Page 10 of Hammered (Dad Bod Contracting 1)
“Meaning?”
He holds up an index finger. “Let me go grab it and show you. Maybe it’ll make more sense then.”
He’s gone before I can respond, jogging out the front door to his truck, leaving my front door wide open. He wrestles a truly mammoth window out of the bed of his pickup and carries it inside to the kitchen, setting it on the sink to show me roughly what it will look like once it’s installed.
I gape at him, and then at the window. “That thing is enormous, Jesse.”
He grins at me. “Sure as hell is.”
“There’s no way something that big will fit in my tiny little space.”
His grin widens, and an eyebrow quirks up. “It will if you’re as good at fitting big things into little spaces as I am.”
My cheeks flame, my gut spins, and my thighs clench. “That’s—that’s not what I meant.”
“It’s not?”
“No!” I protest. “I was talking about the window.”
He just smirks at me, his expression teasing and lascivious at once. “So was I. What were you talking about?”
I suck in a deep breath and try to compose myself. “Nothing. Never mind.” I move closer to the window he’s holding in place for me. “Seriously, though. I don’t understand your plan. What kind of window is this?”
“It’s a casement window,” Jesse explains, pointing at a little rotating handle-and-knob near the base of the window. “Turn that clockwise.”
I rotate the knob clockwise and the entire window panel opens outward; I rotate counter-clockwise and the window closes again. “The whole thing opens?”
He grins at me. “Yep. This will let in a whole bunch of airflow. Plus, this window is seriously energy efficient.” He sets the window flat on the floor to one side and withdraws a tape measure from his tool belt.
He extends it a few feet and measures the frame of the window, and then lays that measurement against the space over my sink between the cabinets. From what I can tell, the window will just barely fit. Maybe.
“It looks like it’ll be a close fit,” I say.
He nods. “There’ll be just enough room to put in the window and fit some molding around it. I’ll have to open the space up almost all the way though.” He eyes me. “It’ll be a pretty major upgrade. This window is top of the line.”
“I can’t afford top of the line, Jesse.”
He just winks and clicks his tongue. “Got you covered, sweetheart. James is doing a custom build in the neighborhood, a few streets over, and the folks we’re building it for wanted all these sweet casement windows throughout the whole house, right? Well, we measure and count and order them all, get them in, install most of them, and the wife is like, um hold up, I want this whole wall to open so our backyard is indoor-outdoor. Cool, right? Well, she’s already paid for the windows and doesn’t want them anymore. James told her we couldn’t refund her the price of the windows and she just waved it off. They’re loaded, and apparently don’t really care, so James told us to make use of them if we could. So, I snagged one. And since I’m not paying for it, neither are you. One top-of-the-line casement window for free. Win-win.”
“What if she changes her mind again?” I ask. “It would be a nightmare if you installed this and then she wanted it back.”
He waves a hand. “Nah. We’re already almost done building the new patio door area, and she loves it.”
“If you’re sure this is on the up-and-up, then that would be pretty exciting. I do love this window.”
He frowns at me for the first time. “Don’t let the tattoos fool you, Imogen. I take my job seriously, and I’d never do anything dishonest.”
“Oh god, no, Jesse—it’s not like that. I didn’t mean it like that.” I rest a hand on his forearm, on the inked skin. “I like your tattoos.”
He only stares at me for a long moment, scrutinizing. “People tend to be kinda judgy sometimes.”
“Like being a forty-year-old divorcée with no kids?”
He nods. “Yeah, maybe something like that.” He leaves the window on the floor and goes out into my living room. There are two windows in my living room, facing each other. He eyes me inquisitively. “Can I take a quick peek at your bedroom window?”
I blush, for some reason. “Um. Sure?” I lead him up the stairs to my room, and then promptly shove him backward out of the room. “Just—just give me a second. It’s—um…just—just hold on.”
He laughs. “What, you got something hidden in there?”
“Yeah, a mess.” I hold up a hand. “Just let me pick up a few things, okay?”
He laughs. “You do realize I’ve seen women’s underwear before, don’t you? I’m just going to look at your window real quick.”
I squeeze into my room. “Yeah, I’m sure you’ve seen tons of underwear. You probably have a collection or something. But you haven’t seen mine, and I intend to keep it that way.”
