LITMIR.BIZ

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everyone else to get out of their way. Well, from now on, she was going to oblige them.

      “Oh, I don’t think any of the Kings of California are staying up nights wondering why Katie Charles hates their guts.”

      “You might be surprised,” he said, dusting his hands off as he looked at her. She shifted a little under that direct stare. “You know, I’m a curious kind of guy. And I’m not going to be happy until I know why you hate the Kings.”

      “Curiosity isn’t always a good thing,” she said. “Sometimes you find out things you’d rather not know.”

      “Better to be informed anyway, don’t you think?”

      “Not always,” Katie said, remembering how badly she’d felt when Cordell broke things off with her. She’d just had to ask him why and the answer had only made her feel worse.

      Rafe smiled at her then and she noted how his features softened and even his eyes lost that cool, dispassionate gleam. Her heartbeat jittered unsteadily in her chest as her body reacted to the man’s pure male appeal. Then, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, that smile of his widened and he actually winked at her.

      But a moment later, he was all business again.

      “Your temporary gas line is hooked up. But remember, we’re shutting the gas off during the day. We’ll let you know when it’s safe to use the stove.”

      “Okay. Thanks.” She took a single step backward and Rafe walked past her, his arm brushing against hers as he did. Heat flashed through her unexpectedly and Katie took in a deep breath. Unfortunately, that meant she also got a good long whiff of his cologne. Something foresty and cool and almost as intriguing as the man himself. “And Rafe?”

      “Yeah?”

      “Please don’t repeat any of what I said about the King family. I mean, I probably shouldn’t have brought it up and I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable while you’re working here.”

      He nodded. “Won’t say a word. But like I said, one of these days, I’m going to hear the rest of your story.”

      Katie shook her head and said, “I don’t think so. The Kings are part of my past and that’s where I want to leave them.”

      By the end of the first day, Katie was asking herself why she had ever decided to remodel. Having strangers in and out of her house all day was weird, having noisy strangers only made it worse.

      Now though, they were gone and she was left alone in the shell of what had been her grandmother’s kitchen. Standing in the center of the room, she did a slow circle, her gaze moving over everything.

      The floor had been torn up, right down to the black subfloor that was older than Katie. The walls were half torn down and the cabinet doors had been removed and stacked neatly in the back yard. She caught a glimpse of naked pipes and groaned in sympathy with the old house.

      “Regrets?”

      She jumped and whirled around. Her heart jolted into a gallop even as she blew out a relieved breath. “Rafe. I thought you left with the others.”

      He grinned as if he knew that he’d startled her. Then, leaning one shoulder on the doorjamb, he folded his arms across his chest. “I stayed to make sure your gas hookup in the back room was working.”

      “And is it?”

      “All set.”

      “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

      He shrugged and straightened up languidly as if he had all the time in the world. “It’s my job.”

      “I know, but I appreciate it anyway.”

      “You’re welcome.” His gaze moved over the room as hers had a moment before. “So, what do you think?”

      “Honestly?” She cringed a little. “It’s horrifying.”

      He laughed. “Just remember. Destruction first. Then creation.”

      “I’ll try to remember.” She walked closer to where the sink had been. Now, of course, it was just a ripped-out wall with those naked pipes staring at her in accusation. “Hard to believe the room can come back from this.”

      “I’ve seen worse.”

      “I don’t know whether to be relieved or appalled at that statement,” she admitted.

      “Go with relieved,” he assured her. He walked closer, stuffing his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “Some of the jobs I’ve seen took months to finish.”

      “So you’ve done a lot of this work?”

      “My share,” he said with a shrug. “Though this is the first job site I’ve worked on in three or four years.”

      The house was quiet … blessedly so, after a full day of hammers crashing into walls and wood. The decimated kitchen echoed with their voices, and outside, the afternoon was fading into twilight. There was a feeling of intimacy between them that maybe only strangers thrown together could experience.

      She looked at him, taking her time to enjoy the view, and wondered. About him. About who he was, what he liked—and a part of her wondered why she wondered.

      Then again, it had been a long time since she’d been interested in a man. Having your heart bruised was enough to make a woman just a little nervous about getting back into the dating pool again.

      But it couldn’t hurt to look, could it?

      “So if you weren’t doing construction, what were you doing instead?”

      He glanced at her, long enough for her to see a mental shutter slam down across his eyes. Then he shifted his gaze away and ran one hand across the skeleton of a cabinet. “Different things. Still, good to get back and work with my hands again.” Then he winked. “Even if it is for the Kings.”

      He’d shut her out deliberately. Closing the door on talking about his past. He was watching her as if he expected her to dig a little deeper. But how could she? She had already told him that she felt curiosity was overrated. And if she asked about his past, didn’t that give him the right to ask about hers? Katie didn’t exactly want to chat about how she’d been wined, dined and then unceremoniously dumped by Cordell King either, did she?

      Still, she couldn’t help being curious about Rafe Cole and just what he might be hiding.

      “So,” he said after a long moment of silence stretched out between them. “Guess I’d better get going and let you get busy baking cookies.”

      “Right.” She started forward at the same time he did and they bumped into each other.

      Instantly, heat blossomed between them. Their bodies close together, there was one incredible, sizzling moment in which neither of them spoke because they simply didn’t have to.

      Something was there. Heat. Passion.

      Katie looked up into Rafe’s eyes and knew he was feeling exactly what she was. And judging by his expression, he wasn’t much happier about it.

      She hadn’t been looking for a romantic connection, but it seemed that she had stumbled on one anyway.

      He lifted one hand to touch her face and stopped himself just short of his fingertips tracing along her jaw. Smiling softly, he said, “This could get … interesting.”

      Understatement of the century.

       Two

      “Meeting’s over,” Lucas King muttered. “Why are we still here?”

      “Because I’ve got a question for you,” Rafe answered and looked up at his brothers. Well, two of them, anyway.

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