I put my hands on my hips, giving myself a little bit more time to get my dick under control and not go into her bathroom with my cock straining to get out of my pants.
“This is gorgeous!” she shrieks. I finally walk over to the bathroom and see her standing in the middle of the room, right in front of the tub that took six of us to carry up the stairs. They cursed me and all the saints they could think of, including a couple who weren’t even saints but became saints to them. I worked my ass off to make this bathroom come to life like it was in my head. She looks over at me, and her hands are covering the smile and shock.
“This tub,” she says of the tub sitting on a piece of white marble with light-gray veins, right in front of the bay windows that are stained glass with gold trim. The handles to open the windows are brass, which match the faucets to the tub. “It’s like it’s in its own room.” She walks over to the side of the wall, touching the molding I put up as I made the wall arch, the illusion making the ceiling above the bathtub is higher than the rest of the room. But the ceiling is all the same height, it is just the arch that makes it seem that way. “I never thought that wood would go in a bathroom,” she says of the brown mahogany wood floor I had installed between the shower and the bathtub.
“If you don’t like anything,” I tell her, “we can always change it.” I follow her as she looks around the room. Hands down one of the best bathroom remodels we’ve ever done. I’ve taken a couple of before and after pictures, and I can’t wait to add them to the portfolio I’ve started for the company since we’ve been here.
“No,” she rebuts, turning around in a circle and then stopping to check out the shower that has glass all around it. “I like how big it is without the linen closet,” she compliments. “Nice touch with the seat.” She tries to hide her smile, but when she looks at me, the smile on my face is ear to ear. I stare into her eyes, silently telling her I picture her sitting on that naked. She clears her throat when her cheeks get pink, and I’m wondering if she’s thinking the same thing or even if she’s added me into the image in her head. “Do you work with a designer?” she asks me and I shake my head.
“No.” I walk into the bathroom to stand in front of her. “It’s all me. I drew it up one night.” That’s all I give her, hoping she’ll ask me about it, but she doesn’t. Nope, not Sierra, she makes sure she avoids asking me anything that is personal, and I fucking hate it.
“You’re a natural, then,” she praises, looking up at the ceiling.
“If you want to add a light fixture here, it will be easy enough.” She looks at me, then back to the ceiling. “I’m going to head out,” I say, even though I don’t want to go anywhere.
“Sounds good.” She nods.
“Do you need any help with anything?” I ask her, and she shakes her head. Of course she doesn’t, I’m not surprised by this, but it does piss me off a bit more than it should. “Have a nice night, Sierra.” I want to know all about her, yet she wants to know nothing about me. I should take that as a sign she’s not interested in me, but something pulls me to her, and I can feel what she is telling me is different from how she feels. I guess it means I will have to work harder to get her. Challenge fucking accepted is the last thing I think about before walking out of her house.
Chapter 10
Sierra
I hear the front door slam shut, close my eyes, and take a deep breath, which is a mistake since all I smell is his musky scent, and it makes different parts of me tingle. Different parts of me that shouldn’t be tingling because he’s off-fucking-limits, I remind myself. But my feet are moving on their own to the window to watch him walk down the path to his pickup truck at the curb. I watch his ass in his worn jeans, my mouth literally fucking salivating as I check out his legs, all the way to his construction boots. Then my eyes roam all the way back up, stopping again at his ass that fills out those jeans phenomenally. I keep ogling, going up to his black T-shirt that pulls at the shoulders, and you just know he must have an amazing body.
He looks up at the window, and I don’t have enough time to duck for cover. He smirks at me, like he knows I was checking him out. I fold my arms over my chest and shake my head. I’m saved by the moving truck pulling up to my house. I point at the truck to let him know I was waiting for it when he throws his head back and laughs, and I wish I could hear it clearer. It makes my pulse speed up as I turn away and head down to the front door to open it for the movers. By the time I get down there for the movers, his truck is gone. “Hi,” I greet the guy I was with not too long ago when they packed up my bedroom and office. “Right this way.” I motion with my head as he walks into the house.
“Wow.” He takes a look around. “This is an old house.”
“Yeah,” I reply, “probably lots of history in here. Only one room is done, so you can bring everything upstairs to my bedroom.”
“Got it.” He turns and heads out to the truck, where he and two other guys start bringing in my things.
It takes them three hours to unload the truck and assemble my bedroom furniture. They place the bed on the wall opposite the windows. For now, I opt to put my desk in front of the window. I grab the box with bedding written on it, opening it and unpacking it.
It’s another three hours before my bed is done, and my computer and stuff are all ready to go in the morning.
I turn on the side table lamp before heading to the bathroom. I smile when I look at the bathtub, and instead of taking a quick shower, I opt to soak in the big tub. Looking out the stained-glass window at the stars in the sky, I close my eyes, finally able to relax after this week. It was a week to end all weeks. Telling my parents I was leaving was one of the hardest things I think I’ve ever done. Seeing my father in pain the way he was cut me off at my knees. I had no idea what else was going to happen, but I’m happy nothing did. Last night, I was at my house, and my parents came over with pizza. We spent the night together. My father told me he would swing by several times a week to ensure everything was okay. My mother was quiet, no doubt wondering how long I would be gone and probably wondering how our relationship would change. I was determined not to let anything change.
Getting out and finally slipping under my covers, I turn off the lights as I listen to the house in the dark for the first night. The streetlights come into the windows, but I’m having the shades delivered next week. I toss and turn and the last time I look at my phone, it’s a little after 2:00 a.m. I’ve never slept so light in my life. Every single creak made my eyes fling open as I listened to hear if it was followed by more noise. I was being overly dramatic, to say the least. No one in their right mind would break into a house that was almost falling down. Even so, when I roll out of bed at eight o’clock this morning, I have the name and number of someone who I’m going to call about installing security and doorbell cams.
I rush down to the front door, open it, and see it’s Theo. “Sorry, hope we didn’t wake you.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I was up.” I walk away from the door. “I’m going to have a copy of the key made today for you,” I tell him as he heads to the kitchen area, and my eyes go straight to the cup of coffee in his hand.
I groan, jogging back up the stairs and head to my closet, when I hear the front door open and then hear the sound of a couple of the guys coming. Tiptoeing to my bedroom, I close the door before heading into the bathroom and my walk-in closet. Out of everything, it was the easiest part to unpack since everything was on hangers in the boxes and then just hung up. I walk over to my jeans hanger, grab a pair of dark blue jeans, then put on a white lace bra before choosing a long-sleeve, white knit sweater with side slits. Putting it on, I slip on a pair of suede booties before heading out of the room. I hear voices coming from the kitchen. Not wanting to be in the way of them organizing their work, I slip out the front door and head to town to grab coffee and breakfast.
I step into the bakery at the same time Everleigh comes out from the back with a tray in front of her. “Sierra,” she says with a huge smile as she fills the display case with fresh donuts.
“Hi,” I return, walking up to the counter. “I’ll take two dozen donuts,” I order right away and see the shock on her face.
“I have workers at my house, so I thought it would be nice to give them a little bit of a treat.”
“Oh yeah.” She walks over to the side, grabbing a box as she fills it in. “What else can I get for you?”
“I will have an everything bagel with cream cheese and an extra-large coffee.” I smile. “I don’t have a kitchen yet, so I need the extra to last all day.”
“Ugh, you could do yourself like a little coffee cart to keep upstairs if you want.” She suggests, “We just bought Saige one of those little fridge things so she can keep snacks in her room. She saw it on social media and just had to get it. It’s not half bad. You can store some milk in there.”
