial grade heater. I'll put in a rush order, but even then?—"
"What about a temporary fix?" He moved closer, crouching down beside me. This close, I could smell him. His cologne was woodsy and clean that cut through the lingering heat and steam. "Anything to get it running safely until the new parts come in?"
I looked back at the melted wiring, considering. "I could bypass the thermostat entirely and wire in a manual shutoff. You'd have to turn it on and off yourself, and someone would need to monitor the temperature, but yeah. That'd work for a few days."
"How long would that take?"
"Maybe an hour? Hour and a half?" I pulled my tool bag closer, already mentally running through what I'd need.
"Do it." Michael stood up, and I found my eyes tracking the movement of his legs, the way his jeans hugged his thighs. Fuck. I needed to focus.
"It's gonna cost you," I said, forcing myself to look back at the heater. "Labor and parts."
"That's fine. Just get it working." He headed for the door, then paused. "I'll check back in an hour. If you need anything, just go to the front desk. You can call me from there.”
Then he was gone, and I was alone with the broken heater and my suddenly very inconvenient thoughts about my client's employee. I shook my head, trying to clear it. This was just another job. The fact that Michael was hot as hell and had an ass I wanted to bite didn't matter. I was here to fix shit and get paid.
I got to work stripping out the damaged wiring and rigging up the bypass. The heat made everything harder. My hands were slick with sweat within minutes, and I had to keep wiping my face to keep it out of my eyes. I ended up stripping off my work shirt, leaving just my undershirt, which was soaked through almost immediately.
About forty-five minutes in, I heard the door open behind me.
"How's it going?" Michael's voice made me jump, and I nearly dropped my wire cutters.
"Jesus, you scared the shit out of me." I turned to glare at him, but the look died when I saw what he was holding—a bottle of water, condensation beading on the plastic.
"Thought you might need this." He stepped into the sauna, letting the door close behind him. "You look like you're about to pass out."
I took the water gratefully, cracking it open and downing half it in one go. The cold liquid felt like heaven against the back of my throat.
"Thanks," I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "I'm almost done here. Just need to test it and make sure the manual shutoff works."
Michael nodded, but he didn't leave. Instead, he leaned against the wall, those amber eyes watching me work. I tried to ignore the way my skin prickled under his gaze, and instead tried to focus on connecting the last few wires.
