I was whistling as I walked back to the build site. She might be a hellcat, but she was sweet and shy too. And the woman was so good-looking I was wondering what she was doing in the middle of nowhere with dirt smudged on her cheek instead of starring in a Hollywood movie.
Either way, it was my lucky day. As soon as we shut down for the day, I was heading over to Suzanna’s place.
I fully expected to be in her bed by five.
Chapter 4
Suzanna
“Hmmm, it’s still not straight.”
I tilted my head, staring at the frame of the greenhouse. He’d offered to take it apart and put it back together, like new. I was afraid to let him touch it. And I didn’t want ‘like new’. I just wanted ‘hopefully-not-falling-on-my-head.’ So for now, he was just fixing the tiny porch that hung over the front door.
Mac had to prove his skills to me before I let him touch my precious greenhouse.
I turned away for a moment, if only to stop myself from staring. The guy was far too good-looking. I was sure he knew it too. With his dark hair and piercing dark blue eyes, he could have been a model. The kind they hired for Ralph Lauren ads.
I’d never worked on a fashion campaign, but our firm had a Fashion and Lifestyle department. We had models coming through, not to mention good-looking actors. I knew the type. New York was full of them.
I had Mac pegged, though I wasn’t exactly sure why he was being so nice. And I hadn’t caught him checking himself out in the glass yet either. He did seem to like looking at me a whole lot, though.
I shook my head impatiently.
No, Mac was way too pretty not to be a conceited ass. No wedding ring, so probably a player. And used to women falling over backward for him.
Ignore how pretty he is, Sussy. Just get back to work. You have orders to ship out. You only have yourself to rely on, remember?
I sighed, realizing I should offer him a drink before I hid inside. I knew he was only doing this to keep me quiet. But he was being helpful. Really helpful. The truth was, my place was way past the duct tape and elbow grease phase. I needed help.
Mac was definitely a knight in shining armor, whether his intentions were good or not.
“Iced tea?” I asked, trying not to stare.
Mac was crouched low, trying to adjust the posts that held up the greenhouse ‘porch’ by shimmying pieces of wood underneath. He has good hands, I thought, my mouth growing a little bit dry. Strong and masculine, with a nice golden tan. I noticed that he’d rolled up his sleeves. His thick forearms were covered with ink. Ornate, lovely tattoos. They weren’t feminine but they were highly artistic.
Not your average tattoos. Not at all. Mac looked like a piece of art, in more ways than one.
And he knows it, I reminded myself sternly.
He finished what he was doing and looked up at me with a heart-stopping grin. I nearly fell over from that smile. It hit me right in my core.
He wants me, I realized with a start. And I was feeling very friendly toward him too.
“I’d love it,” he said, the warm look in his eyes unmistakable. He was definitely after something more personal than my silence. I nodded nervously and scurried back inside.
It had been years since a man had looked at me that way. More. Much more. Maybe a decade. Maybe never.
And it certainly hadn’t been anyone who was as dangerously sexy as Mac.
It felt disloyal to even think it, but David had never looked at me with that much heat. Not even close. He’d never done much in the romance department. He hadn’t even proposed. He’d just told me he wanted to get married. We’d gone down to the courthouse the next day we both could get off work, and that was it.
Now this big, muscled, tattooed guy was making me think all kinds of things. Wild, sweaty things. And he’d done it with just a smile.
I opened the freezer and leaned into it, exhaling a cloud of frost. Finally, I forced myself to get ahold of myself and make the man some iced tea.
I had just put the pitcher back in the fridge when I heard the door open. Mac stood there with a serious look in his eyes.
“I can get the trees by the end of the week,” he said. But I felt like he was saying something else.
Yeah, Sussy. He’s saying, ‘something, something, naked something.’
I nodded and handed him the iced tea. I ignored the flash of heat I felt when our fingers brushed together. It felt like a spark. Literally, like I’d just stuck a damn fork in a socket.