Lauren stretched her neck from one side to the other. “I think I need a cup of coffee. My energy is dying. You want some?”
That was another thing. She included him in everything she did. She invited him to go everywhere, including church. He hadn’t worked up the nerve to actually set foot inside the chapel, but the way she allowed him to decline the invitation without a fuss made him want to say yes a little more every week.
It wasn’t that he was against the idea of church. It was that he’d never belonged there before, and he still didn’t. Church was for people who had their act together. Zach didn’t, and he wasn’t going to rub elbows with the righteous like he was part of the club.
Coffee, he would accept. “Sure. I’ll clean this up.”
Lauren disappeared, and Zach gathered the scrap pieces, tools, and fasteners from the floor. The clanging and thudding from the kitchen was comforting in an odd way. Just knowing she was close settled something inside him.
She hadn’t left him. Yet. He’d done a good job of pushing his limits, but she hadn’t kicked him out. That determination spoke volumes when no one had ever put up with him before.
He’d just gathered up the last of the supplies when Lauren returned with a mug of steaming coffee in eachhand. She handed him one with a smile. “Is this going to keep you up?”
They’d been working since she got home from lunch with her friends, and now darkness filled the windows. Time flew by when they worked together, but he wished it would drag at least a little. He wasn’t ready for her to go back to her place just yet.
“Nah. My boss had me digging ditches all day, so I’m whooped.”
She rolled her eyes. “Want to watch a movie?”
A movie? He’d never sat down and watched a movie with anyone. He could count the number of movies he’d watched from start to finish on one hand.
But would he with Lauren? Absolutely.
“Sure.”
As soon as he lifted the cup to his lips, the smell hit him. It had been weeks since they kissed, but he’d relived the moment a thousand times since then. Lauren had tasted like coffee when they kissed. He’d interrupted her morning, and she’d rocked his world.
Stop thinking about the kiss.It was only torture. Taste and feel and touch the best in the world, but never again. Just look and imagine.
Who was he kidding? He couldn’t forget if he tried. She was everywhere. In this house, in the truck, in a cup of coffee. She’d infiltrated his every moment, and most of the time, he didn’t fight it.
Tonight, sitting next to her on the ratty old couch was going to test his restraint. He’d given his word and whatlittle it stood for when he accepted her offer of friendship. As much as he wanted to jump right into something with Lauren, she wasn’t the kind of woman to have a fling. She was the committed type, and for the first time in his life, he wanted more than a fleeting moment with a woman.
Lauren sat on one end of the couch and tucked her feet beside her the way she always did when she read in the evenings, cradling the warm mug in her hands. “What are we watching?”
“I have no idea, and I don’t have a preference.” Zach had learned weeks ago to give up the phraseI don’t care. Lauren didn’t like it, and she’d push him until he gave some type of answer.
But if he told her he didn’t have a preference, she’d leave him alone. It was probably the lack of “care” that bothered her, but whatever it was, he’d steer clear of the things she disliked.
Like cussing. She never berated him when he used bad language, but the tensing of her shoulders every time he said them triggered a jolt inside him.
She picked up the remote and flipped through a few channels. “Oh! The new documentary about the last days of Jesus’s life on earth is on. I’ve been wanting to watch it for weeks.”
“Then let’s watch it.” If it got her excited enough to raise her voice, then he was all for it.
She cut her eyes his way. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. A documentary will probably put me right to sleep.”
She rolled her eyes and chose the show. “Don’t you like learning?”
Now it was Zach’s turn to cut his eyes at her. “Um. No. I try to stay blissfully ignorant as often as possible.”
“Come on. You mean to tell me you aren’t excited about all the things you’ve learned how to do lately? You can replace or repair pretty much anything in a house now. Don’t you like knowing you’re capable of doing so many cool things?”
“I guess. I doubt I’ll ever need to use them again.”
“What about when you have your own place? Do you think you won’t ever have to replace a door or fix a windowsill? Owning a home is like having a continuous to-do list.”
