Page 8 of Inked Temptation
“You say that every time you show up.”
“And every time, I’m not shitting you. Now, I brought cookies for you, cookies for Cora, and you’re going to go into that rat-ass kitchen of yours that you’re still building and feed me.”
My lips twitched, this time for real. Penny could do that.
And so, apparently, could Archer.
I ignored that thought, shook my head, and walked inside behind Penny, letting her lead the way.
“What happened in here?” she asked as she looked at the mess all over my kitchen.
I froze, cursing under my breath. “Those fucking raccoons.”
“In the day?” Worry etched her tone.
“Or it’s an opossum. Or a deer, I don’t know. Something keeps getting into my shit and fucking things up.”
There were broken plates on the floor, little pawprints that looked like a raccoon’s, trash spilled everywhere, and just a mess.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that crew of raccoons is out to get you.”
I scowled. “They are. Look at this mess.”
“I’ll help you clean it up. You’re going to have to bleach this. You don’t need bears stumbling in.”
I shuddered. “That momma bear and her three cubs sure do love visiting. At least they did last season.”
Penny smiled up at me. “Well, we’ll clean this up, eat some cookies, and you can tell me why you’re limping.”
I hadn’t even realized I had been, my leg didn’t hurt, but my hip was aching.
“A man fell on top of me.”
Penny grinned, her eyes going bright. “What kind of man? I wish a man would fall on top of me.”
I rolled my eyes. Even though she was a self-declared hippie and all about free love, Penny had been married for forty years and lost her husband five years ago. She hadn’t even been on a date or thought about another man, other than Chris Evans, since. Her screwing with me like this was just her.
“He fell off a roof. I caught him. And now I hurt.”
Her gaze went straight to worry. “Is he okay? Is it that new one, the hot hunky one with a nice ass that’s helping rebuild Evelyn and Robert’s house?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course, you know that man.”
“I see that you haven’t said he doesn’t have a nice ass.”
“Well, I’m not going to lie to you, Penny.”
“My God,” she said, staggering back. “Was that a joke? That didn’t have cursing? I just…I think I need to sit down. Eat some cookies. Only I think there’s trash on the seat so let’s clean this up, and then you can regale me with tales of this man that fell right on top of you, all sexy and swoony.”
I scowled. “He fell off a roof because he’s a fucking idiot. I don’t think that’s sexy.”
“I can make my own story up then.”
I shook my head and helped Penny clean up my kitchen, wondering what the fuck I had done to those raccoons and why they had it out for me.
And I didn’t think about Archer Montgomery, or that nice ass of his, at all.
