Page 18 of Maid to Desire
“She isn’t losing me as a client. I promise.”
“Then you want one of my sisters cleaning your house?” I whispered.
My words were soft but they didn’t hide insecurity and jealousy. My sisters were all gorgeous. I always felt that I was the ugly duckling of the family. Tyler, like most men, would fall head over heels for them.
“Melinda,” Tyler laughed and kissed me. “I’m not interested in your sisters. I didn’t know they did the same job. So no need to be jealous.”
“I’m not jealous,” I grumped and started to climb out of the bed, but he grabbed me and pulled me on his lap. He looked down at me and smiled.
“Did you know that you look sexy no matter what emotion you’re feeling?”
“I’m calling B.S. on that,” I muttered, looking away and trying to not blush.
“Even now as you blush,” he chuckled.
“Anyway. Back to me not cleaning your house.”
“Let’s talk about it over dinner.” He gave me a boyish grin. “I’ll cook.”
“Are you sure you know how to cook?” I teased.
“I’ll have you know, I’m an amazing cook. Haven’t had the fire department come to my house since last week,” he declared with a straight face.
His words had me laughing wholeheartedly. It was hard not to with images of firefighters storming his house, putting out the flames to some monstrosity Tyler had attempted to cook.
“You’re laughing way too hard at my expense,” Tyler grinned. “Why don’t we order delivery? You can choose anything your heart desires. If they don’t have delivery, my brother can go get it for us. He still owes me.”
“I thought his debt was paid,” I leaned my head on his shoulder, “in full by taking out my spark plugs?”
“No. That was only a sliver of paying me back.” He shook his head. “I watched the camera footage from this weekend. He and his buddies were having the time of their life. They even tried filling my pool with beer.”
“Oh. No,” I gasped.
“Oh. Yes,” he groaned. “So now he owes me his life or it’s his ass.”
“Completely understandable.”
“So… What would you like to eat? Pizza? Chinese? Greek? Mexican?”
“I’m a simple girl.” I sat up and looked at him. “I’m fine with pizza if you are.”
“He really does own me, so I can make him go across the country to get pizza in New York if that’s the kind you want.”
“As yummy as that sounds,” I giggled, “I think we’d starve to death before he actually made it back.”
“You have a point there,” he laughed. “Let’s find some local place that delivers.”
ChapterTen
The past twenty-fourhours had been blissful. Tyler had ordered pizza and we pigged out while talking about everything. It was really nice spending time with him and getting to know him. We had kissed a lot but nothing else happened that night.
His brother had fixed my car sometime through the night. When I woke up, I freshened up real quick, kissed Tyler goodbye, and headed home. It was a quick in-and-out at my house. My sisters were still sleeping or playing opossum. Either way, I showered, readied for the day, then went off to visit mama for two hours before work.
She was in high spirits and talked about how she was so proud of us girls for coming home to be there for her and her business. She said the family was healing her soul and she felt that things were going to be a-okay. Deep down I felt that she was right. That things were going to be better from now on.
* * *
“Melinda!” Tyler called out from somewhere in his house. Heavy footsteps sounded across the marble tile. “Melinda!”
