Jo hadn’t expected the remodeling job to be as all-consuming as it had turned out to be.
“Did you really think the tile looked okay?” she asked.
“Better than okay. Hey!” He pushed away the half-full pitcher of beer. “Want to work for me sometimes?”
“Are you serious?” Both flattered and startled, she felt an annoying frisson of excitement. He liked her. Well, he liked the way she used bullnose tiles.
How easily she was pleased.
“Yeah.” He seemed surprised. “Yeah, I am. We have a guy we call for tiling, but he’s been unreliable. I’ve considered looking for someone else.”
“I’m a complete amateur!”
“Job you did in there didn’t look amateur.”
Darned if her cheeks weren’t turning pink. “Thank you. It wasn’t just me, though.”
“Wasn’t it?” Ryan asked shrewdly.
“Helen did most of the cutting.”
“Could you learn?”
“Well, sure.” Jo frowned. “Are you saying your sister is lazy?”
“Lazy?” She’d earned raised brows. “No. Just…used to the peons doing the work. It’s actually why I’ve been skeptical about her determination to be independent. Make sure she does her share.”
Jo nodded. “I will. Um…how often do you need someone to tile?”
After he gave her an idea what kind of hours and pay she could expect, she promised to think about whether she’d want to work for him, and they left it at that.
On the way out, they briefly discussed seeing a movie, but decided they had to get up too early in the morning. “Maybe Friday night?” Ryan asked.
“Sure.” Jo enjoyed the feeling of his hand on her lower back as he opened the outside door.
On the short drive home, Ryan asked out of the blue, “Here’s my profound question for the night. What do you want out of life?”
An audible hint of defensiveness crept into her voice. “A satisfying job, a nice home and good friends.”
In the darkness between street lights, she felt as much as saw his head turn. “Marriage? Kids?”
She wouldn’t lie. “Neither are for me.”
He was quiet for a moment, until he had to brake at a stop sign. “Why?”
“How many happy marriages have you ever seen?” she asked bluntly. “You and your sister are zero for two. My parents should never have married. My friends are in and out of relationships and marriages. If by some wild chance you are happy, then you face grief like Helen’s feeling now. What’s the upside?”
Pulling to the curb in front of his sister’s brick house, he set the hand brake. “Getting lucky. Having it all.”
“Can’t you do that without getting married?”
“No desire for children?”
Jo shook her head firmly. “I’m not maternal.”
“Until you have them…”
“You don’t know? Uh-uh. Haven’t you noticed how many people suck at being parents? I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, and I sure don’t want to be a failure at something I never intended to do in the first place.”
“You’re a hard woman.”
Did he mean it?
“No. Just…cynical.”
His voice became a notch huskier. “But you haven’t sworn off men altogether?”
“No.” Her own became thready. “I like companionship and, um, physical intimacy. Just so the man understands that’s all I want.”
His hand wrapped her nape. “Aren’t I the one who should be saying that?”
Sounding breathless as he gently kneaded her neck, Jo said, “That is traditional, I believe.”
“I don’t mind breaking tradition.” He bent toward her. “If you don’t.”
“It seems to come naturally to me,” she whispered, just before he kissed her.
Oh, so softly, his lips brushed hers, nipped, coaxed and teased. She sighed and even moaned as she nibbled at his lower lip, felt the brush of his shaven cheek, the erotic sensation of his tongue touching hers. He took his sweet time and let her take hers. She was boneless by the time he lifted his head.
“You are a very sexy woman, Jo Dubray,” he murmured, nuzzled her ear.
“Me?”
“Oh, yeah.” He seemed to be enjoying the texture of her hair as he ran his fingers through it. “Definitely you.”
“You’re, um, not so bad yourself.”
She loved the rumble in his chest when he laughed. “Am I something like a good book?”
Jo tried to sound dignified. “Isn’t that better than a home run?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head doubtfully, the grooves in his cheeks betraying his amusement. “I think we need to work on how to give compliments.”
It never had been her strong suit. Her mother, she didn’t remember that well. Her father had never said anything more than, “Looks good,” or “That’s fine.” Never once had he beamed with pride in a small accomplishment of hers, or lavished her with praise. How did you learn to say, You’re wonderful, if you’d never heard it?
“Okay, how’s this?” Jo kissed Ryan’s neck. “You’re hot.”
“I already knew that.” Now he was openly grinning. “Emma tells me I am. She likes it when I drive her places, because the other girls say I’m hot.”
“Well, they’re right. And I do believe someone is peeking out the front window.”
“So they are.” He sounded regretful. “So much for making out with you.”
“Another time?” Did she have to make it a question when she’d intended to be oh, so cool?
“Count on it.” He kissed her again, hard, hinting at passion that was less playful.
A moment later, she let herself into the house and watched his pickup pull away.
Companionship and physical intimacy. Could she enjoy such tepid pleasures with Ryan, and not make the fatal mistake of falling in love?
CHAPTER FOUR
ONE
