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“We thought you were being attacked,” I tried to explain, now feeling a little ridiculous. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“Well, as you can see, I’m fine.”
“Yeah.”
I racked my brain for something more to say to her. This was the first time we’d been in the same room after sleeping together.
I wanted to askare you okay after that night?Maybe something likeis there a reason we haven’t spoken since that night?Orwas one night really enough? Because I don’t think so.
What came out was… “Sorry.”
“It’s cool,” she said. “I get it. You thought I was in trouble and you were trying to help. I guess I’m grateful you’d do that if I were in real trouble.”
“Of course.”
We still hadn’t broken eye contact. Her lips were parted. I held my breath as images of Zoe underneath me in my bed flashed before my eyes. Her nails scraping across my skin. Her sweaty hair sticking to her neck and forehead. The way she moaned my name as she came.
I cleared my throat. “Well, it looks like you have things under control…”
“No, she doesn’t,” Kieran said, totally oblivious to what was going on. “There’s rotten wood back here and this should probably be gutted.” He looked at Zoe. “And by the looks of things, this whole kitchen is probably going to need work.”
Zoe put down her sledgehammer. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s the handyman in me. I see a problem and—”
“Yeah. And I guess I should thank you for stopping me before I wrecked everything.”
She forced a smile. But I could tell she was disappointed.
“I was hoping I could do some of this myself so that when I had to hire people for the big stuff, it wouldn’t be too expensive,” she explained. “I should’ve known this was more than I could handle.”
I nodded. This building was old and had been neglected for the better part of a decade, which was why it was so cheap. I’d moved in here as soon as I had the money for my own place and had to do a lot of work just to make it livable. By the looks of it, Zoe’s place was in worse shape than mine.
The front door opened again and more people entered. One was Rex. The other was a woman I didn’t recognize.
Rex sprinted to his mother and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hi, Mom,” he said.
“Hi, honey, did you have fun with Aunt Sasha?”
“Yeah. We went shopping,” he answered. “And we got scones.”
A woman entered seconds after Rex, presumably Sasha. She was tall with long brown hair and walked into the room like she was strutting down a runway.
“I offered donuts, ice cream, all the fun kid food, but apparently he thinks he’s the Queen of England,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t even know where to find scones. We ended up at a cafe halfway across town.”
“Well, thank you for indulging him,” Zoe said.
Rex broke the hug with Zoe and finally saw me standing there. “Hey, Carter. Are you finally here for dinner?” He sounded hopeful.
“Rex has been after me to invite you over for dinner,” she explained. “But I keep telling him that you’re a busy man with work and stuff.”
“I’d love to come to dinner some night,” I told Rex.
“How about tonight?”
“I…”
