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Chapter Five
Marissa
The steady beeping of a truck backing up has me walking toward the window in the upstairs bedroom I’m working in. Gazing down at the flatbed truck, I see the rest of the building supplies being delivered, including the siding and two replacement windows. The contractor and several of his workers all scramble to unload the material, but what draws my attention is the large pickup truck opposite the commotion.
Rhenn is by his pickup truck, removing large spools of wire as if they weigh merely a few pounds. His worn jeans mold perfectly to his ass and powerful thighs – thighs that promise nothing short of pure thrusting power.
I blush as those dirty images filter through the cobwebs in my brain.
His T-shirt is tight against corded muscles, leaving nothing to the imagination. I can’t help but wonder if he knows exactly what kind of impact he has on the female population as a whole, or if he just wakes up in the morning, throws on an old T-shirt, and goes about his day as if nothing is wrong. As if women everywhere weren’t offering up their firstborn for one chance to strip off his clothes and have their dirty way with him.
Rhenn turns, his arms loaded with supplies, and glances up at the window I’m perving from. Our eyes connect for several heartbeats before the corner of his lip turns upward in a smirk I’d normally find insulting. But on him? Totally sexy.
Oh yeah, he totally knows.
I’ve been successful at avoiding him all day, keeping to myself upstairs in the guest room I’m cleaning. I’m not sure how he spent the day today, but I’ve heard him. The heavy thump of his boots on the hardwood floors has kept me on edge, alerting me that he’s near. Yet even if I couldn’t hear his presence, I’ve felt it. It’s as if my body is in tune only to him.
I back away from the window as if it were about to electrocute me, bumping into my bucket of warm soapy water. Of course it sloshes over and spills all over my foot. I mean, why wouldn’t it? Now I have to either run back to my house or deal with a wet sock and shoe for the remainder of the day.
Choosing the former, I toss my sponge onto the floor and head down the hall, the water squishing in my tennis shoe with each step I take. When I reach the base of the stairs and turn toward the living quarters in back, I hit a roadblock of building material. Two by fours, OSB, flooring, and drywall. Not to mention half a dozen men moving the goods into the rooms they’ll work on first.
With a deep sigh, I head out the front door where I collide with a solid chest and alluring masculine scent. “Shit, I’m sorry,” Rhenn says reaching out and grabbing for my arm to steady me.
“No, it’s my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going,” I reply, trying to get my footing once more. When I look up, it’s like taking Thor’s hammer to the chest. His eyes – my God, those deep blue eyes – hold me hostage, completely against my will.
Okay, if I’m being honest, it’s not completely against my will.
Like the children follow the singing witch in the movie Hocus Pocus, I’d clearly go anywhere, do anything this man asks, even if it was to my own death.
That’s why I must initiate my Rhenn Burleski force field, keeping him and his sexy eyes and masculine scent and tree trunk thighs and broad shoulders and…
Where was I going with this?
“Marissa?” he asks, those blue eyes full of concern as they rake over my body from head to toe. A shiver slips down my spine, completely unwanted, but I can’t deny how my body reacts to him.
Stupid body.
“What?” I ask, vaguely recalling him asking a question.
“I asked if you were all right,” he states again, his eyes holding mine.
“Yes,” I whisper, that single word a plea.
Those eyes devour me once more, leaving me with a sense of being naked and exposed. I’m not used to feeling so bare, and usually I’m not, but there’s something about him – about Rhenn – that has my senses all out of sorts and my body on hyper alert.
“My shoe is wet.”
Yep, I said it. Of all the things that could come out of my mouth, that’s not exactly what I was hoping for. I could have gone with “Wow, your eyes are the same color as the sky” or maybe even “I love the way the ink on your arm peeks out from beneath your shirt sleeve. Can I lick it?” But no, I have to say the stupidest thing in the history of all conversations.
Rhenn glances down and checks out my shoe. When his eyes return to mine, there’s a bit of a sparkle in them, one that reminds me of starry nights and fireflies. It’s also the moment I realize he’s still holding me. I’m pretty confident it’s the reason my brain function has dropped below zero. My skin tingles and burns beneath his strong fingers, my blood pumps recklessly through my extremities. His touch is just as lethal as his smile, which is why I should take not one, but two steps back, to sever our connection and break the spell he has me under.
But as I will my feet to move, I find myself rooted completely in place. I’m trapped in his gaze, under his mysterious powers, and for a fraction of a second, I let myself just feel. Feel the way his fingers gently stroke my arms as he holds me, causing warmth to pool between my legs. Feel the way his eyes seem to watch and devour me. Feel the way his breath teases my skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake.
Rhenn looks as if he wants to say something. I’m torn between wanting him to and hoping he doesn’t. It’s a slippery slope we walk on, because at the end of the day, there are too many reasons why acting on this attraction is stacked against us. Too many reasons why me wrapping my arms around his broad waist and letting him kiss me is a bad idea.
The connection is broken by the slamming of a car door. I jump back as if I were being burned and stumble over my own feet. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on which way you look at it), Rhenn is there, his strong hands still wrapped around my upper arms, and keeps me from falling. Again.
“Hey!” my sister, Harper, hollers as she approaches the front porch.
