Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 132892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“I haven’t decided yet,” he replied. “Depends on whether I find a reason to stick around, I guess.”
Whatever I might’ve said in reply died as a battered old Jeep Wrangler pulled up, parking along the street in front of the building. The door flew open and out climbed Talia Jackson. Her eyes snapped toward us, narrowing.
“Hey, baby!” she called, walking over to stand pointedly between me and Cooper. I watched as she wrapped herself around him for a deep kiss. Part of me hoped he’d tell her to fuck off. Instead he kissed her back, digging his hands into her flat ass. Then Talia broke free, turning to smirk at me.
Message received.
“Nice to see you, Talia,” I said, thinking of Princess Diana. Calm, cool, graceful Diana. Now I just needed to channel her, instead of going all Kardashian on Talia’s tacky ass like I wanted to. “I was just about to show Cooper his new place. Would you like to join us?”
She looked over at the building.
“I can’t understand why you’d want to live here,” she declared loudly at Cooper. “They’re a bunch of old people, and I’m sure they’ll bitch at you all the time just because you have a life.”
Dear God, were we really going here?
Inhale pink, exhale blue. You can do this.
“I’ll show you the apartment, and then you can get settled,” I announced, ignoring her. “Second floor, right behind the main house. That’s a good one, because it has its own separate entrance off the parking lot. Gives you more privacy.”
Cooper nodded, following me as I stepped off the wide porch and around the side of the house to the attached apartment building. There wasn’t much of a stoop on the stairwell, but it had a nice awning over the entry. Handy in the winter.
“It’s just one bedroom,” I said, unlocking the door. I pushed it open, and Cooper and Talia followed me into the living room. The apartment stretched across the width of the building, so there was light coming in from both sides. Across from the door was a dining area with a kitchenette.
“It’s all natural-gas heat,” I told him. “That keeps the utilities under control. The bedroom and bathroom are just through here.”
They followed me through the living room into the bedroom, Talia looking around eagerly. Apparently her disgust didn’t run quite as deep as she’d let on. Fair enough—it was a nice building, built by my grandpa and lovingly maintained by my dad. They’d always taken their work very seriously.
“Do you have a bed?” Talia asked Cooper. “When are we breaking this place in?”
And just like that I was done.
“So, that’s everything,” I announced. “There’s a paper with all the garbage and utilities information in the kitchen, along with my contact information. It’s taped inside the cabinet next to the sink. Call me if you need anything, otherwise I’ll just let you get settled.”
I started toward the door, wondering if it would be okay to declare he wasn’t allowed overnight guests. Specifically, that he wasn’t allowed female overnight guests.
Hmmm . . . probably not. Pisser.
I’d just reached the door when Cooper’s hand caught my arm, scaring the crap out of me.
“Sorry,” he said as I spun on him with a definitively unsexy squawk. “I just wanted to thank you. The place looks great.”
“Wonderful,” I snapped, glaring down at his hand. I could smell him all around me, feel the strength in his fingers. If a super hot guy was going to answer my ad, why did it have to be one who already had a girlfriend? That was flat out unfair.
“So, maybe we should talk in the morning,” he said. “If you put together a list of everything that needs doing, I can get started tomorrow. Looks like there’s a few projects here and there that could use some work.”
I barely noticed his words—I was too busy watching his lips move. They were really, really pretty. Perfect. Exactly right for sucking on. Something twinged between my legs and I felt my nipples tighten. His hand squeezed my arm again, feeling strangely intimate, and his eyes pierced mine.
“So, tomorrow?”
“Um, sure,” I said quickly, realizing I needed to get the hell out of there before I embarrassed myself. “I’ll see you later.”
Wouldn’t want to get in the way of them “breaking in” the bedroom.
This wasn’t going to end well.
Maybe I should fire him.
I was climbing the steps back to my house and giving the idea serious consideration when my foot caught on a rotten board that’d been on my to-fix list since last spring. I tried pulling it free, but it stuck. Then I kicked at it, and suddenly the damned thing gave way, sending my foot plunging through.
Well, crap.
Firing him wasn’t really an option . . . I’d been advertising for a handyman for nearly a month, and during that whole time I’d only gotten two calls. One was a prank and the other was Steve Gribble, whose wife had kicked him out (again) for getting drunk and losing his job (again).