She tried not to read anything into the fact that he stayedidling on the curb, watching her, until she was fully inside the house.
As soon as he drove away, she pulled out her phone and texted Alan.
Call me in an hour.
6
There was no reason forNiko to be nervous. Everything had been going smoothly with the house so far, and even though Merritt hadn’t come to see it in person yet, he’d been sending her regular updates of his progress, so there shouldn’t be any big surprises.
Still, as soon as he got there in the morning, he was on edge, jerking his head up at any sudden noise, straining to figure out if he was imagining the sound of tires crunching on the gravel. Finally, he put himself out of his misery by lugging his old paint-spattered boom box into the bathroom where he was laying tile and cranking up hisPure Discocompilation CD as loud as it could go.
Which was how, when Merritt finally did poke her head through the doorway, it scared him so badly he thought his stomach was about to eject itself through his mouth.
She held up her hands in surrender, laughing as he scrambled to turn the volume knob down.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you. I was calling your name, but I guess the music was too loud.”
“It’s okay.” He exhaled loudly, willing his pulse to return to normal—though now that she was here, that seemed unlikely.
A sly smile curled across her lips.
“I guess we’re even now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Now that we’ve both startled each other in bathrooms.”
He was confused for a moment, before remembering their first meeting. “Almost. I’d have to be naked for us to really be even.”
Fuck. Why had he said that? From the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes darted to the ground, he’d obviously crossed a line. He never wanted to be one of those creepy workmen, exploiting people’s trust after they’d let him into their homes. Especially his single women clients.
Actually, he didn’t even know if she was single. None of her rings looked like wedding or engagement rings, but she probably had someone back in California or something, waiting to move into this house as soon as Niko was finished.
He wasn’t sure why, but something about that thought made his stomach curdle.
She cleared her throat and took a step back, glancing around the living room as if seeing it for the first time. “Wow, you’ve really gotten a lot done in here. It looks incredible. The pictures don’t do it justice.”
He felt himself swell with pride. “Thanks. Let me show you the rest.”
Niko led her through the house, pointing out various details he thought she’d appreciate, suggesting options for things he stillwasn’t sure about, and soaking up her compliments about what he’d already completed.
They found themselves back in the kitchen, discussing possible alternate configurations for the appliances. Merritt leaned against the island and crossed her arms, gazing into the dining room thoughtfully.
“I’m going to need a lot of furniture to fill this place. I got rid of most of mine when I moved in with…when I moved into my last place in LA,” she corrected.
Niko didn’t say anything, just squirreled away this new breadcrumb of information about her previous life, like he did all of them. Maybe one day she would feel comfortable enough to toss him a full slice.
She turned to him. “Do you know anyone who does custom pieces?”
At least that was an easy one. “Yeah.Ido, actually. Nothing fancy, though.”
Her eyes flicked over him, appraising. “Whatdon’tyou do?” There was a shimmer of admiration in her voice, cut with something else—a little teasing, like she didn’t want to be impressed. Or didn’t want him to know she was. He chose to ignore it.
“I made a lot of the furniture in my house. I have some pictures, I think.” He pulled out his phone and began to scroll, before realizing. “Shit. That was my old phone.” He’d dropped it in a bucket of paint a couple of months ago, losing everything. Simon had helped him set up the cloud after that.
“That’s okay. I’d want to see them in person, anyway.”
Niko scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “Well, I’m just about done here. We could head over now if that works?”
