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I scrub so hard, a piece of the pad breaks off and floats away.
“Are you sure nothing is wrong?” he teases.
“Yup.”
“If you insist. I’d hate to put our friendship at risk already.”
“Here you go.” I rinse the pan off and pass it to him so he can shut up.
He leans forward to whisper in my ear, “It’s cute to see you get all jealous over my sister-in-law, but it’s really not necessary.”
I blink. “Sister-in-law?”
“Iris ElizabethKane. AKA Declan’s wife.”
“Declan got married?”
He nods with a smile. “To my best friend.”
Well, don’t you look like the stupid one now.
“That’s nice that you two are close.” My nose wrinkles.
He taps it. “Declan doesn’t seem to agree either.”
A laugh catches in my throat. “How is he?”
“Insufferable as always.”
“That’s a shame. Hopefully he finally got that surgery to help with his resting dick face.”
Cal throws his head back and laughs. The combination of his smile and the light streaming through the window makes him rival the sun. I step closer, desperate for the warmth only he can provide.
“God, I’ve missed you.” He wraps an arm around me and tugs me against him. The gesture is intended to be completely platonic, but the tingling from my head to my toes definitely isn’t. Cal doesn’t seem any better with the way he leans close and sniffs my hair while he thinks I’m not looking.
My heart thuds loudly, blocking my hearing.
Day one of being just friends is going well. Can’t wait for what’s in store next.
Ryder Smith, the general contractor from Lopez Luxury, pulls out a tape measure. “Shall we get started with a walkthrough of the house?”
Cal looks over at me with a tight smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Ready?”
My right eye twitches. “Of course.”
Cal and I are careful to keep a wide berth between us while we show Ryder the house. The few times we end up touching, one of us has a knee-jerk reaction. I’m not sure if this is what Cal had in mind when he suggested being friends, but I’m hoping we can snap out of it.
Ryder doesn’t seem to notice. He jots down notes on his clipboard while asking us a ton of questions, some of which I don’t know the answers to.
Ryder squats down near the entrance to the kitchen where the wood floor switches to vinyl. “Does the wood floor continue under here?”
Cal looks over at me like I should know the answer.
“I remember my mom saying the previous owner covered up the floors in the kitchen, so I think the original flooring runs throughout the house.”
“I can have one of my guys take a look and confirm if that’s true. If they are original, we only need to refinish them which will save us a lot of time compared to waiting for a new floor.”
“With us setting such a high sale price, would buyers expect something more modern? Like marble perhaps?” Cal crosses his arms against his chest, giving me a perfect view of his veiny forearms.
