And I’d just been handed a big one.
“What the farming hell happened here?” Titus stood in the doorway, his T-shirt straining across his chest as he leaned an arm against the doorway. A ring of sweat already showed through the fabric from the first few hours of work on the damaged guest room.
Why the hell did men look so good all gross and sweaty? Even his worn tool belt looked fucking hot tied around his waist like that. I put down the garbage bag I held in my gloved hand and straightened to give my back a break. And to check out my best friend.
When had Titus gone from the cute boy next door who’d teach me new skate tricks to hot contractor who could step right onto the Magic Mike stage?
My whole body flushed. My eyes widened and I struggled to act normally. Wow. What was that response about? I must be more tired than I thought to be thinking of Titus like that.
“Old MacDonald is the new sex trend, didn’t you know?” I asked, glad my voice came out normally.
Titus’s face scrunched up and he moved into the room. “Seriously, Lia. What the fuck happened in here? There’s hay on the ground.”
I let out a snort. “Listen. As a manager of a hotel, I try to just clean up the messes and not worry my naive little brain about what goes on behind closed doors.”
Titus kicked a rusted cowbell that rested on the carpet, uncovering a used condom. He let out a strangled noise. The guy better not puke. I had enough shit to clean up.
“Can’t you get housekeeping to clean this up?”
I smiled patiently and picked up the garbage bag. “I could, but those girls aren’t paid enough to deal with something of this nature. I’ll get the big stuff cleaned up and they’ll take over the rest.”
I shoved another bunch of hay into the bag and glanced at Titus behind me. He crossed his arms across that chest of his, looking all kinds of mad.
“Last I checked, you don’t get paid enough for this shit either.”
The idea that had been forming since I caught the man sneaking out of this very room, rushed back with a vengeance. I had to tell someone or I might explode. I wasn’t built for secrets. In some respects I now understood Poppy and her gossiping ways.
I put the bag down again and snapped off the gloves, placing my hands on Titus’s crossed forearms.
“Can you keep a secret, T?” I whispered.
His jaw relaxed and his eyes softened, turning him back into the Titus I was used to.
“Depends. How important is it to you that I keep it a secret?” The side of his lips twitched.
The tall devil was teasing me. Based on the fine points my nipples had drawn into, I liked it. Very much. Interesting. “Super-duper important. In fact, I could get paid a lot more if I play my cards right.”
His eyebrows came together and I wanted to run my finger over them. “I don’t follow.”
I leaned in even closer, too short to whisper in his ear. “I think the mayor is having an affair.”
Titus didn’t breathe. Didn’t even blink. He just stared at me for one, two, three long moments. Then his face broke down into a whiny little kid, reminding me of when we first became friends.
“Ah, man. Don’t tell me that! Now I have to keep my mouth shut around Rip.”
I swatted his huge bicep. “Don’t be such a baby. I don’t know for certain, but I’m pretty sure I’m right. Just keep your mouth shut until I can prove it. Then you can decide if you should tell Rip about his dad.”
Titus reached up and pushed my hair behind my ear. “You shouldn’t be trying to prove anything. Let them figure out their sordid affairs. They’re grown adults and don’t need people intruding.”
I grabbed his hand before it went back to his side. “But you don’t get it. If he’s having an affair with this woman, we need to figure out why. He could be doing something shady. Well, besides just cheating on his wife. Mayor Bennett has always seemed shady. Now’s our chance to figure out why.”
Titus sighed and his reluctance to help me on this idea really put a damper on my excitement. “Amelia.” I frowned at his use of my full name. Never a good sign. “I just don’t think getting messed up in other people’s business is a good idea. I care about your safety, and yeah, Mayor Bennett has always been shady, which is exactly why you shouldn’t get involved.”
I stood on tiptoe, getting as much in his face as I could with a man well over six feet tall. “Titus, please. I’m begging you. Help me. I’ll be even safer with you by my side.” I batted my eyelashes, not at all ashamed to flirt my way to what I wanted. If you were given the body parts to influence, why would you be stupid enough not to use them to your advantage?
Titus’s gaze flickered down to my lips and I knew I had him. When his eyes came back up, I could see it in the way he looked at me. Resigned. Excitement filled my chest, knowing he’d help me like he always did.
But then he did something completely unexpected. His hands came up to cup my face, the scrape of his callouses along my cheeks raising goose bumps up and down my back. He held me there for a long moment, just looking at me from an inch away, our breath mingling in a moment turned sharply intimate. The excitement surged into a heart-pumping mix of nerves and lust. I’d been in this position many times before. I knew what it meant and where it was going. I was about to be kissed.
Titus’s blue-gray eyes heated, so familiar and yet looking so different with an answering lust coloring them brighter. Time stopped and all my senses focused on his face and his lips, pulling even closer.
A door slammed down the hall and Titus stepped back, letting his hands fall to his side. Spell broken. I stuttered in a breath, realizing I was dizzy from lack of oxygen. My hand landed on my chest and I could feel it pumping double time. Titus spun around, his fingers gripping the back of his neck.
He walked out of the room, stopping at the doorframe to toss over his shoulder, “I’ll help you, Amelia. I always do.”
And then he was gone, forgetting to take all the tension in the room with him. I mean, he brought it and created it; he should have cleared it when he left. But still it stayed, making it hard for me to breathe. I spun around and nearly tripped over the garbage bag on the floor that I’d forgotten about.
“What. The. Actual. Fuck. Was. That?” I said out loud to the trashed room.
The empty wine bottles, condom wrappers, and straws of hay littering the floor didn’t answer. I looked down at my legs, seeing if they were still attached to my body. Honest to God, I thought I might be floating. Hovering. Levitating. Whatever. Something was incredibly wrong with the neurons and cells and other shit inside my body I didn’t bother to learn about in science class. Had I known about this eminent malfunction of my body, I may have paid more attention.
My cell phone vibrated in my back pocket, making me jump.
“I’m becoming more like Big Foot every day,” I muttered.
I pulled my phone out and saw a text from Hazel. Oh good. I needed to hear from my girls. They’d knock some sense into me and get my head out of the clouds shaped a lot like Titus’s ridiculous mullet.
Hazel: Ladies, I need some taste testers! I’ve decided to start my own baking company. I’ve got a super fun new creation that I want to take to Coffee and see if they’ll sell it, but I need your opinions first.