The Renovation (Contemporary Reverse Harem 2)

“How much will that be?” Her eyes were hopeful.

I ran my hand through my hair to stall. From the looks of the house, it was pretty darn obvious she was operating on a tight budget. In fact, I was kind of surprised what a dump the place was. What the hell was she doing living there?

Before I could answer, her cell rang.

“Excuse me, one sec, please.”

She scurried off, giving me the chance to admire her tight little body and wavy red hair. I’d never been a redhead sort of guy, but she was hot as hell in what I guess were her work clothes—a clingy little dress and some low-cut boots.

I took a second to look around the kitchen. I had to say, the place had great potential. It would be fun to breathe some life into it.

“Okay, got that taken care of. Now, where were we?” she asked.

Shit, she had the most perfect splay of freckles across her nose. And those dark eyes. Such a contrast against her pale skin.

“Right. Well, a new hot water heater, installed, will run you about fifteen hundred bucks.”

She swallowed hard. “Really?” she said in a small voice.

“I’m afraid so. Do you own the place?”

Of course she owned it. No one would rent a place like that.

She nodded. “Yep. It’s all on me. No landlord to go to.”

The way her shoulders slumped just about killed me.

“I might be able to work on it a bit, see what I can do.”

“Really? You could do that? Oh, that would be great.” She gestured toward the kitchen sink piled high with dishes.

She must have seen me looking at some fresh cookies sitting on a cooling rack. “Hey, want a couple butter cookies? And I can make you some coffee.”

Now, she was talking.

I set to work to find out if there was anything salvageable about the hot water heater. Honestly, it should have been replaced awhile back, but no one ever did that until they were in dire straits. Couldn’t say I blamed them. You can do a lot more fun things with fifteen hundred bucks than buy household appliances.

I guessed she didn’t have anything else to do, at least not until she had hot water, because she pulled up a stool and started chatting while I worked.

“So, when did you take over for your dad?”

“Um, pretty much in the last year.”

“I was sorry to hear about his Alzheimer’s. Your mother told me when I called.”

I stole a glance at her sympathetic face. God, she was gorgeous.

“Thank you. I hadn’t planned on taking over the business from him, but what can you do? Duty calls.”

She nodded. “What would you be doing if you hadn’t taken it over?”

Boy, I’d spent a lot of time thinking about this one.

“Well, I’d had plans to travel through South America. I’d already spent a bunch of time in Southeast Asia.”

“You’re a wanderer!”

I took a gulp of the coffee she’d given me. “Yup, I am. I mean, I was. That’s all behind me now.” I hated the way that sounded. Shit.