Page 35 of Somewhere You Belong

“Fine. If you could bring the box over, I would appreciate it.”

“Happy to. All you have to do is say the magic word.”

My mouth drops open slightly. “What?”

“Oh, come on, Goose.” He taps his temple mockingly, leaning toward me and narrowing his eyes. “Think really hard.”

I squint back at him, hoping I’ll suddenly shoot lasers from my eyes and he’ll turn to dust right in front of me. Sadly, this isn’t a sci-fi romance. Wait, this isn’t a romance at all, which makes that thought perplexing.

“Please,” I grate out, and his smile builds to an unworldly degree.

“Attagirl.” With a wink in my direction, he bends down, hoists the box over his head, and walks just a few feet to a black truck, depositing the box in the bed of it. “I’ll see you there.”

He turns toward his driver side door and hops inside, leaving me standing by my car, confused by the anger and desire mixing inside of me right now.

How can you want to punch someone in the face but want to ride that face at the same time?

Let me just add the undeniable attraction I feel for him to my long list of things to deal with that doesn’t seem to get any shorter as the days go by.

***

“Can you take it up the stairs,please?” I ask Dallas as he carries the box through the front door. Luckily, the geese are not around to make this delivery any more difficult.

“I’m impressed. You said please without me having to remind you.”

“Dear lord, what have I done to deserve this,” I mutter, closing the door behind him and watching his jean-clad legs carry the box up my stairs, putting his round ass on display.

Reluctantly, I follow his lead and find him in the middle of my room, staring out at the ocean through the sliding glass door.

“Damn. This view is even better than I imagined,” he says, his voice low and full of awe.

Taken aback, I drop my tone to match his. “You’ve never been in here?”

He shakes his head slowly. “Nope. I wanted to, but never got the opportunity. I’ve looked through the windows on the first floor each time I’d come by, but never stepped foot inside until the other day when I came to talk to you.” His eyes are still focused on the view in front of him.

“Are you telling me I’ll have to watch out for you spying on me now?”

He twists to face me, crossing his arms over his chest yet again. I don’t know if he does it to put off a commanding presence, or because he knows how good it makes his entire upper body look.

His lips turn up on one side. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and find out, won’t you?”

“You’re not helping your case right now, Dallas,” I tease, stepping around him to break our eye contact and to get my heart to slow thefurious pace at which it’s pumping. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a chair to put together.”

“Do you even have tools?”

Defeat pulls my shoulders down as I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes. “No.”

“So how are you planning on putting this together?”

“Through telepathy?” I wince, turning around to face him.

He laughs. “Right. You know, I happen to have a few tools in my truck. I could…help you…if you want.” His offer isn’t solid, more like unsure, waiting on my reaction.

But I feel like there must be an ulterior motive because this man can’t possibly just be that nice, especially given our interactions so far. “You don’t have to help me, Dallas. I can figure this out.”

He steps forward, closing the distance between us, forcing me to lean my head back so I can meet his eyes. Sweat mixed with the spice of his deodorant or cologne has me drawing in a deep breath, soaking in his smell.

Damn. He smells good—like a man that isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

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