Page 12 of Her Braun
"Absolutely. I'd be happy to."
The depth of relief that she felt was tantamount to when she passed the MCAT on her first try.
"This is so much better than the last guy who offered me his help here."
A wry smile touched his lips. "I'm glad you didn't invite him to your bedroom."
"Not a hope in hell," she ground out. "I can only handle so much mansplaining before I threaten someone with my scalpel."
His brows lifted at that. "I never expected you to be so bloodthirsty."
She shrugged. "Stick around. It'll happen sooner or later. I'm a woman. And I'm petite. Men think that means I don't have a brain in my head."
"Not all men," Gibson smiled at her. "I know exactly how smart you are. And I have a great appreciation for intelligent capable women. My sister works for Los Alamos in New Mexico. She tested off the charts in science and math."
Kay looked back at him, and she had to admit her whole estimation of him went up and through the roof. "That has to be daunting."
He shrugged. "She's a lot like you. Crazy intelligent, but you don't lord it over people. I like that. A lot."
He looked at her as if he was seeing her differently, too.
And the heat in the paint aisle rose another few degrees.
Gibson meant everything he said. His sister Katherine was a genius, but she acted just like anyone else. She could sit back on his couch and have a beer. Put her feet up on his coffee tableeven though it drove him up a damn wall and yell at the TV during horror films because people acted like 'fucking idiots.'
Kay was real, too. But there was something different about her.
She was petite, yes, but there was also a strength inside of her that he thought everyone could see.
But if guys at the store were acting like they were, then they needed to open their eyes.
Kay was much more approachable than he'd thought. Of course he'd startled her by just speaking out of turn but seeing her at Home Mart had been a little like spotting an oasis in the desert. He'd been thinking about her so much that he wasn't half surprised seeing her in the store.
But finding out that she was actually there?
If he believed in signs, this would have been one.
"So how big is the hole?"
One brow rose and her mouth pressed into a slanted line. "I forgot to answer that, didn't I?"
He shrugged. "You were thinking about something else."
She blushed and he wished he could find out what had been on her mind. It certainly looked like it had been a fun thought. "I... uh..." She bit into her bottom lip and in his head, he imagined if she'd done that since she was a little girl. "I was," she lowered her gaze for a moment, "but you asked about the hole in my wall. It's," she lifted her hands and curved her splayed fingers to make a shape the size of a large grapefruit before meeting his gaze again, "about this big."
"That's not all that bad."
She looked up at him, unsure. "If it wasn't in my wall, I'd feel better about it."
He nodded, agreeing. "Well, the good thing is that you don't need any supplies from here to fill it. I have some materials in my truck that could easily cover something of that size." Hegestured at the wall of paint colors. "All you need to do now is pick the color you want to paint it after we're done."
Her brows raised. "Afterwe'redone?"
Gibson nodded. "Of course. I'm going to have you help me."
Her shoulders tightened up and her feet shuffled a little. "I'd probably make it worse instead. I am the reason why the hole is there. You know?"
He nodded. "True. Maybe it's best if you just left it to me. You can step in and help if you want to."
