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“What?” I asked, then looked down at myself.
I was shirtless.
“Oh. Sorry. Do you want me to put it back on?”
Her cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink. “No. It’s fine. I mean. It’s my fault. I wasn’t watching. Also. It’s, um. It’s your house.”
“I’ll run back to my place and get a new shirt.”
“It’s fine. It’s fine.” She held up her hands, then bent to pick up the towel. “Just, you know.” Her gaze drifted over my upper body, lingering for a second on my stomach before she swallowed. “Warn a girl before you start getting naked. Especially when you look like that.”
“Look like what?”
“A closet underwear model.” She clapped her hand over her mouth.
I fought back a smile. I was not an underwear model, but I appreciated the compliment.
She dropped her hand and parted her lips as if she were about to say something, then jolted when the sound of a phone buzzing filled the air. “That’s my phone.” She ran into the utility, past me, almost brushing right up against me.
I breathed in—not that it did anything—and hated that I caught the smell of shampoo that lingered on her hair. The unidentifiable scent mixed with the paint that was all over her, and I shook off any of those thoughts before it went too far.
The last thing I needed was to get too attracted to Elle.
And that was something that would be all too easy.
CHAPTER EIGHT – ELLE
The good news: Noelle Bond in Texas was willing to take on my case.
The bad news: I was now four thousand dollars lighter—and that was just the deposit.
It was worth it. I hadn’t lied when I told Theo I was conservative with money, but I also hadn’t let on to my earnings.
I made a lot of money.
More than I ever thought I would.
Until now.
There was no denying that my earnings were about to take a huge hit. Hell, they already had. It made me thankful for the lessons my parents had taught me before they’d died—the best one being that money was like the weather; it was always unpredictable.
I didn’t care about my apartment. As long as I could get my belongings, I had enough funds to rebuild my life, and that made me exceptionally lucky.
Or smart.
Maybe both.
With a sigh, I shut down my laptop. I’d spent the past three hours searching for a place in either Florida or Alabama or Georgia where I could stay but I’d come up empty. I’d even searched Cuba and the Bahamas, but that was pointless because my passport was at my sister’s house.
I doubted she would send it to me without packing her entire person into a mailing box with it.
I did not need UPS delivering my older sister in a box.
If I didn’t find a place to stay tomorrow, I was running out of options. There was no other option than having to speak to Theo and see if he would let me stay here longer. I wasn’t in any position to go home to my apartment or even Emily’s house, and I was quite enjoying Florida.
It was quiet here. It was sunny, it was crazy, and nobody cared that I was here.
I would have to publicly deal with the video soon, but that wasn’t today. Thankfully.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be tomorrow either.
I grabbed a bag of cheese Doritos and stepped out onto the back deck. It was shaded at this time of day, thankfully, and I settled onto the rattan sofa to look out at the beach.
I almost had a flash of yesterday where there were three ladies gathered together, but it turned out the group was just a couple and their extremely large dog.
Thank God.
I was not here for another round of conspiracies with the old ladies.
Not tonight, anyway.
Besides, I was still flustered after spending most of the day painting with Theo. I about had a heart attack when he’d taken his shirt off, and I wasn’t sure I’d even wiped the memory from my brain yet.
He was unfairly sexy. Like straight up, unfair, God was feeling generous with the good luck charms the day he was born.
Ugh.
The last thing I needed was to be attracted to a guy who just didn’t like me. No matter how nice he was to me today—I knew he didn’t like me. And that was fine. That was his right.
I just didn’t want to blush if I saw him half naked again.
“Any luck?”
I jolted at the sound of his voice. Turning, I saw him standing a few feet away from the edge of my deck. His dark hair was wet and dripping down his face, and a glance down at him revealed his soaking wet shorts and a towel wrapped around his shoulders.
“Huh?” I said dumbly.
“With the house hunting. Did you find anywhere?”
“Oh. No. I didn’t. Everywhere is booked.” I shrugged a shoulder and set down the Doritos, then licked my orange-dust-covered fingers. “I’ll keep trying. I know you want me to go.”
