“We’ll have to break the door down.” Lainey wanted to rewind and get back into bed. Pretend this day had never started.
Jake put the eggs he was still holding in the basket. “I can probably get in without you needing to put through a door or window.”
Lainey didn’t know if to be irritated or not that he didn’t wait for any agreement before striding through both gates to her side, his head lifting as he looked at the farmhouse.
“I know the building needs work…” She started to defend herself, forgetting it had only been a little under two weeks since she’d gotten the keys.
“It’s a farm. They’ll always be something more important than the place you sleep.” His smirk was full of dirt. “But then, beds shouldn’t just be for sleeping in.”
She heard Imogen giggle.
There was part of her that wanted to trade a comment back, to niggle at Jake Maynard so he was feeling uncomfortable, but she wasn’t sure where that would end, and right now, she needed it to be ended.
“You okay with me climbing up the wall?” Jake pointed up to a closed sash window that looked as if it was going to fall out some day soon. Today could be that day.
“Do you think you’re spiderman or something?” She stopped short, digging in the pocket of her sweatpants for a spare key that she just might’ve put there and coming up with nothing.
“I’ve been told I’m like a superhero before, but not for climbing.”
Lainey rolled her eyes far back enough they nearly got lost in her head. “Seriously.”
Jake laughed, his face filling with mirth, the blonde hair messy and wild as if he hadn’t bothered brushing it today, and his stubble more than a couple of days’ worth. “I’ve been climbing all my life. I’m part of the search and rescue team and free climbing is kind of my thing. Plus, I’ve been up that wall before, and you can open that window from the outside.”
“Do I want to know why you’ve done that?”
His smile was almost regretful. Almost.
“The farmer you bought this off had a niece. He wasn’t keen on me dating her, so we found other ways of getting together.” He was already at the wall, testing the drainpipe.
“You’ve had sex in my house?”
Jake didn’t turn to look at her, now six feet up. “Yeah. Haven’t you?”
No, she hadn’t. She’d lived there less than a fortnight, and hadn’t had sex in so long that her vagina had started collecting rosary beads and was considering taking vows. Answering Jake was not an option.
A sound came out of her sister’s mouth, but it didn’t form a coherent word, the daggers sent by Lainey putting an end to that.
Jake wasn’t paying any attention, and neither was Lainey once she glanced up at where he was now. He was gripping onto the bricks which were made of the Derbyshire stone, craggy and rough, transversing across to just under the window.
Staring at men was something Lainey tried to avoid. Since Hugo, she’d been a man free zone, not even her reliable rabbit had held any interest. It was as if Hugo had taken away any libido she’d had left when she’d removed his small penis from her life.
And she was definitely not going reignite that libido by staring at Jake Maynard’s biceps bulging as he hung on the side of her house, yanking up a sash window and then disappearing through it.
“Please tell me you’re going to kiss him again.” Imogen sounded like she’d just consumed a whole massive bar of creamy chocolate. “Because if you’re not, I wouldn’t mind sampling some of that.”
“You’re not doing anything with my neighbour.” Lainey didn’t need to look at her sister to know that she was grinning.
“Maybe if I move into that bedroom, he’ll start sneaking through the window to see me.”
“That room is going to be disinfected so thoroughly you’ll be able to perform open heart surgery in there,” Lainey murmured through gritted teeth. “Then I’m going to seal it off.”
The door openedand Jake came out, holding the bracket that had the old coat pegs in his hand.
“Want me to fix this? Take me five minutes.”
Lainey shook her head. “I’ve taken up too much of your time already.”
Jake pushed his hair away and nodded. “That sash window needs replacing. There’s a leak coming into that room too which looks like it’s been going on for a while. The window frame’s damaged.”
