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“Put it in the dining room so that it’s not in the way of the kitchen work.”
I followed him into the room and watched as he bent down to set the box on the ground. I couldn’t help but stare at his backside as he did and suddenly thought of something that might make my mood better.
I averted my eyes before he stood, telling myself I needed to keep my hormones under control. All week, I had been forcing myself not to think about our tryst, but it had been hard not to. I guess that was why I hadn’t been too chatty all week.
“You want me to remove it from the box for you?”
I shrugged. “If you want to.”
He turned and studied me. “You okay, Nolan? You seem tense.”
“I told you, I’m tired.” I waved a hand around.
He came to stand in front of me. “Then you should take a night off. What was it that you needed to do tonight?”
“Just a lot of little things, and I wanted to start painting my bedroom. Plus, Milton is coming over with the tile samples.”
“What time is Milton coming?”
“About twenty minutes,” I replied.
“Okay, how about we wait for Milton, then I’ll take you out to dinner. After that, I can help you paint your bedroom if you want.”
“Brad, you don’t have to do that. I appreciate everything that you have done for me, but you really don’t need to keep helping me.”
“I want to.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
I nodded. “Yes. Why do you want to help?”
He stared at me for a long time. “Do younotwant my help?”
“I want to knowwhyyou want to help.”
He glanced around the room. “Because I enjoy doing this type of thing, and I also enjoy spending time with you. It’s kind of a win-win situation for me.”
For a few moments, we studied one another. I really was exhausted, and I could use a night off. “Okay, after Milton comes by, I’ll let you take me out to dinner. Then I’ll see how I feel after. I might just crash and get up early and start painting tomorrow.”
He smiled, and my tension eased a little bit. I didn’t admit it to him, but I enjoyed spending time with him too. That’s kind of what my problem was. I liked Brad. I’d thought way too much about the man this week. His easygoing nature, the way he was with his kids, the incredible family he had, and the great sex—we can’t forget about the sex.
It might not have been a marathon encounter, but we had fit so perfectly together. Even after years with Rick, sex had sometimes felt odd, like we were forcing ourselves to endure the act. There was nothing forced while being with Brad.
I helped Brad get the fridge out of the box, and he said we should leave it to sit there for a little while before we plugged it in. I left my purse on top of it to remind me to plug it in when we went for dinner.
Milton was there shortly after that, and we were discussing tile colors when I got a video chat from Lauren.
“Can you excuse me for a moment? I need to take this.” Lauren didn’t call me unless it was necessary.
“Hey, Lauren, what’s going on?”
“Emmy is having a meltdown. Grandma cleaned her room and moved things around.”
“You can’t calm her down?”
“No.” She sighed.
