CHAPTER EIGHT

VICKIE PULLED OPEN the drapes and unlocked the doors leading from her kitchen to the currently nonexistent deck out back. That was her signal to Gordon that she was awake and coffee was ready. Ten minutes later, she heard his quick rap on the door before it opened and he walked in, carefully wiping his feet on the new mat she’d placed there just for him.

Over the past couple of weeks, it had become their routine. She’d started by setting out a coffee for him in the mornings. But it felt rude to drink coffee inside while watching him outside. And she was enjoying watching him too much to stop.

The man was freaking hot, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit it—at least to herself. The thick hair, the quick smile, the muscular arms and shoulders, the abs she imagined under his shirts, which were often delightfully snug. The way his veins stood out on his neck when he started tearing apart the rotted deck. The smell of his sweat mixed with Old Spice. Oh, yeah. She had a solid crush on Gordon Lexiter.

Sharing coffee with him every morning made her ogling easier. It would be unseemly to just stand at the door and drool. After a week, there wasn’t any deck left for her to stand on. Handing it out the door to him felt a little too much like he was “the help.” Besides, it didn’t allow her enough time in his presence. If she was going to fantasize about her contractor, she may as well go all out. So...she’d started inviting him to come inside for coffee.

Fantasizing was all she could do, of course. Her friends habitually teased her about what they called her predatory dating habits. According to them, as soon as she saw someone interesting, she started hearing wedding bells. She couldn’t help it if she’d never been a one-night stand sort of woman. Well...not since high school, anyway. No judgment—she had no problem with women who enjoyed that kind of freedom. But Vickie believed in relationships, and a relationship should always have the possibility of lasting awhile, if not forever. And anything that might happen between her and Gordon would definitely not have a chance at forever.

He was a silver-haired hunk. But he was her contractor. Even if it meant living up to her snobbish reputation, she couldn’t imagine a future with a guy she’d hired to build her back deck. An architect? Sure. A property developer who hired guys like Gordon? Probably. But—God forgive her—she couldn’t imagine an actual relationship with him. She could imagine some fun activities, but life was more than that. People had certain expectations of her.