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“I would offer you a tour of the place, but what you see is pretty much what you get.” I motioned around the open area, which was my eat-in kitchen and living room.
“It’s a nice place. I live in the bunkhouse on the ranch, so other than our bedrooms, everything’s shared space.”
“I knew you lived in the bunkhouse, but I never really thought about what that was like. Do you like it?”
He shrugged. “I don’t not like it. I wouldn’t mind having a place of my own, but I like the guys. It’s basically like having a couple of roommates.”
“At least you like them. Having a roommate you don’t like would suck.” Something I knew all too well, but Nash didn’t want to hear about my old roommate problems.
“It does. But it isn’t bad on the Double C at all. Now, where’s this water leak?”
I went over to the kitchen and motioned at the cabinet under the sink. “It’s down there. I was putting my cleaning supplies back and noticed the bottom of the cabinet was wet.”
“But you thought to turn off the water so that’s good. That’s always the first thing to do when you have a leak. You turning that water off probably saved Cody a lot of damage.”
It wasn’t that big of a deal, and I really couldn’t take credit for it. It was one of the things my dad had taught me, and when I moved in here, he had me show him where the water cut-offs and the breaker box were just in case I needed to know. But still, big deal or not, it made me feel good to know he thought I’d done the right thing.
I watched as he bent down to look under the cabinet. Damn, he had a great ass. I was sure it was from all the hard work he put in on the ranch, but lordy, lordy it was fine.
“You said you had tools,” he said over his shoulder. I was embarrassed to get caught looking, but he couldn’t blame me. He had to know what a fine specimen of a man he was.
“Yeah, let me go grab the tool bag out of the closet.” I hurried off to get the tools for him, all while reminding myself that Nash worked on my friend Nolan’s ranch and I would have to see him again, so he wasn’t a good candidate for a quick hook-up. And that was all it could be or else I’d have to explain about my boundaries, and then he’d disappoint me like all the other men I’d tried to date.
I told myself to behave, and it worked. For a minute. But then I pulled the tool bag out of the closet and turned back around to see him standing there in my kitchen, looking so fucking gorgeous. He was a big man. The kind who could pick me up and toss me around, and didn’t that sound both perfect and terrifying all at the same time?
“Here you go.” I stepped up beside him, holding out the tool bag.
Nash flashed a grin, his eyes meeting mine with a playful spark. “Thanks, cutie, but maybe you should hang on to the bag. You can be my assistant.”
“Well, like I said, I’m not exactly handy, but I’m pretty sure I can handle my tools,” I replied, matching his playful tone.
He chuckled. “I’m sure you can.”
He stepped toward me, and our eyes locked. The air seemed to crackle as he took a step closer and reached for a wrench in the tool bag without breaking eye contact. The heat radiated off of him and sent a shiver down my spine. Fuck, the man was potent.
I knew I should make an excuse and take my leave, but I didn’t. I stayed there watching him like my life depended on it as he got down under the cabinet and went to work. He wasn’t down there long before he sat back on his legs and grinned up at me as he rubbed his hands together. “Okay, I think that got it.”
“That was fast.” I was glad it was fixed, but I was a little disappointed the show was over.
He reached down and twisted the valve to turn the water back on. But to my amusement, water sprayed out of the cabinet all over his shirt.
“Shit!” He quickly reached down and turned the valve back to the off position. “Guess I got a little ahead of myself.”
And then—and I wasn’t sure if this meant the universe loved or hated me—Nash looked down at his soaking wet shirt, and with a swift, deliberate move, he pulled it up and over his head, and holy muscles, Batman, he was stacked.
Nash winked and held out his shirt. “Can you toss this in the dryer for me, cutie?”
My breath caught, and I tried to maintain my composure as I reached out and took the shirt. I placed it on the counter next to me. “I don’t have a washer and dryer up here, but I can find a shirt you can borrow.”
Nash looked me up and down and then, with a playful smirk, shook his head. “I don’t think anything of yours will fit me, do you?”
“Probably not, but I’m pretty sure my Uncle Alex left a shirt here when they visited, and you’re about the same size.”
“Sounds good. Let me give this another go and see if I can get this fixed for you.” The muscles in his back flexed as he went back to work, and I had to force myself to walk away and go get the shirt.
When I came back, he was standing at the sink testing the water. “All fixed?” I asked.
“Yep. You’re good to go.”
