My jaw dropped open and I just stared at his phone. How had I slept so late again? What was coming over me? Then I realized he had just let me hold his phone. I don’t think I have ever had a man freely let me hold their phone and my girlfriends and I had just talked about this a few weeks ago.
Men are always trying to hide things: secret flirty text messages, naked photos, there was always something on their phones that they didn’t want women to see. Yet here I was, holding this co
mplete stranger’s phone in my hand. It struck me as odd. He seemed like the kind of guy who had a whole plethora of secrets; I figured they just must not be located in his phone.
“Wow, I can’t believe it is so late. I really have to get some staining done before the end of the day. It was nice meeting you Chris.”
I turned toward my house and only had a few more steps before I was in my house when he hollered after me.
“Hey, do you have any painter’s tape? I seem to be making a mess everywhere.”
I looked at his paint-coated hands.
“I don’t think painter’s tape will help with that,” I said wryly, then smiled and continued toward the door of my house, “but, yes I have some. Come on in. Just don’t touch anything with those hands of yours.”
The last thing I needed was his paint-covered hands touching any of the woodwork I was working so hard to restore.
Chapter 6
As we walked into my house, a slight burst of embarrassment flushed over me. No one ever visited my house, and for good reason; it was a disaster. I had all the woodwork from the entire downstairs pulled off the walls and strewn throughout the house. It was like an obstacle course to make it from one room to the next.
“I apologize for the mess, I’m restoring the house and it’s quite the process.”
He just looked around and took in the old home. The house’s Victorian style was somewhat original in Missouri during the time period. I wanted to restore the home to its original splendor so it could be put on the historical society register.
The home had been built in 1910 by my grandparents and then passed down to my parents. It was a huge part of this town and I didn’t want anyone coming in years from now and trying to tear it down. Plus, I didn’t have anything better to do with my time. There was only so many pictures a person could take before they needed to spend some time on a different hobby.
“Don’t apologize, this house is beautiful.”
Something about the way he said that caught me off guard. It seemed like the first truly sincere words I had heard from him. He was in awe of my old house. I turned back to glace at him, but he didn’t see. He was too busy looking at every detail of the woodworking on the floor as well as the paneling on the walls.
“Thanks, are you an admirer of old homes?”
Then just as quickly as his genuine talk had appeared, his crude language reappeared.
“I’m an admirer of your ass,” he said as he walked past me, taking an especially long glance at my backside.
“Seriously?”
“Oh, I’m kidding. Yes, I like old houses. I love the idea of tearing apart an old building and putting it back to better even stronger than it originally was.”
I walked toward the stairs and just as I took my second step up, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward him. He was right there, standing on the bottom step as I turned to face him. My body was still not at his height, but much closer than before. There was something in his eyes that I couldn’t have described, but I now know was pure lust.
He moved his lips swiftly to meet mine and it was a good thing he let his hands hold onto my hips. I likely would have fallen over from the wobbly nature of my knees. I hadn’t expected a kiss. Yes, I had wanted one, but it was such odd timing that I wasn’t prepared.
My mouth opened to let him in. His tongue searched me for pleasure. The kiss was gentle at first, but the more I moved against him the harder he pressed against me. He wasn’t about to give up on kissing me. Finally, I gave in.
My arms moved up to his neck and wrapped around him. I had not kissed a man in over a year and this was no ordinary man. His body was that of a sexy god. Yes, a sex god. That was the best way I could describe him. There were chiseled muscles at every corner of his firm body.
His tongue had skills that the rest of my body longed to enjoy. I could feel the rush of wetness as the physical reaction of kissing him shot throughout me.
“I had to kiss you. I’m sorry, but it had to be done,” Chris said as he released me.
I stood there in a daze for a moment, pondering the kiss that had just knocked me out of the park. This man could kiss, that was for damn sure.
“Yeah, well should we get you some painter’s tape?” I said as the flush red of my face burned to cool down.
“Yes. Let’s do that. Is it upstairs?”