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“Did we not just discuss boundaries?” She busied herself with tossing her dirty clothes into a laundry basket instead of looking at me.
“Are clothes included in that? Because that sure looks like my shirt.”
Her back stiffened before she turned to face me. “I didn’t have any clean ones.”
Little liar. But I liked the sight of her in my clothes. And that in itself was weird. It didn't equate with a little bit of fun.
I made a non-committal noise and took long strides toward the bathroom.
“Another shower?” she called through the open door.
“Nope. Toilet’s not working now.”
“I thought you were fixing things, not breaking them.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Where’d you get the idea I’m a plumber?” I asked, flushing the toilet.
Baker crowded in the doorway as I washed my hands. “You. I got that impression fromyou.”
Her mouth rolled from one side to the other in frustration. I took a step closer as I dried my hands with her pink hand towel, absently tossing it back toward the sink when I was done.
She held her ground. Something about that made me inordinately happy.
I fixed an apologetic look on my face. “Thought I’d get to work on it some this weekend, but I gotta go into the garage tomorrow. Maybe Sunday too.”
She looked panicked. “Why don’t we hire someone? We could both pitch in. I have a little saved.” The edge of desperation in her voice had me closing the gap between us. Her head tilted back to look at me as I got a breath of her sweet scent.
I pointed in the direction of my room. “Easy, that’s thousands of dollars of work if we hire somebody.”
“But we can’t keep doing this.”
I grinned at her. “Sure, we can. I think we’ve done pretty well so far, don’t you?”
“I guess,” she conceded. Something in me swelled with an intensity I wasn’t used to.
I lightly chucked her chin and winked. “You guess right. Now, I’ll get out of your hair.”
When she didn’t immediately move, a hope I shouldn’t have felt crept through me. I didn’t want to leave her any more than she wanted me to go.
“Good night,” she said stiffly, taking a step back.
Disappointment poked at me. I didn’t want to be alone. I opened my mouth to tell her as much, then I thought better of it. Alone was what I deserved. And Baker had enough shit to deal with. No need to drag her into mine.
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Baker pointed toward me with her chin. “It’s late. Could be important.”
She was right. As soon as I saw the caller ID, I wished I hadn’t.Celia.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket as if it had burned me.
“Who was that?” A few wrinkles formed on the top of her nose.
My jaw clenched. “No one.”
“It had to be someone—”
“I said it was no one,” I snapped, and she recoiled. I closed my eyes to reel in my temper. When I opened them, Baker had her arms wrapped around her middle. I couldn’t take it twice in one night. “I’m sorry. It’s just—I just—come here.”
