Page 27 of Irresistibly Wicked

“Why? Because I don’t want to sleep with you?” she said with attitude.

He took the towel from her and dried his hands. “No. Like I said, that’ll change.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I’m only kidding.” He draped the towel over the edge of the sink. “You inspire me because you made the effort to grow up at twenty, and you thought you’d been living off the rails for too long. Meanwhile, here I am at thirty, just starting to find my way onto the right track.”

“Then I’m even happier that I gave you my good-luck charm, because from what I hear, you’re going to disappoint a lot of women. Not that I know anything about being a playboy, but I imagine that’ll bring some of that begging you mentioned, and you may need to stay strong and ward it off.” She punctuated stay strong with a punch to the air.

“You know what? That’s another good reason we should get married.”

“No, it’s not!” she said with a laugh.

“Hear me out, because it’ll help me as much as it’ll help you. If you were my wife, it would get women off my back, which would make it easier for me to change my ways. Then you’d let me lend you the money, knowing you’d be able to pay it back in a couple of months.”

She pointed at him. “You’re insane, and the last thing I need is a crazy-ass fake husband.”

“I can’t fix my crazy, but I’d be your real husband during that time, legal and everything, and you’d totally have bragging rights to the hottest guy in Bayside.”

“Ohmygod.” She leveled Zander with a serious stare. “I think you mean the hottest player, and what makes you think I’d want half the town’s sloppy seconds?”

“Ouch.” He put his hand over his heart. “That stung.”

“You just got done telling me that you’re a player who goes home with more than one woman at a time.”

He cocked a grin. “That wasn’t the part that hurt. You called me sloppy.”

Laughter burst from her lungs, which made him crack up, too.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re the coolest chick around?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Only everyone.”

“A’right, bestie. I can’t stand around letting you harass me all night. I need to get to work on the backsplash.”

“Yeah, you do,” she teased. “That thing’s an eyesore.”

“Is that right, smart-ass? Now you have to help me with it.”

She looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “I don’t know how to put up a backsplash.”

“Then it’s about time you learned.”

SHAUNA SET ANOTHER tile in place. They’d been at it for a while, working side by side, applying thinset, measuring, leveling, cutting, and placing tiles. She was perched on the counter, and Zander was standing in front of it. Music played through a Bluetooth speaker, the two of them singing as they created a beautiful backsplash of white vintage subway tiles with distressed hints of grays and blues, giving them a rustic beachy vibe.

Zander glanced over as she reached for another tile. “Looking good over there, Flores.”

“Thanks.” He clearly meant the tiles and not her. While he had only a smidgen of dust on his cheek, she was a mess. She had dust on her clothes and thinset in her hair. She was glad she’d changed into shorts, since she’d only brought one pair of jeans, and Zander had lent her one of his T-shirts to wear so she wouldn’t get the one she brought dirty. “I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I am.”

“You like the power of wielding a…” He looked at the trowel, and his brows knitted. “A handheld weapon?”

She laughed.

He placed another tile. “Have you done any kind of home projects?”

“Yes, plenty of them, but not like this. Mine were out of necessity. If a sink was clogged or a toilet lever broke, Brian or I would fix it instead of bothering our landlord. But this is different. It’s messy and physical, but it’s also transforming. It’s like we’re giving your kitchen a whole new beginning.”

She liked working with Zander, too. He was patient, appreciative, and funny. They teased each other about songs they liked and songs they didn’t, and they fell into an easy rhythm, like they were a team and had worked together a hundred times before.