Page 27 of Flare

He zipped his lips. “I cannot divulge that information at this time.”

“I suppose you’ll take your verdict on my mac and cheese effort to her as well?”

His eyes danced. “That will depend.”

I folded my arms. “Go on, I’ll bite.”

“Well.” He took a look in the oven and gave an appreciative hum. “If your mac and cheese wins, I sure as hell won’t be telling my mother. I like my balls just where they are, thank you very much. But if you lose, it’ll earn me enough brownie points to miss a couple of Sunday lunches with no blow back, so...” He mimicked the movement of scales with his hands.

I grumbled, “Sounds about right. But just for that, I’m gonna shower whilesomeonesets the table and cleans the floors.”

Jack protested. “But I didn’t make the mess and we never eat at th—”

I silenced him with a look. “We are tonight.”

His mouth set in a grumpy line and Rhys chuckled.

“Come on, I’ll set, you clean, but you’ll need to show me where everything’s kept.” He shoved those ridiculous sleeves up his arms and steered me out of the kitchen with his hands on my shoulders. “Go shower so you don’t put everyone off their food.”

His fingers slid down my bare arms and I barely suppressed a shiver as I headed for the stairs.

I just knew I was going to regret this.

* * *

Rhys

Once Jack and I set the table and I’d helped him clean the floor, we sat in the lounge while he played on his phone and I checked my emails, or pretended to, while actually indulging my curiosity about Beck’s house. It was obviously a work in progress. The kitchen was firmly entrenched in the seventies, and although the stairwell was stripped and primed, I suspected it had been that way awhile, the upstairs an addition to the original single floor villa.

But Beck had a better eye for colour than I would’ve guessed. Rich cream walls hung with family photos, and a couple of generic but pleasing landscapes were given life by earth tones in the oversized couches and cushions that invited you to flop and snooze. Polished rimu floors and simple woollen rugs completed the effect. All in all, it was a warm and comfortable place to put your feet up and read a book—one chosen from the massive floor-to-ceiling wall of bookshelves that were perfect for a man of words.

Had I pigeonholed Beck as big and clueless about design just because he wore shapeless coats and nondescript clothes? Because he seemed so critical of fashion? Because I still wanted to be angry with him about that? Yep. All of the above.

Well, that’ll teach me.

Footsteps overhead spiked my pulse and I glanced up the stairs—my imagination running wild. I was still recovering from a dripping and shirtless Beck. Whatever I was expecting when I dropped Jack home, it hadn’t been that. I was in no way prepared for that massive chest with its ample nest of brown curls plunging down into a glorious happy trail that had my mouth watering. The sight did nothing to cool my ridiculous crush on the man.

I shouldn’t have come. I should’ve let Jack find his own way home. But I’d had a shitshow of a day dealing with an unhappy stockist over an order of shirts that appeared to be cut too short, followed by a manufacturer giving me the run-around, and I was over it. Kip was furious at himself for not checking the order closely enough before it went out, and he kept the coffee coming. But the unexpected opportunity to see Beck came as a timely and very dangerous distraction, and I’d barely thought twice before jumping at it.

“You like him, don’t you?” Jack looked up from his phone.

“Who?”

“Uncle Beck.”

I stalled. Jack was looking for a reaction, so I was careful not to give him one. “Yeah, of course. He’s a nice guy.” If nice meant sexy enough to smear all over my body and then have him lick me clean before going back for seconds, then yes, the man was nice.

Needless to say, Jack saw straight through me. “I won’t say anything, if that’s what you’re worried about?”

“Because there’s nothing to say,” I insisted. “Besides, it’s none of your business.”

His eyes lit up with mischief. “So, youdolike him.”

Dear God.“I never said that. And just how badly do you want to clean that disgusting mess around the dumpster in the alley next week?”

Jack’s mouth slammed shut.

I smiled. “Excellent choice.”

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