Page 15 of Echoes in the Storm
He groans, dragging a hand over his face before he shuts the cupboard beneath the sink. As much as I’d love to mess with him some more, I need to get dressed if Archie is going to show up later this morning with the tilt-tray.
“I’m going to run through the shower, okay?”
“Make sure you don’t slip,” he calls back as I head for the hallway.
“Pardon?”
“You said you were going torunthrough the shower.” His head pops around the corner of the wall, that lazy grin back again. “I’d advise against that on wet tiles.”
“Smartarse.”
I leave the room, smiling like a damn fool as I make my way back to my room to get a change of clothes. My heart thumps painfully hard before racing a mile a minute as I come to a grinding halt in the doorway. With a shaky hand, I reach out and brace it against the doorframe as I realise this stranger in my house made me do something I’ve struggled to do for years.
I just walked down the hall without twisting away from her face.
And I didn’t even have to think about it.
Duke
Archie turns out to be an absolute bear of a man. I never considered myself to be on the scrawny side, but next to this monster, I feel as delicate as a Victoria’s Secret model. His beard alone deserves a medal.
The HQ was loaded easily on his tilt-tray, but not without the guy’s clear disdain at having to come out so far to pick it up. I swear he hasn’t stopped swearing under his breath since he got here, shooting me filthy looks, and asking how long I plan on sticking around.
The more locals I meet, the more unwelcome I feel.
“I’ll make some calls, see how long it’ll be to get the part.” He slips the weathered baseball cap off and scratches his head with the same hand as he frowns. “Drop by in an hour, and we’ll sort out how you’re going to pay me. I don’t do payment plans, and I don’t do cash.” He narrows his gaze on me.
“I’m sure we can sort something out.” I turn to look for Cammie, finding her fussing over the deadheads on the roses at her front door. “Is that okay, Cam?”
“Huh?” She straightens up, the loose tank she has on doing nothing to hide her gorgeous figure.
“Archie asked if I could be at the shop in an hour. Would you be able to give me a lift if I spot you some gas money?”
“Yeah, no worries.” She dusts her hands off, walking closer. “How are the kids, Archie?”
“Good, thanks, love.” Archie’s lips split into an enormous grin.So the guy knows how to smile?“Dean just started Ripper Rugby, so that’s keeping us all busy.”
“Awesome. He’ll love that.”
“They asked after you the other day,” the guy says with a wink.
I marvel at the way her mere presence has shifted his entire demeanour. He’s gone from brisk and abrupt to relaxed and soft within seconds.
“Well,” she says with a shrug, “you just tell me when you’d like a night off and I can come babysit again. I’ll bring my popcorn-maker over and the kids and I can have a movie night.”
“Sounds great, Cammie.” Archie turns to face me as she walks back to her roses, and the smile slides straight from his face, his eyes hard. “See you soon.”
“Yeah, thanks.” I place a hand to the back of my neck and rub it as he gets in his truck and promptly pulls down the driveway.
“He’s okay.” Cammie’s sudden statement causes me to flinch.
I narrowly avoid throwing a fist at her, keeping my arm stiff at my side. “You shouldn’t startle people you don’t know like that.”
“Oh, come on. I was getting you back for the coffee incident. You can sneak up on people—why can’t I?”
“Because it’s not the same,” I snap, marching toward the house to get my shit. The sooner she drops me in town the better. I can find somewhere to stay while the car is fixed, get a new phone charger since mine is at home, and put a heck of a lot of distance between this frustrating woman and me.
Cute, but frustrating.