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James
Ireally thought Rose was joking when she offered to help. I imagined her sitting in the sun watching us work, so I prepared to look my absolute best for her. Meaning, I made sure to flex for her as I passed and always had my eyes on her.
But she walked right past us into the house and looked around, ready to get to work. Thank God Fletch and I fixed the stairs this morning. She would have fallen right through. “So, what are we doing first?”
“Well, this asshole started ripping out the floor without even seeing if the house was stable first. It wouldn’t have been my first choice,” Shane chuffed.
I watched as she walked through the house, careful of areas already being torn up. Her eyes lit up with possibilities as she looked around. She walked to the back of the house where the french doors were and gazed into the yard. Next to it was a built-in bookcase, which was rotting. She ran her hand over the wood, almost as if she was dreaming about how it would all turn out.
“This is going to be amazing when it’s finished.”
“It’s not very big,” I mentioned, just in case she hadn’t realized how small the house was. With only two bedrooms and one bathroom, it wasn’t much. But I already had plans in mind for the kitchen and living room to make it as homey as possible.
And watching Rose walk around wasn’t helping things any. I started to imagine what I would want to do to the house for her. I should be thinking of my wife, but now that she stepped foot in this house, destroyed as it was, I knew I could never bring my wife here. I’d never even touched Rose, but I already felt so much more for her than I ever could for the woman I was married to.
“I love it,” Rose said, turning to me with a smile. “It’ll be perfect when it’s finished.”
“Ifit gets finished.” I wasn’t sure I would have the time to get this house ready before my six months were up.
“So, you’re here on a deadline,” she surmised. I didn’t say anything, so she nodded. “We’ll just have to see how much we can finish before then.”
“Are you sure about this? I would hate to ruin your vacation with work. You could just relax.”
She nodded slightly. “I could do that, but this sounds like more fun.” Then a flicker of unease crossed her face. “I guess I’m butting in. I should probably ask first if you want the help.”
I couldn’t imagine anything better than spending my days with this woman. It was so easy in her company, and knowing what I was going home to, would it really be so bad to spend time with her before I went to hell?
Yes,my head told me. It would be torture to see this woman every day and never get to hold her or kiss her. But the idea of walking away from her right now was worse.
“If you’re up for it,” I said, my throat gravelly with need. Fuck, this was going to be hard.
“So, where do we start?”
“We start,” Fletch said, walking forward with a pair of work gloves, “with you putting these on.”
We continued ripping up boards while Rose carried them outside. I could see the sweat pouring off her body and how the heat was getting to her, but she didn’t complain. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying it. We worked until lunch time when I finally stopped us. I wasn’t hungry yet, but I knew Rose needed a break.
“Let’s take lunch,” I announced.
“We should finish up this section—”
I cut a glare to Fletch, who immediately shut up. “You’re right. I am really hungry. Where are we eating?” I shot him a look, telling him he wasn’t welcome. He glanced and Rose, clearing his throat. “Uh…I’m actually feeling like I should spend some time on my own, you know, by myself.”
“Are you sure?” Rose asked, her nose wrinkling.
“Yeah, you know, I have calls to make. I would just be in the way…with all my talking.”
“We can head into town for some lunch,” I suggested to Rose.
“Okay.” She sniffed herself, grimacing at the smell. “I wish I could shower first.”
“There’s an outdoor shower if you want.”
“I’ll remember that for tomorrow. I don’t have any spare clothes with me.”
Fletch had already disappeared, so I headed to my Jeep with Rose.
“Wow, I had no idea you had a vehicle here.”
