She started prepping dinner, chopping ingredients and trying not to look at the sexy man outside the window.
She’d been without a man for years now, and with her work being busy and with Tank to cuddle at night, she hadn’t really minded it.
But something about having Liam here, just being such a man outside, working with his hands, saving her from the neighbors, was making her just too aware of how much she wanted him as a woman.
Oh, Kate, you’re embarrassing yourself. Just stop it.
She put the lid on the skillet and went to the back door to look down at Liam, who put a hand over his waist as he looked out at the rest of the dirt. Had he eaten? She felt unreasonably concerned about it.
She opened the door and stepped out onto the deck. The yard was a complete mess front and back, but the house had won her over with the beautiful deck. She’d put a hot tub on it and wished she had more chances to use it, but she was working too much.
She whistled to get Liam’s attention, and he narrowed his eyes, squinting up at her. She waved for him to come up.
He did, gesturing for Tank to come with him. He came up on the porch, looking slightly shy about it, and she felt her own nervousness as her heart sped up and began hammering in her throat.
“I was thinking, if you didn’t have plans, you could join me for dinner? It’s the least I can do for how hard you’ve worked.”
He looked out at the yard. “I’m not finished.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “You can do it tomorrow, right? Let me feed you to say thank you.”
He folded his arms, cocking his head. Damn, he was huge when he was close to her. Despite his long day in her dirty yard, he still smelled masculine, fresh and spicy, and looked good enough to eat. “I don’t know,” he said. “Do contractors usually do dinner?”
“I guess not,” she said, feeling suddenly awkward. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” She felt stupid. She was just a lame, desperate single girl, obviously using dinner as an excuse to have some company, but—
“I’ll come,” he said. “Let me freshen up.”
“How?”
“The hose,” he said. “I’ll just hose off my boots and hands.”
“Okay,” she said, feeling strangely relieved he was joining her, that he didn’t think she was weird.
A few minutes later, when she was done setting the table, he came in, looking apologetic and uncertain. He had to duck slightly to get in her back door, and it made her want to giggle.
Tank followed in after him, looking extremely proud of himself, as if he had worked hard all day, too. Maybe he had.
She gave him a kiss on the nose and led him to his full food bowl, where he started eating voraciously. She watched him for a minute before sitting down with Liam.
“I wish I could enjoy anything as much as dogs enjoy food,” she said with a sigh.
Liam’s dark eyebrows furrowed. “You don’t?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Humans just don’t live in the moment like that.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “You should have more pleasure in your life.”
“Thanks,” she said, feeling a flush tinge her cheeks. “And thanks for putting up with Tank today.”
“He’s a good animal,” Liam said, sounding a little formal, as if he’d just a hint of an accent and was maybe hiding it. “He just needed someone to set boundaries.”
“How do you know so much about dogs?”
He waved a hand as he handed her his plate. “I really enjoyed them in my past life. I mean, before.”
“Before you lived in a freakin’ castle?” she asked.
“Freakin’?” he asked, looking puzzled as he took back his plate and started to dig into it.
She laughed as he ate voraciously, using a spoon to scoop up the stir-fry awkwardly, holding the utensil in his entire fist.
She covered her mouth as he looked up at her, confused. She shook her head. “Sorry, I just thought of something. Go ahead.” She was so happy about his work she really had no place to complain about his table manners. It was just a bit… odd. But there were a lot of odd things about him.
He set down his spoon gingerly. “What is a freakin’ and how does it apply to the castle?”
“Freakin’ is a just a term to mean… um…” Yeah, how did she explain it? “It’s just a word to express either disbelief or emphasis.”
“Ah, like Tank is a freakin’ dog?”
She put a hand to her head, smiling, and reached for her glass of wine. “Um. No. Just don’t worry about it. How did you end up in the castle?”
“Well, me and my friends… um… The other workers and I fell on hard times, and Aegis and his mate, um, wife, took us in and gave us work.”
“And what about Citrine? What does he do?”
“Manages things, I guess. And keeps things calm, since, you know… Aegis.”
“He does seem tightly wound. Kind of the type that always needs to have control?”
“Oh, you have no idea,” Liam said. Then he threw his head back in a deep, hearty laugh that seemed to resonate inside her, making her warm all over. Or maybe it was the wine.
He’d already refused any, so she was the only one drinking it.
“So how did you come to live here with this dump of a yard?” he asked abruptly.
She blinked. “That’s blunt.”
“Oh,” he said, looking around nervously. “I mean, that yard that was not a dump, but interestingly organized and—”
She laughed, waving a hand. “No, I get it. I had to move quickly when I… Well, I moved quickly, and I didn’t have time to do anything.”
“And… you have no man to help you?”
She raised an eyebrow. That sounded awfully sexist, but at the same time, yes, she had no man to help her and that was why she’d had to hire one. “No man.”
His jaw dropped and his brows lowered in consternation. “How is that possible with someone as beautiful as you? What is wrong with your world that a man hasn’t claimed you?”
She was kind of glad she’d had wine at this point. Otherwise, she’d be super weirded out by his words. Claimed?
But it was also ludicrous that he thought she was some kind of beauty who could never be single. She was in her thirties, more into her career than getting out there and dating, and while she liked her hazel eyes and soft, thick brown hair, she’d always been kind of plain and freckled, not to mention overweight.
She didn’t mind her curves, but she hadn’t really ever felt like the kind of woman who drove men wild.
“I’m not that pretty,” she mumbled, digging into her dinner. Her wine made it easier to talk to such a handsome, striking man, but she still wasn’t used to talking about something like this. Her dating history.
“Preposterous,” he said, scoffing. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”
She blinked up at him.
“If you don’t mind me saying so,” he added nervously.