Page 18 of Square Deal

“Get in,” I said through gritted teeth as I locked the door behind us and walked to my car.

“Where are we going?” he asked as he sank down into the passenger’s seat and tried to stretch his legs in the cramped coupe.

“I have a guest room,” I said as I pulled out onto the road. “Given that my mother would tan my hide if she knew I didn’t use all that damn southern hospitality that she beat into my head, you’re welcome to use it as long as you don’t make a mess. You are house trained, right?”

“Do I even want to know whattan my hidemeans?”

“Probably not.”

“What do you usually do during a hurricane?” he asked, stretching his arm across my shoulders as I backed out of Maddie’s driveway and headed to my house.

I tried to ignore the rush of butterflies that fluttered inside as soon as he touched me. “Hang out at home. Watch TV until the power goes out.”

“And when the power goes out?” he asked, trailing his fingers up the side of my neck. “I can think of a good way to kill time.”

I shivered in response and swatted his hand away like a pesky mosquito. “Let’s set some ground rules,” I began as I pulled into my driveway and got out of the car. “You will stay in the guest room, and I will stay in my room. If you come out of the guest room, Iexpect you to keep your clothes on and your hands to yourself. If you cook yourself something, see to it that you don’t burn my kitchen down. The fire department has more important things to do than clean up the aftermath of you leaving a fork in the microwave.”

Isaac opened the back door and tugged his suitcase out. “What makes you think I can’t cook? Maybe I’m a great cook.”

I laughed as I unlocked the front door. “Your best friend is a celebrity chef. You can’t cook and I can’t bake. We have Luca and Maddie for those things.”

“Fair enough,” he muttered, looking around the entryway.

I shoved down all my insecurities and marched into the house, holding my head high as I turned on the lights. I didn’t know much about Isaac besides the fact that he was insufferable and made his millions—er—billions in something to do with luxury real estate. My historic home in downtown Beaufort hardly counted as luxury. But it had character, and that’s what had drawn me to the property. It just took a little TLC and way too many trips to the hardware store to get her restored to her former glory.

“The guest room is up the stairs. First door on the left,” I said as I grabbed a snack out of the pantry and shoved it in my purse. “I’m going to the hospital. I’ll be back later.”

I was almost through the front door and home free when his hand closed in on my hip. “What if I have my own set of ground rules?”

“Rulesplural? Pretty sure it’s my house. My grounds. My rules.”

“Fine.” He smirked. “Just one then.”

I raised an incredulous eyebrow.

His tongue darted out, wetting his bottom lip. Reminding me what it felt like to kiss him.

I hadn’t been with anyone for well over a year before I hooked up with him last night. I knew how to keep my needs in line. Where were all these pesky urges suddenly coming from?

Isaac’s eyes flitted down to my mouth and then back to meet my gaze. “Don’t fall in love with me, Princess,” he teased.

Whothe fuckdid he think he was? “Right back at you, Lawson,” I said, flipping him off with two manicured fingers before slamming the door on him.

6

ISAAC

Hannah Jane Hayes made one glaring mistake: she left me alone in her house.

Of course, I knew better, but I never claimed I wasn’t an asshole. I was human. And every human on planet earth does one thing when they’re left alone in someone else’s house.

They snoop.

In the twenty-four hours I had been thinking about her, the kind of house Hell Yes Ma’am lived in never crossed my mind. I sure didn’t expect it to be a Victorian tucked into the historic district of downtown Beaufort.

Hannah Jane didn’t particularly strike me as the cozy type. I imagined her eating nails and screws for breakfast instead of Wheaties, and sweetening her coffee with the tears of her enemies.

When we pulled into the driveway, I was genuinely surprised to be greeted by hanging flower baskets dangling from the top of the porch.

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