Down for Her by Melissa Chambers (best electronic book reader .txt) 📕

“Damn, girl,” Logan says.

“Did you know our kitchen floors were white?” Cohen asks. “I always thought they were gray.”

“Your second load of laundry is in the dryer,” I say, “and the sheets are in the washer. I can come back and fold it all tomorrow if you’re ready for me to get out of your hair tonight?”

Brett cuts his eyes at me, clearly not liking that option.

Cohen waves me off. “It’s cool. Thanks, though.”

“You did all this for forty bucks?” one of the strange guys asks, looking around. “This place was gross.”

“Your place is even grosser,” Logan says.

The one guy looks at the other guy. “We’ve got forty bucks.”

“Yeah,” the other one says. “My girlfriend won’t come to my place until I clean it.”

“It’s fifty if you want me to do your laundry.” I rethink that, not knowing how much laundry they have. “Actually, five per load. I put in the sheets before I leave. You can put those in the dryer and start them yourself. That’s if you have a spare pair for me to replace the dirty ones with.” I’m making all this up on the fly like this is my full-time business.

“Cool,” one of the guys says. “Can you come tomorrow?”

I’m so tired I’m about to collapse, but my response is, “Absolutely.”

I collect their info, and then Brett and I head out. I can’t be sure, but it’s possible Brett and Cohen exchange a look as they pass one another. I don’t think I was supposed to see it, but I happened to turn around right as they met each other’s gazes. I can’t help wondering what that was about.

When we get outside, I’m curious if Brett will ask me to come to his place, but he walks with me in the direction of Tori’s unit. This is definitely for the best. The kisses were luscious, but I don’t think I’m ready for anything else tonight. If he’d have asked, it might have been hard to turn down.

When we get to the steps of Tori’s unit, he stops and pockets his hands. Now he’s going all shy on me?

“Thanks for helping tonight. I’d be there another hour if it weren’t for you,” I say.

“No problem.”

I try to hand him a twenty, but he waves me off, so I put it away and adjust the strap of my purse. “I had fun, if that’s possible while doing dishes.”

“I had fun, too. I’m free tomorrow night,” he says, eyebrows up.

I giggle. “No way. I’m doing tomorrow night’s gig solo. But thanks for asking.”

“Understood,” he says and backs away. “Night, Kylie.”

A massive letdown takes me over, because I was really hopeful for a final kiss for the night, but I’ve still got the ones from earlier to dream about as I drift off to sleep.

17

Kylie

As I lean into the pool to grab a kickboard, a sharp pain shoots through my back and I stand up straight, pressing my hand on it like the boomers do on the arthritis management commercials. I think this is my body screaming for some yoga. I’ve abandoned my regimen since everything went to hell back home.

But the pain has come with its reward—a hundred and fifty beautiful dollars. Monday night’s job led to Tuesday night’s job, then one last night. While I’m so exhausted I have to make sure I don’t pass out into the pool, I’m able to eat something other than peanut butter crackers for dinner tonight.

Brett checked in with me on Tuesday to say hi, but that’s been pretty much it. He didn’t respond to my response, which was left sort of open-ended, but I’m not freaking out. It’s not like we slept together and things are weird or anything like that. We just kissed, he said he’d care if I was into another guy, and then we said good night. It’s normal not to be talking every day…I think. Honestly, I have no idea. I was in a years-long sham of a relationship. That’s my whole level of expertise on the subject.

I don’t have any more cleaning gigs lined up at the moment, so I’ve offered to take Tori and Brett out to dinner. It’s not just an excuse to get to see him again. It kind of is, but I also do want to thank them both properly. We’re going somewhere Tori says is excellent but cheap, which I’m extremely thankful for, because by the time I put some gas in my car and bought some food that had actual nutrition involved, I’m already down over sixty bucks.

“Hey,” I hear and whip my head around to find Jack walking toward me in his suit pants and a shirt and tie. He looks a good ten years older than he has the other times I’ve seen him. But even so, he’s seriously handsome—a bit devastatingly so, actually.

“Hey,” I say with a smile. I glance him up and down. “Did you come for a swim?”

He gazes at the pool. “I wish. I actually came to see you. How’s it going here at the pool?” he asks, glancing around like he’s on Mars.

“It’s good.”

“Did you hurt your back?” he asks.

“Oh, no. That’s just from overdoing it this week. I’ve been cleaning houses for some extra cash. I’ve had gigs three nights this week.”

He looks at me like I’ve sprouted a unicorn horn. “You’ve been doing that on top of this job?”

“Yeah. It’s just temporary, until I get on my feet.”

“Do you want to leave all this behind and come to work in the business office with me?”

I shrug. “Sure. When do I start?”

“Monday. It’s a temp job—two weeks. You’d be collecting data for an outreach initiative.”

My heart rate quickens. “Wait, are you serious? This is a real thing?”

“Like I said, it’s temp work. Nothing glamorous, but it pays a little more than you’re making here.”

I glance around, dumbfounded. “Can I do that—just leave my pool job for two weeks?”

“They’ll redistribute staff.