AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You don’t have to,” Carson said. “You’ve put in a full day’s work already.”
She hesitated, then sent him a smile. “So have you. If the guy with the broken foot can keep working, then I can manage to do a bit more.”
She was so unlike Megan. And he liked Olivia more every passing moment.
14
On Saturday, Olivia worked on painting more bedrooms and hallways. The wrong color. It still annoyed her, but whatever. Who was she to keep contradicting Mrs. Gordon’s paint choice?
Olivia hadn’t had any time alone with Carson last night to talk about anything, let alone their relationship. His manner towards her had gone back to being completely professional. He was downright distant whenever his father was around.
Carson clearly didn’t want his father to think there was anything between them, which meant his father wouldn’t approve of her as a girlfriend. Of course, he wouldn’t. She should’ve already known that. Olivia was the daughter of the town drunk. Carson was capable of attracting higher-caliber women.
His father’s attitude was more proof that things wouldn’t work out between them. At best, she and Carson would spend another five weeks together and then he would be gone, on to greener pastures.
Carson might be able to move on after a relationship, unscarred, but if she handed her heart over to him, she’d still be mending it back together long after he’d forgotten about her.
And maybe his professional manner today meant that he regretted kissing her. The kiss had been impulsive. And when you came down to it, she’d mostly been the one who’d initiated it with the way she’d washed off Carson’s back and then asked him what he felt like doing.
Maybe he wanted to avoid her but couldn’t, so he was acting coolly professional.
Well, whatever. She could deal with the fallout with her head held high.
At three in the afternoon, he texted her:When you’ve got a minute, come to the master bedroom closet. I have something to give you.
What could he possibly be giving her? A new task? A kiss? Her two weeks’ notice? She would’ve never thought being fired from a construction job she hadn’t wanted in the first place would sting, but in this case, it would.
What was wrong with her? One moment she knew she didn’t want a relationship with him and the next moment she was hurt by the thought of not having one.
There was nothing to do but go and see him.
She plodded through the master room into the bathroom. It was easy to tell which of the walk-in closets he was in. The sound of drilling came from that one. She opened the door and found him putting in a shelving unit.
“I’m here,” she said. “Prompt after being summoned. Remember that when you’re choosing the employee of the month.”
He turned and smiled. A wide, heart-stopping grin. So probably he wasn’t letting her go.
“I’m definitely choosing you, Leelee.” He put down the drill, strolled over to the door, and locked it.
He’d locked them in. Her heartbeat started hammering. That had to mean he wanted to kiss her, and he didn’t want anyone walking in on them. Should she let him kiss her?
Define the relationship talk first or afterward?
Had to be afterward, didn’t it? Right now she was just assuming he wanted a relationship with her. Maybe she was wrong about him wanting to kiss her.
He put his arms around her waist, pulled her to him, and showed her that she hadn’t been wrong. His lips were gentle on hers, still tentative. One kiss turned into two. Less tentative. Her whole body was humming. Her hands crept up his shirt. Those muscles. They’d turned her into such a football fan.
He murmured, “I’ve been thinking about you all day. At one point, I nearly nailed my hand to the wall.” Before she had a chance to respond, he kissed her again. He was warm and the feel of his hands on her waist sent shivers through her. One of his hands trailed up her back. More shivers.
A talk. They were supposed to be having a talk. But somehow, this seemed like a better thing to do with her mouth. She was hopeless.
He lifted his head. “Does it bother you that I call you Leelee?”
That’s what he’d been thinking about during their kiss? All of her neurons had burst into flames so that she’d been incapable of independent thought, and he’d been contemplating her nickname.
‘Um, no.” She was still having a hard time stringing words together. Leelee was okay. Bug, not so much.
He bent his head to kiss her again, then paused. “Maybe I should come up with something new anyway. Is it weird to call you the same thing as your dad?”
