Tangled in Tinsel: The Celebration Series, Book 1

How much was this going to cost? It wasn’t that I didn’t have some money banked, but I was hoping to save it and not wipe out my bank account the first month in my new house. In purchasing just the paint supplies for the living room, I’d spent a few hundred dollars.

This morning when Thad had shown up, I couldn’t even look him in the eye, but he’d put me at ease quickly. Our morning had flown by with chatter about work, never touching on anything too personal. In fact, it wasn’t until I stood next to him and he was telling me about the damage to the wall that I felt something from him. The way he had looked at me over his white dust mask showed me so much more than just a friendly concern.

I went back to pulling up staples from the hardwood floor. Most of the floor was in decent shape, if you didn’t count the number of holes in it from staples. The only place that showed damage was near the wall where Thad now stood. I watched him for a moment.

His arms were over his head as he drew a knife down the wall, scoring the wallboard to expose the nasty damage behind it. The action made his shoulder seem wider, and I stared at the flex of muscle under his t-shirt. The toned skin underneath was playing peek-a-boo as he stretched and moved, and I was thankful the dust mask I still wore hid the licking of my lips. When he’d pulled his hoodie off earlier, the tight fitting t-shirt had made all my girlie parts sit up and take notice. Right now, those girlie parts were doing more than sitting up, they were crawling and panting.

Married man.

It only took those two words to knock the girlie parts back in line, for the most part. As I allowed my eyes to rove unabashed over his trim waistline and snug jeans, I wondered if it was possible to be arrested for looking that damned good while working.

A piece of wallboard fell to the ground, and he glanced my way. Our eyes locked instantly and heat began to bubble in my lower belly. Neither of us said anything—or looked away for a long moment. It wasn’t until he spoke that the thread of awareness for each other snapped.

“Why did you move here?” It was an innocent enough question, and yet one I could not answer honestly. I shifted over the floor to look for more staples.

I finally shrugged as I felt him still staring at me, “I needed a change.”

“Must have been something major to uproot you from South Carolina and put you all the way up here.” He turned back to the wall as he spoke.

“I just needed a change, and I landed this job, so that’s why I’m here. Didn’t matter where I went, as long as it was away from where I was,” I evaded as I found a staple deep in the wood and worked to tug it out. My hands were sore from clenching the pliers and my knees hurt from being on the floor for so long, but I was determined.

“You’re not going to tell me why you really left, are you?”

I flicked my eyes at him, but he was focused on the wall, not looking my way.

“That’s all there is to say,” I stated curtly. “Do you think I could have these floors redone and just keep them wood? I kind of like them.”

I heard him snicker quietly at my quick change of conversation. “You could. They aren’t that bad, but that’s not something I can help you with. Dabby might know someone who can refinish the floors, but I have to warn you, it’s pretty expensive.”

Of course it is. A knock on the door kept me from saying anything further as I stood and stretched my back to work out the stiffness. Damn, I hurt worse today than I did yesterday after painting all day. This house fixing was rough on the body.

On the other side of the door stood a beautiful woman with long brown hair and a sparkle in her blue eyes. Next to her stood a young boy. “Can I help you?”

“I saw you naked last night,” the little boy blurted out. “It was gross.”

Thad laughed heartily behind me, and my eyes flashed to the woman’s face. Oh god! This was Thad’s wife. Was she going to be pissed? The look on her face didn’t give me that impression. In fact, she appeared to be trying to contain her own laughter by biting her bottom lip. My cheeks were scalding hot, and I wondered how they had not melted off my face.

“Tommy,” Thad walked up behind me, “that wasn’t very nice.”

Tommy hung his head. “Sorry,” he muttered.

I needed to do something fast to fix this, so I crouched down to be at eye level with him. “Well, I’m sorry, too. I didn’t know you were outside, or I would have never shown you my gross body.” I peeked up at the woman, “Sorry about that.”

She swatted her hand in the air. “I’m Corrine Wagner. This is Tommy. Don’t even worry about it. Some day he will look back on this and realize how lucky he was.”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Casey Lowe.” Corrine and Tommy stepped inside when I pulled the door open wider.

“Why is there a hole in your wall?” Tommy questioned as he stood in the middle of the room.

“Because the wall was bad and needed to be fixed,” I replied.

“You guys on your way out?” Thad asked Corrine as he led Tommy away from the mess on the floor.

“Yeah, I need to run down to the pharmacy. I was wondering if you wanted me to stop and pick up lunch for you on the way back. I thought about stopping at Dabby’s and picking up some pulled pork sandwiches.”

Thad turned my way while glancing at his watch. “That sound alright with you? By the time she gets back with the food, we can have this done. We could eat and then hit the hardware store.”

“As long as you allow me to buy,” I stated.

Corrine grinned, “Works for me.”

Thad hit her with a stern look. “You don’t need to do that, Casey.”

“No, I don’t, but I’d like to.” And I did want to. He was helping me with so much and I was taking his time away from his family. It was the least I could do. I went to the bedroom to pull out cash, coming back to see Thad giving Tommy a hug. I stopped at the entrance to the room and stared at them. Tommy did look a lot like his father. He was going to be a heartbreaker for sure when he grew up. Thad met my gaze and smiled. My heart melted and yearned for more at the same time.

If it hadn’t been for the last two years of my life, I might have been happily married and with a child by now. Unfortunately, life had had different ideas for me, ones that I didn’t like.

Corrine broke me from my musings, “Do you have family in the area?”

I shook my head, “No, they’re all down south.” At least that part was true.

“Do you want to come over next Friday for Thanksgiving dinner? I know that Thanksgiving is Thursday, but Thad always works that day, so we always celebrate the day after.”

Thad turned bright eyes my way as I answered, “Thank you, but I’ll be working. I start on Tuesday, and I’m working till Saturday, then I’m back Monday and work seven days straight to cover some shifts for people who are taking vacations.”

“Oh, where are you going to be working?” she asked as she pulled Tommy toward her and closer to the door.

“At the hospital. I’m the new nursing supervisor for the emergency room.”

She grinned, “We need to talk, but not now. I’m going to go get your food. Thad, can you call Dabby and order?”

Thad said he would, and Corrine and Tommy hustled out. “Why would she want to talk to me about my job?”

Thad answered, “She’s taking classes to be a nurse. She probably wants to bend your ear on that.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, “Anything special you would like?”

Do you come on a bun? I wanted to ask, but instead I replied, “Whatever you’re having.”

Seeing him with his family really hit me hard. His wife was gorgeous, his son a total cutie, and the man himself, well he was worth his weight in gold. Seeing them gave me hope that someday maybe I could have a family. It was the first time in a year that I had even considered my life in that way—and to be honest, I didn’t really want to think about it.

Thad and I went back to work. I’d checked over the floor as carefully as I could and began to sweep up the mess, stopping every now and then to pull out another staple that I had missed.

Thad finished cutting out both sections of wall, and I finished the sweeping. Neither of us said much while we worked, and I turned, lost in thought, and slammed into his chest. The dustpan fell to the ground with a clatter as a puff of white flew into the air and little ticks from the staples hit the floor with the other debris.

Thad’s arm wrapped around my waist to steady me as I began to lose my balance, and one of my hands grabbed his t-shirt, fisting over his heart. Time stopped as we stared at one another, and he pulled me the slightest bit closer. The steady beat of his heart vibrated under my hand, and my eyes went to his lips as he slowly wet them.

He tilted his head as his face grew closer, and I realized he was going to kiss me. Oh god, yes! I wanted to feel his lips on mine so badly that I tilted my chin towards his face. The moment before his full lips connected to mine, a young male voice caught my attention, and I jerked back.

What the hell was I doing? my mind screamed. Married man! Married man! I was so not going to fall for that, not again.

I practically jumped out of his arms and rushed to the front door as I saw Corrine through the window approaching with two bags of food.

“Don’t try that again,” I said harshly before I pulled the door open.

Thad called my name, but I ignored him while Tommy ground to a halt at my feet, “Can we eat here?”

That is exactly what I needed, a dose of reality. “Yes, of course you can eat here. We just cleaned up, so this is perfect timing.” My voice was more cheerful than it felt, and I had a hard time looking Corrine in the eye as she entered.

Jesus, I was a born home wrecker. I was damned if I was going to do that again.

“Let me clear off the table and we can eat there.” I moved toward the kitchen as Thad stepped into my way.

“I’ll clear it off. Why don’t you get drinks and napkins?”

I glared at him. How dare he try to kiss me and then pretend like nothing was wrong? His forehead furrowed as he stared me down. Without another word, I brushed around him and got things ready to eat.

By the time we had finished lunch, I had relaxed, but that was only because Tommy monopolized the conversation and asked a million questions. Corrine held up the other half of the conversation by pouring out one question after the other about nursing, and I realized that if I could keep Thad off my mind, Corrine and I could actually end up as friends.

I peeked at Thad who sat beside Tommy; he was wiping his mouth and watching me. He’d been studying me the whole time we ate, and I purposely kept from meeting his gaze even though I felt it every second. I wanted to knock him in the head and say, Dude, your wife is sitting right here! But she didn’t even seem to notice the attention he gave me.

Corrine and Tommy left as I cleaned off the table. “We ready to go to the hardware store?” I asked. If there hadn’t been the gaping hole in my wall, I would have asked him to leave with his family. I’d had about all the temptation I could take for one day.

“Casey, I think we need to talk about what happened.”

I glared at him, “Nothing happened, Thad, and nothing will ever happen. Get that through your mind right now. I’m not interested in a relationship, or sex, or whatever. Okay? If you can’t wrap your brain around that, then you need to leave.”

Thad was quiet for a moment, and I wondered if he would decide to take a hike, but finally he nodded, “I get it. I forgot you’re in a relationship already. I can respect that. I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds.”

I almost corrected him, but figured it was probably better that he think I was involved with Brandy. It would make the whole situation safer, although it pissed me off that he didn’t take responsibility for his own marriage.

“Thank you, and I accept your apology.” I threw the trash in the can under the sink. “So are you ready?”

Our trip to the hardware store was stilted at first, but eventually, we fell back into friendly chatter. Both of us stayed off personal subjects and shared stories about unusual accidents we had both dealt with concerning people who had been working on their houses and had ended up in the emergency room for some reason or another.

If we could just keep our relationship in this zone, things would be so much better.