Chapter 22

CHAPTER22

There was no way that she was going to be able to make it look like an accident, Morgan realized as she watched the man that thought it was a good idea to screw with her head as he finished off the last glazed donut.

She definitely should have hobbled him when she had the chance, Morgan thought as she reached for the coffee that he’d picked up for her, more than a little tempted to throw it at his head and took a sip, all while narrowing her eyes on the large bastard toying with her.

Leaving would have been the smart thing to do.

At least, for her, it would have been, but instead of doing the smart thing and leaving before she did something incredibly stupid, she’d somehow convinced herself that this was a good idea. While Eric told her that he wanted her, she’d told herself that she could handle this, that she could spend the next thirty days pretending that the man that she’d loved all her life was hers and-

She couldn’t resist.

She knew better, knew that this wasn’t going to end well, but that didn’t stop her from agreeing to this asinine plan. Instead, she’d made sure to sound put out as she’d agreed to give him a chance to adore her, which led to Eric giving her one of those incredibly sexy smiles that she’d always loved and-

That was it.

There was no kiss, tears of joy, or any type of rejoicing. He’d simply murmured, “Goodnight,” before he walked out of the bathroom and made his way to the sleeping bag where he lost himself in the file that Uncle Jared gave them on the house. Not sure what she was supposed to do, Morgan decided to get ready for bed, grabbed one of the incredibly beautiful nightgowns that Eric picked out for her, took a shower, allowed herself a small panic attack, and when she was done, Morgan told herself that she could do this as she forced herself to walk back into the bedroom where she found Eric passed out on the sleeping bag.

Telling herself that was fine because they should take this slowly, Morgan climbed into bed and…

Nothing.

That was followed by quietly grumbling, telling herself that she didn’t want a kiss goodnight and delicately clearing her throat every few minutes while she sent hopeful glances in Eric’s direction, only to give up sometime around midnight. When she woke up this morning, she’d pushed away her disappointment from the night before aside and focused on the job ahead, grabbed her favorite Bradford Remodeling tee-shirt, one of the pairs of shorts that Eric bought for her, and quickly made her way downstairs to get started with the help of one of those incredibly sweet kisses that she’d thought about all night.

Instead, she got lukewarm coffee, stale donuts, and…

Nothing.

For the past hour, they’d both sat at this incredibly beautiful antique kitchen table going over their notes, double-checking their inventory lists that they’d created yesterday while they were setting up the equipment that Uncle Jared left for them, the checklist they came up with to get started, and that was it. But that was fine with her because she didn’t want to kiss him again.

Not. At. All.

In fact, she was more than willing to pretend that yesterday never happened and focus on this house and the incredibly beautiful barn that she couldn’t help but notice would be perfect for Bradford Remodeling. They could use the basement for storage, the first floor would be perfect for their shop, giving them plenty of room for all of Eric’s tools, the extra workbenches that he’d been talking about getting, and they could turn the loft into their office.

As for the house…

“Where do you want to start?” Eric asked as he reached over and took the clipboard from her.

“We should probably go over everything that the previous owner claims he did,” Morgan said, shifting her attention to the list they’d made from the file Uncle Jared gave them as she did her best to bite back her disappointment.

He’d changed her mind and…

It was for the best, Morgan told herself as she read through the list. “The roof needs to be checked, and so does the electric, and heat,” she said, deciding that they should start with all of the big items that could set them back first. “The air conditioner seems to be working, but we should probably still check the air ducts and wiring to make sure. The plumbing is going to be a little trickier.”

“He had a new septic dug and put in a new water heater and changed out a few faucets,” Eric murmured absently as she felt the first groan of the project starting to form.

“Did you see any patch jobs?” Morgan asked, hoping that she’d somehow missed it and that the previous owner took the time to switch out the old plumbing so that they wouldn’t have to.

Shaking his head, Eric said, “We still have the original plumbing,” letting her know that this was going to be a complete gutting job, which was fine, Morgan told herself as she took her list back from him and added going around the house and marking everything that she wanted to save so that it didn’t end up in a dumpster to the list.

She already knew that she wanted to save the original baseboards and cabinets and shelves built into the walls to the list, but she wasn’t sure about the staircase. It was incredibly beautiful, but years of neglect and half-assed repairs had destroyed it. For a moment, she debated asking Uncle Jared to grab a few of her old sketchbooks for her so that she could look for ideas to fix it, but that wasn’t really an option since that would probably end with Uncle Jared wondering why all of her stuff was packed in boxes and telling Eric.

That left…

Uncle Mark.

Since he lived in the original house that Noah built for his wife, Morgan could ask him to take a picture of the staircase with the hopes that it would help her come up with something to replace the staircase here. Making a note to send him an email later, Morgan focused on the rest of the list, only to sigh when she came to the siding. She was almost too afraid to find out what was hiding beneath that ugly green siding, but…

“Can you check to see what the siding is hiding?” she asked, knowing that there was no point in putting this off until later.

“I can do that,” Eric murmured, adding it to his list. “What about the driveway?”

As much as she would love to see the cobblestone driveway in all its glory, it was going to have to wait. “We should probably leave it covered for now. I don’t want to risk doing any damage to it while the house is under construction,” Morgan said as she thought about the dumpsters that were going to take up half of the front lawn and all the delivery trucks making their way onto the property.

“Good idea,” Eric said, making another note before asking, “And the carpet?”

“Has to go,” Morgan said, watching his lips twitch as he added it to the list.

“I’ll find out what’s hiding beneath it after lunch,” he promised as he went through his list one more time before he looked up. “That’s going to cost you…” Eric began, only to let his words trail off as he looked back down at his clipboard, “Seven kisses.”

“Seven kisses?” Morgan repeated back slowly as she tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

“Mmmhmm,” Eric murmured as he glanced back down at his list. “One for checking the electric, another one for checking the heat, the air conditioning, the siding, the plumbing, the carpet, and, of course, the roof, which I’m going to have to charge you two kisses for,” only to add, “I could die,” at her questioning look.

“I see,” Morgan said, nodding absently as she pushed her glasses back up her nose, mostly to hide the smile that was threatening to break free. Clearing her throat, she asked, “Are these prices negotiable?”

With a long-suffering sigh and a sad shake of his head, Eric said, “This is the best that I can do,” as he reached over and took her hand in his and gave it a gentle tug as he pushed his chair back, giving her no other choice but to go to him for the house’s sake, of course. “I’m afraid that I’m going to need a deposit.”

“How many kisses is that going to cost me?” Morgan asked, making sure to sound put out even as she struggled to remember how to breathe as he pulled her closer.

“Two,” Eric said, reaching up to cup her face in his hand as her gaze flickered to his lips as she found herself leaning down, unable to help herself and-

Softly moaned when her lips met his.

She’d only kissed two other men in her life, men she’d hoped could make her feel even half of what she felt for Eric, but neither one of them had been able to make her feel anything more than regret when their lips touched hers. But Eric…

The first brush of his lips against hers had her breath catching, the second left her trembling, and the third had her sighing softly with relief as she released his hand so that she could cup his face in her hands. She took her time savoring the feel of his lips brushing against hers, the soft groan that he released as she gently caressed his jaw, enjoying the feel of his freshly shaved skin against hers and-

It wasn’t enough.

For years, she’d dreamed of kissing this man, imagined how good it would feel to finally be in his arms, and now, she didn’t want to waste any more time. She didn’t know how this was going to end, and as much as that terrified her, she didn’t want to have any regrets when this was all over, and she knew that if she didn’t kiss him the way that she’d dreamed of that she would regret it.

Morgan allowed herself one last brush of her lips against his before she tilted her head just enough so that the next time that she felt his lips brush against hers, she parted her lips and-

Swallowed his groan when he took over, deepening the kiss as his tongue found hers with a gentle caress that had her moaning. They took their time with slow, teasing caresses of their tongues, and gentle brushes of their lips as she felt her body come alive. Pleasure slowly made its way down her body, causing goosebumps to race along her skin and her toes to curl as her nipples hardened and-

She needed more.

She needed him was the last coherent thought that tore through her head before Morgan found herself straddling his lap as the kiss turned hungry. His arms wrapped around her as he pulled her closer until her breasts were crushed against his chest and she couldn’t seem to get enough of him.

She’d never felt this desperate before, never felt her body ache like this before, and she never thought anything could feel this good. Moaning his name, Morgan slid her fingers through Eric’s hair as his hands slowly moved down her back and-

“Oh, God…” Morgan whimpered against Eric’s lips when he used his hold on her bottom to pull her closer until she felt the large bulge pressing against her through his jeans and-

“How slow do you want to take this?” Eric asked, breaking off the kiss so that he could kiss his way down to her neck as his hands gently kneaded her bottom.

“I don’t want to rush this,” Morgan managed to get out on a moan. She’d waited so long for this and wanted to savor every moment.

“Then, we should probably stop now,” Eric said, pressing one last kiss against her neck before his lips found hers again and she was left struggling to remember why they had to take this slowly. She allowed herself one last brush of her lips against his before she reluctantly climbed off his lap.

Slowly exhaling, Morgan grabbed her clipboard with a trembling hand, needing the comforting weight to remind her that they had a job to do. “I’ll go see what we can salvage,” she mumbled weakly as she struggled to focus.

Nodding, Eric’s eyes remained locked on her lips as he stood up. “I’ll get started with the roof,” he said absently as he took a step closer, only to noticeably swallow as he forced himself to look away, clear his throat with a murmured, “Work,” and a firm nod and headed for the door while she stood there, slowly exhaling as she told herself that there was no rush.

They-

“I almost forgot to tell you something,” Eric said, pausing by the back door.

“What’s that?” Morgan asked absently as she reached for a pen and-

“Robert made all the furniture in the house,” Eric announced with a wink and a satisfied sigh as he walked outside, effectively destroying her plans for the rest of the day.