“It’s really loud,” I said.
“Oh, sorry, your highness,” she said with her usual glare.
“No, I wasn’t complaining,” I said. “I was going to offer to fix it for you.”
CHAPTER 11
SHELBY
“You expect me to believe you know how to fix a dryer?” I asked. “I call bullshit.”
Carter laughed at that. “Maybe you don’t know everything about me like you think you do.”
“I’m pretty sure you’ve never been an appliance repairman,” I said. “Or is that your side hustle?”
“I’m not a professional, but I dabble.”
“So you’re anamateurappliance repairman? No, thank you. I’ll pass. Go dabble with someone else’s dryer.”
“I don’t want to dabble with someone else’s dryer. I want to dabble withyours.” He smiled. “Look, my uncle is a repairman. I used to work with him in the summers when I was a kid. He showed me a lot.”
“That’s a heartwarming story, but how long ago was that? Like twenty years ago?”
Carter nodded and smiled. “Something like that, but lucky for you, your dryer is like thirty years old.”
“You’re hilarious. Was your uncle a comedian too?” I was trying my best to play it cool, but Carter had been intenselyshirtlessthis entire time.
He had gotten some color from being in the sun, and I was captivated by the hard ridges of muscle on his chest and back. They flexed with every little movement he made, making it difficult to concentrate on anything aside from his body.
Carter wore nothing but his plaid boxers, so he was basically in shorts, which wasn’t technically inappropriate, but I kept noticing the outline of his dick, thick and appearing to have some heft to it. My hands itched to feel it and I shoved them in my pockets to keep from doing something I would regret.
“Now, don’t get too excited,” he said, holding up his palms. “I don’t want to give you unrealistic expectations.”
I froze. Was he reading my thoughts? Had I been super obvious about how turned on I was getting? What unrealistic expectations did he think I had? Because I could see with my own eyes what kind of equipment the man was working with. Hell, if he didn’t know what to do with that lead pipe in his shorts, I could just lay him down on his back and handle the rest.
“I can’t fix a faulty circuit or anything with a computer,” Carter continued. “But if the drum’s imbalanced or there’s a mechanical issue, I can probably get it running smoothly again.”
I shook my head, trying to clear it. Right. The dryer.Stop being a pervert and focus, Shelby.
To my surprise, a voice in my head responded.We’re already focused on exactly what we need to be.
“If you want to take a look, be my guest,” I said, fighting through the urges and thoughts trying to derail this situation.
“Great,” Carter said and turned the dryer off. He unplugged it, pulled it away from the wall like it weighed nothing, and knelt to inspect something.
I was wet enough to raise the humidity in the laundry room, but if he had noticed, he made no indication. The muscles in his strong back rippled as he poked around, not helping the hot ache between my legs.
Sure, he was the enemy and his company was a soulless vampire feeding off human misery, but counterpoint, Carter was also crazy hot. I wanted him to wreck my pussy like he’d wrecked my life. Was that so wrong?
Yes!I shouted silently to myself.
Carter continued to be oblivious to the filthy urges running through my traitorous body. “I’ve actually worked on one of these,” he said, sounding genuinely excited. “I mean, it’s been a while but I have a feeling I know what’s wrong.”
He turned to look at me, green eyes alight, making him look younger. It felt like a window into the past and I was seeing young Carter the way he was way back when he was helping his uncle out in the summers. I liked what I saw, and not just because he was half-naked.
Or half-clothed, my mind added.Perfectly normal.
“If you can fix it, that would be amazing,” I said. “I still can’t believe you know how to do this. I’ve seen you with a shovel. It didn’t inspire confidence that you’re good with your hands.”
