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Tori claps her hands quietly, the bag full of screws jostling in the crook of her arm. “Look at you, living wildly. How’d it go?”
“Um -” I look back over my shoulder and find that Cole is gone. “He said he’d think about it.”
“Well, that wasn’t a no.”
“Yeah,” I respond, blowing out a breath and turning back toward Tori.
“You sound super disappointed,” she says as we begin strolling down the aisle in search of the cash register.
Am I? I mean . . . okay, yeah. I’m disappointed. “For the obvious reasons.”
She hooks her arm through mine. “Remember when I told you he’d be the kind of guy that’s hard to get to your doorstep?” I nod. “Give it time. You’ll see him every day. He’ll warm up to you, and then you can ask again.”
I chew on the inside of my lip as we reach the cashier. She’s right. He didn’t say a single word to me yesterday, and the day before, we argued. We haven’t exactly had the best of starts to things, but I do want to get to know him more. He intrigues me, and he’s attractive, and I know that, somehow, I’ll get over the intimidation thing. Maybe.
But seriously, “attractive” is putting it mildly.
Releasing my lip, I just feel more firm about getting on friendly terms with him, at the very least, to make our time together pleasant. I do want to help him too. I can tell that, in some way, he’s suffering, and somehow, I might be the remedy.
And also, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to explore the weird tingling thing I felt today being in his presence. That was definitely new to me, and it deserves further investigation.
With a better feeling about this, I walk back to the shop with Tori, making small talk. All the while, I think of ways that I could possibly make Cole and my time together tomorrow more pleasant. And then after that, it’s up to fate.
Chapter 9
Cole Garner
No matterhow many times I enter this house, it still smells dusty and musty as hell. I let the door shut behind me and set the wallpaper stripper just inside the door by my feet. The living room is empty, so I listen for Tegan. Her methodical laugh filters down the hall, followed by undistinguishable chatter. No one else is parked outside this morning, so I can only conclude that she’s on the phone.
I get a good look at the living room. I may have worked alone yesterday, but I left the wallpaper alone. It’s exactly as Tegan left it. It wasn’t because I wanted to be a jerk and not help her get ahead or feel bad for how I treated her about it in the first place. Nor was it about my semi-rejection at the hardware store yesterday. It’s because I had more pressing shit to do that I know she couldn’t handle alone, like mowing the grass.
I borrowed a riding mower for it and had to make several passes just to get it all one length. I only tackled thefront yard, but it looks better than it had. At some point, I’ll have to pull all the overgrowth in the front of the house, but I’ll save that for another day.
Wallpaper still covers two walls. If we both work on it today, we can move on to other shit. Hell, she could even start painting.
I hear a bedroom door open. “I have to go, Tori. I think he’s here. Okay. I’ll talk to you later and tell you all about it.”
Tori? I only know one Tori, and she works in real estate. It’s not exactly a common name for an area like Fairview. Never worked with her myself, but I see her signs around town on the lawns of houses for sale. I wasn’t aware that Tegan knew anyone here, but they’re clearly friends if they’re talking this early in the morning.
As she rounds the corner, she pulls the phone away from her ear and presses a button on the screen. She lifts her gaze to me, and a smile grows that’s better than the sunrise outside.
Unlike the sundress yesterday, today, she’s wearing nothing but a gray tank top and a pair of black gym shorts. My cock stiffens at the sight of more bare skin, and I work to keep my eyes on her face instead of having them wander to her tits, which are threatening to spill out the top of her tank top.
The dress she wore yesterday? The top half had molded to her like a second skin. It was hard not to skate my eyes across her to imagine what she looked like underneath.
“Right on time,” she says chipperly. More chipperly than I would have thought for someone who was semi-rejected yesterday. Perhaps she didn’t see it that way. It’s not that the idea didn’t appeal to me. It’s just that I’m no good for her, and I know it. She may not, or she’s choosingto ignore that fact, but I do. “Do you want coffee? I was just about to make some.”
I scratch the back of my neck. “Sure.”
She nods at me, making to twist and move through the living room, but pauses instead. She looks down at my feet and frowns as she reads the label of what I brought with me. “You brought stripper?” Her gaze returns to mine, but the frown remains in place. “That was nice of you.”
I grunt and lie, “I can be nice.”
She narrows her eyes, but it’s in a playful sort of way. “That has yet to be determined.”
I raise both of my eyebrows, not really sure how to respond. I can’t remember the last time someone teased me.
She slaps her hips. “Why don’t you get that ready? I’ll go get the go-go juice.”
