“Someone to fix the house up.” I’d heard the interest in her tone, the hope in that one syllable.
“Oh.” This time her voice dropped. I hated to kill her enthusiasm, but geez, I really needed to get off the phone.
“Love you, tell Dad I love him too. And I’ll speak to you guys later. Bye, Mom.”
“Will do.” Her tone was a bit brighter. “Love you too. Bye, honey.”
I disconnected quickly and placed my phone down. My mom, yeah, she was wonderful and drove me to absolute distraction. I knew how lucky I was. Every decision I’d ever made, my parents had always had my back. They supported me unconditionally. It was just that my mom could be a little extreme at times. I laughed into the empty room. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Quickly finishing my wine, I looked at the time. I had just fifteen minutes until the contractor was due. I’d left it late to organize myself, still a little in a tizz after the conversation with my mom and the mention of babies. I glanced around the room at the disorderly mess. Every time I did so, I regretted it.
I detested chaos, and that was what the house felt like. The place was still strewn with my moving boxes, but I had yet to see the point in unpacking. Not necessarily because I planned to move, but rather, the whole house needed a lot of work, so I knew I’d have to pack my things up for any work on the house to start.
I really hoped this Tanner guy would be the person who could finally help me out. I’d had two other quotes, one local and one from out of town. Both were crazy high, and neither would be able to start for another five months or so. I was running out of options. This guy had come recommended to me by one of my clients, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
I sighed in defeat as I looked around. I’d have to continue ignoring it all until I finally had the place fixed up. I headed upstairs, careful to miss the couple of steps that had loose boards, and headed to the main bathroom. I had an en suite, but the shower didn’t work, so it was the pearlescent green suite I headed toward. The sickly porcelain made me shudder every time I laid eyes on it. It was clean though, so there was that.
I hopped into the shower, lathered myself up, and quickly rinsed off. That was when I heard the knock at the door. “Shoot.” I quickly turned off the taps, stepped out and grabbed a towel. In my haste to get myself together and then answer the door, the dodgy floorboard didn’t even register until my foot slammed through it, snagging my ankle and bringing me to my knees.
I yelled as I fell, and cursed. Wincing, I looked at my predicament, trying to yank my foot out as I did so. A loud groan slipped past my lips. This was no good. I was wedged, and it appeared I’d lost my towel in my fall.Just great.
Chapter Four
TANNER
I looked once moreat the paperwork, making sure I had the right address. 52 Ledgebrook Avenue. Glancing at the tilted, rusty plaque on the house, I saw the number matched up. I raised my brows… even the plaque needed replacing.
When I’d been called in to give a quote for a refurb, the guy had told me the place needed a lot of work, but from what I could see from the outside, it needed gutting. Not that I couldn’t do with the work, but it wasn’t what I’d been expecting.
I folded my paperwork and tucked it in the back pocket of my jeans before switching my phone to silent and rapping my knuckles on the paint-peeled door. As I waited, my gaze roamed to the windows, wooden and old, a few cracked panes. The place was easily a hundred years old and didn’t look like it had received much looking after over the years. It was a building that with time and love, and a crapload of cash, could easily be beautiful again.
A thump followed by a bang and a curse drew my eyes back to the closed door. I grinned and lifted my brow, wondering whether it was the house’s dilapidated state that had caused the groaned curse.
I’d never been to this part of town before. Never had a reason to. Lined with old oaks, all the properties set well back from the street, it seemed like a nice place, even more so, I imagined, in its heyday. It bugged the crap out of me when places like this went to wreck and ruin, but without it, I’d be outta work, so I was in no position to complain.
Another thirty seconds passed, and the door remained closed, and the sound of cursing had stopped. Lifting my hand up once more, I knocked again. “Hello?” Who knew what had happened to the guy. The thud had been heavy, and the curse expelled with a masculine groan. “You good—” I tugged the paperwork back out of my pocket and searched for the name. “—Carter? Everything all right in there?”
The sound of shuffling and a low moan reached my ears.Damn.I grabbed the handle, turned and pushed. The door creaked open. Knocking as I pushed it open further, I called out, “Hey, it’s Tanner. I’m here to give you a quote. You okay?”
“Oh heck.” The light curse was much louder as I stood in the hallway, and it came from upstairs. “Yeah.” The voice was an equal mix of pained and pissed off. “Up here.”
I looked toward the staircase, my brow furrowing when I took in the state of the banister, or what was left of it. After closing the door behind me, I made my way to the bottom of the staircase. “You need some help?” I called, eyes roaming the joint.
It was clear from the scattering of boxes and the used wine glass placed on a small table next to the sofa in the sitting room that the place was lived in, but fuck, the house was a wreck.
From ceiling to floor, to doors, to some wood paneling, the joint needed a serious overhaul.
A voice cleared with a light cough. “Er, crap, yeah, I think so. I’m kinda stuck.”
Rather than racing up the stairs and risk my foot smashing through a rotten board, I made my way up carefully, staying close to the wall. The stairs had a landing halfway up and then angled to the right. Once there, my eyes were immediately drawn to a guy on the floor, butt naked.
My eyes widened when they landed on his form. Damn, it wasn’t every day a client greeted me in the nude. Looking at the path between me and who I assumed to be Carter on the ground, I tried not to let my eyes linger for too long on his smooth expanse of skin. He was lightly toned, with a softness about him that was impossible to not notice, despite trying my hardest not to.
With a shake of my head, I calculated each step I took to get to his side. Once I made it safely to the top, the floorboards creaking under my booted feet, Carter angled himself to turn and look at me. Definitely pissed off and in pain, and perhaps a bit mortified too, a light blush covering his cheeks. His gaze roamed me from bottom to top before landing on my own. I quirked my brow in amusement and question while strategically ignoring how fucking pretty his brown eyes were. “So…?” I offered.
He sighed, and I watched in fascination as his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. “I rushed from the piece-of-crap shower when I heard the knock. My foot went through the board, and it’s stuck.” His pink cheeks turned crimson.
Unable to stay the small smile tugging at my lips, I grinned as I stepped closer. I took my time to get to him, wanting to help the guy out. The last thing he needed was me falling on my ass. Clearing my throat, I crouched down at his side, my focus now on his leg and foot.
