The amount of time Jake Manning spent renovating the houses of strangers exposed him to some of the more colorful characters Houston had to offer, but at that moment, he had to believe Robin Lear had cornered the market on lunatics. How a woman could take an accidental jostling and accelerate that all the way up to pervert was beyond him. And to discover that she was the barracuda who had hired him to practically take down her house and put it up again was just not what he needed to hear right at the moment. The day had started badly enough what with having to bail Zaney out of jail. Now this. Jesus H. Christ.
“What are the odds?” the barracuda blurted behind him. “I can’t believe this!”
Well, believe it, baby, Jake thought as he walked in and slapped the doughnuts down on the dining room table. He damn sure didn’t like it any more than she did. He grabbed his tool belt, was putting it on as he turned and brushed past her again on his way to the kitchen.
“This is just too much,” she continued, following him into the kitchen. “I am being punished for something.” She stalked to a cabinet, yanked it open, and studied the insides for a moment. “Well, whatever. I can’t deal with this right now. You can’t work here today.”
“Whoa ,wait—are you talking to me?” he asked, incredulous.
She turned abruptly to look at him. “You’re going to have to go.”
“Ooh no.” She might be a lunatic, but she’d signed a damn contract. “No way,” he said, shaking his head. “You were the one who insisted on a start date of this week. I juggled three jobs to accommodate you, and I’m already behind. I can’t afford to lose a whole day.”
“But I need to sleep.”
“Well, sleep away, sleep until the next century for all I care. I won’t bother you.” He meant that sincerely. In fact, he’d lock her in the bedroom to make them both feel better.
She shifted her gaze to the cabinet again. “Am I in hell? Is this hell?” she asked the cabinet, her voice noticeably smaller.
Jake was about to suggest that perhaps he was the one in hell, but was startled by the realization that her chin was suddenly trembling. Trembling like she was about to cry. Before he could react, before he could bolt for the door and run screaming into the street, she turned big, wet blue eyes to him, blinking rapidly as she tried to keep tears from spilling. “I don’t have any coffee.”
That was definitely not what he expected her to say. Jake blinked, confused, “What?”
“I don’t have any coffee!” she shouted at him and began to cry. Cry. As in a river. Torrents of tears were suddenly washing down her face, and she collapsed, cross-legged, like a rag doll onto the kitchen floor and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. The woman he had pegged as potentially the biggest ballbuster this side of New York was suddenly blubbering all over the place.
“Yo, hey,” he said, laughing nervously to hide his sudden and intense discomfort. Women and tears—nothing could undo him faster than that, and he felt it coming at him like a bullet train. “Hey . . . hey there . . . uh . . . hey.” He waved his hand at her, only she didn’t see it, as her face was buried in her hands.
“Is it too much to ask?” she sobbed. “A lousy cup of coffee? This has been the worst day of my life! No wait, the worst night! No, oh no, why stop there? The worst weeeeek!”
Good God. “Might not be so bad if you’d just ratchet that throne of yours down a notch or two,” he offered helpfully.
She groaned. “I know, I know. Sorry,” she muttered grudgingly into her hands, and damn it if she didn’t almost sound sorry. But she kept crying.
“You know, I could go get you some coffee,” Jake offered reluctantly, mentally kicking himself the moment the words were out of his mouth.
The sobbing suddenly stopped on a strangled snort. She sniffed loudly, lifted her head, and rubbed her hand vigorously under her nose. “You would?” she asked with a soft hiccup. “You would do that for me after I was so . . . so . . .”
“So rude and obnoxious?”
“Yeah.”
He sighed wearily. Truthfully, he’d be doing Greater Houston a favor if he brought her something to help wash down her meds, because he was certain there was a boatload of them somewhere with her name written all over them. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go.”
She considered him with big blue eyes. “But there’s nothing on this street.”
“No problem.” Well, not huge, anyway. “I’ll find something. Won’t take a minute.” Assuming there was a convenience store nearby. Which there wasn’t. Damn.
But then Robin Lear surprised him by smiling. Not just any smile, but one of those sweet female smiles. Up until that moment, he would have sworn she was incapable. “That would be sooo nice, you don’t even know!”