And Then Came You (slow updates at this time)

Five

I take my time waking up Monday morning and roll out of bed around ten. Sunday I tooled around the house, crossing off chores on my growing to-do list, and now it's time to get back to my side job.

Extra work isn't something I usually pick up, but the supplemental income will come in handy now that I'm in my own place. It's not much; almost fifteen-hundred square feet of living space on an acre and a half of land with nothing around me but trees and wheat fields. It's quiet and secluded and exactly what I was looking for. I could walk around the backyard naked and no one would be the wiser.

Of course, extra money isn't the only reason I took the job.

Throwing on a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt, I putz around the kitchen for awhile, making coffee and scarfing down a quick breakfast. Just as I'm about to leave, my phone rings.

"Did you work last night?" Greg Elsher asks as soon as I answer the call.

It's obvious that he wants something. "I took yesterday off. Why, what's up?"

"Remember how I told you Brit's cousin Lindsey is in town?" He doesn't wait for a reply. "We're going to the Cock and Bull for dinner and drinks and I sorta said you'd be available."

Irritation prickles along my limbs.

Didn't we already have this conversation? I'm not interested in entertaining his girlfriend's out-of-town cousin. "Can't you ask Riz or someone else to go with you? I'm kind of busy."

"We're not meeting until six. You can't tell me you won't be finished with whatever it is you're doing by then." He pauses. "What's so important you're willing to pass up an opportunity to hang out with a former Hooters' Girl, anyway?"

There are dozens of things I'd rather do than that. Like bleed the radiator, or work on my taxes. "I was hired to work on an apartment downtown. The new tenant's waiting to move in."

Greg snorts in my ear. "What—you leavin' the department to become a handyman or somethin'?"

I plop down on the couch and kick my boots up on the ottoman. "It's for someone I used to know who just moved back to Lakeside. She's been through a tough time, so I offered to help out."

"She an old girlfriend?"

The question makes me smile. "Hardly. Ruby couldn't stand me. She was friend's with my sister."

"Ruby, huh? That's my great-Grammy's name. Which means she couldn't possibly be as hot as Lindsey. And when I say hot, I mean capital H-O-T." Greg pushes a breath between his teeth to make it sound like a sizzle. "Hope you're at least getting paid."

"'Course I am." Though I'd do it for free, he doesn't need to know that.

"Okay, how about this... If you leave now, you'll have over five uninterrupted hours before it's time to call it quits. You'll be begging for a break by then." There's a pleading edge to his tone, which usually comes right before he lays it on thick. "Come on, ol' buddy, ol' pal. I promised Brit you'd be there. You remember what happened the last time I broke a promise, don't you? She cut me off for almost two weeks! Dude, I am not meant to be celibate."