Page 20 of Safe With Me

“Hey, Mike,” Lila said as a lock of hair fell in front of her face. I flexed my fingers around the handle of my toolbox to ward off the tingling temptation to tuck the strand behind her ear and let my hand drift down her cheek to see if her skin was as soft as it looked.

“Hey,” I managed after I cleared my throat and stepped inside. “I think that’s the most locks I’ve seen on a door in this town. Usually, we have to remind everyone to lock their doors at night.”

“I’d never leave my door open at night.” She grimaced and shook her head. “Terry gave me the information for a locksmithwhen I moved in when I asked if I could add locks to the door. The one lock they had looked kind of flimsy.”

Getting residents to lock their doors in this town, especially the older ones, was a battle sometimes. Since she’d moved from a big city, I understood her extra need for security, still, three locks seemed like overkill.

But I ignored the twinge in my gut. Moving from a big city to a small town was a culture adjustment. Even the nearby town I’d lived in with my mother seemed so much bigger than Kelly Lakes.

Adding better locks to her door was a reasonable thing to do, especially for a woman living alone. But the terror that took over her features when her tire had been cut flashed in my mind, and the cop in me had a burning need to know if that day and the locks on her door were connected.

“So, you met Gary?” I said as I headed to her empty kitchen table. “Nice guy. He’s a big customer of my father’s.”

“He mentioned that,” she said with a quiet chuckle. “I’m guessing the entire town has hired Russo’s Contracting at some point.”

Her shoulders were looser than when she was sitting in the folding chair outside, and I took it as a good sign that she’d relaxed enough to smile and almost laugh.

“They have, I think. And my father taught me everything I know, so put me to work.” My chest swelled when she giggled at my mock salute.

“We can start with these,” she said, reaching behind the couch for two black frames.

“Sounds good,” I said, that same tingle running up my arm when she handed me the photos and our fingers brushed. “Just point to where you want them.”

“How about one here?” She tapped the wall by her door. “And the other one can go over the couch next to the mirror.”

“You got it,” I said. “I’m at your service.” I grinned, my heart kicking up a few beats when a blush ran down her neck.

Focus, Russo.

I tapped around the wall by the door, looking for the sweet spot, before I grabbed a few nails and my hammer.

“I’m sorry that they cornered you into doing this. As you can see, I haven’t unpacked much,” she said, motioning to the suitcase in the corner. “I should’ve done that before you had to spend your Friday night hanging pictures.”

“They didn’t corner me. Well, they did.”

I pulled another smile out of her when I arched a brow.

“But I’m happy to do it. I wasn’t doing anything tonight anyway, which is why I was running around the neighborhood with nowhere to go.”

I’d hang pictures all night to see that fucking smile. When did a woman I hardly knew have this kind of effect on me? I didn’t know where it was coming from or what the hell to do with it.

Whatever it was, it was enough to make me forget everything around me except her. Infatuation like that was dangerous, and why I tried like hell to stay away from it.

“Since my father has you working late, I’m guessing you haven’t seen much of the town. Not that there’s a whole lot.”

After running the stud finder along the wall, I lined up the nail and gently hammered it into the freshly painted white wall, feeling Lila’s pretty eyes on my back.

“You’d be right. Once we get through the mess his old manager left behind, I’ll venture out and see what I missed on the drive in.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the opposite wall, deepening the slope of her cleavage and almost making me attach my thumb to her wall instead of the nail. “Any suggestions?”

“Well, you’ve seen the bar. It’s pretty packed on the weekends, and it has a steady crowd during the week,” I said as Ilined up the first picture and penciled a tiny line over the top of the frame.

“How’s that?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder. She lifted her head, blinking a couple of times before darting her eyes away, as if I’d caught her looking somewhere she wasn’t supposed to.

I smiled to myself, liking the possibility of Lila checking out my ass as I worked on her apartment. Maybe I hadn’t been seeing things on the porch, but I still couldn’t do anything about it.

Lila working for my father didn’t make her completely off-limits, but my father wouldn’t be happy if I tried to date her. I needed to keep my new fascination about Lila to myself.

“I think that’s perfect,” she said, a slow smile creeping across her mouth. “It’s good to have reminders of home, right? Even if they make you a little homesick.” A wistful gleam flickered in her eyes.

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