AllFreeNovel
Share Us
God, how embarrassing.
I pause my frantic salvage job and put my head in my hands.
Of all the times for this to happen…
Also, I hate that we were plunged into chaos after a nice day.
Areallynice day.
The kind of nice that had me dizzy, imagining what it would be like if we were dating for real and his mom adopted me, taking me under her expansive wing in that way she has. Like Ibelong.
The rest of his family wasn’t half-bad either.
The cookie Dexter bought me sits with my purse. I smile when I think of Colt, rattling on about how he had to immortalize his favorite cookie like a little Michelangelo.
Seriously.
I need to hold myself together, but right now, all I want to do is scream and cry and maybe scarf down an entire pint of ice cream.
My apartment is toast and I justknowmy landlord, Mr. Evans, will find a way to pin this on me. It’ll bemyfault the pipes burst because the plumbing hasn’t been updated since Reagan was president.
My fault the unit is ruined.
My fault that all my stuff is destroyed.
My fault that I was out when it started and didn’t call anyone sooner.
Mrs. Patty, the downstairs neighbor who sits up all night with her trash TV shows, raps on my open door.
“What in the hell’s going on in here?” she screeches, her rollers and slippers hiding the fact that there’s probably a gun in her purse.
“Pipe burst!” I say, like the spraying water isn’t obvious enough. “I’m sorry, we just got home and—”
“Holy possum shit, you’re soaked.” She narrows her eyes at me. “There’s fuckin’ water dripping into my apartment. A lady can’t even get on the toilet without it raining on her head!”
My brain revolts at the image.
“I’m really sorry.” I fumble for my phone. “I’ll call Mr. Evans again and—”
“Aw, why bother? He won’t do shit.”
“Well, yeah. What makes you think I can?” The stress makes me snap.
Bad idea. She might be a little old granny from the hills, but she’s not a granny whose bad side you want to be on.
Mrs. Patty’s eyes narrow and she’s about to tear into me when another voice interrupts.
“Plumber’s on the way, just five or ten minutes out now.” Dexter, his shirt still slicked to his body and those blue eyes of his sparking dangerously.
The adrenaline rush of attraction floods through me.
I look away before I do anything embarrassing like blushing or making a fool of myself.
“Who the devil are you?” Mrs. Patty asks, shuffling around in her slippers to look up at him, all six foot plus of delicious male body with its military tattoos on full display. And even though she’s always packing out of paranoia, she backs away slightly.
“I’m Junie’s fiancé,” Dexter says simply, still with that warning note in his voice. “We need to sit tight. Until the plumber shows, there’s not much we can do with this sort of leak.”
“Dex—” I warn.
