This once again has me realizing that I can’t afford to risk this job, no matter how tempting I find Lily. I fall into a fitful sleep with thoughts of this morning and how she’ll react to what I’ve got to tell her, doing their best to keep me awake.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been asleep when I notice movement in the trailer. Cracking one eye open, I see Lily has returned. I’m nervous about opening both eyes, not knowing what sort of response I’ll get from her. If nothing else, I need to explain why it was I hadn’t wanted her touching me, and that it wasn’t anything personal.
“Lily about earlier. Not that I didn’t want you touching me, it was…”
She puts a large Skye High Pies paper bag on the dresser next to the bed. “It’s okay. I now know why it was. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself while the others are around, especially the boss.”
“Thank you. If it was up to me, it’d be different, but I need this job.”
She nods slowly. “Yes, Alice explained that to me. You stay here and enjoy your lunch. I’m off to work on those cabinet doors.”
She’s gone soon after, leaving me to reach out and see what treat she’d bought for me. I’m not used to being waited on hand and foot like this, especially by a beautiful woman like Lily. A man could get used to this.
A man could also get used to eating meatball subs as delicious as this for his lunch. It’s a far cry from the hastily assembled sandwiches I usually eat on site. Today I didn’t even have those, so eager had I been to join Lily for breakfast.
Any good feelings I have toward her are out the window when I finally make my way over to the house. She’s flirting outrageously with all the men, including Cole. What’s even more eye opening is that with Ethan having finally made it to the site, she’s even flirting with him.
This stops me in my tracks, unsure if I should intrude on the banter they obviously have going. None of them are aware I’m here, meaning it would be all too easy to retrace my steps.
Sheesh, that floorboard really did a number on my equilibrium. As I watch Lily flirting with every member of the team, I’m once again jealous enough to pass for The Hulk.
I’m giving serious consideration to getting the hell out of there when Lily looks up and sees me. The glint in her eye is one I recognize immediately, my body reacting as it always does.
After bestowing a slow wink on her, I call out, “Hey boss, I’m heading home for a while. I’m not feeling so hot.” Barely giving Ethan time to respond, I start for my truck. His, “Yeah, okay, take it easy. We’ll see you tomorrow,” makes it to me as I’m climbing into the cab.
The only thing I’m not sure of is whether Lily got my thinly veiled hint for her to follow me. While I might not be up to my best performance thanks to braining myself this morning, I’ll give it my best shot.
THIRTEEN
LILY
There had been no missing the invitation in Tyler’s eyes when he’d called out to his boss that he was going home to rest.
It was enough to have me abandon the sander on the cabinet door I’d been working on and hightail it over to the trailer. I’d been in such a hurry I hadn’t even said goodbye to any of the others, only realizing now how odd it must have looked.
There’s nothing I can do about it now because of my burning need to follow Tyler and see where this goes. All the subterfuge might even add a certain spice to our relationship, with me never having done anything like this in the past.
I’ve grabbed my purse and have even made it to my car when Ethan intercepts me. “Is everything okay?”
It takes every ounce of concentration for me to plaster a smile on my face. “Absolutely. I just need to head into town to grab some lunch. Didn’t get any when I was out earlier.”
There’s no need to be a body language expert to see that he hasn’t bought into my lie, but it had been the best I could come up with. It wasn’t as easy as getting away with telling patients, “This won’t hurt a bit,” all while hiding behind a mask.
The only thing in my favor is that because I’m the client, he can hardly call me out for it. A cheery wave and I slide into the driver’s seat.
Soon enough I’m out on the road, in drive and roaring off for my first ‘afternoon delight’ ever.
At least I think I am, because there’s no sign of Tyler’s truck in the direction that I saw him heading. Could it be I’d read his signals in the wrong way? The farther down the street I drive, the more dents to my confidence.
I’m now driving so slowly that the car behind is flashing its lights. Rather than speed up and potentially miss seeing where Tyler had gone, I pull over to the side.
I’m therefore surprised that rather than see an irate driver passing by giving me a hand signal of the non-motoring type, it’s Tyler and he’s grinning broadly.
It’s something I copy when I pull in behind him. Strange, it’s only now that I realize I don’t know where he lives. He’d never said. This has me wondering if we’re heading for the house where his mom and Zoe live.
This doesn’t sit well with me at all. I’m therefore super relieved when he pulls into the parking lot of what looks like it used to be a small motel. If I cast my mind back, I think I can even remember it being such, its gaudy turquoise neon sign flashing an invitation for people to come and stay.
Even here, Tyler is playing it cool, simply getting out of his truck and walking over to the door of a unit that sits in the middle of the block. After unlocking it, he enters, leaving the door open, presumably in an invitation for me to join him.
