She pouts at me like I’m a poor gutter puppy. “Not interested, Moby. Now, get out of my doorway.”
My smile can’t be held back now. “You’re a real piece of work. One hell of a woman, Magnolia.”
She rolls her eyes and turns her rosy cheek to break our eye contact. “Whatever.”
She tramps into the bathroom as I stand there, watching her as she closes the door. Surprisingly, she pauses when there’s an inch remaining and calls out, “You want to make yourself useful, blow up the air mattress. Blowing shit ain’t my thing.”
The bathroom door closes, and a burst of laughter leaves my lungs.
I told her the truth. She’s one hell of a woman.
My woman.
I just have to remind her, and then make sure she never forgets again.
Twenty-Seven
Magnolia
Idon’t know where Moses sleeps in my house, but he doesn’t push to sleep on the mattress he inflated. True to my word, I went to bed sated and slept like the dead. I refuse to admit my sleep was undisturbed because I knew he was watching over me.
When I rise from the air mattress, there’s a crick in my neck, but I don’t have time to think about it because I hear something coming from downstairs.
Voices.As in plural.
I quickly throw on some loose shorts, a bra, and a tank top before heading down to see what the hell is going on.
I stop short in my kitchen when I see Moses at the counter, wearing his slacks and a white undershirt, going over my punch list with Rocco.
“You’ll have it all done today?”
“Yes, sir. Absolutely. The cleaning crew can come tomorrow, and then she can have furniture delivered—” Rocco cuts off his statement when he sees me.
Hands on my hips, I glower at the pair of men at my new marble island. “What the hell is going on?”
Moses answers as if he’s been here all along, every day, throughout this renovation. “Rocco was just telling me he’ll be done this evening with the punch list and out of your hair.”
I face Rocco, who is studying me and my casual look. “Already?”
He glances down at the sheet of paper we made the list on, and then back up at me. “Yes, ma’am. Just give me today to have a few more guys come in, and we’ll be out of here for good.”
“A few more guys?” I repeat the phrase because I know Rocco didn’t plan on using more help due to the labor expense. “Is that going to cost me more?”
He shakes his head, catching Moses’s eyes, which are firmly drilled at him to answer the way he’s been instructed. “No. Not a penny more.” The look tells me there’s something I’m missing here, but Rocco excuses himself before I can ask more questions.
Left alone in the kitchen with Moses, I cross my arms over my chest. “What did you say to him?”
“What needed to be said to get you a house that’s livable.” He stretches his neck to one side and then the other. “Because I’m not sleeping across your doorway again. I’m too old for that shit, Mags.” He holds up an index finger to hammer home his point. “One long, miserable night was enough.”
Scowling, I remind him, “No one asked you to.”
I try to breeze through the kitchen, but Moses snags me around the waist with an arm and brings me to stand between his legs. Body heat radiates off him, soaking through my clothes and creating a flush up my chest.
“You sleep okay?”
As I smile up at him with all the sweetness I can manage, I pretend I’m not feeling a bit affected by his presence. Plus, since he slept like shit, I’m inclined to rub my semi-restful night in a little. A girl’s got to have her fun when she can. “Like a baby.”
Heat flashes in his hypnotic eyes. “You enjoyed making me listen to you come in the shower, didn’t you?”