Blush(23)

Foreplay was going to be hard to turn down in the future, now that she’d acquired it. Who knew?

The dog came over to him, then rested his head on Cruz’s knee, looking up at him adoringly. “Shepherd mix. What do you want me to tackle first?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.

Me, she thought, unbidden, and felt her face go warm. “I bought the house a month ago. I was looking for a fixer-up, because I wanted to try my hand at various home improvements. The house is solid apart from the roof, which the inspector apparently didn’t bother to inspect. I have a list.”

“I’ll take a look.”

Getting up, she crossed the kitchen, feeling his eyes on her as she took the plain yellow legal pad from beside the sink, then returned to the table to hand it to him.

“I presume the roof is the top priority.” He indicated the three buckets across the room, one of which the dog was drinking from instead of the bowl she’d given him.

“Anything I can’t do myself is a priority— No. No, that’s not true. I’m in no hurry—I suppose I shouldn’t have said that. You work by the hour, right?”

“Yeah, but I take exactly how long it requires to do the job.” He held out his hand.

Just looking at his large tanned hand, with its ridge of callus at the base of his fingers, and the short, square nails, turned Mia on.

“Let’s see that list.”

She handed him the notepad. “I’ve contracted with a company in New Orleans to replace the roof. But they’re backed up and can’t be here for at least two weeks. I told them I’d let them know if I was still interested then.” For all she knew, she’d be back in San Francisco.

Where would Cruz Barcelona be?

Who would he be teaching how to make French scrambled eggs?

It annoyed her that the very thought of him with another woman annoyed her.

“I can do some patching. At least enough to get rid of the collection buckets.” Looking down, he frowned. “LTD? SWS? You’ve got those checked off already. What are they?”

Learn to drive: check. Sex with a stranger: check. “My to-do list.” Snatching the pad from him, she flipped the page to the list of improvements she couldn’t manage or didn’t want to even try herself. “Here you go. Here’s the to-do list for the house.”

Mia drank her fill looking at him as he skimmed the long list. His eyelashes, straight and inky black, were tipped with silver. His mouth drawn with mostly straight lines, but tempting as sin. Broad shoulders stretched out his blue T-shirt, which clung damply to the stair steps of his abs before disappearing into his jeans.

Mia shifted on her chair, ostensibly to point to the paper he held. Moving was not a good idea, as it got things excited all over again. She leaned forward a little to let her T-shirt blouse out so he couldn’t see her erect nipples. “Can you do all that?”

“Yeah.” He glanced up at her. “I’d tackle the roof first thing, since the rain seems to have stopped . . . unless you have other priorities?”

“It would be nice not to have to get up all night emptying buckets. Excellent. When can you start?”

“Now.”

All Mia’s girl parts contracted, watching Cruz’s deft fingers find just the right spot to make the dog close its eyes and lean against his thigh with a massive sigh. She knew exactly how the dog felt.

“Before you get started, I have a pole in the garage. I’d like it taken upstairs and installed.”

“A pole?” He gave her a lazy, amused look. Still no real smile. Mia cocked her head, trying to imagine him laughing. She couldn’t. “You training to be a firefighter? A high jumper? Ballet?”

“It’s an exercise pole. It’s in a green box near the garage door. Bring it upstairs, and I’ll show you where I want it.”

“I’ll take care of it, then I want to tackle the roof while the rain holds off.” He scanned the list. “I’ll save inside jobs for when it’s raining, and tackle the porch steps after I handle the roof situation. I’ll need supplies. Noticed a hardware store on the way into town. I’ll hit that when we’re done here.”

Today was a day of firsts. Mia had never let anyone set her priorities for her. She was a full-steam-ahead kind of girl. All ducks in neat, orderly rows, all tasks numbered, deadlines set. After last night, followed by this morning’s shockers, she was prepared to throw them all out the window and substitute every one of her tasks for sex.

“I’ll change and go into town with you—I need to pick up a few things at the market.” He wasn’t going to be satisfied with yogurt and eggs, no matter how slowly they were cooked. And his dog needed something other than her dinner.