2. Lexi
Chapter 2
Lexi
Once the game was over, Kai helped me clean up while my brother took care of the metric ton of sawdust on our front lawn.
We kept bumping into one another in the kitchen. Before he stepped foot in it, I’d have called it a big one, but everywhere I turned, he was right there, sudsy hands and all.
God, he was stupidly attractive. Kai Murdock had been in and out of my life since I was a kid. He never treated me like the annoying little sister like my brother did sometimes. Probably because a little girl was an anomaly in his ridiculously testosterone-rich family.
“Will you have a problem with me living here for a bit?”
I paused with a dish towel and plate in hand. “Living here?”
“We got distracted with hockey and dinner and I didn’t get to ask. Living at the farmhouse is...itchy.”
I put the dry plate away, gobsmacked at the idea of him being under the same roof. No! It was right there on my tongue, but I shrugged instead. “Not sure what itchy means.”
“My mom is always asking where I’m going, when I’ll be back, what happened during the day. Feels like I’m back in grade school.”
“She probably just misses you.”
He sighed. “I know. I just don’t want to start snapping at her, you know? She doesn’t deserve that, but I’m not used to having anyone care about my whereabouts.”
I leaned on the counter and crossed my arms. “I get it. Why I asked to split rent with Wyatt. Living home again, plus the pitying looks...” I turned back around, not wanting to see it in Kai’s eyes, either. I picked up another plate to dry. My breakup with Duane had been ugly.
Mostly because he didn’t want to lose his meal ticket, not because he cared about me. It wasn’t as if he’d touched me in months, and when he did, it was perfunctory at best.
I brushed against Kai’s hip and the skin under my dress pants burned.
He frowned down at me. His sunshine and sweet spice scent made me want to close my eyes and take a deep lungful of him in. “Why would anyone pity you? Everyone has had a shitty breakup.”
A laugh rolled out of me. “Because I’m me.”
“Don’t talk like that.” He took a step closer and took the plate from me. “His loss, not yours.”
“How do you know?” I pressed my hand into his chest. “Never mind. I’m sure my brother said something.”
He curled his fingers around my wrist. “He didn’t need to.”
“But he did.”
“You take care of us at the warehouse and we’re just dirty mongrel-type guys. I can only imagine how you treat a guy you thought you loved.”
“How do you know I still don’t?”
“I don’t see any tears talking about him. Not that the jackass deserves a single tear.”
The way his voice growled made my heart race, while his was so damn steady under my hand. Kai was just being his usual big brotherly self. There was no way a man like him could get worked up over someone like me.
“Thanks, Kai.” I backed away from him and went to the fridge for my wine. I was parched and not from the warmth of the day. I refilled my glass and took a fortifying sip.
“I mean it.”
“You can stay. You don’t need to butter me up.”
He gripped my shoulders and turned me around, taking the glass from me. “If you don’t want me here, I’m cool with it. I know you gotta see me at work too.”
If he kept touching me, I was going to do something stupid. And I’d filled my quotient of stupid already this year. “If you live with me, then you won’t be late to work.” I grinned and eased away from him, taking my glass. “I’ll set up a schedule for us for cooking. I wouldn’t mind the help.”
“Schedule? Do we need to get that serious?”
“What do you think?”
He laughed. “Fair point. I’ve seen your schedules.”
“Damn right. I’m going to go take a shower.”
“With your wine?”
“Definitely.” I laughed and headed through the doorway to the dining room and to my bedroom.
I needed to get away from him for a few minutes and recalibrate. We had a shared bathroom, which was going to be another problem.
An image of Kai in a towel popped in my head. Nope. Not going there right now.
I grabbed my caddy of girl supplies that reminded me of my college days. I was too high-maintenance, and it was easier to keep all my junk to myself. My brother was well-aware of my evening ritual and usually kept himself busy in the garage.
The long, hot, everything shower settled me and emptied my brain. Skin care came next, and I was squeaky clean and dewy with all my serums.
When I opened the door, Kai stood there in just a pair of jeans with the top snap open.
All the hard work to clear my brain went right out the window.
How could he be that damn attractive? Especially since I knew he’d done a full day on one of the larger properties.
“Finally. I was beginning to wonder if you fell in.”
I laughed and cinched my robe a little tighter. It was a silky kimono-style robe that suddenly felt far too flimsy and short with him standing in front of me.
His gaze drifted down to my chest then to my legs before lasering to my eyes. The gray of his were intense and his usual grin was missing.
“Sorry. There’s a tiny bathroom in the basement if you really needed one.”
“You smell like a fucking peach.”
“Sorry?”
He swallowed and the Adam’s apple in his neck bobbed, making my mouth dry. His neck was so long and flowed into his shoulders, with all sorts of delicious muscles in his shoulders and then just got better when it reached his chest. It was lightly furred with golden hair that disappeared into his jeans. He was so golden brown and didn’t have a hint of a tan line at the deep vee of his zipper.
“Eyes up, Lex.”
My eyes snapped up to his. “Right. I’ll get out of your way.”
He didn’t move, but his jaw tightened.
That couldn’t be for me. Absolutely not. He was probably angry that I’d given him a once-over. I was only human, dammit.
I tried to slip past him, but the space was small and the hallway almost non-existent. Then remembered my caddy of stuff and had to back up. “Sorry. One sec. I just need to get my stuff.” I picked it up and turned to find him. He snatched the bottle of body-wash and flicked the top to sniff it. “Hey.”
“Delicious.”
“I know, it’s my body-wash.” I took it from him and tucked it back into my caddy. “You can have the bathroom now.” I zipped around him, but the doorway was narrow enough that my robe caught and pulled it off my shoulder, flashing a lot of skin.
His gaze dipped then bounced right up to my face.
I pulled it together and darted into my room, hoping he didn’t see how hard my nipples were. He was still staring at me when I shut the door.
Yeah, this living together thing was going to be great.