Page 26 of Fragile Touch (Fragile 1)
“It’s hard for me to loosen up when I can’t figure out your sense of humor.” The words just came out in one unplanned spill. She started to add something else, but Cayden straightened and took a step forward so her eyes were staring directly at the neckline of his shirt. Her voice disappeared.
“Let’s go sit down,” he said. She felt his breath on the top of her head. “It’s getting cold in here.”
Again with the double meaning! Sure it was just her over-thinking in her nervousness, she fought the urge to roll her eyes and went to the next room. Cayden’s kitchen was a pretty normal one compared to most other guys she had known before, with the exception of an impressive spice rack and a few containers of various protein powders. His living room had enough furniture to host a small crowd, but it was arranged in an uneven way that told her it was all shoved against the walls during his weekend parties to make extra mingling room.
“So how many people can you fit in here?”
Cayden stopped for a moment. “I wasn’t expecting you to ask about my wild parties.”
“Should I?”
He shrugged, taking a long swig of water, and poked the fire. “I’ve fit about forty people here before. Not all in this room.”
She could see that he didn’t mind talking about his weekend events. I want to keep this conversation off anything personal. Here’s my lead. “So in the kitchen, in here, where else?”
The firelight glinted off his eyes. “You want a tour?”
“Yeah, I’d love to see the house of the neighborhood’s finest gardener.” That pun had been intentional. She dared to glance at his biceps. He saw her look, and he gave her a pleased smirk.
“Right this way, madam.” He nodded toward the next room; Lillian set her water down on the coffee table and followed him into a hallway. It was mostly dark, the only light coming from the two rooms on either side. The front door was at one end; at the other end was a tiny staircase that looked like it had been half shrunk.
“What’s up there?” She pointed.
“The attic. It’s got a couple of rooms and a bathroom, actually. So it’s not the typical creepy attic.”
“Can I see it?”
Cayden beckoned towards the stairway, letting her go first. The steps were incredibly steep and much smaller than normal ones. “Why is it like this?” she asked, focusing on not tripping up the stairs and trying to forget that Cayden’s head was essentially right beside her butt. Please, lavender bubble bath, please let your scent still be on my skin.
“Apparently this house is one of the oldest ones in the area. Watch that last step, there’s a little ledge at the top.” He tapped the back of her arm before flipping a switch on the wall. One small, orangey light bulb turned on at the top of the stairs. It wasn’t enough to be well-lit, but just enough to see. “The downstairs and the outside were completely remodeled a couple of decades ago to look more modern, but these little stairs stayed behind.”
The space upstairs was much smaller than Lillian had anticipated. The ceilings were higher and a nice, woody smell drifted around her. “I would make my office up here. This is so nice.”
“Romantic, isn’t it?” His voice was quieter, like he didn’t want to disrupt the antique silence. Their eyes met before he looked at the floor. “These are original hardwood panels. I don’t know anything about flooring, but I like them.”
Lillian bent and touched one of the floorboards. “It looks like cherry wood. They’re gorgeous.”
His face lit up. “You can tell?”
She couldn’t help but feel proud of herself. “Part of what I do is interior design. Some of my clients, when we’re reorganizing, want some of their stuff to be easily reachable...”
“Not necessarily always hidden away,” he added, seeming genuinely interested.
“Exactly.” She pushed against her knees and stood. “It might be adding a storage compartment in the staircase, adding a section to a wall unit, that type of thing. So that requires some design sense.”
Cayden nodded and scratched his chin. “I had no idea so much went into it.” He chuckled. “Not to be rude, but I thought organizing was just putting papers into folders and boxing stuff up.”
“Seems like it would be easier that way, right?”
Again, their gazes met, and neither of them were able to say a word. The hall where they stood was quite narrow, but the high ceilings made it feel much more airy and warm. A soft silence filled the space around them.
Without moving his eyes, Cayden opened his mouth to speak but his voice came out scratchy; he cleared his throat and tried again. “Shall we...see the other room?” He held his arm out briefly before lowering it back to his side.
Lillian nodded. She took a step back to give him enough room to walk past, but he turned his body and edged by her.
That musky scent drove her crazy.
The doorway to the next room was just beside them, but it was pitch-black inside save for the small glow from the one light bulb. Cayden stood just inside the room, half in a shadow. He took up more space than she did, with his brawny frame and height. Taking half a step inside, she found herself face-to-face with his chest again.
