Page 9 of Home Between Homes

“Good morning. Sorry to wake you so early. I’m Jack, the Home Services Expert.”

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” I played along and stepped aside. “The McCormacs announced your early arrival, and we—Lady Maggie and I—have been expecting you.”

Jack walked past me, and I closed the door behind him. Maggie’s head turned back and forth between us, not understanding what was going on.

This was so silly that I couldn’t stop smiling. “I guess you know your way around the house?” I asked, returning to my normal voice as I shuffled back to the kitchen.

“I’ll stay out of your way as much as possible. Promise,” Jack said, hanging his jacket on the hook by the door and then following me. He pointed to the cupboard under the sink. “I just need to get my stuff.”

I stepped aside and let my eyes wander around the room to see if there was a coffee maker somewhere, but as Jack crouched down and leaned forward to get the cleaning supplies out, his shirt slid up a bit, giving me a perfect view of his firm butt in his jeans.

“You, uh, want some coffee too?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off him.

“Thank you. I didn’t have the time to get one today. So I wouldn’t say no to that,” he replied, pulling out a gray bucket, a scouring pad, and four bottles of cleaner.

Maggie joined us in the kitchen as well, and as soon as she realized the cupboard was open, she lunged at Jack. I tried to grab her by the collar, but she was faster than me. However, Jack seemed to know what she was up to because he reached out to stop her before she could get in.

“Come on, Maggie,” he said. “I understand you like to eat, but is food the only thing on your mind?” He nudged her away from the cabinet and closed the doors, putting the childproof handle back on. “She’s a good girl but insatiable.” He took the bucket and walked to the bathroom, the sound of water being poured into it reaching my ears.

I watched Maggie trudge to her bed, moping about being denied access to her favorite cabinet before I looked around the room to finally get the coffee going. I stretched my head to every corner, but I couldn’t see a coffee maker. I opened the upper cabinets but found only plates, cups, baking utensils, and coffee powder, which I placed on the counter.

“Looking for the coffee maker?” Jack asked when he came back and noticed me turning the kitchen upside down.

I pulled out a drawer that was full of cutlery as if it could be there. “They have one, right?”

Jack stepped behind me and leaned over the counter, pulling up a hidden wall in the backsplash that revealed several kitchenutensils. He didn’t touch me, but for a moment, he was close enough to make my heart beat a little faster, and the images I’d created in my head yesterday flashed through my mind again. My face grew hot. “Thank you,” I said, keeping my eyes down so he wouldn’t see me blush.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, took the blue cleaning bottle, and poured some of it into the water bucket. “So you’re the dog sitter, huh?”

“M-hm,” I replied and opened the ground coffee. Somehow, I was expecting a snarky comment about how happy he was that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t become a vet, but nothing of the sort happened.

“That’s very nice of you. They had a hard time finding someone to take care of Maggie while they were gone. I told them it would be difficult around the holidays, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“Mr. McCormac called meliterallytwo minutes after I had sent them my application.”

“You wouldn’t believe how excited they were. They asked me first, but since I couldn’t get here as often as Maggie needed me, I helped them put the ad up online. No one applied for over a week.”

It crossed my mind for a moment that maybe he’d set me up, but that was plain stupid. He had no way of knowing that I’d even see the ad, not to mention that, as far as anyone knew, I was just taking some time off to travel.

“Well, I’ll try to stay out of your way as much as possible. I’ll have to hurry anyway because I’ve got a lot of other houses to take care of today, and I don’t want to bother you anymore,” Jack said, grabbing the bucket and heading for the living room.

“I’ve never had anyone but myself clean my house. Please be around me as much as possible so I can feel rich for a second.”

“You’re still as funny as ever, Noah,” Jack replied, his eyes searching for something on the floor.

He thought I was… funny?

Jack took a deep breath as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know if he could. “I could also call you sirif that makes you feel like a rich person.” He looked up, his cheeks now completely red. That was probably the kinkiest thing he had ever said to anyone, judging by his expression.

“Call me Noah. Anything else would be weird.”

He stared at me, and I stared back at him, neither of us doing what we were supposed to do.

“Didn’t you say you had a lot to do?” I asked.

“Right. Sorry. I’m so used to chatting with my clients that sometimes I feel like that’s what they’re paying for.”

“Do you call them all ‘sir’?” I teased him.

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