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“Shit.” Zeke dropped his hand and stepped back, his low curse almost swallowed up by the echoing thunder.
My arms came up, winding protectively over me and shielding the way my heart raced inside my chest.
“You should get inside and change before you catch a cold.” He reached for the door, punched in his code to the house and pushed it open for me. The whole time, he kept his eyes averted as though I were standing naked in front of him rather than looking like a wet dog.
“Are you…” I trailed off, my tongue suddenly feeling too big for my mouth.
Did he know what I was thinking? What I wanted? Was the tick in his jaw proof that he fought wanting it, too?
“I’m going home.”
His rough voice poked a hole in my fantasy.Of course he was going home,I chided myself. Zekedidn’t live here. This was his business—Iwas his business.A resident at the house. A woman in his care. He’d never cross that line with me—not in a million years.
And I shouldn’t want him to.I shouldn’t want anything that could risk me getting my son back.
“Good night, Zeke. Thank you.” I reached for the door, about to step through it when his low voice stopped me.
“Kenzie.”
My breath hitched, and I turned, holding the door as though there was still time for him to change his mind and pull me back through it and into his arms—still time to suspend reality for a few moments longer.
“I want you to work for me—as my assistant for Blooms.”
My eyes bulged.“What? Why?”
Of all the things I hadn’t expected was the night to end with a job offer.
Did he want to spend more time with me? Or was he trying to learn more about me? I couldn’t stop the worried thoughts from crashing through me.
“I need someone. I need help.” Zeke huffed and dragged his hand through his hair, squeezing fresh drops of rain through his knuckles to run down the hills and valleys of the veins on his forearms.“You’d be perfect. And you’d make more than you’re making now with cleaning.”
I blinked rapidly, my brow creasing. Now, I understood where this was going. “You don’t want me to clean anymore,” I murmured.
His jaw ticked. “No, I don’t,” he admitted honestly. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you’d be perfect for the job. You already do so much for the house. For your housemates. And everyone knows I’m… overworked.” He grimaced when he said the word, his adorable expression bringing a small smile to my face.
There were reasons I should refuse. Big ones, too. The fact that only moments ago I was hoping he’d kiss me was close to the top.
I slid my tongue out and over my lips to wet them while I considered how to answer. His eyes lowered to my mouth, following the path of my tongue before it snapped back up.
“Please.”His rough grunt was just loud enough for me to hear as he shifted his weight.
Zeke stood there looking like a golden, glistening Zeus, drenched from the fury of his own storms, and begged me to work for him.I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, rolling the soft flesh through them.Maybe it was a good idea.I was going to need his help at some point, and if I worked for him, I wouldn’t feel so bad about asking for it.
But then there was the tangle of heat that came to life when I thought about all the time we’d spend together. Suddenly, I couldn’t tell if accepting his offer would be selfless or selfish; I wanted to help him, and I wanted his help, but mostly Iwanted to learn more about the one man I knew I could trust.
“Okay.” I heard myself agree. “I’ll work for you.”
It was a mistake in the making, but I couldn’t resist the thought of a few more stolen moments with the only man who’d ever made me ache this way.
CHAPTER6
ZEKE
“Knock knock.”
“Yeah. Come in,” I called, not taking my attention away from the box of plaques I was searching through.
“Wow, what a difference,” Callie remarked warmly, entering the room. “Amazing what a few days actually spent in your office can do.”
