Page 47 of Firecracker

Eventually, people started talking about leaving. It was a slow process, but a while later, her apartment was empty and quiet…except for her and Tyler. He was loading dishes into the dishwasher.

“You don’t have to do that.”

He looked up. “It’s not a problem. Just helping out. We all invaded your home, and you fed us. Thank you.”

“It was fun.” She paused, looking down at the counter.

Tyler moved closer to her, and she startled, feeling his warmth, breathing his scent. God. He was so damn attractive. She wanted to see if his T-shirt felt as soft as it looked, and whether the muscles beneath it were as hard.

“You seem a little sad.”

She shook her head, surprised at his perception. “No. I’m not sad. I mean…maybe a little. This isn’t how I pictured my life. But…life is still pretty damn good.”

“Yeah.”

She met his eyes. Heat shimmered around them. This was crazy. She was a widow. She’d been betrayed by her husband. She wanted nothing to do with men. And it wasTyler… Why was she feeling like this about him?

Chapter Ten

Arden worked four to midnight at Shenanigans on Saturday night, so Tyler offered to take her to the farmers’ market and Whole Foods early Saturday afternoon—after she made waffles for all of them in the morning, which turned out to be a big hit.

“You guys want to come with us?” Tyler asked Jamie, Mila, and Emma as they sat in Arden’s kitchen drinking coffee, bellies full of waffles and bacon. Bacon. Mmm. He loved bacon.

“Nah, I’m good,” Jamie said.

“I’m going over to Garth’s place,” Mila said.

“And I have to go into the office for a while,” Emma said.

Okay. It was just the two of them. Fine with him.

“How’s the bathroom coming?” Jamie asked him.

“Not bad. Wanna see?”

“Sure.” Jamie stood and Tyler followed him to the bathroom, which was still a disaster.

“It always takes longer than I think it will,” he said to Jamie. “Especially when I’m waiting for someone else. I need Brent to come and do the wiring.”

They had an electrician and a plumber they liked to use, but those guys were both really busy.

Also, he’d clued in to the fact that the longer it took to get Arden’s bathroom functional, the longer she’d be coming over to his place to shower. And he really enjoyed those times. Especially when she left with just a towel wrapped around her, water drops on her shoulders from wet hair, her legs bare…

He shook his head, trying to refocus. “The plumbing work is minimal, since we’re not moving the location of the fixtures, so that’s good.”

“What’s your schedule like this week?” Jamie asked. “Anything else we can start on while we’re waiting for Brent?”

“Twenty-four on starting tomorrow, forty-eight off, twenty-four on. Maybe Monday I can start working on the walls, or the fireplace. No—fireplace first.”

“Or you could take a day off for yourself.” Jamie faced him. “You don’t need to spend every minute of your days off working here.”

Jamie’d told him that before. “I know.”

“You’ll be off all weekend, right? I can help with some things then.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

They wandered back to the kitchen where Mila was helping Arden clean up. “Okay, I’m outta here.” Mila tucked a dish towel over the rack inside the cabinet door. “See you guys tomorrow. At least…I’ll see you, Arden, for pole dancing. One o’clock. Be ready.” She pointed.

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