Page 28 of The Best Friend's Billionaire Brother
She felt Wyatt’s presence next to her and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Boy, it sure is a mess.”
“Yeah, the years haven’t been kind to it.”
“Nope.”
The one-story ranch-style home had been beautiful…at one point. It was mostly brick, with chipped white paint accents. The wrap-around porch, railing, and steps had been stained at one point, but now they were weathered. The roof was missing half its shingles, leading Gabby to think the interior was a mess. Restoring this home would be a serious project.
Why was she even considering it? A project with a man who only thought of her as family would be torture. Besides, all those talks about an orchard were just ramblings of a lovesick girl and a tonsil-less guy.
“Wanna check out the inside?” Gabby smiled and looked at him. “I hope the bones are still good, but I’m not holding my breath.”
Nodding, his gaze roamed from one side of the house to the other and then landed on her. “Me either.”
She nearly gulped. To her, he was the best-looking guy no matter who was in the room, but today he’d somehow managed to crank that up a notch. The way his jacket collar was pulled up, framing his jaw with his dark blue button-up check shirt peeking out, he was breathtaking.
“Okay, let’s check it out.” She pulled her gaze from his and tucked her head down as she reached the steps leading to the house.
Two steps up, she heard a snap before her boot went through it. Waving her arms wildly, she tried to keep herself from falling; the next thing she knew, Wyatt’s arms were around her.
“Whoa,” he said, holding her to him. “I guess we’ll mark that on the to-do list.”
Her hammering heart and shaky nerves kept her from speaking, so she nodded.
He pulled her boot out of the step and set her on the ground. “Hey, it’s okay. Are you hurt?”
Part of her screamed to pretend it was broken so he’d have to carry her, but the more logical part won out. “I don’t think so. It hurts a little, but I think that’s just from my boot falling through.”
“You sure?” he asked as he kept his hold on her.
Stepping back, she nodded and said, “Yeah. At least you know what step to avoid.” She laughed, her nerves making her voice sound shaky.
Using his long legs, Wyatt stepped over the second step, onto the third, and then to the porch. He took a few tentative steps and then offered her his hand. “I think the porch is okay.”
Gabby took it, ignoring the tingles, and set her foot on the first step, letting him pull her up. “I should have been more careful.”
“Eh, it can happen to anybody.”
“I know, but I feel a little silly now.” Then she realized he was still holding her hand and pulled it free. “Time to see the house.” She took a few steps and tried the door.
It swung open, and sure enough, the ceiling was partially caved in. The large living room had once been painted a soft buttery yellow, but with rain getting in, it now had sheetrock peeling off. Several planks of the wood floor were curled up.
Shaking her head, she said, “Oh, wow. This is…” She took a deep breath. “A mess. This will take a while to fix.”
“Yeah, it sure will.”
“You think it’s safe to walk through the rest of the house?” She turned to face him.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but I don’t think we should risk it. Let’s try the back door. Most of the roof damage looked to be concentrated in this room. Maybe it’s not so bad everywhere else.”
Gabby nodded, and they slowly made their way around the porch, checking the decking as they went. As they rounded the corner, they stopped. “Well, so far so good. At least the deck has held,” she said.
Wyatt nodded. “For the most part. Could be that step that broke was already weak from before the house was abandoned.”
They continued to the back door, which was standing wide-open with several inches of dirt acting as a brace to hold it in place.
Gabby sighed. “The back is almost as bad as the front, only with dirt instead of rain.”
Wyatt grumbled under his breath. “How did the door get open?”
