I hit ignore as she was walking away.
“Hey, Ivy. Wait.” She turned around and looked at me with wonder in her eyes. “Um, you’re here working at Belton Bank, right?” She nodded slowly, probably thinking back to our past conversation on why she’d moved back. “Have you ever thought of taking on small businesses for accounting? That’s what you are, right? An accountant?”
The green in her eyes sparkled like I’d just given her a diamond ring. “Actually, that’s my career goal. I’d like to take on small businesses and handle their accounts. Why?”
I edged my chin towards my brother. “Do you think you could take a look at Emmett’s accounts? I don’t know if you know, but he owns the tattoo shop uptown and he’s been having some issues. Which is why he’s drinking.” Her chin rose as she lifted up onto her tiptoes to look at Emmett’s dense, sleeping body. “Carrie, his ‘sometimes’ girlfriend is in charge of all the billing and ordering of supplies – she basically handles all the money, but we’ve got a pretty big hunch that she’s skimming it.”
Ivy’s mouth opened as she let out a huff. “Of course I’ll take a look. I’ll do it for free. That’s crazy.”
I smiled. “No, he’ll pay you. I’ll make him.”
&nbs
p; “That’s not necessary, Dawson. I’m your friend and he’s your brother. Bring the files over tomorrow… unless you’re not coming to work on the house again? You can always give the files to John or Garret; they can give them to me.”
I could have sworn I heard disappointment in her voice. I’d been having our two best men work on her house instead of me because I knew I needed to keep my distance. For the love of God, I tried to kiss her last time we were alone. Like, my body couldn’t help it. The attraction I had for her was almost too much for me to handle. And now that we were alone right here, her being so genuine and sweet and looking sexier than I’d ever seen with those tight jeans hugging each of her curves, and the way her creamy skin was exposed, just above her breasts, I wanted to kiss her again.
I want to do more than just kiss her.
I worked a swallow down my throat and brought my eyes back to hers. “I’ll be there.”
Then I turned around and climbed into my truck, because if I didn’t get away from her in the next second, I would do something I regretted.
I knew how to treat a woman and Breanna was the woman I was currently bound to. I wasn’t a cheater... but my God, Ivy made me want to be.
Chapter Seventeen
Ivy
My heart was frantically beating in my chest like I was creeping up a rollercoaster, ready to fly over the edge into a surge of excitement and panic. This was the third day in a row that Dawson said he was coming over to work on the house and it literally had me basically flying through my day like I’d grown fairy wings overnight.
There was still quite a bit to do in the house, but the guys that Dawson had put on the job were always working diligently when I returned home from work. I got off at four but they always stayed until six, hammering, drilling, putting up drywall. Fixing the ceiling. It was comforting having someone to come home to, even if they were sweaty men who liked to chatter too much.
This was the first time I’d ever lived alone. After my parents had passed away, I was either with Uncle Timothy or Mia, and then when I moved out of my uncle’s, and into Eric’s fancy townhome in the city, I still always had someone near. I never realized how lonely it was not to have someone around, until recently.
So, even having forty-year-old men around who rubbed tobacco and showed their butt-cracks every time they bent down was nice. But what was even nicer was that the last three days I’d been coming home to a familiar face, one that made butterflies erupt in my lower belly the minute it flashed in front of me.
Even the thought of seeing Dawson got me completely giddy, and it shouldn’t, because we were friends and he had a girlfriend.
The first night he was already here when I came home. It was only him; he let the other guys go early. He looked even more attractive to me that night because he was totally in his element. He was casual and relaxed, chuckling at me every so often when we’d have a conversation about something simple.
That was the thing with Dawson. Things were always so easy with him; he grounded me with such an ease that I wished he’d been with me the year after my parents had died. I could have used him to pick me up every so often.
I’d spent most of the evening sitting at my kitchen table, looking through some of the documents that Dawson had given me from Emmett’s business. There was definitely something fishy going on, and I had yet to figure it out all the way. I should have been able to get this figured out within a day but with Dawson working a hammer in my living room, I couldn’t focus.
I could only see a sliver of him from my where I was sitting. Just his arm, or the occasional sight of his edgy jaw bone. I found myself staring at the way his arm muscles flexed with each pound of the hammer. Back and forth, back and forth, like they were provoking me. I think I even thought, na-na-na-boo-boo while mesmerized by the sight.
You can look, but you can’t touch, Ivy! That was my new mantra any time he was around.
He was taken.
You’re too late.
The second night, I casually moved into the empty living room. I hadn’t purchased a couch yet because the floors still needed done and it just seemed easier. It wasn’t like I had a ton of people over at my house anyway. No one needed a seat.
I plopped myself down on the hardwood floor, comforted by the sight of Dawson’s tall stature, working meticulously on the crown molding that he was putting up above the new archway that the other workers had done the previous day.
My mouth went dry the second he lifted his arms up above his head and I was met with his toned stomach. I only saw the lower part of his torso, but let me tell you, I could be 100% certain that he had washboard abs underneath his black, Lanning Construction t-shirt.