‘I never said death trap.’
‘Argh!’ Kira was out of intelligible words. This guy! Why was he even here?
‘How about I just go in and check it out for you?’
‘How about you go the hell back to Buffalo!’
His eyes widened at her outburst and the southern accent that was now bursting through her defenses and she was suddenly very thankful she didn’t have any other customers right now. That would be … awkward.
She took a deep breath. ‘Why would you be qualified to check it out?’ she asked through clenched teeth, instead of yelling at him that possessing testicles did not make him a handyman. You had to have actual skills for that sort of thing. You had to know what you were doing.
Not that she did, either … but still.
‘My dad’s a contractor. I have some experience…’
Kira let out a noise somewhere between a groan and a shriek. ‘Of course you do. Fine. Go look.’ She gestured toward the little cabin and noticed Iris still staring at them.
Right. She was having an interesting first day of work.
‘Iris, why don’t you go grab a cup of coffee and take a short break? I just made some in the house.’
Iris’s gaze flicked from Kira to Bennett, a bemused smirk on her face. ‘Okay, sure.’ She came out of the cabin and gave Kira a knowing smile. ‘I’ll take a break. Try not to kill this guy while I’m gone.’
Did Iris just wink at her? What on earth did she think was going on here? Kira didn’t have time to set her straight before Iris hurried away down the drive to the house.
Bennett meanwhile was sniffing around the perimeter of the shack and then peering up at the roof before finally heading through the door. Kira followed him in.
There wasn’t much inside, but she’d thoroughly cleaned it all on her own. She’d even relocated the family of possums that had taken up residence inside. And by relocate, she meant she’d screamed when she saw them and they had voluntarily left.
But the wood floors were scrubbed clean, there was a cozy space heater in the corner and a small table and two chairs. She’d lined up the saws on hooks on the wall and had even made a giant carafe of hot chocolate for all the customers she’d imagined having today. Clearly, that wasn’t going exactly as planned.
She glanced at Bennett who was examining the small space with a furrow between his brows.
‘It’s better in here than I thought.’
She wanted to punch him. Unfortunately, manners were still a big deal in the South, so she refrained.
‘Thanks.’
He knocked on a few walls and reached up to poke at the ceiling. ‘Looks okay.’
Kira ground her back teeth together. ‘Wonderful.’
He turned to face her and suddenly the fact that they were crammed into a tiny space together was very evident. He was taller than she’d first realized. For whatever reason that made her angry, too. Like just be average, would you? Ugh.
‘I’m sorry for worrying you like that,’ he said. ‘I was only trying to help.’
‘So is that your thing?’ she snapped. ‘You get off on helping people?’
He blinked. ‘I wouldn’t say I get off on it.’
‘You know what I mean, you like to fix things. You’re a fixer.’
‘I … well…’ his frown deepened. ‘Maybe I am.’
Kira scoffed. How predictable. This big Boy Scout liked to fix things. Well, she didn’t need that kind of energy in her life right now. This was her big endeavor; she didn’t need this guy waltzing in and trying to take over with all his … ideas … and … concerns. However valid they may be.
‘And you?’ he asked. ‘What gets you off?’
‘What?’ she sputtered, her face immediately heating.
He chuckled, low and deep. ‘You know what I mean. What’s your deal? You’re bad at letting people help you.’
Why was it so crowded in here? Had he stepped closer or had she? For the first time in days, she was warm.
‘Actually,’ she said, straightening to her full height, refusing to crane her neck to look up at him. ‘My whole life all people did was help me. I rarely did anything for myself ever. I didn’t need to. We had people for that.’ She sniffed. ‘But this is different. This is for me.’
‘Accepting help is different than letting other people do everything for you.’ He was definitely closer, his light gray eyes locked on hers.
This new coat was too warm.
Kira cleared her throat. ‘Yes, well. I think you’ve done enough helping for one day.’
Chapter Four
He was standing dangerously close to Kira. Dangerous, because she looked like she might strangle him. Dangerous, because he had the sudden urge to pull her closer. Which was insane. You wouldn’t try to snuggle with a feral cat, and tugging Kira into his arms right now would amount to the same thing.
Her cheeks had turned pinker the angrier she got with him and at this point were downright rosy. She blew out a breath, fluttering the bangs away from her forehead. He hadn’t had a chance to notice just how beautiful she was the other day when she was clearly upset and wrapped in an old blanket, but today … today he was noticing. But he should stop noticing, because noticing would do absolutely no good. Not only was she incredibly not interested in him noticing, but he had very specifically sworn off beautiful women. Not to mention he was only here temporarily.
