Page 19 of The Problem with Dating
Sure, I had managed to get everything done that I had needed after I had kicked Gideon out of my house yesterday, but it had still been a long night. I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to the man, and I was struggling with that big time.
I knew it was unfair to compare his aggressive ways to Marco’s, but I couldn’t help it. Sure, Marco had hidden his true nature in the beginning, whereas Gideon showed you his gruff demeanor right away.
Gideon Hayes wasn’t hiding anything.
However, I’d already been through one relationship where my voice had been quieted, I didn’t want to go through that again. Of course, that was a big leap into thinking Gideon even wanted to have a relationship with me. Right now, everything he was doing, he was doing out of guilt. His insistence had nothing to do with attraction, so I might be getting ahead of myself here.
All I did know was that I had stayed up late last night, rubbing one out, to dirty imagines of Gideon Hayes making the walls in my house shake. And that had been a horrible realization to how I must be that dumb if I was willing to put up with his crappy disposition just to get naked with him.
And when there was a knock at my door, I already knew who it was. I had no friends, and I had already called Mitchell this morning to tell him I was going with Gideon’s cheaper bid. So, unless it was church goers here to save my soul after the things I had imagined last night, it could only be Gideon at my front door.
When I swung the door opened, he just smirked at me, and I stepped aside to let him in. I mean, what was the point? I needed the work done and I wasn’t going to cut off my nose to spite my face.
However, all thoughts came to a screeching halt when Nathan freaking Hayes walked into my house behind Gideon.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
Even if you didn’t follow sports, it was hard not to know who Nathan Hayes was. He retired from baseball a couple of years ago, or so, but he’d had so many endorsements all throughout his baseball career, you were guaranteed to have seen him come across your television at least once or twice.
He smiled at me and I almost dropped to the floor. “Hi. I’m Nathan.”
Ignoring the baseball phenom, I glared over at Gideon. “I know you do not have Nathan freakin’ Hayes at my house to repair my floor,” I hissed.
Gideon cocked his head to the side and let out an aggravated breath. “Echo meet my brother, Nathan. Nathan, meet Echo, my pain in the ass neighbor.”
“Jesus, that’s why you looked familiar when I first met you,” I realized. “You guys look alike.”
Nathan grinned. “We all take after Dad,” he informed me.
“All?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “Sayer’s the oldest, then Gideon, then me.”
“There’sthreeof you?”Holy Baby Jesus.
Nathan nodded. “Yeah. And Sayer would be here, too, but his four-day rotation started today.”
“Four-day rotation?”
“He’s a Silias County firefighter,” he explained proudly, and my legs almost did give out then. Talk about a triple threat. Ovaries all over the town probably exploded every time these three brothers were together in one place.
Lord, have mercy.
And that’s when it dawned on me.
Narrowing my eyes at the six-foot-three jerkface already setting his tools down, I said, “You brought him with you, so I wouldn’t call the cops on you, you dick.” Nathan let out a strangled chuckle, but he wasn’t important right now. “You knew there was no way I’d ever call the cops on Nathan freakin’ Hayes, and that’s why you brought him, isn’t it?”
“I brought him to keep his wife from strangling him to death because he likes to get on her nerves, and he doesn’t need the paycheck,” Gideon replied. “I told you I didn’t have to pay for labor.”
“Gideon,” I practically screeched, “he’sNathan freakin’ Hayes.”
Nathan grinned again. “So, you know my work?”
My eyes flicked towards his really quick, and it really sucked that I was probably going to insult the man with my next words, but I wasn’t going to lie. “Uh…I know who youare,but…uh, I’m more of a golf enthusiast,” I mumbled.
