“Oh. Right. I, uh…I work at the U.S. Bank over on East Washington,” she gave him a truthful answer. “It’s right next to?—”
“You’re kidding.” Rocky’s wide-eyed face appeared again. “That’s like two blocks from my office.”
Her heart kicked into high gear. Shit. This guy not only lived next door, but he worked close to her place of employment, too?
Paranoia threatened to settle in deep, but then Raegan reminded herself of one very important detail…
Relax, Rae. The realtor said he bought his house several months ago. It’s not like the guy could’ve known you’d be moving in next door.
Raegan’s throat worked with a quick swallow as she brought her rising suspicions back down to a saner level. Ofcourse, Rocky hadn’t anticipated her arrival. Hell, up until a week ago, evenshehadn’t known this was where she’d end up.
But after spending three years of her life stewing with the need for revenge, the faces of those she could trust sometimes blurred with those she shouldn’t. Even so, until she knew more…
“So you work out of an office.” She forced a quick smile. “When you said private security, I guess I pictured you goinginto people’s homes and installing those little doorbell cameras and whatnot.”
Rocky leaned his back up against the opened cabinet’s frame, his sinewy forearms coming to a rest on his drawn-up knees. “My team does design and install security systems, but we also provide other services.”
“Like what?”
A strong, bare shoulder lifted in a quick shrug. “Lots of things, really. My team and I do things like run surveillance or conduct a private investigation …”
Find out the name of his company.
“You said it’s close to where I work.” She kept her tone light. “Would I have heard of it?”
“Maybe. But we’re not exactly your average security firm, so I doubt it.”
When he didn’t offer more, Raegan made the executive decision not to force it. Being interested in her new neighbor was one thing. Push too far too fast, and there was a chance she’d screw this whole plan up before it even got started.
“That’s cool.” She put on a friendly smile and let the rest go for now. “Well, whatever y’all do, ithasto be more exciting than working at a bank.”
“It has its moments.”
An odd expression fell over him, then. But before she could try to get a read on it, Rocky began twisting his upper body back under the sink and changed the subject.
“Pretty sure the issue in here is a clogged P-trap.” He tapped the u-shaped PVC pipe with the wrench. “That’s this curved piece of pipe, here. If stuff doesn’t get eaten up well enough by the garbage disposal, it can start collecting in this U-shape, here. If you get enough build-up in there, it’ll keep the entire system from working properly.”
“That makes sense.” She pretended as if what he’d just shared was brand-new information. “Is it easy to fix?”
“We’re about to find out.”
Minutes later, Rocky had already cleared out the P-trap and was putting the pipes back together again. Sliding himself out from beneath the sink a final time, he gave his hands a quick wash before grabbing a nearby kitchen towel and drying the moisture from his skin.
“That model looks pretty outdated.” He leaned his massive form against the farm-style sink’s porcelain edge. “And if that’s the problem, which I’m almost positive it is, you’re going to continue having issues until it’s replaced.”
I’ll just buy one and install it myself.
“Hopefully, my landlord agrees.”
“They should. Those systems aren’t as expensive as they used to be, and they really don’t take much to install. In fact, I just put one in a few months ago at my place. If it helps smooth things over with your landlord, I’m happy to do the install. That way, they don’t have to waste time trying to hire someone, and you won’t have to keep messing with it while you wait for it to get fixed.”
The offer sent a slight spike in her pulse. If he installed it himself, she’d have another excuse to talk and ask more questions.
“That would be great,” she responded to his offer. “But I don’t want to put you out. It’s bad enough I’ve taken time away from what you were trying to fix on your own house.”
“You wouldn’t be putting me out.” Rocky turned and began putting the various items from below her sink back in their rightful place. “An hour, maybe two, and the job would be done. As for my place, I’m just replacing a few shingles that came loose with that storm that blew through here a few weeks ago. I’ll be finished with that before dinner.”
You could just ask him to come here for dinner, instead. Just as a thank you for the work he did.