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I waited to see what she’d do first, giving her the chance to have the independence she craved. When she twisted the shut-off valve without a second’s hesitation, I grinned.
As if sensing it, her head turned sharply in my direction. “What? Don’t smile. I’m not a complete imbecile.”
I had to hold back a laugh. Even when she was spitting venom, she got to me. That was an unexpected as hell turn of events.
The redhead hovered at the door, wringing her hands. “My roommate’s girlfriend has a bladder the size of a walnut. Thank goodness. She walked in here to use the bathroom and got blasted. We would have had a flood if she hadn’t been up in the middle of the night. But I guess we weren’t thinking. We should have shut off the water before we called. I’m sorry.”
Elena glanced back at her, offering a practiced smile. “I should have told you to do that over the phone. That’s my fault.”
“We’ll fix it,” I assured her. “We’ll let you know when we’re done.”
Elena opened my toolbox like it was hers and searched through it. She might’ve watched some YouTube videos, and if I wasn’t here, she would have figured it out. Iwashere, though, and I wasn’t going to let her struggle.
Reaching around her, I picked up the wrench I needed. Elena tried to snatch it from me, but I held it by my side. She scowled, a tiny wrinkle forming between her light eyebrows. If she had any idea how adorable she looked when she was pissed off at me, she’d probably make it her goal to be sweet to spite me.
“Watch me this time. Let me show you, then next time, you can do it.”
Her lips pursed. “Why do you think you get a say?”
“My tools, I get a say. Should we do this or waste more time arguing?”
With a heavy sigh, she waved me on. I worked, and she watched. If I was being honest, I took my time, because I was enjoying her attention. She lowered her head close to mine, studying my hands like she was memorizing my movements.
“Is this your first middle-of-the-night call?” I asked.
“Mmmhmm.”
“Your dad expects you to do repairs?”
“I asked him to make me the property manager. It’s a real job to me, so it doesn’t matter what he expects. As property manager, repairs are my responsibility.”
“He probably wouldn’t like knowing you were out in the middle of the night like this.”
The idea of her doing this without me drove a spike through my temple. Maybe I didn’t want to teach her so she’d have to call me. It didn’t sit well with me to allow her to enter strangers’ houses on her own.
“My dad doesn’t need to know,” she answered.
I nodded as I turned the wrench. “You could hire someone. Nothing says you have to get your hands dirty.”
“I told you, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. And when it comes to my properties, I’m not going to waste money on something I can do myself. Besides, I want to count on as few people as possible. I’ll be buying my own set of wrenches after this.”
My eyes slid to her. Her bottom lip was tucked between her teeth while she concentrated on my hands. “So you don’t have to count on me.”
This side of her sent me into a tailspin. It wasn’t that I didn’t like when she was in her silky pj’s or feminine sundresses with perfect hair and makeup. Being attracted to Elena had never been in question—not since the second I’d laid eyes on her. I could walk away from attraction, not think anything of it. But when she shared how her mind worked, the dichotomy of her personality, the parts of her that resonated strongly with me—that made it almost impossible not to take her face in my hands and kiss the living hell out of her.
“Mmmhmm. So I don’t have to count on you.” Yeah, I’d burned a lot of bridges with her. No surprise there. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen the flames.
“How does a senator’s son know his way around pipes and power tools?”
I shrugged. “My dad’s like you—he does as much as he can on his own. As for me, I’ve been fixing things for as long as I can remember. I like to know how things work, how machines run, and if they’re broken, what it’ll take to make them right again. My dad showed me what he knew, and I learned the rest by doing.”
I tossed the wrench in my toolbox and wiped my hands on my legs. The water on the floor had soaked through my sweatpants, but it didn’t bother me much.
“The coupling came loose. No reason that I can see. Turn the water on and see if it sprays. If it doesn’t, I think you might have been lucky and had an easy fix.”
Elena stretched under the sink, ducking her head beneath the counter. Like an asshole, I didn’t move, so the side of her was pressed against the front of me. Her muscles flexed as she twisted the valve, turning the water back on. The pipes clanked, but no spray.
“It’s fixed?” she asked.
