“It does. You’ll be able to move in as soon as the bathroom is done. Shouldn’t be more than another week.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

He knew that Justin was staying in a cheap apartment downtown and that he and Candy had been estranged for more than a decade before he’d suddenly turned back up in his sister’s life again. There was a story there for sure, but T.S. wasn’t asking. He had his own secrets to keep.

“You coming up for supper?” Justin asked.

Candy had stopped in earlier and invited both of them to dinner. She’d also invited Missy. He could have told her there was no need to matchmake. He and Missy were doing just fine all on their own. Neither of them was looking for anything permanent. They were just enjoying each other’s company.

Usually, he didn’t like to spend too much time with one woman. It made him feel hemmed in, tied down. Plus it gave a woman ideas about making things permanent. But it wasn’t like that with Missy. She was independent. To a fault sometimes. She didn’t need him. Maybe that was the draw.

Thinking about her with another guy turned his gut sour. She was with him. For now, his smarter self cautioned.

“T.S.?” Justin was watching him, hands on his hips and a quizzical look on his face.

And he was standing here like an idiot, mooning over a girl he already had. “Yeah, I’ll be there. I just have to get cleaned up first.”

Lucas gave a quick knock on the open front door and stepped into the room. “You can shower upstairs if you want. I can loan you a clean shirt.” T.S. wondered how long his friend had been standing there. He’d obviously heard the last part of his conversation with Justin. Lucas circled the room, noting the finished kitchen, the hardwood floors, the crown molding and baseboards. “It’s really looking great.”

T.S. sauntered over to stand beside his friend. A bead of sweat rolled down his face and he used the hem of his shirt to swipe it away. “Another week. Ten days tops and we’ll be done. The tiles we were waiting on will be here in two days. Once we get those installed and the sink and tub in, it’s all downhill from there.”

“The bedroom is almost done too,” Justin added. “Needs to be primed and painted and the trim added, but it’s basically done.”

“Thanks, man.”

T.S. waved off Lucas’ thanks. “No problem. I’m glad this building is almost done.”

His friend snorted. “You mean you’re done dipping into my wallet.” They both laughed and Lucas slapped him on the back. “Come on up and have a beer. You can grab a shower and then enjoy Candy’s homemade lasagna.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’m going to run home and get cleaned up.” Justin only lived about ten minutes from here.

“You can shower upstairs too if you want,” Lucas invited.

Justin shook his head. “I won’t be long.” He was gone before Lucas could offer again.

“Now that’s a man with secrets.” T.S. picked up his miter saw and set it by the other tools that sat on a tarp in the center of the room.

“We’ve all got secrets.”

“Too true, my friend. Too true.” T.S. had more than his fair share of secrets. But that was the past. He made it a point never to live in the past. Thinking about it didn’t change it. Neither did talking about it.

“Hey. I thought I heard voices.” Missy stood in the doorway looking as classy and untouchable as ever. Only he knew the real woman beneath the glossy façade. The woman who clawed at his back and called his name as he fucked them both into oblivion.

“Hey, Missy.” Lucas dropped a kiss on her cheek on his way out the door. “I’ll tell Candy you’re here.”

T.S. waited until Lucas’ footsteps faded in the distance. “Not very subtle, is he?”

Missy chewed on her bottom lip and shook her head. “Not really.”

He walked toward her, leaned down and dropped a hard kiss on her lips. “I’d do more than that,” he told her, “if I wasn’t so dirty.”

Her pupils dilated and her nostrils flared. “Promises, promises.”

“You can bank on it, babe.”

Missy laughed and hooked her arm through his. T.S. closed the door and locked up behind him. “I’m going to shower and change before dinner.”

“You’re going back to your place?” Was that hope he heard in her voice? He hated to disappoint her. Hell, he hated to disappoint himself. His dick was as hard as any nail he’d driven today.

From the second he’d seen her standing in the doorway he was hard. Hell, he spent most of his time around her semi-erect. For a guy his age that was something else. Women had stopped being a mystery a long time ago. But there was something about Missy that kept his body primed.

“Sorry, babe, but I already told Lucas I’d use his shower and borrow a shirt.”

She shrugged. “That’s okay. There’s always later.”

Later. He was still thinking about that as he stood in his friend’s shower and let the cool water dampen some of his ardor. Wasn’t easy. He’d swear he could still smell Missy’s perfume in the air around him.

“Shit.” He leaned forward, dunking his head under the spray. If he was home, he’d take matters into his own hands, so to speak. But jerking off in his friend’s shower was just too weird. He’d have to grin and bear it.

He flicked off the taps, stepped out and quickly dried off. It didn’t take him long to pull on his jeans and a clean shirt and head down the hallway. Voices reached him before he entered the great room. Candy’s light laughter. Lucas’ deeper voice. But it was Missy’s husky tones that made every cell in his body stand up and take note.

He stopped dead in his tracks. He was happy. Honest to God, deep down to his bones happy. That wasn’t good.

He frowned and raked his fingers through his hair. Giving a woman that kind of power over him wasn’t what he was about. Depending on someone else always led to being let down. Lucas excluded. His buddy had stood by him from the moment they’d met. But he’d never trusted a woman before. Not like this.

He didn’t like it. But he couldn’t deny the feelings welling up inside him. He tapped them down and shoved the lid back on them. Like a volcano, emotions bubbled deep inside him. He’d keep them there like he always had. That was safe. That was smart. If you didn’t expect things then people couldn’t let you down.

Satisfied he had everything under control once again, he walked into the room with a smile on his face. “Where’s that beer you promised me?” he asked his friend.

Lucas handed him one and he took a swig, letting the cold brew slide down his throat. Missy eyed him, a slight frown on her face. He smiled and shook his head.

She gave him a questioning look before turning back to Candy.

T.S. relaxed as the evening wore on. Good food, great friends and a hot, classy woman who was going home with him tonight. What more could a man want?

* * *

Missy’s entire body was humming when she unlocked the door to her apartment several hours later. T.S. was right behind her, his bulk surrounding and sheltering her, constantly reminding her he was there.

The evening with their friends had been fun, making Missy realize how much she’d missed that kind of thing over the past few years. Oh, she and Candy did stuff together, but it was different with a group. Tonight had been an eye-opener.

She’d become too rigid in her life. She’d had to be that way in the beginning in order to survive, but she was a mature adult now with her life under control. She knew who she was and what she wanted. She was different from her parents and brothers. She could afford to relax and simply enjoy life a bit more, not always be so focused on a goal.

She’d forgotten how great it was to sit around with friends, drink beer and eat way too much good food. They’d laughed and joked and talked about work and mutual acquaintances. Nothing cultural about the evening. Just plain old-fashioned fun.

Thankfully, she’d worn a dress and didn’t have to worry about the button of a pair of pants popping open. It really was Lucas’ fault. The man had produced the most sinful chocolate cake for dessert. With raspberry filling, no less. Of course she had to have a piece. It was only polite.

She groaned and kicked off her shoes.

“You okay?” It was the first words T.S. had spoken in a while. He’d been unusually quiet most of the evening.

“Too much cake.” She hung up her coat and purse and sighed. It was good to be home.

One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Yeah, that was a killer cake.”

“Lucas wooed Candy with baked goods.” She smiled at the memory of the magnificent brownies he’d brought to work for Candy. They were still her favorite cookie.

T.S. stood just inside the door, boots and coat still on. Her stomach roiled and it had nothing to do with too much cake. “Aren’t you staying?”

“Do you want me to?”

Missy frowned, not quite able to read his mood. “If you want to. If you’re too tired, I understand. You didn’t have to follow me home. I can get home on my own just fine.”

She thought she heard him mutter “I know” under his breath, but couldn’t be sure.

Enough was enough. She wasn’t in the mood to play guessing games. “Look, if this is the ‘it’s been fun’ speech, then just give it and leave.” She crossed her arms over her chest to keep from showing how badly she was trembling. She’d known it was inevitable, but she’d hoped for longer with him. But if he was going to break things off it was better to do it quickly.

He scowled and stalked toward her. “Has it just been fun?”

She snorted, ignoring how large he seemed as he loomed in front of her. She might be almost as tall as him, but T.S.’ shoulders dwarfed hers. “It’s been fun all right, but at the moment, not so much.”

“I don’t like what I’m feeling for you?” He might have been talking about having a root canal without painkillers for as miserable as he sounded.

“Me either,” she shot back. She hadn’t planned on getting so close so fast. On many levels, T.S. was so wrong for her. On others… Well, he was too right on other ones. She wanted him to the point where she couldn’t stop thinking about him. At work. When she was working out. When she went grocery shopping. It was crazy.

“So what do we do about it?” His dark, stubbled jaw made him appear dangerous and very sexy.

She looped her arms around his neck. He automatically caught her around the waist and pulled her close. “What do you want to do about it?” She rubbed up against his erection, loving his hardness and heat.

“Damned if I know,” he gritted out. “But this will do for starters.” He kissed her and she tasted need and desperation. She returned it, giving him her tongue and then coaxing his into her mouth.

She lost all sense of time and place as the kiss went on and on. His hands clutched her ass. She was almost desperate to get closer to him and tugged at his coat. He swore and pulled away long enough to shove off his coat and drag off his shirt.

Missy gave a low murmur of approval, running her hands over the large expanse of sculpted muscles. T.S. was one fine specimen of manhood.

He captured her mouth again and then bent down, put one arm behind her knees and scooped her off her feet. He carried her down the hallway to her bedroom. Missy would never admit it aloud, but she loved being carried by him. It made her feel feminine and delicate and cared for. Not something a modern, independent woman wanted to admit, but there was no denying it. A woman her size didn’t get carried very often. In fact, T.S. was the first to ever do so.

T.S. lowered his head and kissed her. There was a sense of urgency about the act that permeated her awareness. She wanted to ask him what was wrong but was swept away by the sheer physicality of the situation. Sex first. Talk later.

Her feet hit the floor and she didn’t waste any time. She wanted him naked. Wanted their bodies joined together, flesh to flesh.

She reached for her zipper as he bent down and undid his boots. The muscles in his shoulders bunched and rippled, his biceps bulged as he removed them and went to work on his jeans and boxer briefs.

Then he was naked, his cock jutting proudly in front of him. She was still totally dressed. “Let me help you with that.” T.S. reached around her and tugged down her zipper. The metallic hissing sound was loud in the otherwise quiet room. The muted sound of traffic and the city seemed far away from them. Nothing could touch them here.

T.S. peeled the sleeves of her dress down her arms, exposing her one inch at a time. He paused occasionally, licking and kissing her flesh. God, she was so hot. Her panties were damp, her pussy swollen and wet and her breasts ached.