“I had no idea I had fans in the real estate biz.” Aiden grinned as he said it, but it didn’t look as natural to Thea’s eyes as those white flashes of teeth he’d treated her to in the car.
Melinda nudged Thea. “You probably remember. You were answering my phones back then, right?”
“Sure was!” she chirped, glancing nervously at Aiden.
Nowhis smile was the real thing. “Did you take in the show over lunch, Ms. Blackwell?”
Busted for ogling half a decade later. That had to be some kind of record. She cleared her throat and spun toward the living room. “Smells musty,” she said loudly. Anything to get off the topic of the three weeks she’d spent eating turkey wraps and watching Aiden’s lean, strong arms flex as he climbed up and down a ladder.
“Not surprising. The grout around the stone at the entrance looks a little patchy. Water might’ve gotten in.” He’d jumped into all-work mode too, thank God. “You’ll want the home inspector to make sure it’s not a major leak or hiding a bunch of mold. It’s fixable but could be pricey.”
He brushed against her in the narrow entryway on his way to the living room, and she briefly imagined that she could feel the heat of his body through their thick winter coats.
“So are you still at the dentist’s office? That’s who you left me for, as I recall.”
Melinda’s words pulled Thea back. “Hmm? Oh no. That was”—she studied the ceiling as she counted back—“maybe four jobs ago?”
“Weren’t you working customer relations at the Beaucoeur zoo?” Aiden’s question came from the far end of the room, where he had his pen tucked behind his ear as he stretched a tape measure across the front window.
How the hell did he know about that? It had been her shortest employment stint to date, at least until her ill-fated radio career. “Yep,” she said brightly. “After the dentist but before the bakery.”
He gave a hum of acknowledgment and went back to measuring, although Thea could feel the unspoken questions from both of them pressing against her:What is this chick’s problem with work?
God, if they only knew the half of it.
“Kitchen’s through that door.” Melinda took control of the walk-through again. “And it flows into the dining room, then the hallway leading to an office, a bathroom, and the stairs to the second floor.”
Aiden fiddled with the light switch on the wall. “Knob and tube wiring?”
“Used to be,” Melinda said. “They replaced it in the seventies.”
He nodded and scrawled another note as she herded them along. Thea ran a hand along the faded rose-patterned wallpaper in the hall on the way to the kitchen, stopping short in the doorway.“Wow.”
Aiden whistled long and low. “You can say that again.”
“Okay.Wooooow.” They stood side by side in silence, taking in the fussy, dark-stained cabinets with gaudy curlicue handles. The countertops were avocado, the worn linoleum had flecks of orange and green, and the crowning glory was the ancient harvest-gold refrigerator.
“Yes. It needs a little work,” Melinda acknowledged before she moved on to the dining room.
“‘A little’ is an understatement,” Aiden whispered.
She wrinkled her nose and whispered back, “Isn’t it awful?” Then she looked around again and pictured it when it was shiny and new. “I bet Doris was so excited when she picked it all out.”
“Nice thought.” He ran a finger through the dust that had accumulated on the kitchen windowsill. “It goes on the list. At least I don’t see any signs of busted pipes or vermin.”
“Vermin?” Thea glanced up at him sharply. “What kind?”
“Termites, spiders, sometimes rats.”
She took a nervous step toward him. “Rats?”
He slung an arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’ll fend ’em off.”
She shuddered and allowed herself to shrink into his side for one brief, heady moment before pulling away to follow Melinda through the dining room and up the stairs to the second floor. She was intensely aware of Aiden right behind her on the steps, no doubt eye level with her butt. Not that he’d be tempted to take a peek.
The second floor was a little smaller than the first floor, with two bedrooms facing the street and the master suite facing the river. The ceiling in the bedroom was low enough that Aiden barely had to stretch to poke at the drop ceiling.
“Whatever’s under here has to be better than this.” He nudged her and gestured upward. “What do think? Skylight potential?” Before she could answer, he’d turned to Melinda. “What’s under this carpet?”
