“Where’s Christine?”
“Asleep for the night in her crib.” Hayley pointed to the baby monitor on the counter; it was blissfully silent. Tap-tap-tap. She was already working on the next tile.
Dillon forced his eyes away from her and stared at the exposed cement floor with its gobs of old dried glue. “I thought my house looked like hell before you got started,” he said dryly.
Hayley sat up breathlessly. Her face was flushed, her chest heaving with exertion. “Very funny.”
“What the devil are you doing? Or shouldn’t I ask?” It looked as if she was a one-woman demolition crew, busy tearing the hell out of his kitchen. Not to mention the rest of the house, which looked worse, day by day.
“I’m taking up the tile,” Hayley answered him, exasperated. “What does it look like?”
“If I knew I wouldn’t have asked.”
Hayley wrapped her arms around her bent knees. “It’s easy enough to do.”
Dillon knelt beside her. His gaze roved her mussed hair and bright green eyes. Damn, but she looked beautiful tonight. “Do you have any idea how late it is?”
“Midnight or a little after. Why?” Hayley stripped off her rubber gloves and laid them on a dry patch of floor beside her. She sat with her back against the cabinets, one leg stretched out flat, the other bent at the knee.
“Where’d you learn to do this?”
“One of my uncles was a construction worker whose firm specialized in remodeling jobs. I spent a summer as his apprentice.”
“That’s how you know plumbing, too, I guess.”
“No. I learned plumbing from one of my cousins when I was in high school. His dad was a plumber. The two of us used to assist him on jobs, both for the knowledge—plumbing’s a handy thing to know—and for spending money.”
“I see.” He wished like hell her tank top were cut just a tad higher, so he couldn’t see the shadowy cleft between her breasts. And he wished her matching pants were a tad looser. They hugged her cute body and sensually outlined her long lissome thighs and curvaceous calves.
“I suppose you want dinner,” Hayley guessed.
Dillon leaned against the kitchen counter and told himself it wasn’t her beauty that kept him from firing her on the spot but his faith that she would eventually make some sort of order out of all this chaos, chaos that seemed to get worse every day. “Is there any?” he asked hopefully, aware just how hungry he was, and that there was a disturbing lack of homey cooking smells in the kitchen.
Hayley shrugged. “Not unless you count the leftover broccoli from last night.”
Dillon’s hopes of a hot, hearty meal faded fast. He knew he should have grabbed something from the machines at work. Or ordered in. Now, because he was living in the suburbs where everything closed down much earlier, it was too late.
He climbed over her and headed for the refrigerator. Hayley was not turning out to be much of a housekeeper. She never had any food fixed for him. And though his clothes were usually clean, they were never ironed. “You know I thought the house would be taking shape by now. Instead it just seems to be getting more torn up.”
“All the remodeling getting to you, huh?” She grinned and bounced up off the floor. “Thought so. Well, I’ve got a surprise for you. You’ll never guess what came today!”
“The water heater guy?” he guessed hopefully.
“No, sorry,” she said, her eyes fastening for a moment on the scar that ran from his wrist to his elbow and was visible beneath the rolled-up sleeves of his navy blue shirt. “The plumber can’t get here until tomorrow. But we’re still getting enough hot water to take a shower, so don’t worry.”
Dillon didn’t deny that the excess of cold water had done him some good the past few days. He never should have told her she could dress however she wanted. Of course, how was he to know that she’d look sexy as hell in literally everything she chose to wear? “How long a shower?”
“Five minutes, maybe.”
“And how long before you can take another?”
“Hard to say. At least an hour. Probably a little more. It depends on how hot you like the water.”
Or your women. Now where had that thought come from? Struggling to keep his mind on the conversation, he wiped a bead of perspiration from his upper lip and said, “I’m surprised you’re not more frustrated.” He sure as hell would’ve been. He hadn’t nearly the patience of Hayley, who was more and more beginning to look like a saint. Or even worse in his estimation—a born suburbanite.
“It’s been fun, getting started on the house,” she said with a reassuring smile. “Which brings us back to what I was trying to tell you a few minutes ago. Your furniture from Riyadh arrived today. I had the movers put it in the study.” She started off in that direction and inclined her head, willing him to follow.
Dillon followed her through the formal dining room, into the hall, and then to the study at the rear of the house. He couldn’t believe she had done so much in so little time. Boxes of books had yet to be placed into the built-in shelves on either side of the stone fireplace, but the cherry colored leather sofa and matching armchairs, his desk, lamps, and end tables had been arranged. A Persian rug had been rolled out over the slate gray carpet in the paneled room. The only thing missing was suitable drapes for the windows. He looked around, feeling remarkably content, even if he, a confirmed city dweller, was now living in suburbia. “This is really great,” Dillon said.
“I figured you needed one room in the house where you could relax. Though I eventually intend to tackle this from the bottom up, too.”
Dillon was barely able to stifle a groan. He could only imagine what havoc she’d wreak in here when she got ready.
Briefly her white teeth scraped across her lower lip. “But in the meantime, it’ll stay as is, your haven against the ongoing remodeling in the rest of the house. Is the furniture how you wanted it?”
“Exactly how I wanted it,” Dillon said, marveling once again at her ability to read his mind. But it wouldn’t do to get too cozy with her. He was helping her back on her feet. Doing what he owed Hank, and that was all.
* * *
THREE AFTERNOONS LATER the doorbell rang. Thinking it another delivery man with a slew of boxes for Dillon from Riyadh or some other far-off place, Hayley put down her chisel and hammer and headed for the front door.
“Welcome to the neighborhood!” Two women in tennis outfits held out Tupperware containers.
“We would have dropped by sooner, but we wanted to give you a couple of weeks to get settled. I’m Carol,” a pleasant-looking woman with short brown hair began, warmly shaking Hayley’s hand. “I brought chocolate brownies. And this is Nellie. She brought you her special honey and oatmeal bread.”
“Thank you,” Hayley said, surprised and pleased. She wanted to get to know the other people in the neighborhood. Maybe
