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“Really?” Thrilled for her, he squeezed her against his side and dropped a kiss on top of her hair. “That’s terrific. Tell me all about it.”
“I will.” She granted him a megawatt Alexa grin. And it was all for him. “Since it’s all thanks to you. Well, mostly.”
Curiosity piqued, he sat up and began to unpack the contents of the cooler. Then he lit the candles and sat back to view her lovely face in the flickering glow. “Going to tell me more?”
“It involves your brilliant idea, a party that suddenly wasn’t complete without your brilliant idea on the tables, and a rush job that might lead to more if I can keep up with how fast your brilliant idea is selling. Guess I’ve turned into the queen of quickie jobs, but I don’t mind that title.” While he processed all that, she sidled closer and made a show of looking him up and down. “Eating naked? What will the neighbors think?”
“If they haven’t already called the cops, I think they’re probably open-minded enough not to mind.”
She rewarded him with her soft laughter and an even softer kiss. Her taste careened through his system. Everything faded away but him and Alexa, and candlelight, and the sultry summer air that surrounded them.
Then she slipped back, eyes shimmering with the pink light of sunset, mouth wet and mischievous. Her smile widened at his expectant breath. “So what would you say if I asked you to help with that rush deadline I told you about?”
He grinned, already juggling his commitments in his head. He’d do whatever was necessary to make the time. “I’d say you owe me dinner if you want me to put out.”
…
Over the next two days, he learned the meaning of true exhaustion.
He twisted, and shaped, and pinned until his fingers were numb. His “creations”—he couldn’t in good conscience call them floral designs, though they did seem to improve as his volume increased—wouldn’t win any awards. When he put them next to Nellie’s and especially Alexa’s, to him they stood out like sparkly thumbs. But Alexa just shoved more materials into his hands.
They kept going late into the evening on Thursday, then started again bright and early on Friday. Nellie brought her own form of ballast in the form of Alexa’s older brother, Jake, who seemed to spend as much time watching Dillon as he did fumbling through his own arrangements. But the help was definitely appreciated.
It took all four of them working their asses off until after nine. Alexa counted up the arrangements, loudly declared the operation a rousing success, and immediately toasted Nellie with the sparkling grape juice she’d been holding in reserve. Then the two of them disappeared into the back room.
Jake cornered him before he’d even taken his first sip. Dillon would’ve been more prepared for his attack had he not been consumed with staring after Alexa. The black seams of her stockings climbing up the backs of her shapely legs had tormented him all damn day.
“I have a black belt in karate,” Jake said in an undertone.
So much for pleasant reveries of licking his way up the backs of Alexa’s calves. “Great,” Dillon replied. “I, ah, have always liked Bruce Lee movies.”
“I wanted you to understand who you’re dealing with. I know you’re banging my sister.”
Dillon stared straight ahead, sure he’d misheard him. Maybe Jake had said seeing, which translated into banging in Dillon’s mind. It was possible. “Excuse me?”
Jake let out an aggrieved breath. “Fine. Dating. Though it doesn’t sound like dating much to me. You fixed her sink, then what, you decided she could tip you with her body?”
How was he supposed to answer that one? “Of course not. We’ve been in church every night, despite what your wife’s obviously told you.”
He half-expected for Jake’s fist to collide with the sparkling juice on its way to his face. Instead all he got was a low laugh. “Right. We spent some time in church ourselves before we got married.”
The ladies returned with more sparkling juice, Nellie talking on her cell while exchanging hot looks with her husband. Alexa watched them with a wistful expression while she sorted through her endless reams of paperwork.
Now that Dillon had helped her create a few more graphs and charts, she had begun noting every supply she used on a checklist, right down to paper clips. She was an organizational freak’s idea of a dream date.
When she glanced over at Dillon and winked, he had to shift at the sudden tightening in his jeans. Or a handyman-slash-business owner’s, since he definitely dreamed about dating Alexa—and much more.
“Looks like it turned out pretty good for you guys,” he said, tilting his cup toward Nellie.
“Yes, it did,” Jake agreed, his gaze riveted on his wife. “But we had history. You and Lex barely know each other. And church or no church, biblically doesn’t count.”
Dillon smothered a laugh in a cough. “I hear you. You’re right. We have a lot to learn about each other.” He glanced back at Alexa and noticed she’d switched to sifting through her mail. Right on top lay the glossy real estate magazine that contained a spotlight on the gala this month—and featured him. Shit. “But I’m willing to put in the time. I want to,” he added, already backing away from Jake.
Dammit, he had to get his hands on that magazine before he talked to her. Or else he wouldn’t need to bother.
“So she’s not just some random woman to you,” Jake stated, his narrowed eyes never leaving Dillon. “You’re not going to break her heart.”
The first part was true. The second, he had little control over, at least anymore. What he’d set into motion could only be stopped with the truth.
