2

And she’s smoking fucking hot.

My body reacts on instinct, because that thong she’s wearing isn’t more than a scrap of lace that I could rip off with my teeth, and that ass is something that I’ll see in my dreams.

“What the fuck?” she asks.

Scrambling to her feet, she slams the door on me, but it doesn’t close, catching on my foot. Thank god for steel-toed boots. But I can’t seem to get a hold of my thoughts. I saw the car that she drove up in and thought that someone was trying to move in, which seemed a little odd. The last thing I expected was this.

She appears in the crack of the door now that I’ve pulled my foot back. But she doesn’t open the door further. “I’m really sorry, Rey. I shouldn’t have slammed the door. I’m just…having an interesting morning.”

Now when she pulls open the door the skirt is back up around her waist, but that doesn’t make her any less beautiful. I like the undone, messy look that she has going on right now, even if it means that she’s had a frustrating morning.

Tendrils of dark hair are escaping her bun and drifting down her neck, dragging my eyes to her gorgeous collarbones and arms, and a hint of cleavage.

Wait a second…my brain catches up to my balls and I suddenly realize that she called me by name. She knows me? How does she know me?

I look harder at her, and suddenly I see it. Holy shit, it’s Klara Miller. I haven’t seen her in years. “Klutzy Klara?” I ask.

Based on what I just walked in on, the nickname still fits. But her cheeks go pink. “I haven’t been called that in years, and honestly, I never liked it.” She looks toward the stairs where she was just sprawled out. “No matter how accurate it might be.”

I laugh. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t recognize you. All grown up it seems.”

The pink in her cheeks grows darker.

This is definitely not the girl I remember. First, she’s a fucking woman now. The Klara Miller in my memory is a skinny girl who could never seem to get her feet under her. My little brother used to mess with her by picking up frogs from the creek and placing them in her hair and down the back of her shirt.

But now? She’s got curves for days. I just got an eyeful of them, and I’d like to get a handful next. I never really thought I’d want to carry Klara Miller off like a caveman, but that’s where I am. I’m still seeing that perfect ass in my mind’s eye and wondering where else I can make her blush that deep shade of pink.

Klara clears her throat. “What are you doing here?”

I laugh again. “Me? What are you doing here? I never left. I live here.”

Surprise crosses her face before she quickly shuts it down.

A meow sounds seconds before the cat launches itself down the stairs and toward the door. I catch it mid-flight, holding it to my chest before it can escape. “He’s fast.”

“You’re telling me.”

“What’s its name?”

Klara shrugs. “I have no idea. We just met.”

An awkward silence stretches between us, and finally she steps aside. “Do you want to come in?”

“Sure.”

I step inside while she shuts the door behind me, and I set the cat on the floor. It zooms away to one of probably many hiding spots.

The last time I was in this house was…a long fucking time ago. I’m looking around the entryway actively trying not to stare at Klara, but I’m not very successful because she’s so fucking gorgeous. I want to shove my hands into her hair until it comes undone, and then we’ll see what happens after that.

But as I’m looking around in my attempt to control myself, I see just how...disastrous this place is. I already knew from looking at the outside. This whole set of houses is awful. But inside is even worse. “This is a mess, isn’t it?”

Klara sighs. “Yeah. I’m kind of hoping that this is the worst one.”

“What do you mean?”

Leaning down, she rights the suitcase that the cat knocked over. “I agreed to come home and help my parents finish the renovations on the cul-de-sac. But I’ll be the first one to admit that I didn’t realize what bad shape the houses are all in.”

“Why would they ask you to do that?”

She blushes again, this time looking away. “My mom has been sick, and my dad fell. They can’t do it, and there’s only so much time. So, I agreed.”

“But why not call a contractor? The Klara I remember wasn’t interested in plumbing or carpentry. You’re going to fix all this?”

Her eyes darken, and she straightens. She’s a tall woman, but I still tower over her, and when she steps forward, she has to tilt her head back to meet my eyes. I won’t lie to myself about how much I like the sight of it.

“You didn’t even recognize me,” she says. “I recognized you instantly. So maybe you shouldn’t make assumptions about someone that you haven’t seen in five years.”

Fucking hell. I start counting numbers backwards in my head so I don’t show her how bad I want her right now. Because I’m on the edge of a full-blown erection. The fire in her eyes and the way her arms are crossed lifting her breasts toward me. I love it. But that doesn’t excuse my point either. “You didn’t answer the question.”

“What was the question?”

“You’re going to fix all this?” I gesture to the house around us. “By yourself?”

“If I have to.”

“But can you? Do you have the skills to do that? Cause if you don’t then you need to have some words with your parents because they gave you an impossible task and that’s really unfair to you.”

Her eyes spark with anger, and I find myself leaning in. I wonder if I could kiss the anger away or if she’d slap me. I think I’d be down for either one, and that makes me question what the hell is wrong with me?

“It’s really none of your business,” she says. “So, if all you’re going to do is insult me, then you can fuck off and go back to wherever you came from.”

She’s standing tall, chest pushed out in defiance, glaring at me. In all the years we’ve known each other, I’ve never seen this kind of fire in her. It makes me want to push her buttons more to see what else she’ll throw at me. “You still didn’t answer the question, did you?”

“What question?” She rolls her eyes.

I step into her space so we’re nearly touching. The small, surprised gasp is everything, and if I leaned forward even an inch our bodies would be sliding against each other, and it’s a temptation that I’m savoring at the same time as I’m resisting because she’s so fucking hot that I’m going mad. Probably because there’s no blood left in my brain. It’s all in my cock.

“Do you have the skills to fix this mess?” I say softly. “Because I’m still curious what you’re going to do and if you suddenly became a master contractor in the last five years.”

The fire in her eyes makes me want to pin her against the wall and see if the fire tastes as good as it looks. But I hold back, waiting for her answer. I do want to know. A lot can happen in five years. Maybe she left town and turned herself into the best contractor this side of the Rio Grande. Hell if I know.

“No,” Klara says through gritted teeth. “I can’t do those things. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll figure it out. I’m going to get these houses into shape, in time. I’ll do whatever it takes. So, you can chill the fuck out with your judgement, Rey.”

I can’t stop the smile that crosses my face. “Good.”

“Good?”

“It’s what I like to hear,” I say. “You’ve got a spine. You’re going to need one to fix this mess.” A pause. “Maybe Klutzy Klara has grown up after all.”

Klara’s cheeks flame with a blush, and the air between us goes tight. This isn’t something I ever would have predicted. When I knew her, she was a gangly teenager who faded into the background.

The woman in front of me wouldn’t fade into the background of anything.

Klara’s eyes drop to my lips, and I swear to god if she kisses me, the state of this house won’t stop me from making her scream. What will her lips taste like? They look like strawberries. That makes me wonder what she’ll taste like other places, and if I don’t step back right the fuck now, then I’m not going to be able to stop myself from asking.

“Well,” I say quietly, “if you’re determined to do this, then I guess I’ll see you around.”

“I guess you will.” Her voice is breathy, and I hold back the smile from knowing how deeply I’m affecting her.

I open the door and look back to where she’s still staring after me. “Maybe next time I’ll see you without the skirt again. Or, if you’re game, topless would be a nice change of pace.”

She gasps, and I pull the door shut just before she takes her shoe off and hurls it at me. It thuds against the other side of the wood and I laugh. She might think that I’m kidding, but I’m absolutely not. Now that I’ve seen part of her, I want to see all of her. I’m dying to know if her nipples match the color of her lips and how far down her blush spreads.

If she’s planning to be around for a while to fix up the disaster that is this neighborhood, then maybe I’ll get the chance.