Page 40 of Seven Year Itch
“Were you just touching me?” I ask again, my hand smoothing my hair as I sit up to assess the situation more properly.
“Of course I wasn’t touching you,” he adds in a deeper, more masculine tone as he adjusts the covers over his body. “I just... forgot I wasn’t at home.”
“What do you touch at home?” I hold my hand up, my face twisting with disgust. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“It’s just my cat,” he exclaims with a snarl. “It’s nothing weird.”
“Unless that’s a euphemism for something.”
“I have a cat, Dakota. It’s a literal feline. I have a heart under all this chiseled, godlike muscle, and I was obviously sleeping so hard, I forgot where I was and thought you were Milkshake.” He shoves his sleep-tousled hair back off his forehead and murmurs tohimself, “Though, I can’t believe I didn’t open my eyes to confirm that first because Fuzz burned me once before when I thought I was snuggling her face, only to realize I was nuzzling her asshole.” He shakes his head, his nose wrinkled. “That memory still haunts me, if I’m being honest.”
“Stop being so honest.” I shake my head, unable to process everything I’m seeing right now. “This is too weird.”
“It’s only weird if you make it weird. At least I wasn’t petting your tit.”
“I could understand that more, coming from you. The fact that you’re a ten with a cat, Calder, is just... unnerving.”
“Well, pardon me for paying you a compliment. You’ve definitely never had a kind word to say about me.”
“That isn’t my fault. Your reputation kind of proceeds you.”
“And what reputation is that?”
“You’re a screwup!” I squeal indignantly. “You don’t take anything seriously, and the notches on your bedpost prove that. You and your brothers had to move out to Jamestown because you slept your way through the population of Boulder already. I’m not going to let your silver-tongued compliments and talks of being a cat daddy fool me into thinking you’re a decent guy.”
“Jesus Christ, I’ve been awake for sixty seconds, and you’re already starting.” He gets up out of bed and stomps over to the closet, grabbing the suit he hung there earlier. “I can’t wait for this fucking nightmare of a trip to be over.”
“The feeling is mutual!” I call out as he slams the bathroom door.
Guilt niggles at me as I hear the shower kick on. That escalated quickly, and it was all my fault. I didn’t intend to pick a fight with him right away, but honestly, I was up for hours last night fretting over what he said to me. I don’t know what Calder is after exactly, but whatever it is, I don’t trust it. It’s better for both of us to just continue hating each other until we get off this beach and back to the real world.
Calder
I’d forgotten what a head case Dakota Schaefer was.
You’re a screwup! You don’t take anything seriously, and the notches on your bedpost prove that. You and your brothers had to move out to Jamestown because you slept your way through the population of Boulder already.
While she’s not altogether wrong, I didn’t deserve to wake up to her black-cat claws—way too much before coffee. I certainly won’t be trying to erase her ex-husband’s words again anytime soon.
The mood swings, the temper tantrums, her capacity to change her mind on a dime... all of this is giving me flashbacks of the girl I worked with years ago when I was renovating her house.
It was supposed to be an easy project, one that didn’t require my brothers. Occasionally the three of us picked up solo side gigs for a little extra income when work for our dad’s business was slow. So when Cozy said her best friend needed a contractor to help update her old Victorian, I thought why not? I needed the cash, Dakota ain’t bad to look at. Win-win.
More like lose-lose.
It was a miserable experience from start to finish. She was constantly blowing up my phone with things she had changed her mind on, and she wanted me to explain every part of the job to her, like I could somehow teach her how to build a damn home. I nearly quit on the spot when I was laying tile one day and she wanted to handpick every piece before I placed it. She even had me return all the ones that didn’t make the cut in exchange for new boxes. One day I overheard her on the phone with someone saying she couldn’t leave me there to work alone because if she did, nothing would be done right.
She was wild.
And I know she thinks the accident that happened was intentional. She probably invented some sort of villain story whereI sabotaged the project because I’m careless and didn’t check something properly. And I’ll let her keep thinking that, because it doesn’t make any difference anyways.
We are oil and water. Fire and ice. Hot or not, I need to remember one thing the next time I want to be nice to her.
Don’t.
“Calder... the photographer said to smile.” Luke elbows me and I force a grin that I don’t feel as I pose with my brothers beneath some palm trees with the ocean front at our backs.
“Jesus, man, you’re in a mood,” Luke says as the photographer resets his camera, barking orders at his assistant.
