Page 35 of Too Good to Be True

The sun had disappeared behind a large white-gray cloud, and she suddenly felt a chill.

Nick glanced at her arms, where goosebumps had broken out. “We should get back to work.”

Twenty minutes later, she was helping him stuff leaf litter into a big brown refuse bag when the first raindrops fell.

“Uh-oh.”

“We’re almost done. Let’s finish,” he said, looking excited at the prospect of beating Mother Nature.

“Are you sure?” The clouds had gathered and looked more ominous than they had mere moments ago.

“Yeah. We can do this.”

She admired his can-do attitude, and she usually ascribed to it herself; however, she’d lived in Michigan her entire life and knew Mother Nature’s strength. She didn’t want him to think her a quitter or wimp, though, so she went back to work.

Nick dragged the full refuse bags under the covered patio and returned to help her fill the last bag. Suddenly a cloud burst open, and sheets of rain poured down on them.

“Go inside, and I’ll finish,” he said.

She ran up to the patio and waited under the protection of the awning until he’d carried up the last bag.

By the time they stepped inside, they were drenched. Her hair was plastered to her head, and her clothes stuck to her body, molding to every curve. They paused on the rug inside the door to take off their shoes and socks, which were water-logged.

“Did you happen to bring a change of clothes?” she asked, looking up at him. They were standing mere inches apart on the tiny rug, and she noticed water droplets clinging to his long, dark eyelashes.

“Yes, but they’re in the car.”

She was struck again by how different he and Cole were. Cole would have been cursing as he impatiently stripped off his wet clothes, angry that the rain had interfered with his plans.

Nick didn’t look irritated so much as amused by the predicament.

“I’ll give you an umbrella, and you can go and get them,” she suggested. She felt responsible for his soggy state since he probably wouldn’t have gotten caught in a rainstorm if it hadn’t been for her.

He followed her through the kitchen to the door leading into the garage. She opened it and pointed to the large golf umbrella leaning against the wall.

“You can change in the bathroom down the hall when you get back. I’ll be upstairs.”

He gave her a funny look, and she amended her statement.

“I’ll change upstairs and meet you back in the kitchen.”

“Gotcha.” He chuckled, and she quickly turned away.

She went into the master bathroom, stripped out of her wet clothes, and hung them over the shower to dry. Then she padded naked into the bedroom for a change of clothes.

When she passed the full-length mirror on the way to the closet, she paused. It had been a while since a man had seen her naked, almost a year, to be exact. Of the men she’d dated, she’d only invited one back to her place with the intention of having sex. They’d fooled around on the couch downstairs, but after he’d undressed her, she’d frozen.

At the time, she’d blamed it on Cole for making her feel insecure, but she realized there was more to it than that. She hadn’t wanted to settle for having sex with a man she was only mildly attracted to and/or interested in. She wanted to wait until she felt that overwhelming need not only in her body but in her heart and mind too. She’d resigned herself that it might take a while to get there, but she’d wait until it felt right.

Perusing herself in the mirror, she wondered what Nick would think of her naked. She wasn’t ashamed of her body despite its propensity of moles and a few stretch marks from weight fluctuations over the years. She struggled to recall what she’d looked like at twenty-seven. Certainly, she’d been slimmer through the waist and hips. She was pretty sure her boobs had sat up higher too.

“Everything okay up there?”

His voice carried up the stairs, and it felt like he was right in the room with her. She quickly covered her female parts (as if he could see them) and shouted, “Yes! Be down in a minute!”

She raced into her closet and pulled out the first shirt and pair of jeans she found. After covering her nakedness, she padded back into the bedroom for her undergarments. When she passed by the mirror again, she realized how ridiculous she was being. Nick might look like Superman, but he didn’t have x-ray vision!

She dressed like the house was on fire, went back into the bathroom, ran a comb through her hair, and then hurried back downstairs. She was breathing hard when she reentered the kitchen and found Nick perched on a stool at the kitchen counter.