I clasped my hands in front of my body. “Need any help getting your stuff inside?”
She thumbed over her shoulder. “Can’t say I’ve even opened the door yet. For all I know, I’ll need a hotel room after I see what’s in here.”
My eyes scanned the property. “Been a bit neglected, huh?”
She turned back toward the house. “In his defense, it was always this shabby.”
You deserve better. “Here, let me help out anyway.”
I put my kickstand down and hopped off my bike before striding up to the porch. And despite the grimy exterior and the front gutter being loose, everything felt solid. Nothing creaked when I touched down onto the porch. I reached for the railing and shook it, but it didn’t budge.
“Good bones,” I murmured.
Then, Astrid put her shoulder into the front door and stumbled inside.
“Shit,” she hissed.
I reached out, wrapping my arms around her waist. “Whoa, whoa. No need to go throwing yourself around. I would’ve gotten that.”
She pulled away from me. “I’m fine. I know how to run my life.”
The heat of her body stuck with me, though. And judging by the flush of her cheeks, it did the same for her. Still, the musty smell coming from the house quickly ripped me from my trance and made me wrinkle my nose.
“Could use a good clean down,” I murmured.
Astrid walked down the small hallway in front of us. “The walls could use a fresh coat of paint, too.”
I darted into the living room to my right. “The furniture looks good, though.”
“Eh, I’d change it out. I don’t want to keep living with the same childhood furniture, you know?”
I chuckled. “Makes sense.”
Something squeaked in the distance. “My God, it’s like this place has been untouched all these years. Come look at this.”
I meandered my way into the kitchen. “What’s up?”
Astrid held up a plastic cup. “I can’t believe this is still here.”
I blinked. “What is it?”
She smiled. “It’s my cup from when I was a little girl. I used this damn thing for years. It was the only thing Dad ever bought for me, and I used the hell out of it.”
I walked over to her. “Is Ariel your favorite princess?”
She giggled softly. “Always has been, always will be. I like her style.”
I resisted the urge to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You think there’s any cleaning supplies around here?”
She kept her eyes on the cup. “Maybe. Why?”
I shrugged. “I could get started with cleaning up a few things, starting by throwing open all these windows so we can let the house breathe.”
She finally looked up at me. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”
And when her eyes held mine, my heart stopped in my chest.
Six
Astrid
Gazing into Porter’s eyes made my knees feel like jello. Feeling his body heat radiating against me made me feel as if I were back in high school with a crush on the quarterback. His eyes held that same brooding stare that captivated me back when we were younger. His muscles were ripe for the taking, bulging against his faded leather jacket. And as the minty smell of his breath pulsed against my face, I found myself yearning for a stolen kiss.
But instead, I took a step back and cleared my throat.
“Uh, you want to tackle the upstairs and I’ll start down here?” I asked.
Porter cleared his throat, too, and it made me wonder if he had felt the same tension I did. “Yeah, yeah. Just tell me where shit used to be, and I’ll figure it out from there.”
I pointed to the ceiling. “Go up the stairs and you’ll be staring at a closet. Last I remembered, it held all the clean bed sheets as well as cleaning products.”
With a nod of his head, he turned to leave, giving me an eyeful of his tight, perky ass. I cocked my head to the side and licked my lips, watching as his long legs languidly strode out of the kitchen. My God, Porter was a handsome man. I mean he’d always been handsome, but now he was rugged. A bit rougher around the edges. And with that scruff growing out on his face, my thighs tingled with a need that had followed me my entire life.
Plaguing me even in my dreams.
Brooks is gonna kill me.
I forced myself to turn away from Porter’s retreating body and focus on the kitchen before me. It was as if this entire house had been locked into one memory for the past however many years it had been since I’d been home. After Mom died, the estate fell to Brooks’ shoulders, and that was only a few years before he ended up in prison. So, the house had been sitting vacant for at least seven years.
If not, more.
“Ew, gross,” I whispered.
I ran my finger along the raggedy kitchen countertop and the dust that plastered itself against my skin made me gag. This place would need to be cleaned from top to bottom, and some of this shit would need to be replaced. Like the carpet, for starters. I knew the bulk of the smell in this house came from that shit. The residual smell of puke from my mother’s drinking days and the scent of smoke from my father’s incessant chain smoking filled the house with such ugly memories that all I wanted to do was plug my nose and set the damn place on fire.
But if I could convince Brooks to hand the house over to me…
“I’m getting ahead of myself. Just clean first,” I murmured.
I dipped down beneath the kitchen sink and pulled out ancient cleaning products. I prayed they would still work as I sprayed everything in sight and wiped it down, trying not to vomit at the blackened dust that came off with every swipe. I heard Porter lumbering around upstairs, creaking the floorboards above me.
And when I heard him whistle lowly to himself, I made the determination not to go upstairs.
Then, the front door burst open. “Someone miss me?”
Porter called downstairs. “That you, Brooks?”
My brother chuckled. “Of course it’s me. Astrid?”
I continued cleaning the cabinets. “In the kitchen.”
I heard my brother walk in behind me, but I didn’t bother to look at him. “You gonna come give me a hug or something?”
I wiped off the kitchen counter. “You didn’t bother to meet me here. Why the fuck should I give you a hug?”
He sighed. “You know I wanted to be here. But I had to pick Raven up from work and make sure she got home safely. Things have been a bit crazy lately.”
“So I’ve been told.”
His hands came down against my shoulders. “Astrid, please.”
I paused. Out of all the words my brother threw around on a daily basis, “please” wasn’t one of them. And it stopped me in my tracks.
“What?” I asked.
He slowly turned me around and the look in his eye gave me pause. “I really am sorry. It’s why I called Porter to come meet you here. I didn’t want you to be alone but shit really has hit the fan and things aren’t good right now.”
I tilted my head. “What’s going on? What aren’t you telling me?”
Porter yelled down the stairs. “Just tell her! She might as well know!”