Never Been Kissed

Oh God… even I knew of those guys, both nice, but a bad influence on Taylor Jane.

She tried wrapping her arm around my head, pulling me down to rub her knuckles against my scalp. She used to do this in high school and the feelings I tamped down back then roared with an intensity I barely reined in. It was irritating and put me into way too close proximity of my best friend’s breasts. Beautiful perky mounds I should not have been noticing. I tried thinking of other things, thinking of the girl I was casually seeing, but nothing stymied the softness and fresh smell of the girl right next to me.

I pushed back gently, untangling myself from her. “Are you seriously telling me you want to flip a house because two wankers on TV….” Pushing her off me gently, I couldn’t even finish my sentence that’s how flustered she got me. Taylor Jane had a full head of natural blond hair. Now I’m not saying she was that type of blonde, but I had my moments when I wondered if there were stereotypes for a reason.

In the silence of the truck, she flicked something off her leg and looked up at me with her big bottomless blue eyes.

Hook.

Line.

Sinker.

Shrugging, she fluttered her eyelashes, and I knew I was doing this before the words even left my mouth, telling her to knock it off with the puppy eyes. She was my apple pie and girl next door that couldn’t compare to anything else in this world.

“How hard could it be?” And there it was, she’d already barreled through like a rodeo bull and tossed me hard. I couldn’t say no in good conscious.

Damn it.

“If you don’t want to help me, Hunter, just say so and I’ll find another contractor willing to work with me.” She sighed, looking over her dream house from a B rated horror film.

Oh hell to the fuck no is she going to pull that trick with me.

Some happy meals lacked French fries.

Crayon boxes were often missing crayons.

Taylor Jane… had a sparkle that rivaled fucking vampires.

I’m so screwed.

Grumbling, I caught a hint of her smile and decided to roll with it. What choice did I have? “Tell me what you envision here.” Turning the key to the truck off, we sat inside the cool dampness. It didn’t help that there was a humid light rain falling and everything was wet. Our breaths kept the inside windows of the truck fogged, blurring the structural lines of the house outside. I don’t bother putting the truck back on to defog anything because I was going to pretend through the clouded windows that some level of ignorance was bliss. For all I knew we would have to bulldoze the lot and start from scratch. The fog mocked me like the structural integrity of the house.

“I want to update the property, restore much of its historic charm and add elements that make it a uniquely modern home that anyone would be pleased to own.” Yup. She was going to be the death of me, just tell me where to sign up and to make sure my life insurance was paid in full.

“So… not too many structural changes? Like you don’t want to knock down a wall and build an indoor pool or anything?”

Taylor Jane laughed, but I had to be reasonable. This woman could talk you into buying sand in the desert, so a simple house flipping project could be the next Mall of America if I wasn’t careful. A man’s gotta be prepared, if you know what I mean.

“Oh, Hunter, always the jokester.” She lightly slapped my shoulder, looking back at the house even though the condensation kept us from seeing it clearly. “No indoor pool, but a screened in Jacuzzi under the back deck sounds like a nice upgradable option.”

The whine from my voice filled the truck. “Tell me what kind of budget we’re working with.” I don’t have a clue of when I agreed to actually do this, but I already regretted telling her I would do it when she squealed with delight, giving me a number that probably wouldn’t cover the permits or the supplies six weeks into this project. I dropped her off at her dad’s house with a sense of panic the next time I saw her.

I hoped like hell I had extra hard hats…