Page 23 of The Fall Fix Up

“Good job. Now, let’s do the others.”

She nodded, following Aiden’s lead. Three more screws later, she was breathing a little harder than she probably should have been, but the cabinet door was on, and Janae felt bizarrely accomplished. Aiden stood up, pulling her with him.

“See,” Aiden said as he gestured at the cabinet. “You’re a natural. Best assistant I’ve ever had.” His smile was wide and contagious and as ridiculous as it was, Janae found herself smiling back. Maybe she shouldn’t have felt proud about completing something so easy, but she felt like she had taken a step toward something big.

“Well,” she said, forcing herself to focus on anything other than the smooth stretch of his skin and the swell of his chest. Girl or guy, it didn’t matter to Janae. She loved having a nice set of breasts or pecs to rest her head on, and Aiden’s were top-notch. Combined with the fact that he was a genuinely nice guy and this was like kryptonite to her. “We should celebrate this. I’ll grab dinner at Thomas’s so we don’t have to dirty things up immediately. What would you like?”

Aiden crossed his arms and then leaned on the counter. “I’m easy. Thomas will know what I want. Just tell him it’s for me. Oh, let me give you some mo—”

Janae shook her head, backing toward the doorway before she did something ridiculous, like ask to feel his arm to see if his skin felt as soft as it looked. “Don’t worry about it. It’s on me tonight. You’ve more than earned it.”

“Thanks,” he said with a soft smile that did not make Janae’s stomach flutter. “I’m just going to shower then, so I don’t smell like sweat and paint when you get back. I don’t want to make you sick, smelling it all night.”

“You could never make me sick,” she blurted out, voice gone thin when her mind unhelpfully conjured up an image of Aiden in the shower. “I’ll be right back.”

She hurriedly made her way out of the kitchen and back out to her car. When she was safely closed in, she took a deep breath and pressed her palms to her cheeks, willing the heat away. “Get it together, Janae,” she hissed before starting the car and making her way down the driveway.

But even being back out on the road wasn’t enough to burn away the image of Aiden standing there, bare-chested, sunlight streaming over his dark brown curls as he smiled at her with quiet pride at the work she’d done.

She groaned and pressed her head back against the headrest. She knew this was a problem. But the worst part was, she didn’t know if she wanted solutions, or permission to give in.

Chapter 10

Soft jazz drifted in the air from the speaker on the counter and Aiden sighed softly at how nice this all felt. Sitting with Janae in the kitchen and enjoying a meal with her was a highlight of his day. The food was delicious, as it always was when Thomas was involved. The man was a genius when it came to food, and if not for it hurting his bank account, Aiden would probably get most of his meals from there. Now, with the kitchen fully finished, he knew it was time to go back to making things on his own. He only had so much money stashed away, and with the credit situation still needing to be dealt with, he couldn’t afford to throw his funds around.

“I still can’t get over how gorgeous this all is,” Janae said softly, catching his attention.

“It really is,” he agreed as he smiled down at her. They were standing together at the sink after she insisted on helping him wash dishes. He had pulled some out of the boxes while he’d waited for her to return with food, figuring he could get a head start on getting them cleaned up from being packed away. He hadn’t expected Janae to hop in and help, but he wasn’t complaining. Especially not when it meant spending more time with her.

“You did a great job with that final cabinet,” he said. When she gave him a disbelieving look, he chuckled.

“Seriously, Aiden? I barely did anything.”

“Hey,” he replied as she handed him a dripping dish. “You chose everything in here. It wouldn’t have turned out as beautiful without your artistic eye.”

Janae shook her head, but her expression looked pleased. “I don’t know about all that, but I appreciate it.”

It was still blowing his mind how easy this all felt. Aiden had expected there to be some growing pains as they settled into a routine of living around one another, and yet, at least on his end, those pains never seemed to manifest. At least not in the ways he’d thought they would. Sure, they had to work out a shower schedule since there was still currently only one usable bathroom, though the second full bathroom renovation was high on his list. But beyond that, it had been relatively smooth sailing as long as he ignored the way his thoughts snagged on how beautiful Janae looked in the morning when she had just woken up, or how her look of concentration when she stood in front of her easel made him wish she looked at him that way.

But those were minor inconveniences, really.

“I’m telling you,” he insisted, “you made some really great choices on the fixtures and the colors.”

Even Aiden had been pleasantly surprised at how nice everything turned out. The colors Janae had chosen worked perfectly and both the morning and afternoon sunlight painted the kitchen in a kaleidoscope of warm hues that gave it an even more homey feel. “This house is going to be amazing once it’s finished. The bones were already there. It’s just waiting to be completed.”

“You think so?” she asked quietly. She wasn’t looking at him this time, instead looking out the window above the sink. Outside, the sky had already transitioned into the dark purples of early evening. Beyond the back tree line, he could faintly see the outline of the last bit of remaining sun as it traveled beyond their reach. It was a perfect evening by anyone’s standards and having Janae beside him made that even more true.

“I know so,” he said confidently. “You chose a great property. When I saw this one came up for sale, I had hoped someone would buy it who wouldn’t tear it down and put up some modern monstrosity like what’s happening in some of the nearby towns. I love that you just want to bring it up a few decades while still keeping the essence of what made it great to begin with.”

Aiden was worried for a moment that maybe he’d said too much. But when she smiled up at him, he found himself hard-pressed to want to take back his words.

“I’m so glad you said that,” Janae replied, relief clear in her tone. “I was worried, honestly.”

“Why?”

She shrugged before looking back down at the dishes in her hands. “When I first moved here, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be accepted in town. I’ve heard that small towns aren’t always welcoming when it comes to outsiders, especially if you don’t already know someone who’s a local.”

Aiden nodded. He knew some towns were like that. Hell, the small town he was originally from was. New people, even when they were attached to someone from there, were usually regarded with suspicion for a while until they were accepted; some never were. Those people tended to not stay long. It was part of the reason why he never considered moving back.