Page 139 of Under Her Skin
“Lookingat who all I know who might be able to do the job you’re talking about,” hesays.
I reach over and put my hand over the phone screen. “How about you,Josh?”
“Me?” he asks with wide eyes. “Well, I don’t know a thing about what you’re talkingabout.”
“I didn’t know a thing about doing remodeling either, but I learned and I can tell you what I know and you can do some research to find out more. I’m sure I can talk to the boss and get you a hell of a lot more money than your current job is payingyou.”
Josh looks confused. “The boss? Who’sthat?”
I punch his arm, lightly. “Me, yougoof!”
“Oh, I don’t know, Blake.” Josh fidgets nervously. “What if I let you down? I mean, I just can’t… Oh, my what a job though! Boy, everyone in the neighborhood would love me and so would mywife!”
“Yep!” I say and take a long drink then place the bottle on the little table between us. “So, is that a yes,Josh?”
“You know what?” He looks at me and smiles. “That’s a definite yes, Blake. I’m yourman!”
“Cool!” I say and grab my beer bottle and tap it to his. “To a long and beautiful association with my right-handman.”
“Your right-hand man,” Josh echoes. “I won’t disappointyou.”
“I know you won’t,” I say. “Your first job is to finish overseeing the remodel of my home. I’ll show you the specs later and you can quit your job ASAP and come to work for me. How soon can youstart?”
“Tomorrow too far away for you?” he asks with a grin. “My company is laying people off left and right. It would be a relief to my boss for me to leave rather than he has to let mego.”
“Tomorrow is great. I’m actually leaving for Houston. I’ll put that off for a few hours so I can get you all set up.” I tap a number for a yearly salary I have in mind for him into my phone’s calculator and show it tohim.
His eyes light up. “Blake, you sure? That’s a lot ofzeros!”
“Oh, sorry, my mistake.” I pull the phone back and change all the zeros to nines and show him the newnumber.
His eyes go even brighter somehow. “Noway!”
“Damn, you drive a hard bargain!” I pull the phone back to add moremoney.
He laughs and says, “No! That’s more than enough, Blake! Hell yeah, I’ll be your right-handman!”
Josh jumps up and does a wacky-ass dance that has me laughing so hard I nearly fall out of the old lawnchair.
Glad I can make some peoplehappy!
Wish it was Rachelle too, but I’ll take what I canget.
Rachelle
Shadows dance across my ceiling as I look up at it and think about Blake. The hour is late and my mind is so tired of thinking about recipes and correct food temperatures and I wish like hell he was holding me in hisarms.
All I want is to hear his deep, sexy voice on the other end of my phone. I pick it up off the night stand and look at his name in my contacts list. One push of the button would have me hearing him at the very least telling me to fuck off and that’s better thannothing.
I look longingly at his name. My finger lingers over his name then I nearly throw the damn phone as it rings. It’s my mother’s name that shines, lighting up thedark.
A deep breath I take and answer because who doesn’t take a phone call at three in the morning when a parentcalls?
“Hi, Tabitha.”
“Shelly?”
“Yes, it’s me, Shelly. Did you accidentally callme?”
