Stormy Surrender - By Nicole Andrews Moore Page 0,47
give up. You want to lay tile?” A smile spread across her face. “Fine. We will lay tile. We will even lay tile tonight if you’d like. I can’t have you there during the day distracting the guys. Meet me later.”
She smiled and picked up her phone. “I guess you aren’t as sick of me as you thought.”
He glanced over and saw Laurel eyeing them. His hot sauce was on the line. He could feel it. And he wouldn’t be able to even buy a cookie again if he wasn’t careful. Still, he refused to let her think that he missed her. “Are you insane? Today was pleasant. It was wonderful. There was no drama. I was able to go to work and relax for the first time since you came to town. In a perfect world, I’d have been able to enjoy a nice quiet lunch, too, but instead…you’re like kudzu!”
“The website?” She asked, confused.
“There’s a website?” He shook his head. “NO, not the website. Kudzu the plant. Why would I know about a website?”
She shrugged. “Good point. It isn’t porn.” She started to turn her attention back to her reading when a thought occurred to her. “So, what’s kudzu?”
“It’s this weed, this deceptively attractive weed.” He was breathing harder from frustration.
“Oh, so I’m deceptively attractive.” And she smirked and looked down again.
He grabbed his head in frustration. She had to be doing this on purpose. It was hard to believe that upsetting him this much simply came naturally to her. “No, the thing about kudzu is that it looks beautiful…”
She smirked. “I think we covered that part.”
“You aren’t letting me finish!” He nearly growled. And the more upset he was the happier it made her.
“Carry on. I think you left off at beautiful weed…”
He made a motion like he wanted to choke her when Laurel brought their food over. She raised an eyebrow at him in warning. “And that is how you choke a chicken,” he said as he dropped his hands. Laurel gave him five packets of Texas Pete. He looked at them. He looked at Laurel. “Now what am I supposed to do with this? Really? No bottle?”
She leaned to within an inch of his face and said seriously. “You are lucky we had fries. We were almost out of those, too.” Then she turned on her heels and stomped back to the kitchen.
Marti laughed and took a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich. “Kudzu?” She asked with a giggle.
“It chokes everything else out,” he said quietly. “It looks cool and then it kills the trees, the grass, and all the other vegetation. They can’t get any sunlight. And they just…die.” He picked up a cold and crusty chicken finger. “Really?”
“So, I’m stealing your sun?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“No, you’re choking me out. You’re killing me.” He pushed the basket away from him. There weren’t even close to enough Texas Pete packets to make that meal edible. He stood and grabbed for his wallet, threw some money on the table and started to walk away.
“See you tonight for tiling?” She asked as he sulked past her.
He paused. It was like she had heard nothing he had said. And then he saw the smile on her face. She knew what she was doing. He might just hate her. “Fine,” he said quietly.
“No lunch?” She asked as she savored every bite of the thick slabs of homemade bread cooked to golden brown melted cheesy perfection.
“I’m not hungry anymore,” he said simply and then left.
He wasn’t feeling nearly as cranky as he was at lunch by the time they met to lay tile. The nap hadn’t hurt. And seeing Marti looking so excited helped more than he cared to admit. She met him on the porch where he was smoking a cigarette while working on his phone. It had taken her seconds to pull in and jump out of her vehicle. Her pony tail was bouncing behind her. In the past, he would have viewed someone like Marti as plain, but now after years of experience, she looked natural and fresh to him. It was a welcome change from having someone high maintenance around.
Joe brought her into the bathroom to show her the progress thus far. He proudly pointed out that there was a new sturdy sub-floor. He showed her how close they really were to having a functional room.
All she saw was that there was already tile on the walls and in the shower surround. “Hey!”