I handed it over to him, and he crawled up the ladder. I winced at how flimsy it was.
“You need better brackets on this.”
“It came with the house, and I’ve never been up there other than the first time during the inspection. I never want to do it again.”
“How have you changed your filter before?”
“I sort of just ask friends to help. Or my neighbor. Or a handyman once, but that cost me an arm and a leg.”
I did my best to keep my eyes off Prior’s very nice ass as he ascended the ladder, but I failed.
I couldn’t help it. He filled out his jeans so perfectly.
I clearly needed to go on another date, but not with him. This was going too far.
“Almost done,” he called out, and I looked up at the hole in the ceiling and hoped he would get down soon and then leave so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore. Or think about him the way I kept doing.
Not that I needed him to be here for me to think about him like that.
He made his way down the ladder, and I winced when it started to squeak.
“Get off that, I don’t want you to fall.”
I must have startled him, and his forearms bulged as he held himself tight to the ladder, having missed three rungs above the bottom.
My pulse raced, and I reached forward, holding out my hands to stop him from falling.
Only my hands were on his ass and not on the rest of him. My face burned.
Prior looked over his shoulder, his brows raised. I quickly lowered my hands, my heart beating so quickly that I could actually hear it pulsing in my ears. And then he was off the ladder, standing in front of me, his chest heaving.
“Sorry for touching you. For your butt. Well, not sorry for your butt. Because you have a great butt. I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for touching that part of you, but…thank you. Because I couldn’t have done that on my own.”
“Are you done?” he asked, and my brows rose.
“No need to be rude. I said I was sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry.” He let out a breath. “I only wanted to make sure you were done talking.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is what I mean.”
And then I thought I was dreaming again. Prior’s hand was in my hair, and his mouth was on mine. I couldn’t breathe.
Though I didn’t think I needed air again if I had this.
Chapter 11
Prior
I should not be doing this.
I was doing it anyway.
I angled her head and kissed her deeper, her taste a sin on my tongue as if it were everything I had been missing.
Dear God. I needed to stop. We needed to talk about this.
Talk? Who the fuck was I?
She slid her tongue against mine, and I groaned, needing more.
Her hands were on my chest, her nails digging in. Not pulling me closer, but not pushing me away.
I didn’t know what to do. I knew what I needed to do, what would be smart for both of us. We needed to stop this, walk away, and pretend it never happened.
I knew that wouldn’t be what I did.
Because, apparently, I was good at making mistakes, and this was a whopper.
I pulled away, gasping for breath as she did the same, then I rested my forehead against hers. Her fingernails still dug into my skin through my shirt, her hands clasping once, twice, before she relaxed a bit, nearly letting go. She didn’t push me away, though.
Instead, I was the one who moved away, taking a step back, lowering my hands so I could see her.
“Well,” I said, knowing I should probably have said something better than that. What was there to say?
“Well. That’s a good word for it. The other words would likely be a little more profane, so, well works.”
I smiled that that, not able to help myself.
“It’s pretty much what I was thinking.”
“I didn’t ask you over for that.” She frowned. “I didn’t ask you over at all, actually.”
“I know. I didn’t come here thinking this would happen.” I paused, kind of frowning. “I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t thought about it, though.”
Her eyes widened, and I wanted to take my foot out of my mouth and apologize.
“You’ve thought about this?” she asked.
“All the fucking time, Paris. And we both know it would be a mistake to take it further. This is probably a mistake.”
It didn’t take a genius to see the hurt cross her face. I wanted to kick myself.
“Not that I think the kiss was a mistake. I meant how it could be.”
“Your semantics don’t make sense,” she bit out through gritted teeth.
“You’re right. They don’t. Because I’ve been doing my best not to think about you.”
“Right back at you. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have come at all. You shouldn’t have kissed me. Or I shouldn’t have let you kiss me. Whatever.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You’re the one who called it a mistake. You tell me why.”
“I wanted to make sure we were on the same page for why this is wrong.”
“Wrong. Mistake. Seems you’re good at using the words that push me away. You won. Now, go.”
“We need to talk about this, Paris.”
“No, we don’t. You’ve talked enough for both of us.”
“I’m not saying the right things, and I’m sorry. How could I tell you that I’ve been thinking about this a lot? We fucking work together. So as long as I’m there, I shouldn’t be doing this.”
“There’s nothing in our bylaws that says it’s against the rules.”
She said the words so low that I almost missed them.
“You looked that up?”
“Of course, I did,” she bit out and then turned away, beginning to pace before she spoke again.
“I’m an idiot. You’re right. This is a mistake.”
“It’s not against the rules?”
“No, it’s not. I already have to deal with Benji and his ilk. This isn’t smart.”
“I never said I was smart.”
“So you’re calling me stupid right along with you?” she asked.
“Paris.”
She rolled on me, her eyes dark as she narrowed her gaze at me. “You kissed me. You got it out of your system. We shouldn’t do it again.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t,” I said slowly.
“Wouldn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t, can’t, all the words we can mix together. They’re still not going to make any sense.”
“Paris. The main reason for us not to is our friends.”
“I know that. It’s why you should leave. We should just forget that this ever happened.”
Dread filled my belly, but I nodded.
“I don’t want to go.”
“Why? Do you want to hurt them?”
“No, I don’t. But it’s so confusing.”
“You just got out of a relationship, too. A pretty serious one.”
“She was fucking her ex in my bed. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that serious.”