There was no hiding the shiver that raced through him because I could feel it in his touch even as he tried to hold back a moan. “I’ll...I’ll need to think about what to say to that.”
The adorable nonresponse was definitely telling.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged and gave him a stern look that seemed to do wonderful things to the naughty author. “I have yourfact sheetand I’m a very quick reader.”
His punishments and rewards sections were the first things my eyes had jumped to, but I was definitely going to have to read his list in more detail.
Knox gave me a curious side glance but didn’t release my hand. “I’m glad we seem to be on the same page about that.”
Was he still trying to make sure the flirting wasn’t all in his head?
As he wandered around the open-concept kitchen and living room, I tried to think back to what he’d said in the group and in his slightly rambling newsletters. He’d mentioned being confused by people on a regular basis and I knew his confidence in things like dating wasn’t at its peak.
Nothing else came to mind by the time he was leading me upstairs, but that might’ve been because he’d just waved his hand at the laundry room instead of actually opening the door. “The man at the dry cleaners is very nice. He thinks I’m weird, but he’s very polite and they wash any clothes I bring him. They don’t just dry clean things like you might think from the title of their business.”
Was he sending his socks and underwear out to be washed?
His slightly guilty smile as he dragged me upstairs said that was a pretty good guess and was probably costing him a fortune.“And don’t forget, I have five chapters of Teddy’s book to give you.”
Instead of using a shock and awe campaign, his was a shock and bribe strategy.
It would be smart in most situations, but I wasn’t just anybody. I wasn’t going to lose track of the goal...literary or personal...because his house was a disaster.
I’d fixed worse things and wrangled bigger pains in the ass...this was just a different type of job than I was used to managing.
“I’m keeping Teddy’s book and a few other images at the front of my mind. Don’t worry.” I couldn’t help wondering how many people had seen his disaster and walked away. Something about his defeated nervousness said it hadn’t only been housekeepers who’d decided he was too much to handle.
“Good.” Nodding, Knox stood straighter and pointed to a bedroom that was the cleanest place in the entire house. “That’s the guest room. I don’t even go in there, so you shouldn’t have to do anything with it.”
When he said he didn’t go in there, I had a feeling he meant that very literally.
“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.” So, anything he used was chaos and the only way to keep it neat was to avoid it completely?
The hall bath was almost as neat and I couldn’t help wondering how he’d managed that. It was even nicely decorated with dark blue accents. “How?”
I didn’t even have to get a full sentence out before he sighed and tattled on himself. “Lori comes to visit every couple of months. She makes me send her a picture of the guest room and the hall bathroom on a weekly basis.”
Ah.
Smart woman.
“Okay.” With enough supervision and a good bribe, he could keep up with a few things. That was good to know. “And your personal bathroom?”
His face scrunched up. “She’s very picky about bathrooms.”
I took that to mean his was clean too. “But not the kitchen?”
I wasn’t surprised when he shook his head. “We eat out.”
“Makes sense.” And it didn’t seem like a fight she was willing to take on. “I can help you fix that, though.”
“Really?” Knox’s wide-eyed expression said he really hadn’t expected me to be able to help with anything. “I can write fast. I’ll keep you in books.”
And blow jobs, judging by the way his expression had taken a hungry turn and he was licking his lips. “I’m very good with bribes.”
He seemed to like extending them and would probably respond well to them too, but we’d have to see how that turned out. No matter what my brain seemed to think, I didn’t really know him as well as I thought I did.
Just because everything he put online seemed to track in real life as well didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot about him to uncover.
