Like a big bear, Tim was collapsed over the newly installed kitchen island, snoring his head off, his builder’s pencil and ruler still in hand.
My gaze tumbled over his broad shoulders and strong back, and I barely resisted the urge to drape myself over him.
I tiptoed into the library to get him a blanket.
The hallway on the way back to the kitchen was punched with holes for the new electrics, reminding me of the messy building day we had in front of us. I kept looking straight ahead.Just give me these few minutes of peace.Back in the kitchen, Tim was just as I’d left him.
I’d just pulled the blanket over him when he woke with a startled cry.
“Sorry. I was just getting a blanket for you,” I stammered. “You were snoring your head off.”
“Fuck—was I? Sorry, did I wake you up? I laid the concrete, and I wanted to get a head start on the measuring before we start filling in the walls today. I’m getting really worried about this deadline.”
What time did he get up to do this? My heart twinged hard.Tim Langston, you keep surprising me with what a hard worker you are.“Shall I leave you to sleep some more? Why don’t you rest in the library?”
He blinked and stood up, stretching like a big bear coming out of hibernation. “No worries. I’m up now.” His voice was all sleepy and growly like a woken-up bear too, waking up parts of me.
“Can I make you breakfast?” I asked, the empty spaces reminding me that the kitchen wasn’t in a condition to cook. We only had a microwave, toaster, and kettle station Tim had set up in the formal sitting room area. Trystan handled breakfast, but I could offer Tim microwaved eggs and toast.
“Maybe just a coffee for now?” He ran a quick eye down me, and his lips twitched with a slight smile. I suddenly remembered I was in my dorky long flannel nightgown that had this high, lacy neckline. Ugh. Not. Sexy.
“Shall we have our coffee in the library?” he asked. “Being in the kitchen gets my stress levels up, seeing all there is to do.”
I considered heading quickly upstairs to change first, but I wanted to enjoy these few quiet moments with him. While I made the coffee in my old-lady nightwear and bare feet, I was very aware of his eyes on me, very probably reconsidering asking me out on a date.
“Um. You’re probably wondering why I’m dressed like a character inLittle House on the Prairie,” I said.
“Tabs, it looks very—”
“What?” I challenged him with my hands on my hips.
Eyes wide, hands flung out, he looked panicked. “Comfortable. Roomy.”
I waited, hands still on my hips, messing with him because his deer-in-the-headlights look told me he wasn’t sure if I was offended.
“Versatile,” he added desperately.
“Could be used as an umbrella,” I chimed in, signaling that I wasn’tactuallyoffended.
His face relaxed with relief. “A parachute,” he quipped. “If you had to leap out of a plane.”
“A tent.”
“I mean, we could both go camping in your nightie,” he said.
We both spluttered out with laughter. I was holding the empty cups, bent double at the thought. Then I unfolded and our eyes locked, and his pupils flared. Was he thinking of the both of us naked, trapped and squashed together inside my nightie? Because I was. It was the most bizarre, silly image, but somehow it was also very sensual and arousing.
The grouching of the shower pipes activated from above, and my head snapped up. My parents might be down any moment, and I wanted to talk to him in our little bubble, without being bombarded with Mum and Dad’s chatter about the animals. Maybe even broach what happened between us in our twenties so I could fully move past it.
I poured us each a coffee and handed his to him. “Why don’t we steal a few moments while we can?”
He scraped a hand along his raspy jaw. “Good idea.”
I nodded for him to follow and led him to the library.
“Your nightie could be used in this dancing room you seem so fond of creating,” he said with a smirk.
“Just remember,” I said, narrowing my eyes, “I am holding the coffee, and as you know, I gesticulate a lot.”
