Page 32 of Too Good to Be True

Okay. See you then.

Just like that, she was reminded of her romance novel. Samantha thought that she could be friends with Jason too, but things were moving in a decidedly different direction.

This is real life. This is not a romance novel.

She silently repeated that while she put on the new bedding. Bedding that Nick would never see because he wouldn’t be coming into her bedroom—EVER.

Nine

In keeping with his good manners, Nick arrived right on time. He rang the doorbell just as her mantel clock chimed twice. Stacy took a deep breath and then opened the door. When he stepped inside, they took one look at each other’s T-shirts and started laughing.

“Does this mean we’re on opposing teams?” he teased.

She was wearing a faded Detroit Tigers tee, and he was wearing a Miami Marlins shirt.

“Funny enough, I don’t even follow sports. I just liked the shirt.”

They stood there, smiling, until Stacy remembered what he was there for.

“I thought we could get started in the backyard.”

“Lead the way.”

She led him through the living room to the kitchen and opened the patio door.

“Nice place,” he said as they stepped outside.

“Thanks.”

She lived in the popular community of Rochester Hills, not far from where they worked. The house was a traditional colonial built in the 1970s, but she and Cole had completely updated it after they’d bought it. It was located on a spacious lot with mature trees, which added beauty, privacy, and extra work at certain times of the year. When they were married, they’d hired a landscaping company to take care of the yard. However, as a single woman, she’d decided not to incur the expense. Now she did almost everything herself, even if it took hours of manual labor.

Nick followed her across the yard to a small shed at the back edge of the property, where all the yard tools were kept.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” she asked.

“Still trying to talk me out of it, huh?”

“I’m grateful for the help. I’m just surprised that out of all the things you could have done today, you chose this.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to be alone.”

His admission caught her off guard. Certainly, a man like him wouldn’t have to be alone if he didn’t want to be.

“I could have hung out with my aunt and uncle, but they were going antique shopping, and I’m not much for old stuff.”

She almost made a crack about herself being an antique but decided not to. She could just hear Kelsey scolding her: You are NOT old!

“So, yardwork was the lesser of two evils.”

“I could have come up with something to do on my own, but I prefer to have company, especially of people I like.”

She’d figured he must like her to do this, but hearing him say so made her squirm.

“Did I just make you uncomfortable?”

He was leaning against the door of the shed and was backlit by the sun, making it doubly hard to look at him. Plus, he was standing so close, and it was just the two of them with no nosy coworkers or onlookers. Whether they were standing at the door to a shed or a hotel room, it made no difference. The scene had an intimate quality to it.

“Because I didn’t mean to,” he said, filling in the silence.