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“What? Why?” He wasn’t sure he liked a sneaky Luna. This could mean trouble.
“I wanted to thank you for helping me out last week. I picked up this clay planter at a garage sale for five bucks and filled it with strawberry plants for your patio garden. I thought you might like fresh berries for breakfast or something. You may have to fight the jays or squirrels for them, but you could get one here and there.”
Sam was speechless. “You bought me a plant?” Was this how women felt when they got flowers? He was starting to get the appeal.
Her forehead wrinkled. “You don’t like it?”
“It’s just…” Unexpected. Nice. Warming his heart in a way it hadn’t been warmed before.
Luna grew flustered. “It’s fine. I can take it to Ross’s place. I have to go there anyway for an encore apology tour today, because you weren’t the only one I was an asshole to. I’m making finishing Mia’s nursery a priority in order to make up for it.”
She bent to lug the heavy pot away, but he grabbed her arm. “No, I like it. Thank you.” He didn’t let go. Her skin was feather-soft. Everything about her made him want to stop and savor. “You could have just returned my hoodie.”
“What’s the fun in that? Speaking of fun, there was something else I picked up at this garage sale and I was hoping you could put it in for me.”
“What’s that?”
“A new sink faucet for my bathroom. This one is much nicer than the current one—stainless steel instead of a plastic handle that’s all chipped up. See? Fun!”
“Is this supposed to be fun for me or for you?”
“Me, of course.”
“I’m not sure if these are thank-you strawberries or bribery ones.”
Luna laughed. “Do they taste any different?”
“I believe thank-you strawberries are a sweeter variety.”
A smile slipped across her lips, and he developed a craving for watermelon again. “Touché. In that case, consider them thank-you strawberries. Besides, I don’t really need you. I’ll watch a YouTube video and figure out how to swap the faucet myself. How hard could it be?” she said, flicking her hair.
*
Sam knocked atLuna’s door the following day, ready to replace her faucet with the yard sale one. Zabe stood beside him, holding his metal toolbox.
“You’re going to let me help you this time—right, Sam? How am I going to learn anything if you don’t let me help? Please. Pleeeease.”
“You’re carrying my toolbox. That’s already very helpful.”
“But I want to do more. I’m going to have to go back to school soon and then I won’t be around as much to help you. So, can I?”
“We’ll see,” Sam replied.
Luna opened the door, taking his breath away. She was wearing tight athletic wear with her hair messily piled on her head and a healthy glow on her skin, appearing as though she’d finished doing yoga or Pilates or whatever pretty people did for exercise. She appealed to him more than a chocolate milkshake on the hottest of days. He made every effort to keep his bottom jaw from dropping on her doorstep with an embarrassing clang.
Zabe was also breathless, but for an entirely different reason. Luna’s fuzzy gray and white cat was snuggled to her chest. The kid gasped before squealing, “Oh, kitty! Can I hold it? Pleeeeease, Luna. Sorry, Sam, I can’t help you anymore.” She whipped the toolbox toward him to relieve herself of helper duties but, in her excitement, slammed the end directly into his junk.
There was a moment of absolute shock as his hips rocked backwards in reflex, his breath whooshing from his lungs. He released an agonizing groan, tears springing to his eyes as shock gave way to shooting pain. His balls felt as though they were trapped in a vicious vise, the kind found in medieval torture chambers. The toolbox clattered to the ground, his body following as his legs lost all their strength. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t care about falling to all fours in front of Luna.
“Oh God,” Luna said. “Here, Zabe, take the cat and play inside.” She dropped to her knees beside him, gingerly touching his back. “Are you okay?”
He glanced through his arms to make sure the girl was inside, distracted with the animal, before releasing a long “Fuuuuuuck” on a breath. Luna continued to rub along his shoulder. “Just give me a minute,” he said, his words strained.
After a while, he began putting himself together, reaching for the tools that had escaped the toolbox since he was on the ground anyway.
“I can do that,” Luna said. “Can you get up?”
He inched himself to standing with her taking his arm, pulling him inside. He delicately made his way to the couch, breathing through a dull throbbing between his legs, before taking a seat. Luna sat close beside him.
