He nodded. “Would you consider me being a partner?”
“No. You haven’t shown enough respect for me to trust you as a partner.” Though I wouldn’t commit to anything more, regardless. “I don’t want to get your hopes up either. I’m not sure I need a partner.”
“Yeah, okay.”
I needed more confirmation than that. “Are you in or out?”
“In,” he said.
He might have agreed to it, but I could see in his eyes he would likely be making other plans. I would need to hire a new manager soon. Someone I could trust.
After he left, I sagged in my chair, emotionally exhausted. I glanced down at my naked finger and smiled. I picked up my phone and dialed.
“Emma.” My name had never sounded so sweet.
“I have news,” I announced.
Damn, his chuckle was sexy. “What’s that?”
“My finger is bare and so is my bed.”
“Is that an invitation?”
Was it? “I guess you’ll have to find out.”
Chapter 20
Aiden
Well, fuck my life. How was I supposed to work after an invitation like that?
I was painfully hard and trying to calm myself down when Bess came in my doorway. “Got a call, Wyatt and Sam are tied up. You’re going to need to take it.”
Her appearance softened everything that had been hard seconds ago. I had no trouble getting up from my desk and strapping my vest on as Bess explained the who, what, and where of it all.
Ten minutes later, I pulled up in front of a dilapidated house in need of much repair. Bess had warned me what I was walking into, but it was my job to show up regardless.
A woman in her early forties with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth stepped out onto the porch.
“Thank goodness you came. It’s smells like something died in there.”
From the state of the home’s exterior and the abandoned toys overgrown with vegetation, I wouldn’t have doubted something had died. Her husband had passed away over two years ago, and she wasn’t handling it well. According to Bess, she called the station every few days about something. Bess speculated the woman wanted company or needed a handyman and couldn’t afford one.
When I reached her, she said, “Aiden Faulkner, oh, how you’ve grown.”
I came to a sudden stop as I tried to place her. “You know me?”
She laughed. “I taught you in second grade.”
My mind flew back in time. “You were a teacher?” Her name didn’t ring any bells.
“I was Miss Wilson back then before I married my good-for-nothing husband, who died and left me with a crumbling house and a pile of bills.”
Once she said her maiden name, I remembered the teacher my younger self had a mad crush on. She’d been pretty and nice. The woman before me bore no resemblance to that. Haggard lines etched on her face that had turned the inviting smile I remembered into the bitter scowl she wore today.
“Do you still teach?” I asked.
She shook her head. “My husband didn’t want me to.”
“He’s gone. Maybe you could go back to teaching.” It was as if she’d never considered the thought and it wasn’t really my place. With no more comments about her life choices, I got back to business. “You called about a smell.”
We didn’t often go to peoples’ homes for smells. But she’d smelled death, which had to be investigated when she’d been unable to pinpoint the culprit.
“It’s in here.” She waved me in, and I followed her.
The house looked worse on the inside than the outside. It wasn’t cluttered, just neglected. Time had taken its toll on the place. But the smell was unmistakable.
I followed her into her kitchen.
“It’s in here.”
Though I wasn’t a bloodhound, I used my nose as I opened cabinets and even drawers looking for the origin of the awful stench. Nothing. “I’m going to check outside,” I said.
“I didn’t think of that.” She opened the back door.
The smell was there too. As I walked alongside the wall, I found it. A rodent had tried to get through a small hole in the wall to the house and had somehow gotten stuck.
“There’s your problem,” I said, pointing at it.
Her mouth widened before she covered it with one hand and locked her eyes with me. “What can I offer you to help me get rid of that?” she asked, while loosening her robe.
I froze, even though I’d expected as much. Bess had warned me this might happen. Once she revealed she’d taught me as a child, I’d let my guard down.
Years ago, she’d been something to look at. Now she was in her forties but looked a decade or two older. However, that wasn’t why I glanced away. Though I would have never used my position to gain such favors, it was an image of Emma in my mind that made it impossible for me to enjoy the view of any other woman.