His lack of further protest told her he was considering her offer, which meant she needed to keep talking.
“And I wouldn’t be doing it alone. We’d need all hands on deck—you, Sophie, even Maddie—if we stand a chance of getting it done in”—she glanced over his shoulder to the clock on the stove—“forty-eight hours.” Holy hell, she was good, but even she wasn’t sure she could pull off that miracle. Of course that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try.
“This is crazy.” Lucas might have thought she’d lost her mind, but he was smiling as he said it.
Paige’s brain was already racing through the next steps. “We’ll need Ziploc bags, colored markers, and as many of those plastic storage boxes as you can find. Is there a hardware store on the island? Cleaning supplies, of course—nothing says perfection quite like the smell of pine-scented cleaner—and a dumpster, if time allows; otherwise, lots of garbage bags.”
She hadn’t even realized that she’d begun to pace the length of the kitchen until Lucas reached out, hooking his arm around her waist as she passed by.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her flush against him. “It’s incredibly sweet that you want to help me, but to be honest, I’m barely keeping this place going right now. And even that’s only because of my sister’s con job. No way I would let you contribute anything else without paying you, and as much as I hate to admit it, I seriously doubt I can afford you.”
“Hmm,” she hummed. “Plus, at this time of year, I usually charge double the going rate.” She winked. “Lucky for you, I have a special friends discount.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Do you mean a special discount for friends, or a discount for special friends?”
She laughed. “Now who’s talking crazy?”
“Must be contagious.”
Her smile twisted as she pretended to consider her answer. “I’d say you’d qualify for a very-special-friends-with-benefits discount.”
“I like the sound of that.” He bent his head for a kiss, but Paige pulled back.
“I wasn’t finished.”
“Oh, sorry.” He straightened. “Continue.” But he wasn’t sorry, and he didn’t let her continue. At least not without distraction. She no sooner began to speak than his lips found their way to her neck.
“One last thing. You can’t get mad at me when I play tough.”
She felt his grin. “Did you say you’d like it a little rough?”
Paige ignored his blatant attempts to distract her. “I’m serious. I usually like to play nice and let my clients do the first wave of sorting before I lower the boom. Seeing as we’ve got less than forty-eight…”
He sucked on that sensitive spot just below her ear, and her mind went blank. Damn, the man was good with his mouth.
“You were saying,” he murmured against her skin.
Must. Focus. Paige pushed against his chest. “We’ll never get everything done if you keep this up.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he said, trying his best to sound contrite.
Paige crossed her arms over her chest.
“What?” he asked. She didn’t need to answer. “Fine. I’ll be good. But only until ten.”
“What happens at ten?”
“We’re getting naked.”
Oh.
“What can I say?” he said. “You’re sexy as hell when you go all cleaning commando.”
Words uttered by no man ever.
“Do we have a deal?” he asked.
She could barely manage a nod.
“Good, now I’ll make omelets while you make the list.”
“What list?”
He looked at her and smiled. “My guess is that everything in Paige Parker’s world starts with a list. Come on,” he said, taking her hand, “I’ve got a whole box of notebooks in the garage.”
Three orgasms, a hot breakfast, and a box of notebooks? Pigsty or not, Lucas Croft might actually be the perfect man.
Chapter 20
Lucas felt as though the storm was back. But instead of a nor’easter, this time it was a full-blown hurricane. Hurricane Paige, to be exact. The woman was certainly a force of nature.
Step one had been the surface stuff. Lucas was in charge of that, which mostly involved clearing away trash and recycling. The trash hadn’t been so bad, but the recycling was another story. He had no idea how it had happened really, but somehow he’d filled a considerable portion of the house with stacks of what had at one time been important papers, junk mail, old magazines—when was the last time he even read a magazine?—and Amazon boxes. Lots and lots of Amazon boxes.
Paige had been in charge of what Lucas teasingly referred to as “making a bigger mess.” Basically she dragged everything out of the cabinets and closets, leaving them all in a huge pile in the middle of each room. Next came the sorting. Everything had to go in one of three piles: toss, donate, or keep. The tossers went to the dumpsters down by the docks. and the donations were bagged and tagged and stored in the garage until a charity pickup could be arranged. It was all easy enough. The keepers, on the other hand, were a bit more difficult.
After the first wave, Paige had surveyed the pile and sized up the available storage space before insisting that a second, harsher wave take place. Lucas finally understood what she meant when she said he couldn’t get mad at her for being tough. Although even that had been an understatement. The woman showed no mercy. Not even for the Star Trek glassware he’d dutifully collected each week from the local Burger King back when he was in high school.
“How long have you had these?” she’d asked.
“About fifteen years.”
“And in that time, have you ever used them?” She’d raised what could only be interpreted as a judgmental brow. “Or have they just sat on the top shelf collecting dust?”
“They could be collectors’ items,” he’d offered as a defense. If he’d answered her question and told her he’d never once even looked for them, let alone drank out of them, Captain Kirk would surely have been sent to join the other donations. “What if these glasses are like on that antique show where people find out their junk is worth a million dollars?” Granted, a million dollars was a bit of a stretch even for the Spock glass, but still. They had to be worth something after all these years of being moved to and from various dorm rooms and apartments.
Paige had rolled her eyes, but hadn’t said a word. Instead she dug out her phone and after some faster-than-the-speed-of-light thumb action, held up the screen for Lucas to see. “There are currently one hundred and seventy-five sets for sale on eBay, ranging from ninety-nine cents to twelve bucks. But those have to still be in the box.”