Page 31 of Lovewell Lane

I flinched at his volume. “Nothing.” Fuck. He could not see Margo come out of my room. “Last week before heading out, huh?”

“Yes, I can’t wait to be on the road,” Slick said, leaning back in his chair like he had all the time in the world to enjoy his paper.

“Did you talk to Sam yet today?”

“No, why?”

“I thought you were riding with him,” I said.

“What for?”

“He’s leaving on a big delivery in about an hour. He said you were joining him to keep him company before your trip. You won’t want to miss him, I’m sure.” I took a long sip of coffee and waited for him to take the bait.

He stood up slowly. Hook. Line. And sinker. “I didn’t hear about this. You boys never tell me anything anymore.”

“Sorry, Slick. In my defense, I’m telling you now.”

I impatiently waited for him to get up and leave the house to walk down to Sam’s. I had a short window of opportunity. I filled another mug with coffee and walked back to my room. Knocking quietly, so as not to wake Tessa, I entered my bedroom.

Margo shot up out of bed like she was on fire. “Good morning,” I mumbled, amused.

“Morning,” she muttered while pushing her hair out of her face.

“I brought coffee.”

She looked grateful and stumbled over to take it out of my hands. “Thanks.”

“Sleep okay?” I studied her reaction. Something in me needed her to say yes. That was the best night of sleep I’d ever gotten, and I didn’t want to even think about why that was. I just needed her to say the same.

“Yeah, your bed is very cozy.”

She paced out of the room, clearly as ready as I was to put this night behind us. We both sat at the kitchen island and sipped on our coffee in silence. I studied her sleepy eyes. Her hair was a mess, flopping all over the place, but in the best way. In a way that made me want to run my fingers through it. If I let my imagination run too far, I could almost imagine her in my bed for an entirely different reason than a broken heater.

“So, uh, Slick was here. And I’d appreciate it if we could keep this between us.”

She nodded emphatically. “I will never tell a soul. I’ll forget it even happened by the time I finish this cup of coffee.”

“Perfect.”

-

My back was killing me, but the custom wrap-around bar and countertop I’d built for Margo was worth it. I stood up from crouching down to do final measurements and make sure everything was level. Margo had been banging around in her kitchen for the last few hours. That was something she often made a habit of doing. Whenever I was here, she was here. Even if she had nothing to do.

This day, however, she had plenty to do. Her new appliances arrived and were installed, so from the sound of things, she was testing it all out.

I was proven correct when she came strutting out of the kitchen right as I was taking a seat on her newly delivered dining room chairs. They were comfortable. The seats were black and made of leather while the backing and legs of the chairs were sleek chrome.

She put a plate down in front of me at the edge of the counter I’d just finished installing.

“I still have to stain this and seal it, so we can’t spill anything on it.”

She did a dorky little salute. “Got it, boss. I hope you’re not a messy eater.”

I took a look at the plate in front of me. It was just a sandwich, but after working for the last four hours, it looked heavenly. I grabbed half of it and took a giant bite, not even caring what it was.

Margo took the other half of the sandwich and held it up to take a bite. “It’s a BLT. I made the bread at home last night.”

All I could do was let out a groan. It was fucking delicious. Anything with bacon was.

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