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He pulled off the condom as she tugged up her shorts and bent to adjust her shoes. Or at least that’s what he assumed until she turned and dangled the handle of his watering can from her fingertip. A sexy smile ghosted around her mouth, scarcely visible in the moonlight. “Aww, a daisy. Missing this?”
“It’s a watering can,” he muttered, snatching it out of her hand.
“I know. I’ve used them before. You know, a lot of men might be intimidated by using such a…cute item.” Another sexy smile. Damn if he didn’t find them delicious.
“If I didn’t prove my manliness a few minutes ago, then screw the daisy.”
She laughed and the sound smoothed away most of his ire. Unluckily for her, since he’d been half-tempted to “prove his manliness” by taking her against the stone railing.
“Need some help?” She had apparently noticed his full hands and pulled up his jeans and boxers for him, tucking him inside the cotton with an efficiency that got him half-hard all over again. “So did you really put this garden together?”
“It’s not just a garden,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’s an ecologically viable green roof.” Something he might’ve told her more about, had he not been much more consumed at the moment with the way her nipples beaded against her top. He could have it off and her breasts in his palms again before a moan passed her rosy lips.
“Is it part of some beautification deal? Or to save some cash?”
God, he needed to dump this condom and lose the watering can. Holding both somehow made his chest puff and his manhood shrink in disparate proportion.
He tossed the condom in the nearby garbage can and returned as Alexa was redoing her braid. Shit, he’d pulled it to pieces. “It’s not just about money.”
“Only rich people say that,” she said under her breath, wrinkling her nose in a way he guessed was supposed to convey displeasure but instead made her look freaking adorable. “Are you trying to blend in with the moneyed set?”
“I’ve been trying for years.” Definitely a true statement. “There are heating and cooling benefits for buildings with green roofs, yes, but they’re also a good move for the environment and wildlife.” He tucked the watering can under his arm and opened the door. “Come on. I have your part.”
Falling silent, she followed him downstairs and up the hall to the apartment he’d been working on earlier that evening. He set aside what he’d been carrying and grabbed the bag he’d left by the door.
“I’ll put it in now, if you want,“ he said, hating the awkwardness he could already sense building between them.
Sure, everything had been hunky-dory when they’d both been horny out of their minds, but now reality had arrived. They were near strangers, and worse, he was keeping something huge from her. Even if she hadn’t wanted to hear the truth, that didn’t diminish his guilt in holding it back.
“Where did you get that?” She stared at the part tucked under his forearm. Fuck. He’d forgotten to lose the bag.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried to get the part in Renault, but the hardware store had been closed when he arrived. So he’d come back to Value Hardware just before closing and grabbed what he needed, thinking he’d ditch the evidence and she’d be none the wiser.
Yeah, not so much. Apparently that cheerful smiley face imprinted on plastic might as well have been the bell at the start of a boxing match. Any second she’d put up her dukes.
“Why do you hate Value Hardware so much?” Maybe, just maybe, he might even be able to come clean and not feel guilty as hell for digging through her financial records, then having dirty roof sex with her while she believed he was just the full-service handyman.
“Where do you want me to start?”
“At the beginning.”
She huffed out a breath. “They don’t care that they’re squashing the little guy.”
“You mean you,” he said gently.
Irritation flared on her face and she threw her braid back over her shoulder. “Not just me,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest. “They’re trying to do everything instead of what they’re good at. First they were just a hardware store. Now they’re expanding into flowers and landscaping. I even heard talk in town they want to do some snooty lifestyle magazine. It’s like they want to put everyone out of business in Haven but them.”
If Dillon knew his brother—and he did—Cory wouldn’t mind that. At all. “Diversification’s good in this economy. Besides, you can’t blame just one store if your business isn’t doing well.”
Unless there was more to it… and unless was a word practically made for his brother.
Her eyes flashed. Damn, but she was pretty when she was riled. Pretty all the time, prettier when she had a flush tingeing her skin and that fire in her eyes. “Oh, and you’re an expert now?”
“I’m just saying there has to be more behind why you hate Value Hardware so much. You don’t hate Zulo’s, I bet, and they sell plants too.” Or did she hate Zulo’s? Hope bloomed in his chest. Perhaps she had an all-encompassing retail hate, which was a little creepy and yet also would let him off the hook.
His gaze lowered from her pursed lips to that dangling necklace flirting with the vee of her tank top. Her nipples pebbled under the thin ribbed fabric, making him stiffen against his jeans.
Then they could have sex again. Soon.
