Kat shrugs, her lips tilting up. “I started thinking you were right. That I shouldn’t eat anything that spicy.”
“Go figure.”
Izzy yawns over her plate of half-eaten chicken nuggets, and Kat motions for Brady to help her up.
“We’re going to get Izzy ready for bed. You two chat. There’s a fresh pot of coffee brewing and a cheesecake in the freezer, so help yourselves.”
When did she make coffee? I honestly can’t tell if she wants me to work for Ethan or marry the man.
Brady picks up his daughter, and a second later, Ethan and I are alone.
He chuckles and takes a long pull of his beer. His dirty blond hair is disheveled and pointing in ten different directions, but Lord help me, it looks good.
He’s still smiling when I level him with a stare. “Why are you being nice to me? What do you want?” I’ve been around the block enough times to know when something is off. “I’m not going to sleep with you, if that’s what you think you’re getting by having me move in.”
The smile slides off his face. “Jesus, Tori. Do you accuse every potential employer of lechery?”
My face burns, but I’m not ashamed of asking what I need to know. “Because I won’t have sex with you. Not even if you’re the last guy on the planet.”
An annoying smirk quirks his lips. “No one said I was asking, darlin’. Besides”—his eyes pass over me—“you’re not my type.”
For some reason, that irritates me more. “Well, good.”
“Good.” He rubs a rough hand over the stubble on his square jaw. “So we’re clear about that? No sex. Not even if I’m the last man on the planet.”
“Not even then,” I whisper.
We stare at each other, his amused blue eyes studying my face like he’s seeing me for the first time.
His eyebrows lift, and then—I can’t help it—I laugh. We both do.
Before things get any weirder, I get up and start clearing the plates with a sigh. “I’m not good at job interviews.”
“You don’t say.”
“Shocking, I know.” I’m not fool enough to think I had that one law firm internship because of my amazing people skills or grades. No, that came compliments of my sweet sister and her impressive Austin connections. She took me getting fired remarkably well back then, but she wasn’t pregnant when I called her crying because I had gotten axed for telling off one of the partners.
Truth be told, I don’t want to disappoint Kat. It’s one thing to disappoint my parents. They’re used to it. But Kat? For some reason, she seems to think I have potential. It cuts me to the core to think of letting her down. Again.
The only thing that freaks me out more than truly displeasing my sister is a face-to-face encounter with a spider.
Don’t laugh. They’re evil.
I shiver at the thought.
A minute later, Ethan’s by my side at the sink. He grabs the bowls out of my hands and scrubs them down before handing them to me to rinse.
He’s big. Way bigger than I am. Broad and tall and rugged.
Standing so close to him at the sink reminds me of the first time I saw him, shirtless and dripping wet. With all those muscles and that angry ink etched into his golden skin.
The kind of guy to make a girl ache in just the right ways, if he were another guy and I another girl.
This close, I can smell his shower gel. Something manly and crisp. He must’ve showered right before he came over.
I clear my throat. “Would you need me to cook or clean your house too?”
“I’m not hiring you to be my maid. Just to take care of Mila and Cody. I’ll do my best to make them dinner, clean the house, do our laundry. Those aren’t your jobs, and I never want you to feel like they are. If you don’t care that I smell like a barn animal, I can probably come in to make them a quick breakfast if you want. Then you’d only have to make them lunch.”
