He lifted his hands in astop right theregesture. “Jesus, notthat. I would never make that part of—”
“Oh my God,obviously I didn’t meansex!” She practically shouted in her haste to wipe the horrified look from his face.
“Phew.” He exhaled and comically wiped his brow while she dropped her head to her knees, holding her wine aloft so she wouldn’t spill it.
Could the floor please open up and swallow her right now? She was clearly not going to barter sex for renovations, but geez, did he have to sound so horrified by the idea? It left her feeling about as sexy as a bridge-dwelling troll.
While she’d been spiraling into self-doubt, he’d reached into his pocket and produced a folded sheet of paper. “Here’s a revised budget. I got the home inspector report you sent me, and it knocked some of the items off my list. The roof’s in good shape, and there’re no signs of water damage in the basement or on the front of the house. The heating-and-cooling system works, but I bet it’ll need to be replaced within the next five or ten years.”
Her eyes dropped to the bottom of the page where he’d bolded a figure. It was a much smaller dollar amount, and hope sprouted a tender little shoot in her heart. She took another fortifying sip of wine, then set the glass on the floor next to her to take the paper in both hands.
“If you’re willing to let me do most of the one-man jobs at night or on the weekends and are flexible about when my crew can take care of the bigger stuff, I can get it done at your drop-dead price point.”
Her heart lubbed hard. The princess house could be hers. The house her dad had dreamed of for her. The one that still had the rosebushes he’d planted for Doris Rebhetz before his death. She could have that glorious river view and put down roots and be part of the neighborhood holiday decorations. All she had to do was pretend that she’d somehow captured the heart of Beaucoeur’s most notorious womanizer.
Disappointment clouded her vision. “Nobody’s going to buy it. Us as a couple?”
His frown was back. “Why not?”
“Because… because!” She sputtered and waved her arms through the air. “Because you’re you and I’m me!”
“And?”
“And you’ve never looked twice at me before! Nobody will believe I’m the person who finally hog-tied you.” Her exasperation made her shrill, and she hated it.
Aiden didn’t seem to care. Instead, the tip of his tongue peeked out to wet the corner of his upper lip as he studied her with an over-the-top smoldering gaze. “Or maybe it’sbecauseof your hog-tying skills that I finally settled down, hot stuff.” He winked broadly before dropping the seductive act with a shrug. “Everybody watching the kiss cam seemed convinced anyway.”
Oh!Her cheeks flamed, and she slapped her palms over them to keep the glow from giving her away. “Stop! It’s ridiculous!”
“It’s really not.” His smile this time was genuine, not his salesman smirk or his lady-killer grin. “I have it on good authority that we gave off a strong couple vibe.”
Her hands fell to her lap. He wasn’t wrong, was he? She’d seen the dazed expression on her own face for herself, and she’d seen the unsteadiness of his breathing when they’d pulled apart. They’d looked like two people who really enjoyed kissing each other.
“Besides,” he said quietly, “I fell for that house too, and I’d like to make sure you’re its owner. You just might have to live with a really ugly kitchen for longer than you imagined.”
Now that the offer was out, he relaxed back onto her flowery couch and snagged his beer, taking a sip as she worked through this insane proposal. She followed suit and picked up her wineglass from the floor, draining the rest of its contents.
“Okay.Ifwe agree to this, then no fooling around with anybody else.”
“Obviously not,” he said immediately. “And that goes for you too.”
“Sure.” She rolled her eyes. She hadn’t been in the same zip code of fooling around with anybody in too long to remember, so that wasn’t exactly a sacrifice. “And it’s not like anybody’s falling in love with anyone else because…”
She gestured between the two of them, and a shadow darkened his face before vanishing. “Yeah. The whole world knows I’m the guy who doesn’t do relationships.”
“It’s basically your brand,” she said, although in truth she’d been referring to herself as well. She wasn’t exactly known for her successful romantic track record. Still… “When the time comes for us to break up, how do we do it?”
“Mutual and respectful,” he said. “Nobody gets the blame. We decide we’re better off as friends.”
Friends. Which is what they were, even if his presence in her apartment did make her… flutter.
She’d seriously have to get over that.
“So we have a deal?”
Why was she even hesitating? This was her dream come true. It was almosttwodreams come true if she was being honest: the dream houseandthe hot guy, even if one was only temporary. “I… yes. I guess we do.”
“Excellent.” He polished off his beer and stood, unfurling his lean, muscular body to its full height and making her immediately second-guess her ability to carry this off.
