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“There’s nothing to tell. Look, he’s newly divorced and already had a revenge screw outside of my house. He’s emotionally incapable and we are on two different planets. There’s no potential.”
Jasmine shrugged. “Okay, so he’s not a commitment candidate.”
“Not in the slightest. But, God, Jasmine, he’s so hard not to look at. I’m seriously having a terrible time not staring. I forgot how pretty men can be.”
“Yes, yes they are, and then they open their mouths and it’s like playing the lottery.”
“He’s still got a bit of a South African accent, it’s so sexy.”
“I’ll come over tonight and check him out,” she said, inviting herself before she tested the waters by glancing my way.
I was already shaking my head. “No, you won’t because I’m going to be nervous enough asking him to sleep with me… I mean to sleep there. At my house.”
She shrugged. “So, I’ll be a buffer.”
“Not tonight, okay? I don’t need you coming over and making him feel weird.”
She stood in her hot pink sundress and thin scarf and puckered her full lips before she crossed her eyes. “I would do no such thing.”
“Sorry.”
“Fine, I have a potential date anyway.”
“With who?”
“I’ll let you know if it happens. But all I have to say is that when it comes to this one, my body is ready.”
&nb
sp; “All you do is talk about sex. I’m over it. Unless you can grace this office with something educational or a topic that doesn’t consist of it, I’m closing my ears to you. No more penis talk.” I reached in my desk and pulled out my earbuds.
Jasmine stood with her mouth gaping as I began typing. Twenty seconds later, I got a company email from my pest of a boss that was marked urgent. It was a YouTube video of talking cats.
THE CRANBERRIES’ “ZOMBIE” BLASTED THROUGH my speakers down the narrow road home. Ian’s rental, a large cab Ford, sat in the driveway. I ignored the small thrill that raced through me at the thought of having him at my house for a week. We’d barely spoken that morning, but I could feel his eyes on me while he stretched before he took off for his run. I turned off my Jeep and made my way straight to his back door.
I knocked twice, and to my surprise, he met me with a faint smile before opening the door and inviting me in. Paint was smudged on his fingertips and across his bare chest and the floor was covered in plastic. The paint fumes filled my nose.
“Looks like progress in here. Good for you.”
“Yeah, thanks for telling my mother I was remodeling. She’s making a special trip soon just to see it.”
“My pleasure. And you should thank me, I was covering for your ass.”
He resumed his work to hide his smile. “Thanks. So what’s up?”
“Sorry to bother you, but…” Disco yapped from her box. I kept my eyes averted from a shirtless Ian and peeked over to see her bouncing off the sides for my attention. “Hey, baby. Want a break from the smell?” I picked her up and hugged her tiny body to me before I scanned his progress further. “It really looks great in here.”
Ian had replaced the cabinet doors with glass paned frames and was distressing the freshly painted wood with metal wool. “Rowan is going to love it.”
“Thanks,” he said as he resumed rubbing wool down the side of one of the doors.
“You have a talent for this.”
“I went through a few houses with my ex-wife.”
“Well, she definitely brought out the artist in you.”
Ian said nothing, so I decided to keep those comments to myself. “You were saying?” Briefly, I admired his budding physique as he lifted another door to fasten it in. He’d spent most of his hours since he’d arrived at the island working out and it showed. I had to catch myself to keep from being embarrassed when he looked back at me expectantly.
