After she’d dressed and pulled herself together, Shelby walked into the living room. Nick struck a Warrior Pose in front of her TV. The last time she’d let him in her house he’d used her laptop without her permission, and now he was doing her workout program? The guy was as bad as Chester. Or he had a serious case of ADD.
“What are you doing?”
He mimicked the instructor’s move. “Yoga, apparently. How is this considered exercise?”
“It’s not as easy as it looks.” Shelby waited until Nick was standing on one foot with the other foot perched against his inner thigh and his arms stretched above his head, before she shoved him.
He landed in a heap on the carpet.
“See?” Laughing, she leaned over him for the remote. She hit the Off button just as his hands slipped around her waist. He yanked her on top of him, then rolled, pinning her under his big, hard body.
Lord, all those sculpted muscles weighed a ton. And his sexy eyes had a ring of dark blue surrounding the light part. Was everything about him pretty? And perfect? It was just so annoying.
“Say you’re sorry,” he growled.
The ten-year-old in her wanted to say “Make me,” but there was no doubt he could. “You want me to lie to you?”
“No.” His brow furrowed. “Say ‘uncle,’ then.”
Just as she was about to pull his hair, hoping to surprise him enough to find escape, Jo cleared her throat. “Do you need to be rescued Shelby, or are you two going to need a room?”
Did she need rescue? It was kind of nice snuggling up against Nick’s hard muscles.
No. He was just being a bully. “Help, please?”
Jo snorted. “I’ll go get the bat.”
“I’d have gone for the room.” Nick moved his mouth next to her ear, his warm breath sending heat racing to her nether regions. “According to your rules, now that I’ve seen your legs we can sleep together. I’d like that.”
Her stomach clenched. He’d probably look pretty darn good naked.
But she wanted Greg. Besides, Nick had to be teasing. He’d never want to have sex with her, especially now that he’d seen her legs. “Liar. According to your survey I’m not your type.”
“That used to be my type. Until I met you.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
Before she could come up with a good retort, Jo returned with her weapon. “I’m counting to three . . .”
Nick hopped up and held his hand out for Shelby’s. She slapped it aside and stood on her own. “I’m not falling for that one.”
Turning to her roommate, who stood as if she were ready to hit one out of the park while glowering at Nick, Shelby said, “Thank you, Jo. I appreciate it.”
Jo tossed the bat onto the couch and then rolled her eyes. As she headed for the kitchen she said, “My parents are coming over in a few so I’m making breakfast burritos. Is he staying?”
Nick beamed a bright smile. “I’d love to. Thanks!”
Jo laughed. “Where do you find them, Shelby?”
When Jo retreated back to the kitchen, Shelby led Nick to the couch and motioned for him to have a seat. She moved the bat aside and drew a deep a breath to steady herself after Nick’s tempting proposition. “Now, start from the beginning. And why is it your job to find Beth a soul mate, Mr. Fix It?”
When Nick winced, she figured this was going to be good. Or very bad.
***
Nick berated himself while driving to his mother’s house. What had he been thinking? He’d asked Shelby to sleep with him? She was the marriage, two kids, and a dog type if he’d ever seen one. Besides, she’d hate him if she found out what he was up to.
But after feeling all her curves beneath him earlier, there was no doubt the sleeping together part would be incredible, but after that, one of them was bound to kill the other.
Nick chuckled as he recalled how she’d pushed him over. She couldn’t weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet, and yet she’d gotten the better of him.
He ran a hand down his face. That shouldn’t make her even sexier to him, it should make him very afraid of her. No wonder she wrote about a bad little monkey, because that monkey named Chester should be named Shelby!
But hadn’t he told Emily just the other day how much he liked that monkey?
Nope. Shelby had a boyfriend, or a prince, or something. And its name was Greg. Thank God Shelby hadn’t agreed to sleep with him. He needed to be sure the opportunity never arose in the future. Mostly because he wasn’t sure he could say no if she actually wanted him. He wasn’t the house-in-the-’burbs and soccer dad she wanted.
As he pulled into his mother’s drive, he came to an abrupt stop. What was his mom doing up on a ladder cleaning out the gutters?