* * *
Me: Thankfully, no.
With a glance at the dark kitchen, I decided that the very last thing I felt like doing was to wait around all day for an electrician. I went to find Emmett.
“If you don’t mind a road trip to the gym, we actually have some spare fuses in my office. There’s no point in paying someone to do this if I can figure it out myself.”
“Yeah, except if you blow the house up because you put the wrong fuse in.”
“Do you have that little faith in me?” I asked.
“You don’t know how to scramble eggs without burning them, Iz.” Emmett gave me a wide-eyed duh look.
I motioned to the front door. “Let’s go, punk. I’ll buy you breakfast on the way.”
Twenty minutes later, he was still inhaling the rest of his breakfast sandwich when we pulled into the parking lot at the gym.
The sight of a familiar black truck at the end of the lot had me utter a curse word under my breath.
Emmett held out his hand. I tossed my entire wallet at him. “Take a twenty, then I’m covered all weekend.”
His eyes were the size of the tires on Aiden’s truck. “Deal.”
I slid the car in park and turned to Emmett. “Okay, so my boss is in there. Be nice, be respectful, and don’t tell him anything embarrassing, okay?”
He shrugged. “What would I tell him that’s embarrassing?”
When we approached the front door, I glanced inside before I slid my new card in front of the scanner. Some lights were on, but not enough for me to see Aiden right off the bat.
As soon as we turned the corner around the half wall separating the front entry from the main gym area, I saw a small body lying like a starfish in the middle of the boxing ring. She was singing a song at the top of her lungs, completely unaware of our presence.
Emmett nudged me with his elbow. “Who’s that?”
Anya jumped up with a startled shriek, white-blond hair flying in all directions. But when she saw me, she smiled. “Miss Isabel!”
“Hey, kid. Nice singing,” I told her.
Aiden’s frame filled the doorway of his office.
Emmett climbed up into the ring with Anya, and they started running in circles. I sighed quietly. Now that there was someone to play with, this would not be a quick trip.
I jangled my keys against my leg as I approached Aiden. “Didn’t think anyone would be here.”
“I could say the same.” His eyes assessed me, head to toe, and I struggled not to fidget. It wasn’t like I got dolled up for work, but this was the first time he was seeing me bare-faced, hair a mess, and wearing the black joggers I’d slid on when I woke up. My white shirt was loose and comfortable, and it constantly slid off my shoulder, so it was painfully apparent that I wasn’t wearing a bra.
“Iz!” Emmett yelled from the ring. He’d stuck his body between the ropes and had his knees balancing on the lower one.
“Yeah?”
“Is that the guy Molly was teasing you about because you had his picture on your wall when you were little?”
My eyelids slammed shut, my heart actually stopped beating in my chest, and at that moment, I imagined just how possible it was to travel back in time and not turn on that fucking microwave.
When I opened my eyes, I glared at him so mightily that his mouth popped open. “Ohhh, is that the kind of embarrassing thing you didn’t want me to say? Sorry, Iz.” He hopped off the ropes and went back to running.
Like he hadn’t just embarrassed the ever-loving shit out of me.
I covered my mouth with one hand when I heard a sound of choked amusement behind me.
I wanted to die.
When I turned, Aiden was still leaning up against the door, but oh, I couldn’t believe it.
He was smiling at me.
This was no wide smile that showed all his teeth or made a surprise dimple appear on either side of his mouth. But it was so, so much worse. Because this smile absolutely devastated me.
I dropped my hand, pointing a finger at him. “It’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” he teased.
Instead of answering him, I strode to my office, head held as high as I could manage when I wanted to crawl under my desk and hide.
With his eyes on me, I unlocked my office and started searching in the corner cabinet where I shoved all the shit I never felt like organizing. My mental peptalk while I ripped through boxes was something like, it’s fine. It’ll be fine. A poster is not a big deal, and he won’t care because he was a world-class athlete, so he probably won’t even really remember.
“Which poster?” he asked.
I straightened slowly, clutching a small box in my hands. He was behind me, perched on the edge of my desk.
“I don’t even really remember,” I answered, very easy breezy, I don’t have sex fantasies about you every day of the week. I swept a lock of hair behind my ear before I turned to face him. “I had a lot of athletes on my wall when I was younger.”
“Okay.” He didn’t believe me, but I couldn’t have cared less as long as he didn’t push it. My heart rate slowed a bit when he lifted his chin, eyes on the box in my hands. “What are you looking for?”
“Umm, a box of fuses.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“I … sort of blew one out at the house. Didn’t really feel like waiting for an electrician.”
Emmett ran into the office. “She exploded it trying to make us breakfast.”
Remember how much you love him, I chanted in my head.
“Did she?” Aiden asked.
“Yeah,” Emmett said. “Isabel sucks at cooking.”
Aiden smothered another smile.
“Okay,” I interjected. “That’s enough out of you, or you don’t get your screen time later.”
He sighed heavily. “Can Anya come over and play? I told her about the treehouse in the backyard, and she wants to see it.”
“Oh, umm”—I glanced at Aiden—“I don’t know if today is a good day. I have to get this fixed, and Mr. Hennessy is working.”
Aiden stood from the desk. “You’ve replaced fuses before?”
I slicked my tongue over my teeth. “Not exactly, but I can figure it out.”
“You know how many amps that box is for?”
Glancing down, I caught sight of the edge of the box. “Twenty.”
“And that’s the kind you need? If you replace the bad one with something that’s got too many amps, you’ll do even more damage to the wiring.”
My eyes narrowed slightly, and immediately, Aiden returned the look.
Something dangerous kindled like a lit match under my skin.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“I have a bunch of stuff in my truck, including some fifteen amp fuses,” he said. “I’d be happy to come over and do it. If it’s not the right one, I’ll run to the store.”
“Please say yes,” Emmett whispered. “I don’t want the house to explode. Mom and Dad would be so pissed at you.”
The only reason I had to say no was my pride, not to borrow trouble. Inviting him to our house felt very, very troublesome.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t a reason to say no. Not with this.