“Me? Nothing. But my brother Declan can find pretty much anyone with just a phone number.” A little thrill goes through me at the idea of tracking that bitch down. I wouldn’t mind getting her blood on my clothes.
“I…that’s really kind. But I can’t ask you to do that. I’ll figure things out on my own.”
8
KADE
Iwonder what it would take to get her to jog around a little more. Christ, the way her breasts bounced around in that tank top just about gave me a fucking heart attack. This woman just keeps surprising me. When I walked into the office and saw that spectacular, round, wiggling ass, I just about swallowed my tongue. Mesmerized, it took me a second to register what she was doing.
I don’t know how long it’s been since the windows were washed. She’s done more cleaning in thirty minutes than I have in the last four months. The guys take care of the back, but I would never ask them to clean up front. And her little lecture about dust. Jesus, I’m torn between wanting to know what else she’ll say and wanting to kiss that sassy mouth.
It’s pretty clear that she’s not who I thought she was. She’s down on her luck, yeah, but she’s not desperate. She’s not broken yet.
I’m so fucking relieved she’s okay.
And I’m really worried about how relieved I am.
I keep trying to remind myself that this woman is not my problem, but it’s not sticking. She’s nothing like I expected, and the fact that I’m drawn to her doesn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore. She’s not like them.
I think.
I need more time with her to explore this thing. This fucking feeling. A feeling I’ve never had, not with any of the women I’ve dated. I need a little more time to figure this out. And yeah, make sure she’s back on her feet. So I come up with a dumb fucking plan right there on the spot. “Look. You’ve had a run of complete shit luck, right?”
I’m so stupid. I should shut up now.
She nods. “You have no idea.”
Shit. Now I want to know more, but I set that aside. “I get it. You don’t have many options right now. I’m guessing you don’t have a credit card you can use to get a motel room for the month?”
Her head shaking doesn’t surprise me. If she had other options, she wouldn’t have been sleeping in her fucking car.
“Right. Okay. We might be able to help each other here.”
Sure Kade, invite her right in. While you’re at it, might as well hand her the keys to your truck and your wallet. That’s where this is going to end. It always does. But I’m helpless to stop it. She’s already sucked me in.
The way her eyes narrow at me tells me that my word choice has put her on edge. A gentleman would put her at ease right away. I’m no fucking gentleman. I slide a smirk onto my face and lean in. “Maybe we scratch each other’s backs…you know what I mean?” I wiggle my eyebrows to up the creep factor. Her eyes narrow, skipping over my face. The look on her face…it’s too good. I crack and can’t hold my rusty laugh in.
“Dickhead,” she mutters. But she’s smiling.
“Sorry,” I sputter as I wipe my eyes. Christ. Not that funny, but I’ve been under pressure for so long that it’s like a valve being released. I can feel my body relaxing in a way it hasn’t in months.
I straighten up and look at her face. She’s still smiling at me. God, it lights up her entire face. That fucking perfect face. I wonder what she looks like when she wakes up in the morning, all soft and warm? That thought sobers me, and I put a little more room between us. “Shit. I’m sorry. I was fucking with you a little.”
My smile fades as I look at her. I shuffle through a few stories I could tell her to get her to agree to my plan before realizing the truth is just pathetic enough to work. Something tells me she won’t fall for a story anyway, and she’s already shown she won’t take any favors from me. Though, I’m painfully aware she could be working a long con. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman targeted me.
“I’m fucking drowning,” I admit to her. Her smile is gone, but her face is still so open. “I haven’t slept over four hours a night in more than a year. There’s too much work for me to keep going the way I am.”
I hesitate before speaking this last bit of truth to her. I haven’t admitted it out loud to anyone.
“I’ve been popping antacids like they’re fucking candy. I think I’m getting an ulcer.”
Her eyes are warm, and she takes a step toward me, her hand raised like she’s going to touch me, before lowering it to her side. I want her to touch me more than anything else. I shake off the random thought and focus on my mission. Laying it on thick. But it’s the truth. Real and unvarnished.
“You’re in a shitty spot. I need help. I mean, look around,” I say, gesturing to the piles of paper covered in dust. “It’s pretty obvious things have gone to shit in here.”
“I noticed,” she says, looking around the room again.
“Yeah. Well, I had a girl upfront here for a while. But she moved, and I haven’t had the time to find someone new.”