Oh, Keep Your Shirt On - Michelle Pennington Page 0,9
for.
My skin prickled, and my eyes watered. This cold front meant business.
But I didn’t have time to worry about frostbite or the fact that my socks were apparently filled with tiny wind tunnels. The trash truck was in front of our driveway, and the workers were already dumping Damien’s barrel into the compactor.
“Can you wait just a second?” I called to them.
One of the workers raised a gloved hand in acknowledgment, so I rushed to get my trash barrel from the side of the building. But as I turned the corner, I ran headlong into someone coming from the other direction. I reached out, grabbing wildly for support as all the air whooshed out of my lungs on impact.
“You okay?”
I looked up at the owner of the deep, familiar voice. I found myself clutching the front of Damien’s hoodie, staring up at his morning stubble and wide, slate-blue eyes. Since the impact had made it hard for me to catch my breath, I stepped back and nodded.
“Let me take those,” he said, grabbing for the trash bags I still carried with one hand. That was when I realized that he had the handle of my trash barrel in the other hand and was in the middle of taking it down to the road for me.
At least I hadn’t dropped the bags again. But letting Damien touch my trash? Especially period trash? No way. “I’ve got it.” I stepped around him to throw open the lid and stuff the bags I carried inside. With an anxious glance at the trash truck, I waited for Damien to let go and let me have the handle, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved forward, pulling the can to the street. Short of fighting him for it, there was nothing I could do but follow him.
After the workers had finished emptying it, I jumped forward and grabbed the handle before Damien could. “Thank you!” I called after them as they turned down the next street.
“Come on, Krista. Let me get that for you.”
“I can manage.”
“Well, I know, but you don’t even have shoes on.”
He was right, of course, but they were my feet. I didn’t want him to worry about them. Or my trash. Or anything to do with me.
My whole plan for the future revolved around being independent of people—living a solitary life where I didn’t have to worry about what anybody thought about me or whether they were disappointed in me or thought I was pretty or talented or successful. Yes…that was what I wanted. Not awkward friendships with my good time, country boy landlord.
Which is why I ignored the fact that Damien still followed slowly behind me as I pulled the trash barrel up my driveway. When I got to the corner, however, I stopped in dismay at the sight of the puddle against the house. “It must have rained a lot last night.”
“This morning, actually.”
Even though my socks were already wet, the thought of wading through the cold mud puddle was daunting. “I’ll just leave this here for now.”
But as soon as I let go of it, Damien grabbed the handle and pulled it around to the side. That’s when I noticed that his flannel pajama pants were tucked into rubber boots.
As he maneuvered it into place against the wall, he glanced over at me with an amused twitch to his lips. “You can stop glaring at me now. It doesn’t scare me.”
“I’m not trying to scare you. I’m just annoyed that you’re—”
“Helping you? I know. I’m such a punk. Now, head inside before you freeze.”
He was right. And that made me crankier than ever. But at least if I went inside, it would get me away from him, so I chicken-walked on my frozen feet in sopping wet socks back to my front door. Which I’d left hanging partway open. Wonderful. Now my house was going to be cold.
“Not very energy efficient.”
“Thanks for that observation,” I said. “It’s not like I meant to leave it open. I was in a hurry.” I opened my door and turned back to figure out how to end this conversation so I could shut the door on his face without being too rude. Something about his posture seemed too determined, however. “Did you need something?”
He stuffed his hands in his hoodie pockets and gave me a lazy smile. “Well, I figured we could talk more about my cousin’s wedding.”
I blinked. I did that a lot around him. “I already told you no.”
“And I told