Page 30 of Waiting for Tuesday

Just then, a gust of wind blew in from the alley, and John walked through the door. He wore a yellow poncho covered with rain and his hair had beads of water resting on its ends. Stubble slightly longer than his normal shadow covered his face, but he looked—amazing.

He shook his head, causing the drops to fly in every direction, then turned to me.

I swallowed, remembering his arms wrapped around me last night, how gentle he’d been. How hard he’d hugged me. How sweet, even though I’d practically ignored him all week.

His eyes found mine but he didn’t speak. He didn’t smile either.

“Y-you put my shelving unit together. Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around my waist, sure it was the chill in the air that caused my stutter. “You didn’t have to.”

His brows furrowed and he nodded—once. Then he moved toward me, his boots leaving puddles of water on the plywood floor, and I instinctively took a step backward. “Where did you find slot X?”

The corner of his mouth lifted, not quite a smile but not a frown either, then he shifted his poncho to the side, exposing a power drill on the holster of his belt. “I made one.”

I grinned. “I can’t even tell you how relieved that makes me.”

He nodded but kept moving forward.

My heartbeat quickened and I touched a hand to my throat. “You probably don’t want to get too close, I’m might be contagious,” I croaked.

But he kept on coming, ignoring my warning, moving with the confidence of a stallion. I wasn’t sure what I expected him to do, but at the same time, I craved whatever it was. My body tightened, already anticipating his touch—then he stopped at the nearby table and grabbed a set of towels from the surface.

Oh.

He braced his legs apart and began drying his hair as I watched him. In truth, I don’t know if I could have pulled my eyes away if I tried. He was incredibly attractive, maybe even more so because he was all wet, and I was too damned tired to stop myself.

“If you’re sick, why are you here?”

I tucked my hair behind my ear and leaned against the doorframe. “Because I have work to do.”

He dropped the towel to his neck and leaned against the counter. “It’ll still be here on Monday.”

“Yeah.” I shifted my weight to the other foot, slightly turned on by his deep, sultry voice. “But I like self-torture.”

He grinned then. Something I hadn’t seen in weeks, and it caused a longing to form in my gut. “Me too.”

I laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

I looked up to the ceiling. “’Cause I’m pretty sure you were here all night.” I swallowed, looking into his deep, brown eyes and remembering how good it had felt to be held against him.

He didn’t look away. Just smiled at me. His lips barely lifted at the corners, as his eyes heated my whole body.

I adjusted my stance and looked up to the ceiling again, finally breaking the stare that had left me steaming. “How much is it going to cost me?”

He shook his head then placed the towel on the table. “Don’t worry about it.”

I straightened, pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “What do you mean?”

He turned his back to me, crossing the room to the product floor. “It’s covered, Tuesday. It won’t cost you a thing.”

I swallowed, watching him push through the plastic divider, and I held back the protest that settled on my tongue. He was doing me a favor, a huge one that I had no right to accept. I’d been nothing but rude to him all week, but he’d sent me home to sleep, while he stayed up all night fixing my roof… for free.

I turned back to my office, stuffing my wallet back into my bag and feeling like the shittiest person in the world. The memory of the jumper cables smug asshole was now replaced with something different. A man who had come to my rescue more times than I could count on one hand.

* * *

Iworked hard that afternoon, filling orders, making products, and not giving the slightest thought to the roof. I even set a couple of batches of Sweater Weatherbath bar to cure on my new shelves. But John was all I thought about. I was pretty sure he was flirting with me this afternoon, and I flirted back, which was equally concerning.

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