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“Right next door,” I repeated to myself.
Two
Carter
I shouldn’t have flirted with her like that. It was exactly what I promised I wouldn’t do. All week, I was replaying that conversation with Zoe in my mind, stressing about what I was going to say next time I saw her. I’d laid it on pretty thick and it seemed like she was interested…
Kid, you idiot. She has a kid.
Right. She had a kid and kids needed… I really didn’t even know. More proof that I shouldn’t try and sleep with a woman who has one.
I came home after a long day on a job site. Kane Construction was doing a top-to-bottom remodel on a local bed and breakfast, and it was a bigger job than we initially thought. Shoddy wiring needed to be replaced. Old fixtures that had gone rotten over time needed to be torn out. The dining room needed a new floor ten years ago. It was going to be rough.
Sure, as the new owner of the company, I could just send some extra guys out there and stay behind a desk all day, but I wasn’t that kind of boss. I would never ask one of my guys to do something that I wouldn’t do myself. Plus, I liked working outside, with my hands and coming back from a long day tired, sore, and covered in grit.
I made my way upstairs to the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the shower. I practically groaned, more than ready for the hot water to pound the soreness from my back. My clothes hit the tile floor in record time and I raced inside.
I tipped my head back, wet my hair, and all was right with my world.
Until…
“Fuck!”
The water suddenly turned ice fucking cold and I jumped. I shut it off and beelined to my towel, drying off and getting dressed, cursing out that hot water heater for the millionth time since the condo owner’s dumbass brother installed it.
I threw my jeans and work shirt back on and shoved my feet back in my boots, shaking my wet hair. I grabbed my toolbox and marched down to the basement, cursing.
But when I got to the basement, I found that I wasn’t alone.
Hot Neighbor Zoe was poking around like she was trying to fix it and, to my surprise, she wasn’t fucking it up too badly. She wasn’t going to get very far without the proper tools, but she knew what to check and the precautions to take. This wasn’t her first home repair.
It was kind of hot.
“Mind if I take a look at it?” I asked.
She jumped and turned around, clutching her chest.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I just… you know what you’re doing over there?”
“Kind of,” she answered. She was wearing a short bathrobe over some shorts and a tank top. She pulled the robe tighter. “I mean, I don’t know how to fix it, but I can at least figure out what’s wrong.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What’s the diagnosis?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m guessing either a faulty thermostat or crossed hot and cold connections. Or maybe the whole thing just needs to be reset.”
“Bingo,” I confirmed. I crouched down to get a better look. “Third guess is the charm. This needs to be reset.” I opened my toolbox and got to work.
“Are you sure you’re allowed to do that?” she asked, scrunching up her face. “Ted said…”
“Ted’s not here.”
“But he said not to try and repair anything ourselves,” she continued. “He wants us to call him so he can call his guy…”
“I’m better than Ted’s guy,” I assured her. “I can have this done in under an hour.”
“But…”
I met her eyes. She looked like the straight-A student about to get a detention for the first time. Like she was afraid to get into trouble.
