He glances at my hoagie and then at me. “Are you going to eat that? Because if not, let me know. I’ll open up my second stomach and make room for it.”
I smile and shake my head. “This is mine.”
“If only you said that about me.” He offers me that signature wink of his and then takes another bite of his hoagie.
Friends. That’s what we are, we’re friends. Nothing more.
Because if I give in to this feeling bubbling inside me, I have the distinct and terrifying feeling that he will hurt me.
And I can’t afford to be hurt, not when I’m barely holding on to my fragile strength.
Friends is what’s best.
Friends is what we’ll remain.
“I’ll be honest, this is harder than I expected.” Theo lifts his shirt, showing off a beautiful six-pack while wiping at his brow—it’s the fourth time he’s done that, and yes, I’ve counted.
Friends can look at friends’ ripped abs, right?
I stare at the half-torn-up tile in front of me and say, “Yeah, I think they must have used cement to glue this vinyl down. I’ve never struggled this much to tear up vinyl floors.”
“Doesn’t help that this is the third layer of vinyl flooring. Who does that? Put flooring on top of flooring on top of moreflooring? I thought I felt taller in this bathroom. Now we know why.”
“It’s not uncommon to do two layers, but three, that’s something special.” I take a seat on the floor and pull my knees up to my chest. “The fan was a good idea. I think we would be roasting if we didn’t have that fan blowing air in here.”
“I might not be a handywoman like you, but I understand comfort, and two bodies in a small space working on ripping out floors was going to cause discomfort, and I don’t do discomfort.”
“Hence the foam you pulled from an old chair you found in the dumpster out back to protect your knees.”
“I’m soft, Gossy, you should know this by now. My knees have barely seen hard surfaces. Even when going down on a woman, I’m on plush carpet or a bed.”
“Oh my God,” I say with a chuckle. “You had to bring that up.”
“It’s important that you know my knees might be soft, but I’m willing to get down on any occasion.” He holds up his hands. “And thank God for these gloves, or else I’d be whimpering in the corner, clutching my palms and asking, God, why?”
“Still wondering why I had you come help me.”
“Can’t get enough of me, I get it. When I look at myself in themirror, I think the same thing. Hard to pull away from the reflection.”
“You might want to tone down your ego. You won’t be able to fit through the doorway.”
He looks over at the door and then purses his lips. “Nah, I’ll get through there.”
“Ridiculous,” I mutter as I turn back to the floor. “Are we ready to see if there is anything under this flooring?”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep if we don’t.”
“Then let’s get to it.” I take my crowbar and wedge it against the wall to flip it under the flooring, peeling back just enoughof a chunk to wedge the crowbar further. And then with one big effort, I tug the crowbar back and reveal hardwood flooring. “Oh my God,” I say, peeling some more back. “It’s hardwood.”
“What? My wood’s not hard right now. See?” He gestures to his lap and I give him the biggest side-eye I can muster.
“I was not talking about you.”
He chuckles. “I know, but that was fun.”
“Can you focus for a second, please? Look, we have hardwood floors under this vinyl.”
He leans over my shoulder, his chest grazing my back. “Would you look at that. Do you think you could actually use it though?”
