Page 34 of Trouble Walked In

She smiled sweetly at him.

He rubbed his face with both hands as if he thought he was hallucinating. “What?”

“The longer you stand here talking, the less time you’ll have to get dressed.”

He made a noise suspiciously like a growl and turned his back on her, leaving the door open. She took that as an invitation and entered the room.

While Renic tugged a change of clothes out of his suitcase and dropped them in a pile on the dresser, Lizzie snooped surreptitiously around the room. The trash in the bathtub was gone. The marks on the bathroom floor were scrubbed away, the toilet gleamed as if just polished, and the room smelled fresh.

He’d made the bed with several layers of blankets, and she’d been right about the windows. They were still wide open. The room was frigid even though the fireplace wasgoing. He’d probably spent the night shivering instead of sleeping.

A tiny dagger of guilt stabbed her chest.

“Nice of you to run up the heat bill,” Lizzie said. She hadn’t meant to say it, but for some reason being around Renic brought out the snark in her.

Renic dropped the blanket he’d wrapped around his shoulders onto the bed. He wore a thick navy sweatshirt and gray boxer briefs that left nothing to the imagination. “It was that or suffocation by stench.”

“If you’re unhappy with the room you should find someplace else to stay.”

Renic looked at her as if he was about to argue, then the corner of his mouth twitched. He pulled the sweatshirt off and tossed it onto the bed.

Lizzie blinked, a little shocked at the sudden display of bare flesh, then stared because she couldn’t help herself.

She’d never seen Renic with his shirt off before. A part of her that she’d been ignoring for a long, long time had wondered what he’d look like. That long-forgotten part was definitely paying attention now.

He looked like someone who took out his frustrations through exercise.

The man had a body that belonged in a magazine, with well-defined abs and pecs. It was the kind of chest she associated with the farm boys in the town where she’d grown up. They built muscles by lifting bales of hay and shoveling manure, which made said muscles rock hard and pretty to look at.

It struck her how very different Renic was from her ex-husband. The Pogo Stick, as she’d taken to calling him, was tall, wiry, and wore a smaller pant size than she did. She’d always felt clunky around him.

Renic was a little shorter than the Stick, broader at the shoulders, and more substantial. His arms would make her feel petite and protected.

She shouldn’t be thinking like that.

She should look away, or better yet, leave the room to give him some privacy, but she didn’t.

Her face heated when she realized he was watching her assess his body with interest. He raised an eyebrow as if waiting for the judge’s score and expecting a solid ten out of ten.

She’d give him a fifteen.

An evil grin spread across his face. “Why are you here, Lizzie? You said something about places to go?”

“Uh…we need…” Lizzie took a breath and tried again. “We need twinkle lights. For the path to Lookout Point.”

“That definitely sounds like something we should do at the crack of dawn.” He flexed his chest muscles. “And you need my help for this because?”

“I need a ride.” She needed to get a grip. She’d lost complete control of the situation. “They need the truck to move the chairs. For the wedding.”

“Uh-huh.” Renic sounded like he didn’t believe a word she was saying.

“And I thought we could talk. You said you wanted to talk. I’m not saying I’ll agree with you, or let you push us around. But…” She was momentarily distracted by Renic’s backside as he folded his sweatshirt and placed it in the top dresser drawer. “…I’ll listen. You know, to what you have to say. If you want.”

Renic paused with his back to her as if thinking over what she’d just said. “You want me to pitch to you while we shop for twinkle lights. I have to say, Lizzie, that’s a new one. If Isay yes to this, you have to listen without arguing, or blaming me for anything, until I finish. Deal?”

Lizzie crossed her arms. His blatant attempt to manipulate the situation to his advantage helped her get control of her thoughts and her hormones. He just had to have the last word. Well, not this time. “I haven’t blamed you for anything you didn’t deserve.”

“Hmmm.” Renic launched another attack on her senses by pulling off his boxer briefs. In two seconds, he was standing in front of her bare-assed naked, except for the socks.

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