Page 15 of Nailing Studs

It doesn’t matter if they want you. It doesn’t matter how they make you feel. You’re selling Tabitha’s home and leaving town. That is that.

I tossed my phone on the covers andflopped back down on my pillow. It was only then I realized Taylor hadn’t told me what I owed him for the sink.

Which meant I’d have to contact him again tomorrow.

And resist temptation once again.

Why, why, why did life have to be so unfair sometimes?

7

Kayla

The next morning, my stuff arrived from New York. The movers plopped the boxes in the living room, collected their money, and quickly left. Not too long from now, I’d have to move again, so I only unpacked a few things, stuff I could use while I was here even if it was temporarily.

But for how long? I wasn’t sure how much time it would take to sell the place. I had no clue what the real estate market was like in Fosterman. Taylor had said there would be a high demand for the house, but what did that mean, exactly? Could he have meant if the house was fixed up, instead of as-is?

Coffee finally brewed, I poured myself a cup and leaned against the kitchen counter. I pulled out the card of the agent Taylor had recommended and stared at the picture of the woman. Laura Fontaine. Pretty name and a pretty face to match. How did Taylor know her? Were they friends? Had they dated? Had they ever—

Knock it off, Kayla, I ordered. My stupid insecurity was showing again. What did it matter if they’d slept together?

I called the number and spoke to Laura. When she asked who had recommended her, I told her Taylor Riggs had come over to do a repair and given me her business card.

There was a moment’s pause before she said, “Oh, Taylor, of course! I’m glad he still thinks of me. Great guy.”

My curiosity got the best of me. “S0, um, did you two date, or something?”

“Yes, we used to date—we were roommates, actually—but that was a while back. College,” Laura clarified, and the jealousy I’d been trying to hold back reared its ugly head. “The three of us—he, I and our other roommate Dominic—were thick as thieves, back in the day. Those two were so much fun. Great guys—the kind that would do anything for a friend.”

I was trying not to let the enthusiasm in her voice annoy me. Jealousy wasn’t what I needed in my life at the moment. Or ever, really. “We met only yesterday, but Taylor seemed trustworthy and kind.”

“Oh, definitely he’s both! And more.” Her voice rose and I could almost sense her pulse rate increasing.

“So Dom and Taylor were roommates back then, too? They didn’t say when they were here.”

Her breath seemed to catch, and her voice came out a little high-pitched and airy when she said, “Oh, you met Dom, too?”

I frowned. Taylor had seemed enthusiastic about referring Laura as a real estate agent, but had they not kept in touch the way I’d assumed? “Um, yeah, the two work together. They have a construction company, the Fix-It Guys. They came here yesterday to fix my sink and do an evaluation on the house.”

“Right. How was Dom? Did he seem…okay?” Concern hung in Laura’s voice. I wondered if she was referring to him getting dumped by his fiancée.

I sensed some regret in Laura, maybe even pity for Dom. But I didn’t want to throw Dom under the bus without knowing the exact history between him and Laura, so I simply replied, “He seemed fine. Why?”

“We had some history. I think maybe he fell in—never mind. He’s doing good, though?”

History, huh? Was she about to tell me Dom had fallen in love with her while she was dating Taylor? My jealousy magnified tenfold. I glanced down at the photo of Laura on her business card. What an amazingly beautiful woman. Every hair in place, makeup perfectly applied, no evidence of curves…the opposite of me. I swallowed and gave myself a lecture: whatever had happened between this woman and the two men wasn’t my business. That was then. This is now. And I wasn’t going to stay in Fosterman long enough to make Taylor and Dom’s past into a thing.

I added false enthusiasm to my voice and answered with, “Yep, he’s doing good! Kept to himself doing the house inspection, mostly. He’s kinda…intense.”

She let out a light laugh, a change from her earlier worry. “That he is. But don’t let that fool you—that man would go to the ends of the earth to protect anyone who needed it. I once watched him stop three lanes of traffic to rescue a frightened dog and return it to a crying kid. Made a friend for lifethat day. Two friends, actually. The dog wouldn’t stop licking Dom’s face, and last I heard, the kid still keeps in touch. But yeah, you wouldn’t know he has that protective side when you first meet him.”

“I got that sense. He’s really professional, too. Both he and Taylor seemed to work together well.”

“Oh. Yeah, they do. Work together well, that is.” Her voice grewthroaty. “It’s good to hear they’re both fine. I sure had fun with the two of them. Mmmhmm.”

Wait. With the two of them? My mind immediately leaped to the same place it had gone that first night I’d arrived in Fosterman, when I’d fantasized about the two men taking me at the same time. College could be a weird time for many, with lots of experimentation, so maybe the three of them had tried some things out in bed, but I wasn’t sure my brain could handle imagining Taylor and Dom with this gorgeous woman.

First off, I was jealous. And secondly? Things like that didn’t happen in real life. They were just that—fantasies.

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