“Anyway, things are going to be pretty busy here with my hot carpenter.”
She snorts. “Another HGTV marathon? I know you love project inspo, but do you not remember what happened that time you bingedLove It or List Itand decided you could hang wallpaper by yourself?”
“Not a TV show. I’m talking about the real-life man I’ve hired to help fix up the lake house. He was here yesterday afternoon, helping me expel our cabinet moths. And let’s just say he’s… not bad to look at.”
There’s the understatement of the century. Jesse’s image has been tattooed across my brain for the past forty-eight hours. It springs to my mind’s eye again now, conjuring the memory of strong arms and broad shoulders as he bent to gather his supplies. The ripple of muscle flexing beneath his T-shirt as he fished around the bucket.
A dull thud through the receiver snaps me back to reality.
“Pooja? Are you okay?”
“Sorry,” she says breathily. “I thought you said you will be spending time with an attractive man and was so shocked that I walked into the doorframe.”
“Hardy har har.”
“Seriously, though. I need more information.”
I settle back against the pillows and stare up at the ceiling. There’s a jagged hairline crack running through the center of it.Another testament to the fact that this place is in desperate need of attention. I add it to the running mental list of issues I need to bring up to the team.
“The house is old, and it’s been sitting vacant for a while,” I tell her. “It needs a lot more TLC than I anticipated. I knew the floors needed to be refinished, so I hired a team to take care of it before we got here. I thought they’d be done before we arrived on Friday afternoon, but the project got delayed. One thing led to another, and they convinced me to do a little bit of extra work around the house. Which makes sense. That will make it easier if I decide to put it on the market after the summer.”
“Who isthey, exactly?”
“It’s a family company. Jesse, his brother, and his sister-in-law.”
“Jessssse.” Pooja teases out the word slowly. “That’s a name that begs to be moaned. You should bang him.”
“I’m not going to ‘bang’ him,” I say, curling my fingers into air quotes even though I know she can’t see me. “Also, I find it disturbing that you’d recommend sex with a complete stranger based on zero identifying information.”
“And yet, he’s the only one you identified by name. Doesn’t seem like a stranger to me.”
My cheeks go hot. She’s got me there.
“Please tell me what the issue is here,” she continues. “Are there any glaring signs that this man is a psychopath? Does he have a handlebar mustache? Have you witnessed him harming animals? Does he peel bananas from the bottom?”
“Not a psycho. I’ve never seen him eat fruit. And no mustache, though he does have some heavy scruff.” Artful, sexy scruff that lines a square jaw and frames dark pink lips. I wonder what it would feel like to bite down on that bottom lip and feel the scratch of his beard against my chin.
Pooja releases a muffled noise that sounds like she’s screamingbehind a closed fist. For a moment, I’m worried the sound came out of me.
“Marissa, on behalf of your vagina, I am begging you. You haven’t been with a man since Rocky, and we both know that wasn’t anything to write home about.”
I close my eyes. It wasn’t that sex with Rocky was bad. It just… wasn’t notable. Sure, I was able to get off most of the time. But I didn’t see stars or black out or anything dramatic like that. I never experienced the type of life-altering orgasms described in my favorite books. Being with him was solidly Just Okay. I don’t know what else I expected: Sex with Rocky was sexforRocky. My pleasure was never his central focus.
And while I may fantasize about being with someone who would prioritize my needs for once, this is hardly the right time to start auditioning a new bedfellow.
“Let it go, Pooja. We came here for the summer to escape the drama, not create new drama. The last thing I need is more instability.”
She sighs. “Fine. Well, if you’re not going to take care of your sexual needs, the least you can do is tend to your career. Seriously, you’re way too talented to become a has-been.”
“And they say people in this industry are cold.”
I can practically hear my best friend grinning through the phone.
“I’ll let you get to bed. But Marissa?”
“Yeah?”
“Just think about it, okay? You deserve to be happy.”
