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Either Isaac had a secret gym membership or the guy had a nice home gym inside.
She closed her eyes and tried imagining him in today’s tank top and gym shorts, working a rowing machine and glistening with sweat. Mmm. Those long, tanned arms and legs of his, extending and contracting in easy, fluid motions. His hands, firmly gripping the machine’s handles.
Hands that looked strong. And capable—
“I knew you were dodging my call.”
Del startled, sending water sloshing over the clawfoot’s rim. Her gaze shot from the sudsy mess to her sister, leaning against the bathroom’s doorframe. “Darn it, Mia. Knock next time, will you?”
“And interrupt whatever fantasy you were having prematurely?” Her sister’s lips curled into a devilish smile. “Not a chance.”
If looks could kill, her sister would have been six feet under. “Who said anything about a fantasy?”
Mia arched a brow in her direction, and Del sighed. It was pointless trying to lie to her oldest sister. The woman knew her better than she knew herself most days.
“I take it things went well today?”
“They did,” Del said. “Better than expected.”
Her mind went back to their lunch on the porch, Louie stretched across her feet and Isaac sharing his vision of the fundraiser’s online presence. It was mostly stuff and nonsense to her, but the excitement that lit his eyes had held her in rapt attention. She’d already considered him to be a handsome guy, but throw in a genuine smile as he talked about something he was clearly passionate about? Something that was going to potentially save her family’s bookstore?
She’d just about leaned over and kissed him.
Which would be bad, of course, accosting the hermit on his own front porch without warning. What if she’d accidentally run him off before he had a chance to work his techie magic?
Then again, what if he’d liked it?
She refocused her attention on Mia, who was watching her with an amused gleam in her eyes. “So did Margaret Harper call you at three a.m., too?”
Mia sighed. “Three fifteen, actually. Guess she must have called you first.”
“What did you think of her idea?”
“You’re trying to change the subject.”
“Actually, no, this includes Isaac now, too.”
Oh crap. The first person she talked to since making this agreement and she’d already broken her promise! But since Mia knew her better than she knew herself, keeping secrets from her older sister never worked. It was best to get them out in the open and then make her promise not to tell anyone else. Only, that didn’t always work, either.
“What? How? Is he wanting to be in the talent show?” Mia lowered her voice with a brow waggle. “Does he have some amazing talent we need to know about?”
A shiver ran down Del’s spine, and it had nothing to do with water temperature.
“No, but apparently he’s some computer whiz. When we took our lunch break, I told him about the crazy call I’d gotten from Margaret. He thought it was a great idea and said it’d be super easy for him to develop a website for us.”
“Wow. That’s…pleasantly unexpected. So does this mean you think her idea has actual merit? I mean, I know we didn’t come up with any stellar ideas the other night, but a talent show? Here?”
“To be honest, I didn’t at first. Though that could have something to do with me being irritated about having my sleep interrupted. But the more Isaac and I talked about it, throwing ideas out there, the more I think it might work. It’s fresh, it’s real, and people todaylovegetting attention. Now they won’t have to go record themselves doing something silly on TipToe or whatever.”
“TikTok.” Mia shook her head. “Sounds like you guys had quite the discussion about this. I’m almost afraid to ask, but how much would he charge us to do all of this?”
“That’s the best part—it won’t cost us a cent. We agreed to a work swap. In exchange for his help, I agreed to redesign his entryway landscaping. Oh, and to not tell a soul he’s the one developing it. So that means you can’t tell anyone, either.”
“Noted.” Mia paused. “Do you really think he’ll be good to his word?”
Leave it to her older sister to be skeptical. They had her cheating ex-husband to blame for that tendency. And stupid Jonathan Schumacher.
“I don’t know why he wouldn’t. Besides, if he tries to go back on his word, I could always threaten to ‘accidentally’ cut down that forest around his house. Surely, that’d scare him into compliance.”
