Chapter 26 #2
Connor stared at me for a moment. “Aiden crashed your date, gave you a hat, and invited himself to sit down and eat with you. Is that right?”
“I wouldn’t call it a crash. He just happened to be there, and I asked him to have a seat.”
He nodded, smiling. “Well, isn’t that interesting.” He slapped his thigh with the hat and stood. “Yes, it is. I’ve got to be getting on now. How about I take you to dinner tonight?”
“Oh, you don’t need to do that. I could make something for us right here.” I stood, too, feeling awkward, unsure of why he was leaving so soon.
“How long has it been since you’ve had fresh Maine lobster?”
Chaucer walked up and bumped my hip. My hand automatically went to his head. “Fifteen years, at least.”
“See there? Far too long. I’ll come back around six. I’m not much for driving anymore, so do you think you could do the honors for our dinner date?”
“Of course.”
He turned to leave, making his way down the stairs. “Good, good. I’ll see you this evening, then.”
I turned to Chaucer. “Now, what do you suppose that was about?”
I brought the full tray back into the kitchen. I’d left Bear’s card next to the phone. I thought about the crack in the plaster ceiling in the spare room. I’d gone in this morning to consider paint colors and noticed it. I also had a leaky faucet in the downstairs bathroom.
I dialed and he picked up right away. “Good morning, beautiful!”
I stayed silent, trying to figure out if he thought I was someone else.
“Kate?” He sounded confused.
“Oh, you did mean me. Good morning to you, too.” The easy compliment made me smile and relax.
“What can I do for you?” His voice had a strange echo.
“I was just wondering if you had time to do a couple of jobs for me. I’m slowly working on making Gran’s place feel like my own, and I’ve found some problems, a cracked ceiling and a leaky faucet.” I paused. “If that’s not the kind of thing you do, could you recommend someone?”
“I asked Nellie to let me fix that ceiling two years ago. I did all kinds of handyman stuff for her, and I’ll extend the service to you. Mainly I design and build things, but I’m pretty handy, as well.”
“You’re pretty handsy. I’ll give you that.”
He laughed. “Anything for the future mother of my children. We’ll have four. Did I tell you?”
Why couldn’t he be the one I wanted? He was sweet and funny and sexy as hell. Clearly, I’d been a creep in a previous life and I was paying for it in this one. “Four? That means I’d have to have sex with you four times. I did not agree to that. Maybe if you were a better kisser...”
“A challenge; I like that. I’ll be by this afternoon to look at your house and to lay one on you that’ll have you rethinking your assessment of me. Personally, I’m good for four times a day, but if you can’t keep up with me...”
I hung up on him, laughing. “Okay, Chaucer, let’s go check the rest of the house and make a list for Bear. Your new best friend will be here soon.”
I heard Bear’s truck a couple of hours later. Chaucer stood by the door, tail wagging, waiting to get at him. I opened the door and Chaucer was off like a shot, but he stopped himself before he jumped.
Bear gave Chaucer a strong, full-body rub, and Chaucer fell to the porch in bliss. Bear stepped over my dog, grabbed me, dipped me, and laid a huge kiss on me.
When he stood me back up, all I could say was wow.
With a huge, self-satisfied grin, he nodded. “That’s right.”
“No, I meant the dip. The dip was awesome. The kiss”—I grimaced—“meh.”
He sighed. “I know. I worried when you said wow. Okay, let’s fix stuff!” He clapped his hands together, walking into the house, Chaucer jumping up to follow.
I followed as well. “You know, you look damn hot in that tool belt.”
He turned to wink at me. “Why do you think I became a contractor? I make this look work.”
I had six things to show him, and they turned out to be minor enough that he could easily get them all done in a day. When I asked how much it would cost, he laughed.
“I’ll pass on Nellie’s discount to you, especially as you let me kiss you whenever I feel like it.”
I screwed up my face in distaste. “Feeling kind of whorish now. Getting kissed on a semiregular basis made me feel like a free spirit. If I’m getting compensated for it, I just feel dirty.”
“I see. Does it bother you enough to pay full price?”
“Oh, hell, no. Maybe I’ll try on dirty for a little while. Take it for a test spin, if you will.”
“I knew I liked you.” He stepped closer and picked me up. “Wrap your legs around my waist.”
“Um. No.” I was dangling in the air, trying not to laugh.
“You’re not getting any lighter, woman. Put your legs around me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, you big whiner.” I put my arms on his shoulders and wrapped my legs around his waist. His grip shifted to my ass. I lifted my eyebrows at that.
“I’m trying to more securely support your weight.
I take no pleasure in this.” He then squeezed my butt and pulled me up higher.
Our naughty bits were nowhere near each other, thankfully.
“Now that you’re feeling dirty, I thought we could try this again.
On three, we try out our dirtiest kisses. One. Two. Three.”
His mouth crushed mine, his tongue invaded, wrestling with my own, as his hands continued to caress my butt. After a moment, during which I had the presence of mind to think that he was a darn good kisser, I called the experiment a failure. “Dude, you want to get your hands off my butt now?”
“But my hands love your ass. Don’t make my hands give up their new favorite plaything. It’s cruel.”
I smacked his shoulder. “All right. Enough of this.” I tried to hop down, but he wouldn’t unhand me. Consequently, I was hanging two feet off the ground, my face still close to his, my butt still firmly in his hands.
He squinted at me as though trying to figure out a puzzle. “Why isn’t this working? You’re hot, you’re funny, and I genuinely like you. Why aren’t we losing our shit over each other?”
I thought of Aiden and shrugged. “Is there someone else you’d rather be dirty kissing?”
His gaze slid to the right and he put me down. “Okay, I better get a few of these things done while I’m here. I’ll finish up tomorrow or the next day. It depends on how my other jobs are going.”
A few hours later, Bear had completed all but the ceiling, promising to be back soon to fix it.
He had only been gone a few minutes when I heard Connor return. “Katie, honey, are you here?”
I walked back to the kitchen. “Hi, Connor. You just missed Bear.”
He stopped to pet Chaucer. “Oh, why was he here?”
“Doing some repairs for me. I’m sorry. I haven’t had time to change for dinner. Can you give me a minute?”
He shooed me away. “Go, go. Chaucer and I are going to go sit out back, so take your time.”
When I returned a few minutes later, Connor asked, “Are you hungry?”
My stomach answered for me.
“I may be going deaf, but I heard that. Tiny thing like you, we need to keep your strength up.” We moved back through the French doors into the dining room, and Connor stopped to make sure the door was secure before saying, “I promised lobster. Does that still sound good to you?”
I grabbed his arm. “Do you understand how much I’ve been looking forward to that lobster all day?”
He brought his big mitts in for a loud clap. “Now you’re talking. This is prime lobster season, and Artie was telling me that they’ve been hauling in some big ones, the last few weeks in particular. Come on, my girl. Let’s get moving.”
I looked down at a hopeful Chaucer. I scratched his head and let him down easy.
“Sorry, buddy. I can’t take you with me this time.
You could sit in the car and wait for us, but that doesn’t seem like much fun.
” I walked him back to the kitchen. “How about I leave you with a treat?” I pulled a bully stick from the pantry and handed it over.
He had it trapped securely in his big jaw but gave me the downcast, poor-dog look, as well.
I leaned over and kissed his massive furry head. “I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
“Honey, what’s this?” Connor’s voice floated down the hall from the living room.
I found him holding an old envelope with the vacant property’s address and the leasing agent’s phone number. “Oh, just a silly thought.” I was embarrassed and tried to retrieve the information.
Connor easily eluded my reach and pocketed the paper. “You can tell me all about this silly thought of yours over dinner.”
When I pulled a long, belted sweater coat in aubergine from the closet under the stairs, Connor took it from me and held it open so I could slip it on. “Now, this is a good, warm sweater. Did you get it from Maureen?”
I spun, showing off the ensemble. “Yep.” I pointed down. “And the boots!” I swiveled my foot around, still in love with the charcoal gray suede, wedge-heeled boots. They would be worth eating nothing but ramen for a year. Totally.
He chuckled, placing my hand in the crook of his elbow to escort me out. “You look pretty as a picture. Come on; let’s eat.”
As I drove, Connor directed me downtown to Galyn’s on Main Street, a converted 1890’s boardinghouse for local fishermen. The architectural aspects of the historic building remained, but the rooms were now filled with dining tables.
Connor chatted with our host before we were seated at a table, right against the window looking out over Agamont Park and the pier. The view was breathtaking, the sky turning pink in the early evening, the water turning to a deep indigo.
He looked over his menu and then pulled his phone from his pocket.
He looked down at the screen, smiled, and then pocketed it again.
“Well, I’m going for the Lazy Man’s Lobster.
Let them do all the work shelling it, so all I have to do is eat it.
” He looked at me, eyebrows raised over the menu top.
“Traditional boiled, stuffed, Newburg; what are you in the mood for?”