I knew inviting him into my sanctuary was a bad idea, considering he wasn’t showing any sign of relenting yet. I had no other choice. Asking Luke would be weird, as he didn’t seem comfortable with handy works. Asking Nate would be plain weird. He was the computer guy. What did he know about plumbing?
After dinner, I asked Jamie if he could take a look at my wonky shower. Luke didn’t have the nightshift, and Nate was free too, so I thought with his two brothers at home, Jamie wouldn’t dare do anything funny. Besides, I’d just leave him alone while he was working on it.
Jamie said okay. He’d do it after he made a few phone calls.
I served the brothers dessert—red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting—then cleaned the dishes. Luke and Nate retired to the living room, watching TV. Jamie did his business thing in his room. I joined Luke and Nate after I finished my chores. We watched a rerun of “Family Guy.” Halfway into the show, Luke was called into the office. His deputy said the Anderson farm reported missing cows.
Jamie then returned with his toolbox and went to fix my shower. Nate got paged by a client soon after and had to go to his room to take a call. When Jamie called me saying he needed a hand, I halfheartedly followed him into my apartment.
The bathroom was a mess. Jamie had taken down the showerhead and even popped off several tiles to expose the plumbing pipes.
“What seems to be the problem?” I asked.
“Whoever installed this pipe is an idiot.”
“Aren’t you the one who renovated this place?”
“Yeah, but someone else did the plumbing, and he did a bad job. Lucky, he isn’t with us anymore.”
“Ah.” I knew nothing about house repair, especially fixing the plumbing. I’d always assumed all the plumbers I’d hired over the years were all-knowing experts.
“Here.” Jamie motioned me to help him. “I need you to hold this wrench in place while I put the showerhead back. I don’t have enough hands to do it all at once.”
“Okay.” I shimmied closer to Jamie and did what he asked.
“You ready?” he asked.
“I think so. Uhm, ready for what?”
“I need to reattach the showerhead.”
“Okay.”
Jamie fiddled with it, and suddenly, a burst of water sprayed all over us. I squealed and dropped the wrench. It fell and hit Jamie’s shoe. As I panicked whether I’d hurt him, Jamie was able to stop the flow of water.
But the damage had already been done, and both of us were wet. Jamie had it worse; he was soaking.
We looked at each other and laughed.
“I’m sorry. I’ll get a towel.”
“No.” Jamie stopped me. “I’m fine. I’ll just take my shirt off. No biggie.” He nonchalantly pulled his polo shirt off and dumped it in the sink.
All of a sudden, I became aware of his semi-nakedness. He had a very nice body. Healthy with defined muscles and sun-kissed skin. I could also smell his scent. Male scent. Musky. Man in heat.
It occurred to me that this was a scenario in a cheesy porn flick. A guy fixing a girl’s plumbing problem (non-sexually), and it ended up with the guy fixing the girl’s plumbing (sexually).
Gah. What the hell am I thinking? My brain commanded me to get out of the bathroom. My ovaries wanted to ogle this piece of eye candy a little longer.
I roused myself. “I need to get changed. I’m also wet—my shirt that is. My shirt is wet.” I laughed lamely.
“Why? You don’t have to. You’re beautiful as you are, even if you were dressed in a burlap sack.”
I didn’t want to believe him when he told me I was beautiful.
Jamie pushed a lock of stray hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. He stared at me with full intensity. Slowly, my face burned. My body burned. My heart thundered, and I found myself fully aroused.
What had gotten into me?
Against my will, my body reacted wantonly.
This had never happened before… well… least, not lately. Okay, the past few months. My libido had gone on vacation since I caught Sam cheated on me. But now, being stared at by this hot, young hunk, a fire of arousal engulfed my whole being.
Instinctively, I stepped back and inched toward the door.