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Okay, she was clearly getting off track here. But who wouldn’t be, she asked herself. With Griffin King standing not two feet from her, dripping wet, his board shorts dipping low enough on his hips to make her wonder what it might be like to give them a little tug and...
God.
“Are you going into a fugue state or something?” Griffin asked.
“Huh? What?” Oh, perfect, Nicole. Get caught mentally slavering over him. Nice. “No, I’m fine. Just busy.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” He rubbed one palm across his chest and her gaze followed the motion.
Damn it. It was like being hypnotized by testosterone.
“Don’t you ever just sit down in the shade?” he asked, then stretched lazily. His chest muscles shifted; his board shorts dipped a little lower.
Nicole swallowed hard, closed her eyes briefly, then said, “No time.” Just saying it reminded her how busy she really was.
Running her own business meant she could work most mornings and spend afternoons doing the million and one things that constantly needed doing around the house. But somehow weekends were still jam-packed. Amazing how chores stacked up. Plus, there was Connor. She glanced at her beautiful boy and smiled. It wasn’t just the house she had to concentrate on. It was spending time with Connor. Making sure her son knew that he was the most important person in the world to her.
So yeah, her days were really crowded, unlike some Kings-who-reclined-in-hot-tubs.
“Connor’s digging.”
She didn’t even look. “Of course he is. A little boy. A shovel. Dirt.”
“You’re a good mom.”
Surprised, she looked up into Griffin’s eyes. “Thanks. I try.”
“It shows.”
Gazes locked, a couple of humming seconds passed as they stared at each other. Nicole broke first.
“Well, I’d better get back to it.”
“Planting,” he said.
“Yes, but first, changing the lightbulb in the kitchen.” She checked on Connor, then looked back at the man standing way too close to her. “Would you mind keeping an eye on him while I get the ladder from the garage?”
“Ladder?” He frowned.
“Kitchen light? Ceiling?”
He nodded. “You watch Connor. I’ll get the ladder.”
He was already headed for the garage when she called out, “You don’t have to do that, I can—”
Lifting one hand to acknowledge her, he shouted back, “We’ve already had that conversation, remember? It’s no problem.”
“No problem,” she muttered. Nicole shot a look at her son, happily digging holes.
It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the help. But Nicole had been on her own for a while now. She wasn’t a delicate blossom. She knew how to fix plugged toilets and dripping sinks, and she took out her own garbage and killed her own spiders.
She didn’t need a man’s help.
But, a small voice in her mind whispered, was it really so bad to have it once in a while?
“Fine.” She watched Griffin stride from the garage to the back door. The old wooden ladder was balanced on one shoulder and those darn board shorts of his looked to have dipped another inch or so. “He’ll help, then he’ll go home,” she assured herself.
Then she could go back to watching him. From a safe distance.
“Where’s the new lightbulb?”
“It’s on the counter. Griffin—”
He shot her that fast, amazing grin again. “Be done in a minute.”
No, he wouldn’t. Her kitchen, like the rest of the small house her grandmother had left her, was old and out of date. The fluorescent lightbulb in the ancient fixture was three feet long and almost impossible to coax out of its fasteners, if you didn’t know the little tricks to manage it. She’d have to help.
She glanced at her son. He was busy with his shovel. Just like the pirates in his favorite book, he was probably looking for buried treasure. She’d be able to see him from the kitchen window. “Connor, honey, you stay right there, okay?”
“’Kay!”
Hurrying into the kitchen after Griffin, Nicole saw that he already had the ladder positioned under the burned-out bulb. As he took one step up, the whole thing swayed and he looked down at her in amazement.
