Page 13 of Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice

I wondered if the hospital-grade disinfectant I was planning to buy would be strong enough to also repel him from showing up unannounced. Knowing he wouldn’t budge until he got what he wanted, I stalked past him and pushed the front door open, then dumped the sleeping bag on the floor as he walked in. A cloud of dust from the debris flew up, making him cough.

Mwahahahaha.My inner supervillain twirled an imaginary mustache and cackled with unhinged mirth.Serves him right.

The cough stopped—unfortunately—replaced by him swearing under his breath when he saw the collapsed roof.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I said, even as my brain roared in laughter and called me all sorts of liars. “I’ve already made calls to a few local contractors.”

“Really? How did that go? Eric said the earliest someone can start is in nine weeks.”

Seriously, I was going to have some very stern words with my favorite sibling about the importance ofnotoversharing. Right before I strangled him with my bare hands.

“I can help.” Alec turned to me. “I don’t know if Eric mentioned—”

“He told me nothing. I didn’t even know you’re still alive.”

“—but I work in the property industry. I know people who can do the repairs.”

His phone buzzed, interrupting him, while my brain perked up with interest.He does?

That was how desperate I was: I was actually willing to consider an offer of help from the only man that I couldn’t stand. Without anyone holding a gun to my head.

I must be out of my fucking mind.

Maybe the enormous shock from seeing this place had fried the neurons in my brain, because the correct answer was, I’d rather burn in hell than askhimfor help. There are eight billion other humans in the world, so there had to be another option.

But this handsome man is the most logical choice,my insubordinate brain argued.Do you know anyone else who’s a local and works in the property industry? Go ahead, name someone else better than him. I’ll wait.

I mentally scrolled through my phone contacts, trying to think of someone else who might be able to help, but came up with nothing.

Maybe I could do the repairs myself. That was what Siri and the internet were for, right? I’d save some money, and my budget could have some breathing space. I’d never replaced roof tiles or fixed leaky pipes before, but I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.

But that line of thought was instantly nixed when an errant piece of roofing decided to no longer fight gravity and crumbled on top of my head. I let out a yell and jumped to save my life.

See how bad things are?Insubordinate brain was triumphant.He’s obviously the best man for the job.

No, no, not so fast.

The man in question was frowning at and typing on his phone, so I quickly made a mental pros and cons list:

Pro:

Con:

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