Page 28 of Too Good to Be True

The cashier eyed Stacy like she was nuts and then turned away to collect their items.

Stacy glanced at Nick, who seemed to be stifling a laugh. Instead of acknowledging her ridiculousness, she said, “Your money’s no good here. I’m paying this time.”

“Fair enough.”

After she paid, Nick grabbed the tray, and they went to find a table. Since it was so crowded, they ended up sitting at a counter along the windows, where they were surrounded on both sides.

Nick moved his stool a little closer to hers, and she told herself it was because of the rather hefty man sitting on the other side of him. Noticing the man’s size made her hesitate before biting into the donut, but only for a second. It looked delicious, and she hated to waste food!

After they ate and drank for a few minutes, Nick said, “So, what are your plans for the rest of the weekend?”

“Well, besides redecorating, I have a yoga class and some yardwork to do.” She wondered if it sounded as boring to him as it did to her.

“Do you need any help?”

She’d just taken a bite of donut, and she hurriedly swallowed it. “With what, redecorating, yoga, or yardwork?”

“Yardwork. Believe it or not, I wouldn’t mind helping.”

She tried not to gape, but it was difficult. “You actually like yardwork?”

“I don’t mind it. It’s good exercise, and I could use some. I haven’t worked out as much since I moved here.”

She envisioned him running on the beach back in Florida, slow-motion style, like on Baywatch, but just him minus the women. The image was even better than Zac Efron in the movie version.

“Well, if you really want to…”

“I do.”

“Okay, then.”

“When should we do it?”

The woman sitting next to Stacy snickered, but she didn’t dare turn around. The woman must have overheard part of the conversation and thought they’d been talking about sex.

“How about tomorrow afternoon?”

“Sounds good to me. Do I need to bring anything?”

“Just yourself.”

More snickering.

“Oh, and maybe a change of clothes in case you get dirty.”

Full-on laughter. The woman was definitely eavesdropping.

Nick kept a straight face through it all. “I guess we should probably exchange phone numbers in case something else comes up.”

Nothing else would come up for Stacy, but she understood why he’d want to have an out. After all, why would he want to spend the day raking her lawn when he could be doing something else, like meeting a woman his own age?

He pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “What’s your number?”

She leaned in closer and rattled it off, mainly because she didn’t care to share it with the people sitting nearby. His fingers moved at lightning speed over the keypad, and while he was looking down, she took the opportunity to subtly inhale his scent.

Then her phone pinged in her purse. Foolishly, she went to reach for it, and Nick laughed.

“It’s just me sending you my number,” he said.