by Jo Leigh
Huh. He hadn’t expected her to be so persistent and he had no idea what to charge her. He picked up two sheets then turned to face her. She’d been staring at his back but quickly met his gaze. She was young, healthy, and while she probably couldn’t lift a seventy-pound sheet, she could carry boxes and paint cans and tools.
“Tell you what,” he said, glancing at his watch. “You help me move the smaller stuff to the front of the apartment, and I’ll let you stay for nothing.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“That’s the offer.”
“Okay, yeah.” She glanced at the drywall and then lowered her gaze, her cheeks turning pink. Probably embarrassed about last night, though she didn’t need to be. “I can help move those, too.”
“They’re heavy.”
She nodded. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve worked with my dad on lots of building projects. I’m stronger than I look.”
“Okay, but for now, grab that paint can and follow me.”
They made the short trip in silence, with him leading the way. Damn, he was tempted to send her on a coffee run. But they didn’t have much time, so they walked back to the office, and he let her lift the next panel, but he could see her struggling.
“I think we’ll get more done if we do two at a time, together.”
“You can handle two by yourself so that doesn’t make sense,” she said, still having difficulty meeting his eyes. “It’s not the weight giving me trouble, it’s because I’m short. Let’s try three at a time.”
Luca hesitated. “If it’s too heavy you let me know.”
“Okay,” she said, her eagerness disconcerting. He wondered if this trade had been a mistake, but he didn’t give a damn. Not when he felt this shitty.
The plan worked. For such a little thing, she had some muscle. And she didn’t complain, even though he could tell it wasn’t easy for her. Quicker than he could have done by himself, they’d cleared out the room.
When the last paint can was gone, he needed a breather, but even more than that, he needed coffee. “Here’s an idea,” he said, pulling out his wallet. “There’s a café several doors down. How about picking us up two large coffees?”
“Oh, God, yes. But I’ll buy. Anything else?”
He shook his head, concerned that she still couldn’t look him in the eye. “I’m having some things delivered shortly. After that, I’ll think about breakfast. You go ahead, though.”
She nodded and hurried to the door as he put his wallet away.
“April?”
Her hand on the doorknob, she turned and smiled, and predictably her gaze lowered.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed about last night.”
“I know,” she said, sighing. “But I am a little bit. Even one beer in my condition was stupid. You were great, though, so thanks.”
“No problem.”
She opened the door and hesitated. “I forgot to ask...sugar, cream?”
“Just black.”
“Got it.” She cleared her throat, about to say something else.
Luca braced himself. He’d given her an opening by offering a trade and now he was about to regret it.
April just smiled again and slipped out the door.
Now he was curious. But he couldn’t stand around thinking about how good she looked from behind when his stuff would be arriving any minute.
Luca moved the tarps near the unassembled scaffolding then manhandled the wine crate and set it by the living room cable outlet. He put a sturdy piece of wood on top of the crate so his wide-screen TV would rest safely in front of his—
The recliner...
“Shit.”
Charlie had mentioned that he and his crew could pick it up from Luca’s folks’ house and drop the recliner off with the rest of the tools and equipment he needed. That didn’t necessarily mean today. Luca was fairly certain his brother had Charlie’s crew working in Queens.
Before he could start clearing the way for the chair—just in case—a pair of delivery guys arrived with his new bed and TV. As he suspected, the bed just fit, leaving him very little room to maneuver.
While the men went back down to get the wide-screen, Luca finished making room for the recliner. He wasn’t crazy about the idea of working anywhere near the TV, but it was only for a couple of days. He was relatively sure he wouldn’t destroy it.
He’d left the front door open for the delivery guys and heard Charlie’s booming laughter coming from down the corridor. Of course he’d chosen to come by today. Jesus. Luca shook his head. Again, one phone call could’ve solved the problem.
“Hey, what’s up?” Charlie said as he walked in, glancing around. “You’re getting serious about this remodel.”
Scott and Elliot followed behind him with an electric sander and a ton of drop cloths. Great, more things Luca didn’t have room for at the moment. All three men stared at him, and then Charlie grinned and whistled.
Luca turned sharply toward the door. He figured it was April. Nope. They were grinning at him. “What?”
“Show-off,” Charlie said. “Must be nice having time for the gym.”
“The gym? Yeah, right. I haven’t been there in—” Shit. He glanced down at his bare chest then looked at the ladder where he’d hung his shirt. It wasn’t there, but he found it on the floor.
Jesus. He’d been working the whole time shirtless. With April. But she hadn’t said a word.
“Where do you want us to put your recliner?” Scott asked. “It’s on the truck.”
Luca was tempted to make them take it back to his parents’ house. For not calling first. And for whistling. He scooped up the shirt and just as he was about to pull it on he noticed April. She stood in the doorway, looking uncertain.
“You can set it over here,” Luca told Scott, nodding at the spot where he’d slept. Then he motioned for April to join them.
The three guys, all of them in their twenties and notorious horndogs, eyed her, then him, then her again.
He pulled on his shirt, knowing without a single doubt that April hadn’t been avoiding his eyes this morning. She’d been wondering why the hell he was walking around half-naked.
She came up to him with a soft smile and waited for him to finish buttoning his shirt before she held out his coffee.
“Thanks,” he muttered and turned a glare on the three mutts who continued to stare at her. “You guys must not be busy today.”
“What?” Charlie glanced at him and then looked at the other two. “Hey, go get the recliner. And don’t forget the two boxes.”
“Boxes? I didn’t ask you to bring any boxes.”
“I know,” Charlie said, shrugging. “I tried telling those two lunkheads...” He smiled at April. “Hey.”
“Hello.” She smiled. “I’m April.”
Charlie glanced at her extended hand, wiped his palm on his jeans and then shook it as if he was afraid he’d break her. “I’m Charlie.”
Luca sighed. “I work with these guys.”
“Where do you want this TV?” It was the kid from the department store backing into the room.
“Over here.” Luca kicked some rags out of the way.
April set down her cup and started helping.
“Go ahead, drink your coffee. We can rearrange things later.” Aware of how that might’ve sounded, he didn’t dare look at Charlie. “Let’s just get out of their way for now.”
“Should I go upstairs?” she whispered.
“Only if you want to. They shouldn’t be long.”
While they drank their coffee, the guys brought up the recliner and the two boxes. It didn’t take long. The TV worked. He was glad for the recliner, after all, and even more glad for the boxes once he remembered what he’d thrown in one of them.
Brand-new toiletries he hadn’t even opened yet.
He signed for the bed and wide-screen TV, and tipped the two delivery guys.
Charlie stood off to the side, sneaking looks at April. Scott and Elliot were doing the same thing while they folded the protective pad they’d used for the recliner. Only they were much better at disguising it than Charlie.
“Okay, boss, is that it?” Scott asked, and almost before Luca answered, he and Elliot both had their hands out.
Luca snorted. “You want a tip? Get back to your real jobs before my brother strangles all of us.” He laughed along with them as they walked to the door. “Wait,” he said, digging into his pocket. “I want to buy your lunch.”
“No,” Charlie and Elliot said at the same time. “No way.”
“Hell, we were just kidding,” Scott said. “We’re not taking your money. You’d do the same for us.”
“Nah, I wouldn’t.” Luca tried to slip a bill to Charlie, but they all headed for the door. “I hate to tell you guys, I have an ulterior motive. In a few days I’ll need you to help me haul everything upstairs. Including the king bed.”
He felt April tense beside him.
“No sweat,” Charlie said. “Nice meeting you, April.”
The three of them were heading down the corridor when Luca heard Scott say, “Hey, how do you know her name?”
Sighing, Luca rubbed the back of his neck. All he wanted was to go crash on his new bed, but he couldn’t. He’d taken today off for a reason, and he couldn’t afford to sleep away the time.
The hand on his arm almost made him drop his coffee. It sent a shiver down his spine, and the urge to touch her back was stronger than it had any right to be.
“I honestly didn’t understand how much trouble I was causing you.”
He looked down at her, willing himself not to glance at the hand that was still grasping his upper arm. It was a light touch, small, delicate. “Don’t worry about it. You saw for yourself, I have free labor.”
April shook her head. “I haven’t helped you enough to warrant two days’ free rent.”
“I still have a lot to do around here. I’ll exact my pound of flesh.”
She wouldn’t even smile, just surveyed the supplies and tools crammed around the recliner and then let him go with a jerk, as if she hadn’t realized she was still touching him.
“Hey.” He waited for her to look at him. “Did you notice if they still have bagels left at the café?”
“They do,” she said with a definite lack of enthusiasm. “You’d mentioned breakfast, and I was going to try to tempt you into joining me at the café. The bagels smelled so good, but now—”
“Excellent idea. I’m starving. And I could use more coffee.”
“Actually, we should talk.”
“We can do that, too.” He had no business eating with her. None at all. But he was hungry and he had a full day ahead. “Give me fifteen minutes?”
“Sure. I’ll be here.”
Both boxes were marked bathroom. He picked up the one that contained his toiletries and carried it to his temporary bedroom, wondering how much trouble he could get into in the next two days.
6
“COFFEE, PLEASE,” APRIL SAID, her mind shooting in all different directions.
“Is that it, hon?” The waitress didn’t even look at her, just waited with her pen at the ready for Luca to order.
April nodded and said, “Yes.”
“Make that two coffees,” Luca said. “We’ll need a minute before we order breakfast.”
“No, go ahead. I’m not having anything to eat.” April might as well have been talking to the glass case that housed every kind of bagel imaginable. The waitress was already gone and Luca was staring at her as if he was about to dole out a lecture.
“Don’t tell me you aren’t hungry, because I heard your stomach growling twice.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Okay, busted. I was trying to be polite. It was more like a dozen times.”
She had to smile at that. “We need to be serious,” she said, looking into his warm brown eyes and wishing she’d met Luca under different circumstances. Mostly, though, she wished she’d never seen him without a shirt. There was a part of her that wished she’d snapped a picture of him with her phone. And that wasn’t like her at all. Way too creepy.
“All right.” He leaned back in the booth. “What do you want to talk about?”
“What a selfish person I’ve been. Yesterday was clearly not a shining moment for me.”
“Because you were yelling and cursing at Wes?”
“Oh, no. I meant every word of that.” The waitress carried a tray of bacon and eggs past their table to the people behind April and she pressed a hand against her stomach to keep it quiet. “I shouldn’t have begged you to let me stay. Aside from being rude, it wasn’t even smart. You know, stranger danger and all that.”
Luca grinned. “I hope you’ve gotten past that worry by now.”
“Of course, you’ve been nothing but a gentleman—”
“Wait,” he said, holding up a hand. “Let’s decide on breakfast before the waitress comes back. Then we can talk.”
“I’m only having coffee.”
“The hell you are. You promised to help me today. I don’t want you fainting on me.”
“Luca—”
“And I should warn you. I don’t share.”
April bit her lip. “You shouldn’t have to, and that’s why I feel so terrible. I wasn’t thinking about you at all last night.” Her face heated. After he’d left her last night, she’d stared at the ceiling reliving the sensation of his arm around her as he’d helped her up the stairs. “You know, when I manipulated you,” she added.
His slight frown gave her hope. Maybe he didn’t know why she was blushing.
“Okay.” The waitress had her pen and notepad out. “You two ready?”
“April?”
She was better off ordering something to keep Luca off her back. And it did smell awfully good in there. “I’ll have the everything bagel with schmear,” April said, a little embarrassed at how loudly she’d said that last word. But it was real schmear from New York. On a real New York bagel.
“That it?”
April nodded and the waitress turned to Luca.
“I’ll have a plain bagel,” he said. “Bacon, two eggs over easy. And hash browns.”
“That it?” the woman asked, in the exact same monotone voice.
“And more coffee. For both of us.”
“Sure thing. Be right back.”
“Um, excuse me.” April leaned forward. “May I add two scrambled eggs?”
Scribbling on her pad, the woman said, “You can add anything you want, hon.”
“Okay, thanks,” April said. The second she turned to go, April said, “I’m sorry,” causing her to turn around again. “Could you add some bacon, please? Crispy?”
“Hash browns?”
“No, thanks,” April said, leaning back.
“They’re really good here,” Luca said. “And remember, I don’t share.”
The woman made a note on her pad and left.
“Does she know I didn’t ask for hash browns?”
Luca smiled. “So, this is your first meal in New York.”
“And I order bacon and eggs that I could get anywhere.” April sighed. “I have to be careful or I’ll spend all my money on food. I’ve been looking up restaurants I want to go to for weeks.”
“That’s something this city has a lot of. You could eat at a different restaurant every day for two years and not cover them all.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I like to cook. Assuming I find a place to live with a kitchen.” She appreciated him bein
g patient with her, but she wouldn’t let the subject drop. “Speaking of which, can you suggest any neighborhoods for me to start searching in? I don’t mind sharing, if I have to. And I’ve got some money, so I’m hoping I won’t have to sell my soul to find a decent place in the city.”
The way Luca winced didn’t portend good news. “Finding a place in Manhattan might be tough. And you’d definitely be sharing with a lot of people.”
“What’s a lot?”
“Four, five, six?”
“Whoa.” That was unexpected. She was hoping to find a place near NYU that she could share with one or maybe two other people.
“Maybe I’m wrong,” he said. He wasn’t, and they both knew it.
April forced a smile. “Who knows? I might get lucky. In the meantime, however, I’ve decided to find a small neighborhood motel. Sometimes those places have—”
He was shaking his head.
“What?”
“You’re better off focusing on long-term housing.”
“Well, I know that, it’s just—” She couldn’t be more grateful to see the waitress heading toward them with two trays. Or more annoyed when she delivered the food to another table.
April was positive two days wouldn’t be nearly enough time for her to get herself situated. She’d been thinking about it ever since she woke up. But that was before...
Damn, she’d been so sure she could convince him that letting her stay in that little room would be a win-win for both of them, just while he remodeled the apartment. And his offer that she help him with his work in exchange for rent had been all the encouragement she’d needed.
“Even in Sunnydale, which is considered one of the least expensive places to live in the city, the rent for a shoebox studio is around a grand,” he was saying. “And that’s not in Manhattan proper.”
“A thousand dollars? A month?”
He nodded. “It’s pretty insane. You might have better luck in Brooklyn or Queens. Maybe the Bronx, although I don’t know much about the neighborhoods out there. It’s not going to be easy.”
