She closed her eyes and resisted the urge to beat her head against the nearest wall. T.S. was completely wrong for her. She’d made a list of what characteristics her perfect man would have and he didn’t fit many of the criteria.
Maybe her standards were a bit skewed. It had focused more on outward trappings and less on values. She’d liked him before that fateful weekend, but since then she’d come to really like him. She wouldn’t say the “L” word. It was too soon. And it didn’t matter. He wasn’t looking for anything permanent, which in a way made him the perfect guy for her at this stage of her life.
“You’re going to drive yourself crazy,” she muttered. She pulled on her coat and strode toward the lobby where Candy was waiting.
She needed to stop over-thinking things and simply enjoy the sex. Their relationship wouldn’t last. He’d get tired of being with one woman soon enough or she’d get tired of him. A little voice in the back of her head cautioned her that wasn’t going to happen. She ignored the warning voice and plastered a smile on her face as she joined Candy. “Ready?”
T.S. finished fitting the last piece of baseboard into place and set aside the nail gun. The apartment was really coming along. He flexed his left arm and was pleased there wasn’t so much as a twinge. It had healed well.
“That it for today?” Lucas’ brother-in-law, Justin, swiped his arm across his forehead. They’d been working side-by-side for the past several weeks on the apartment in Lucas’ building. It would belong to Justin when it was done.
“Yeah, that’s it.” He gazed around the room, pleased with the progress they’d made.
“The kitchen looks great.” Justin stood with his hands on his hips and surveyed the room, which opened into the living area. A six-foot counter with a marble top separated the two rooms and would serve as a workspace and breakfast bar.
“It does. You’ll be able to move in as soon as the bathroom is done. Shouldn’t be more than another week.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
He knew that Justin was staying in a cheap apartment downtown and that he and Candy had been estranged for more than a decade before he’d suddenly turned back up in his sister’s life again. There was a story there for sure, but T.S. wasn’t asking. He had his own secrets to keep.
“You coming up for supper?” Justin asked.
Candy had stopped in earlier and invited both of them to dinner. She’d also invited Missy. He could have told her there was no need to matchmake. He and Missy were doing just fine all on their own. Neither of them was looking for anything permanent. They were just enjoying each other’s company.
Usually, he didn’t like to spend too much time with one woman. It made him feel hemmed in, tied down. Plus it gave a woman ideas about making things permanent. But it wasn’t like that with Missy. She was independent. To a fault sometimes. She didn’t need him. Maybe that was the draw.
Thinking about her with another guy turned his gut sour. She was with him. For now, his smarter self cautioned.
“T.S.?” Justin was watching him, hands on his hips and a quizzical look on his face.
And he was standing here like an idiot, mooning over a girl he already had. “Yeah, I’ll be there. I just have to get cleaned up first.”
Lucas gave a quick knock on the open front door and stepped into the room. “You can shower upstairs if you want. I can loan you a clean shirt.” T.S. wondered how long his friend had been standing there. He’d obviously heard the last part of his conversation with Justin. Lucas circled the room, noting the finished kitchen, the hardwood floors, the crown molding and baseboards. “It’s really looking great.”
T.S. sauntered over to stand beside his friend. A bead of sweat rolled down his face and he used the hem of his shirt to swipe it away. “Another week. Ten days tops and we’ll be done. The tiles we were waiting on will be here in two days. Once we get those installed and the sink and tub in, it’s all downhill from there.”
“The bedroom is almost done too,” Justin added. “Needs to be primed and painted and the trim added, but it’s basically done.”
“Thanks, man.”
T.S. waved off Lucas’ thanks. “No problem. I’m glad this building is almost done.”
His friend snorted. “You mean you’re done dipping into my wallet.” They both laughed and Lucas slapped him on the back. “Come on up and have a beer. You can grab a shower and then enjoy Candy’s homemade lasagna.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’m going to run home and get cleaned up.” Justin only lived about ten minutes from here.
“You can shower upstairs too if you want,” Lucas invited.
Justin shook his head. “I won’t be long.” He was gone before Lucas could offer again.
“Now that’s a man with secrets.” T.S. picked up his miter saw and set it by the other tools that sat on a tarp in the center of the room.
“We’ve all got secrets.”
“Too true, my friend. Too true.” T.S. had more than his fair share of secrets. But that was the past. He made it a point never to live in the past. Thinking about it didn’t change it. Neither did talking about it.
“Hey. I thought I heard voices.” Missy stood in the doorway looking as classy and untouchable as ever. Only he knew the real woman beneath the glossy façade. The woman who clawed at his back and called his name as he fucked them both into oblivion.
“Hey, Missy.” Lucas dropped a kiss on her cheek on his way out the door. “I’ll tell Candy you’re here.”
T.S. waited until Lucas’ footsteps faded in the distance. “Not very subtle, is he?”
Missy chewed on her bottom lip and shook her head. “Not really.”
He walked toward her, leaned down and dropped a hard kiss on her lips. “I’d do more than that,” he told her, “if I wasn’t so dirty.”
Her pupils dilated and her nostrils flared. “Promises, promises.”
“You can bank on it, babe.”
Missy laughed and hooked her arm through his. T.S. closed the door and locked up behind him. “I’m going to shower and change before dinner.”
“You’re going back to your place?” Was that hope he heard in her voice? He hated to disappoint her. Hell, he hated to disappoint himself. His dick was as hard as any nail he’d driven today.
From the second he’d seen her standing in the doorway he was hard. Hell, he spent most of his time around her semi-erect. For a guy his age that was something else. Women had stopped being a mystery a long time ago. But there was something about Missy that kept his body primed.
“Sorry, babe, but I already told Lucas I’d use his shower and borrow a shirt.”
She shrugged. “That’s okay. There’s always later.”
Later. He was still thinking about that as he stood in his friend’s shower and let the cool water dampen some of his ardor. Wasn’t easy. He’d swear he could still smell Missy’s perfume in the air around him.
“Shit.” He leaned forward, dunking his head under the spray. If he was home, he’d take matters into his own hands, so to speak. But jerking off in his friend’s shower was just too weird. He’d have to grin and bear it.
He flicked off the taps, stepped out and quickly dried off. It didn’t take him long to pull on his jeans and a clean shirt and head down the hallway. Voices reached him before he entered the great room. Candy’s light laughter. Lucas’ deeper voice. But it was Missy’s husky tones that made every cell in his body stand up and take note.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He was happy. Honest to God, deep down to his bones happy. That wasn’t good.
He frowned and raked his fingers through his hair. Giving a woman that kind of power over him wasn’t what he was about. Depending on someone else always led to being let down. Lucas excluded. His buddy had stood by him from the moment they’d met. But he’d never trusted a woman before. Not like this.