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“Great! I’ll go make sure the contractor is ready to start tomorrow, and be out of your hair,” Mom says, a too bright, and almost too knowing, smile on her face. I watch her walk away, feeling oddly like I’ve been played.
Or worse, set up.
“Shall we?” he asks, pulling my attention away from the front door my mom just exited by and back to brilliant blue eyes that do naughty things to my unmentionables.
With a quick head nod, I walk toward the door, following in the wake of my mom’s subtle perfume. Rhenn is behind me, even though neither of us speaks. I can feel him there; I can feel how close his body is to mine. A shiver sweeps through my limbs, and I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the temperature.
As we enter the place that was once my beloved sanctuary, the musty, mildew scent permeates my senses. “I’m sorry about the smell. We’re trying to keep all of the windows and doors open, but it doesn’t seem to be helping much. Everything downstairs was soaked, and the contractors will work on ripping up the flooring tomorrow. We’re hoping the subfloor won’t be too bad, but something tells me luck won’t be on our side,” I ramble as I head toward the grand staircase in front of us.
Rhenn doesn’t say a word, and even though I’m curious as to where his attention lies, I keep my eyes focused forward. The last thing I need is to see the disgusted look on his face at the gross mess he has to work in for the next few weeks. Besides, I’ll probably trip and fall over a step if I don’t keep my eyes straight ahead.
“This house was built in eighteen sixty-four by a wealthy English settler, a gift for his new bride. He purchased over two thousand acres of land along the Atlantic, but once the Depression hit in nineteen twenty-nine, his heirs eventually had to sell off large chunks of the property because of the big hit they took after the stock market crashed. This house, along with the ten acres around it, was the only asset the family was able to keep during that time.
“It changed hands several times between the fifties and nineties when my mom and dad purchased it. It was her dream to turn this old, worn down house into a bed and breakfast,” I state proudly as I reach the first guest room upstairs, realizing I’ve been blabbering for a few minutes.
I quickly turn to see if Rhenn is still behind me, or more accurately, if he got bored with my history lesson for today and decided to make a break for it. When my eyes meet his, I find him staring at me, a look of awe and fascination written all over his gorgeous face. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the story of this place, I just…”
“No, I didn’t mind,” he says, taking a step toward me. Very close to me, actually. He’s right in front of me, so near that I could reach out and touch the day-old stubble on his jaw. “I liked hearing about it. Your passion for this place comes through loud and clear when you talk about it.”
I continue to stare at him. The corner of his lip turns upward, and it appears as genuine as they come. He doesn’t seem to be mocking me, as Erik, my ex, used to do. He hated this place and often rolled his eyes every time someone would ask me about it, knowing I could spend hours talking about the history and day-to-day life of living here.
“Thank you,” I whisper, gazing up at him. My heart starts to pound in my chest and my throat is suddenly dry. I basically turn into my fifteen-year-old self, when one of my brothers’ football friends said hello to me in passing in the hall.
I’m not sure how long we stand there, staring at each other, but a barrage of inappropriate thoughts flit through my mind. Like is he a boxers or briefs kinda guy or does he prefers to be on top or bottom. I can feel the blush burn my cheeks because I can tell just by looking at Rhenn Burleski what the answers are to my wonderings.
And those answers leave me breathless.
Something falls one floor below us, breaking the spell we seem to be cast under. I jump back, anxious to get away from his powerful stare, yet so eager and curious as to why I want to stay trapped under that enticing look at the same time. His blue eyes shine like sapphires under the mid-afternoon sunlight, and I can’t get over the way he’s looking at me. Like I’m a puzzle he’s trying to figure out or a problem he’s trying to solve. It’s completely disarming and turning me into someone I’m usually not. I need to get away from him.
Fast.
Clearing my throat, I take a giant step back, only to connect with the wall. “Shit,” I mumble, trying to regain my balance and make it look like I meant to do that.
“Are you okay?” he asks, taking another step forward.
He’s so freaking close, I’m not sure I could answer his question. Hell, I’m not even sure I’m breathing at this point. “Yep!” I squeak out in a high-pitched noise that rivals a toddler.
Suddenly, I feel his hand. It starts at the base of my neck and gently slides upward, his fingers tangling into my hair. Now I know I’m not breathing. The little black dots peppering my vision confirm it.
“Breathe, Angel,” he whispers, soft as a feather, as his thumb caresses the back of my neck. “You hit your head.”
“I’m fine,” I gasp, sucking in big gulps of precious oxygen – in a very lady-like fashion, mind you.
He seems to stare just a few minutes longer, his fingers continuing to light a fire against my skin. I hope this man has no idea what he’s doing to me, but something tells me he does. He most certainly knows how to play a woman’s body as if it were a finely tuned musical instrument that he was born to play. Rhenn oozes sex appeal, and if I had to wager a guess, I’d say he’s well versed in the art of seduction.
Hell, he probably majored in it.
“Okay,” he finally says, taking a step back, yet leaving his fingers to linger just a few extra seconds on my skin.
I’m not liable to survive this day. Shit, probably not this series of weeks in which I have to work near this man. My body is already hypersensitive and my mind working overtime on images I should not be having. Yet, as hard as I try, I can’t get the picture of a very naked Rhenn out of my mind.
The contact is finally severed, and it’s followed very quickly by sight. He looks away so fast and stands so casually it makes me wonder if I just imagined our entire exchange. Looking at him now, he’s calm and collected Rhenn, here to do a job.
It hits me square in the chest like a hammer. Of course that’s what he’s here to do. Not play around with the owner’s daughter. There’s no denying how gorgeous this man is. He probably has women throwing themselves at him on a regular basis, so why in the hell would he waste his time on a plain Jane like me? Especially one who is covered in grime and smells like she hasn’t showered in days.
Giving myself a mental slap across the head, I turn my attention back to the tour. That’s what I’m here to do – not lust after the subcontractor. My cheeks burn once more, but this time with mortification. I can’t believe I ever thought someone like Rhenn would be interested in someone like me. He probably stares like that at all women. You know, the ‘I want to do dirty things to your body’ look that turns women into a pile of mush? Clearly Rhenn is well versed in the look, as well as the reaction it invokes.
Just wait until he meets Harper.
