Chapter 4 #2
She yanks the faucet that should only turn left or right away from the pipe.
“Pull hard.” And when she jams it back in, she adds, “Then slam it back again.” Does she hear herself?
Because I sure the fuck do, and need to rearrange for more room in these trunks.
With a satisfactory smile firmly in place, she steps to the back of the tub and motions me in.
“Now you try it.” I’d be happy to . . . with her.
“The faucet,” she adds as if I needed the reminder.
I sure as fuck did.
Pipe.
Pull.
Slam in.
Try it.
Fuck me. This shouldn’t turn me on as much as it does.
Eyeing the small space she’s left for me, I balk, perplexed how this mathematically works. “You want me in there?” Not going to happen. I smirk, crossing my arms over my chest again.
She grins. “Well, you kind of need to be for it to work.” She takes a final step back before she reaches the tiled wall surrounding the basin.
I angle the showerhead up so I can fit in without it jabbing me in the head. “I already miss my shower at my penthouse.”
“Not sure what kind of shower a penthouse has, but this one has good water pressure. I’ve tested it myself.” Her showering in here isn’t an image I mind. “What’s your shower like?”
“Well, for one . . .” I reach up and hold the pipe jutting from the wall. “I can fit under it. But there are jets on the walls as well. The high pressure of the spray eases my muscles after practice.”
“Maybe you’re practicing too hard.”
My gaze whips back over my shoulder so fast that my neck twinges. Now I’m the one staring. “Impossible.”
She shrugs. “Okay. Suit yourself.”
“I will.” Not sure why that felt personal, but she struck a raw nerve. I turn away from her again, mumbling, “Practice less? What the fuck? No one who is worthy of playing practices less.”
“Alright.” I can hear the teasing in her tone. I glance back again. Her smile was already wiped away, but now she’s looking at me like I need to speak to a professional.
I am a professional. A pro hockey player, who at thirty-five is at the top of my game. That’s all anyone needs to know to be the best. Watch me and practice.
“As fun as it is to discuss the worst approach I’ve ever heard to winning, are we fixing this or rigging it to work?” I ask.
“We’ve tried to fix it.” She leans against the tile wall to see what I’m doing. “Now we rig it. It’s really just a trick that seems to work. It’s not necessary if you prefer cold showers—”
“I do not.” I pull out the faucet.
“Quick learner,” she whispers, pressed up so close that she’s almost beside me.
“It’s not really rocket science.” When I jam it back just like she did, I hear a crack. “That didn’t sound good.”
Grabbing my arm, she leverages her weight to peer around me. “No, it didn’t.”
I jolt when water hits my face, her scream right after.
“ACK!” I’m grabbed by the middle and pulled backward just as her sneakers slip out from under her.
Strong in my stance, like I am on the ice, I reach around, catching Summer before she falls and takes me with her.
“Oh my God,” she says, relief sinking through her muscles. “I thought I was doneso.”
“I’m known for my fast reflexes.”
She snorts as the water spews all over us. “I don’t even know what to say to that other than if you let go of me, I won’t get entirely drenched.” She looks down as I turn around with my hands still on her waist. “Too late.”
Her wet dress gives me a sneak peek of the lace bra she’s wearing under it. Her hair is soaked, too. But it’s from the briefest of our gazes uniting that my heart begins thundering in my chest. And then she’s gone, free from me and the water, standing on the bathroom mat dripping like a wet cat.
“Oh noooo.” She’s eyeing the faucet and then jumps forward to try to turn it off with no luck.
The strength she carried in her body has all but escaped.
“Great,” she deadpans, staring at the fractures in the tile that lead to the cracked base of the showerhead.
She looks me over, and defeat wins, dragging down not only the sides of her mouth but the outer corners of her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“With all this happening, you’re worried about me?”
“You’re from the city.”
I burst out laughing. “I’m from the city, so I’ve never seen a broken pipe? We used to play in the water from fire hydrants. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“At least you’re dressed for it in your swimsuit.” She grabs a towel from the rack and hands it to me even though she somehow managed to get more wet than I am.
“You go ahead. I need to see if there’s any hope of salvaging this pipe to stop the water from leaking out.
” I pull the faucet back out, but I’m gentler this time when I push it back in.
Unsuccessful, I can admit my own defeat.
“We need to cut off the water to the house. Do you know where that valve is located?”
She finishes patting her face and wraps the towel around her. “It’s on the other side of the house. I’ll go do it.” I take the other towel on display and dry off as I follow her through the house, leaving a trail of water in my wake.
We walk outside opposite where I parked.
I’ve never seen a chick so confident in the mechanics of plumbing.
Not that I’ve been around many plumbers.
When she pulls the lid up from the yard, she grabs a metal tool lodged inside the hollowed space.
Turning once, and then angling to turn it again, the valve stalls.
“That should do it. Can you check through the window and tell me if it’s off? ”
I look through the bathroom window and call back, “All good.”
When I turn around, she’s wiping her hands on the towel. “You won’t be able to stay here if the water is off.”
“Then let’s get it fixed.”
She balls the towel in her hands and grins, but it’s lacking joy. “It’s Saturday. There’s no way we’ll be able to get a plumber out here until sometime next week.”
“Huh.” My gaze lands on the deck where Roman and I played and ate lunch. It’s only been a few hours, but we’ve already bonded again just from being here. “That’s not good.”
She’s already marching back to the house when she replies, “Not good at all. I’m going to see if I can get Rodgers out here to help since it’s an emergency.”
“Who’s Rodgers?”
“A cousin twice removed.”
Following her, I ask, “Maybe I’m not connecting the dots, but how does your cousin twice removed help the situation?”
She stops and looks back. With a big grin on her face, she laughs. “He’s studying to be a plumber, silly.”
“Silly me.” Studying doesn’t sound good, but I have a feeling we’re taking what we can get.
I stay on the deck, reclining in the Adirondack chair as she takes her phone and starts pacing along the side of the house while making calls.
Occasionally, she ventures into my vantage point, giving me time to check her out again.
She uses her hands a lot when she talks.
Everything from a tornado swirl to rolling out the red carpet makes its way into her conversations.
Returning my gaze to the water, I find the calmness of the ocean helps relax my typically tense muscles.
It’s an incredible place. I’ll owe Coach Spears’s wife a thank-you for finding it.
Closing my eyes, I dance around the edges of sleep when fast-approaching steps drag me back to reality. When I’m shadowed, I open my eyes to see her standing over me, blocking the sun.
“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” she asks.
I push to sit upright. “Bad news.”
She plops into the chair next to me like she’s not going anywhere anytime soon. “No plumber can come out until next week, at the earliest.”
“What happened to the second cousin twice removed who’s studying plumbing?”
Leaning the back of her head against the chair, she takes in the beauty of the water, and replies, “Visiting his girlfriend in Gainesville for the week. So he’s a no-go as well.”
“Shit, what happens now?”
She rolls her head to the side to face me. “There’s more bad news.”
“Can’t wait,” I reply, letting sarcasm drip through my tone. “Hit me with it.”
“I called around to all my hospitality contacts in a thirty-mile radius. There’s nothing else available, and Mrs. Dover’s other rental is rented every week this summer.”
“So there are no other places to go while we wait for the cottage to be fixed? Is that what you’re saying?”
Nodding, she doesn’t seem the least bit stressed. “The boiled-down version? Yes.”
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath, carrying all the stress for both of us. Directing my attention fully on her, I ask, “What’s the good news?”
“Well, the good news is I came up with two options for you.”
Resting my arms forward on my legs, I look over at her. “Two’s good. What are they?”
“One,” she starts with hope resonating in her voice. She taps her finger on her other hand’s palm and grins. “You head back to the city and return once the pipes are fixed. We’d obviously comp the week, and I can talk to Mrs. Dover about—”
“That’s the last place I want to be right now. Coming here was about getting my son and me out of the city and taking a break from that chaos. So I’m not interested in going back. What’s the second option?”
A gleam of sunshine hits her eyes as she replies, “You stay with me until it’s fixed.”
“So there’s no good news?”
Closing her eyes, she looks ready to take her own nap. After adjusting against the wood seat, she says, “Guess it depends on how you look at it.”
“I’m looking at it like I’m shit out of luck.”
“Or in luck if you ask me.” With her eyes on me again, she adds, “Treat it like an adventure with Roman, and it will be fixed before you know it.”
I can’t figure her out. The woman who had no patience for my antics earlier is starting to sound like she wants us to stay. With her. I also can’t deny that I’m intrigued by the proposition. “How would it work?”
“There needs to be rules.”
I expect no less from her.