Page 2 of Just Screwing Around

He blinked but didn’t respond.

“Too excited to speak, huh? That’s fair.” This was starting to get awkward. I didn’t do well with awkward. I rocked back on my heels while he ran his hand through the stubble on his jaw. It had sprouted a few grays since I’d last seen him, but I still wanted to know what it felt like rubbing against my skin. “You going to invite me in or…?”

He took a deep breath, but didn’t move out of the doorway. “Tell me one thing first. Did Derek put you up to this?”

Men are so dumb.

It was my turn to cross my arms over my chest. The fact that he immediately checked out my cleavage just proved my point. “You two idiots really think the world revolves around you, don’t you?” He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “No, seriously. You wake up, stretch, scratch your balls, and the sun gets up right alongside you. Thank goodness you carry this burden for the rest of the world. Slow clap for Nick. Taking one for the team.”

He had the good sense to turn a little red around the ears.

“This has nothing to do with the dick measuring contest between the two of you. It’s gone on about two decades too long. This has everything to do with me being broke from the bakery renovation. I don’t open for six more weeks so I need to save money.”

His eyebrows dropped over his dark chocolate eyes again. “Isn’t Derek doing the reno?”

I pursed my lips. “That doesn’t make it free, Nick.”

He nodded and pushed himself so he was standing his full height. “Should have hired me to do it.”

I pressed my fingers to my temple. “You just can’t help yourself, can you? Forget it. I’ll just go sleep under a bridge. See if I can find a nice troll to shack up with.” I turned and started towards the driveway, but he caught my arm. I could feel the calluses against the sensitive skin of my wrist, and I turned to face him.

“Wait. This whole thing is sort of strange, but we grew up together. You were like a little sister to me. If you say this is on the up and up, then I believe you. Come on in.”

Putting me in the little sister zone.

Ouch.

I always assumed this crush was one sided. That cemented it. Still, I hadn’t come here for that. I just needed a cheap place to live until I could get back in the black. Even if we weren’t off to a great start.

Chapter Two

Nick

If I had a hundred guesses on who replied to my ad, I never would have guessed Charlotte. I’d set my spare room up as a rental for when one of my workers needed a place to crash. It happened a lot. Construction work was seasonal and life was expensive.

I was also thinking about the long term. My mom was only in her sixties, but one day she might need to live with me. Since she didn’t need it at the moment and neither did any of my guys, I figured I’d post the room for rent.

I could always use the extra cash and it was nice not to come home to an empty house.

Charlotte though? This could be a problem. Not just because her brother was an ass, although that certainly was a factor. Derek and I had been tight up until our last year of high school. We’d both set our eyes on the same girl, testosterone was raised, and everything became a competition. Now we both ran rival environmentally sustainable construction companies in the same town and couldn’t be in the same room with each other.

The fact that Derek was probably furious over Charlotte being my roommate gave me the incentive to step back and let her through my front door. Her arm brushed mine as she moved into my space, and it sent tingles of awareness through me.

That was just sad.

I was forty, not fifteen. I guess it had been awhile. Part of growing up in a small city was that everyone was in each other’s business. Sure, I could go to the bar and pick up a woman to bring home, only to find out her cousin’s best friend’s dog groomer was friends with my mom, and the next thing I knew Mom was planning my wedding. It was a good incentive to keep it in my pants.

Now though, temptation had literally knocked on my front door and was poking around my living room like it was a crime scene. “Uh, so this is the living room.”

She glanced back over her shoulder at me and smirked. “Yeah, I puzzled that out.”

Smart ass.

Speaking of asses, she had a nice one. Dangerous curves tucked into a snug pair of leggings. Somehow modest and heart attack inducingly sexy at the same time. From there, she went to the kitchen and started rooting around in my cupboards, including the ones low enough that she had to bend over to snoop.

“A well stocked kitchen. I’m impressed.”

My chest swelled at her words for reasons I couldn’t explain. This woman was literally the enemy, or the sister of the enemy, anyway. Why the hell did I care that she approved of my spatula selection?

---