‘Point taken. But you know what I mean.’
He turned towards me, arms folded across his chest. ‘You’rereallynot good at accepting help, are you?’
‘I’ve always found it better to do things myself. That way, there’s no one to let you down.’
‘Bit of a cynical view.’
‘Merely a realistic one.’
He studied me and I turned away, back to face the garden. For some reason, when Jesse looked at me, it felt as if he could see deep into my soul and that was somewhere I didn’t want anyone to see, and certainly not this man.
‘So what did you do, back in London?’
I was grateful for the change in subject and felt a layer of defence drop as I stepped back onto firmer conversational ground.
‘I was an interiors stylist and house stager.’
‘Is that how you met the estate agent with the impeccable ethics?’
I gave him a look.
‘I’ll take that as a yes.’
I stayed silent.
‘So what are you going to do now?’
Good question.
‘I… haven’t exactly decided.’
‘Bit of a sudden decision, was it, then, moving here?’
I had no intention of discussing my decisions and motives with him. Back in my London life, he wasn’t someone I’d have looked twice at. Well, OK, yes, I would have looked twice. Maybe three times. But he wasn’t my type. I was used to men who had a skin-care regime, wore Savile Row three-piece suits and watches one bought as investment pieces, and drove sleek, expensive cars. I’d never seen Jesse in anything other than beaten-up Levi’s and he drove a pick-up. When I’d paid three thousand pounds for a dress, that was not the vehicle I would expect to be picked up in.
Not that there was likely to be any reason to dig out those clothes any time soon, or indeed be picked up by any man, let alone this one. I was done with men. My fiancé had dumped me, and another ex, with whom I was supposedly friends, had sold me out to land me with this potential money pit. I’d had issues with trust since I was a teenager and no one I met had seemed to do anything to dispel them. Until now.
But this man, who didn’t know me from Adam, had come out in the middle of a raging storm to check on me and was calling in favours to make my home watertight and habitable because he felt bad that his cousin had sold me a lemon. It wasn’t his responsibility. There was nothing in it for him and yet he continued to help. It was an uncommon situation to me and I was still getting used to it.
‘You could say that,’ I replied.
‘That sounds like a story.’
‘Not a very interesting one, I’m afraid.’
He quirked a dark brow at me, hinting at disagreement.
‘I assume it’s safe to be in here?’ I asked suddenly. ‘I mean, it’s structurally sound and everything?’
‘Do you think I’d have let you stay in here, let alone stay in here myself, if it wasn’t?’ The smile morphed into a frown and he studied me. I shifted my weight under the intense gaze.
‘No. I suppose not.’
‘I wouldn’t. But we need to get it checked by an expert.’ And the strange thing was, I believed him. This man I hardly knew had something about him that told me his word meant something. Then I gave myself a mental kick. I was being fanciful. He just had one of those kinds of faces. One of those kinds of bodies…
I turned away again as his phone beeped with a message.
‘Some more of the blokes are on their way.’
