Maid to Crave (Man Maid #2) (2 page)

Besides, who cared what her coworkers thought? It wasn’t like she’d have to see them every day anymore. She’d been dating Tim for nearly two months before the promotions, and, contrary to the rumors, she had not been sleeping with him when the position was offered to her. Yes, he might have been part of the board of directors that had hired her, but he was just that—a
part
of the board, not the
entire
board.

Her coworkers would figure out soon enough that she was good at her new job. They would learn to trust and respect her. This job had been earned through
years
of working below her capabilities and feeding other people’s egos while quietly doing both their work and hers. She had simply stored the knowledge she acquired away and pulled it out when it counted. The job had
not
been handed to her by Tim as a thank-you for sleeping with him.

Tim wasn’t the most attractive man in the world, but he’d given her no reason to think he’d only given her the job because she was willing to date him. He was stable, he understood her work, and she didn’t have to worry that he would break her heart if—
when
—she finally did fall in love with him.

She was working on her feelings for Tim…she just wasn’t there quite yet. There might not be the kind of fireworks that movies and books depicted, but if she worked at the relationship, she could enjoy being with him. She wasn’t a schoolgirl with fantasies of a knight in shining armor. She was logical, and Tim was the sound choice when it came to matters of the heart.

“Okay, fine,” she’d reluctantly agreed. “How about seven thirty? That will give me a couple of hours with Zach since he’ll likely be in bed when I get home later.”

She hated leaving Zach any more than she had to, even though he adored his sitter, Kayla’s daughter Addie. Tori remembered all too well what it was like to be left with a caregiver all the time. How alone and uncared for it had made her feel. Zach was the only family she had that made her feel like she was wanted and needed, so she tried to spend as much time as possible with him.

“Sounds good. Shall I pack a few things? Maybe stay over and leave early before the little guy wakes up?” Tim had asked with a smile.

If only there was a technical manual on pleasing a woman that she could casually leave lying around for him to read….They had only been together a few times, and even though Tim wasn’t so good in the lover department, it beat being played for a fool.

Enjoying great sex while thinking you’d finally connected with someone only to find out it was just great sex and nothing more was
painful
. Figuring out that the man she had fallen in love with was definitely not interested in being a
father
had been a life lesson Tori would not soon forget. It was also an expensive lesson, as raising a child alone cost a lot of money. Though Zach was worth every penny.

At least she’d managed to subtly talk Tim into going home instead of staying over. Maybe she needed to take the initiative next time…ask him out and plan something different and spontaneous. That might bring out a little more passion in her. At least Tim had seemed to have enough passion for both of them.… She would just try harder next time.

Rolling over and eyeing the alarm clock on the floor next to her bed, she noticed that it was even later than she’d thought. Scraping herself out of the bed, she shuffled to the bathroom, swallowed down a couple of aspirin and then stood under the spray of the shower for several minutes willing the pain in her head to go away. After managing to get dressed, she headed downstairs for coffee and to get cereal for Zach.

Standing at the bar in her kitchen pouring cereal into a bowl, she looked out her curtainless kitchen window and nearly dropped the cereal box. A shirtless man was mowing
her
yard.

She had meant to call someone to take care of the yard work and had completely forgotten.
Had a neighbor taken it upon himself to do the job?
She knew it was getting bad when even
Tim
had offered to help her with the lawn because it was so out of control. The unusual spring temperatures had made the grass grow even faster, and lawn care was not a skill she brought to the table.

The man looked familiar so he must be one of her new neighbors. Embarrassment crept up her cheeks. Yet she could barely drag her eyes away from the vision outside. He had a chest worthy of a fitness magazine ad…sculpted and chiseled and shiny with sweat. No extra pounds on him, nor pale pasty skin.

She shuddered at the reminder of the night before, and quickly set Zach’s bowl of cereal at the bar as he climbed onto one of the stools. The least she could do was take the poor man a drink of water for all his hard work. She filled a glass with ice and water from the door of the refrigerator.

“I’ll be back inside shortly, I’m just going to say hi to the nice man outside,” she said, looking at Zach.

Zach was fully engrossed in the cartoon he could see on the television through the doorway of the kitchen. Gathering some courage, she headed outside to introduce herself, to apologize for the condition of her yard and to thank the man profusely.

As she walked across the lawn, he made a turn with the push-mower and directed it straight toward her. She stopped dead in her tracks when she recognized him.
Seth Lewis.

This could not be happening!
He was supposed to be working other jobs…not for her! She’d assumed it would be someone she’d never met, or maybe even Rusty. Not Seth…
never Seth.
Hopefully, Seth was only a temporary worker and not the maid who had been assigned as her permanent part-time housekeeper. Maybe she would get a new person each time.

She’d first met Seth at Kayla’s mother’s funeral. He had hardly even noticed her, which was to be expected from a man like him, with his good looks, muscles and sexy grin. She did not have the
assets
that would catch his eye—large breasts and little brains.

His comments about her a few months later, at Kayla and Ronnie’s wedding, had made that clear. Though she would never again date, or even sleep with, a man like Seth, she could still appreciate the view. As her gaze made it up to his, she was caught off guard by the warm smile he offered.

“Hi, Tori,” he said breathlessly as he released the bar on the mower, shutting off the engine.

She handed him the glass of water and he downed it in a few gulps. Though she knew his sort, and didn’t particularly care for him, she watched helplessly as a trickle of water missed his mouth and slid down his muscled neck and chest. Her inner voice scolded her loudly for her weakness.

As her eyes made it back up to his yet again, she was rewarded with an expectant smile, as though he had anticipated her response to his shirtless display.

What a smug bastard with an equally arrogant smile.

“I have a son who is only six years old. And though I realize how unusually warm it is for this time of year, would you mind coming to work fully clothed from now on?” she asked with all the sweetness she could muster, talking as one would talk to an employee. With that admonishment, she reached out and took the empty glass he handed to her.

His self-assured look was replaced first with one of shock and then with one of incensed resolution. Sometimes payback was a long time in the making, but when the score was finally settled, the exuberant feeling made it worth the wait.

She’d overheard Seth talking with another one of his friends, Ian Hamilton, at Ronnie and Kayla’s wedding reception about how Tori was as small as Kayla’s daughter, Addie, who was only a teenager. That remark she could have forgiven, since it was mostly true and she was accustomed to people’s assumptions regarding her age because of her slight stature. Except then the bully had followed up the remark with a comment on how Tori should drink milk and then maybe she’d grow up…and develop boobs.

She was aware that most of the time she didn’t really need a bra at all, but his words had been just plain mean. Well, from the look on his handsome face right now, she’d firmly lobbed the ball back into his court. Forcing herself to turn away from the glorious body even now being kissed by the morning sun, she marched back inside with the empty glass.

As she closed the door after stepping inside, she released the breath she’d been holding since seeing his handsome face and incredible body working hard…
in her yard
. Forcing her mind away from Seth Lewis, she headed into the kitchen to clean up Zach’s breakfast before settling him in with something to do for a couple hours so she could work on the server migration.

“You remember Seth from the wedding?” she asked Zach. When he simply nodded his head while continuing to stare at the television, she continued, “He’s going to be helping out around here today. So if you need anything, you can ask him. I’ll be in my office working, so unless it’s really important, just ask him.”

She made her way to her office, closing the door on both Zach and the fantastic specimen of a man outside working up a sweat in her yard. It didn’t take long for her to lose herself in rows and columns of data. A few hours later, Zach came running in, stopping next to her desk. She clicked the save button and looked over at him.

“Seth made me a grilled cheese sandwich. It was delicious. You should come to the kitchen and have one, too,” Zach said, licking his lips and rubbing his stomach in an attempt to be dramatic.

She
should
take a break and do at least a few things around the house. It was the weekend, after all, and there was so much that needed to be done in an effort to make the place more comfortable for both her and Zach. Following him to the kitchen, she came up short upon finding Seth pulling glasses out of a box marked “Kitchen,” wiping them off and putting them away.
He was unpacking her things!

Upon seeing her enter, Seth set a pitcher with sunflowers painted on it down on the counter and grinned at her. She had to look away from him for fear the impact of that smile would show on her face. He quickly pulled out a plate and a bowl from another cabinet.

“I hope you like tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches,” he said, ladling some of the soup from a pot on the stove into the bowl.

Wooden building blocks were piled in front of the refrigerator, and Zach knelt down next to them and began sifting through the stack. She forced herself to walk over to where Seth stood to get some soup. As she approached, she could feel heat pouring off the man as though he had some internal furnace. For some reason she wanted to get even closer to the warmth. Instead, she took the bowl and hurried over to the bar.

“Be careful with that. It’s
very
hot. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll make you a sandwich to go with the soup. Do you want something to drink?” Seth asked her.

She watched as he looked back over one broad shoulder to stare at her with a suggestive grin.
Be strong. Do not look.
But against her will, as soon as he turned back to the stove, her eyes immediately glided down his wide back to his firm butt housed in a pair of shorts that must have been made specifically to showcase his first-rate backside.

“Do you like it?” he asked after several moments of silence in which he began making her a sandwich.

She nearly choked on her first spoonful of the scalding soup at his words. “Excuse me?” she asked after a brief cough.

“The soup… Is it hot enough for you?” he asked.

“Yes…it’s…it’s fine,” she stammered.

After a few minutes, he flipped a perfectly browned grilled cheese sandwich onto a plate and placed it in front of her. Instead of walking away or going back to unpacking the box, which now sat abandoned, he leaned across the counter…looking at her. He watched her with the most amazing green eyes she’d ever seen. They danced with a sexuality she was completely unprepared for.

Realizing that she held her spoon somewhere between the bowl and her mouth, she forced herself to stare right back at him. When it became apparent that he was waiting for her to look away first, she leaned forward and slurped the soup off the spoon. Even Zach looked up in shock at her rudeness. With her gaze still locked on Seth’s, she reached out and pulled the plate with the sandwich closer to her.

“At least as good as it gets for tomato soup, which isn’t a favorite of mine. But it’s usually one of Zach’s first picks, so I can see why you made it,” she said.

The grin that probably had women stripping naked and offering themselves like a sacrifice of fertility slid quickly from his face and was replaced with a look of surprise and insecurity. He moved away from the counter and back over to the box. She could barely keep the smile of victory off her face. He probably didn’t get blown off very often, and she was glad she could be the one to do that for him now.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I rinsed off in your shower after I finished up the yard work. I thought I would unpack a few of the boxes from out in the garage. I found a couple boxes of Zach’s toys and carried them up to his room. Was there something specific you wanted me to do for you today?” he asked, looking first at Zach and then grinning at her again in spite of being so brutally shot down just moments before.

She wasn’t sure if the sexual tone of his voice was only in her imagination, or if it was something he was completely unaware of, or if it was just second nature for a man who looked like him. For the first time in her life, she understood what Eve went through in the Garden of Eden; every image in her head was soaked in sin. The difference was she knew what kind of serpent hid underneath the tight-fitting T-shirt.

“Actually, no, I didn’t put together a list of things for you to do. I was under the impression that you would be able to just step in and do whatever needed to be done. At least that was the way Mr. Hawkins described the services Man Maid provided. Perhaps he spoke too soon on your behalf.… If so, then I can make a list. Continue unpacking boxes until I can put together a formal rundown of your job duties,” she replied smartly.

“I figured out that your lawn looked more like a wheat field blowing in the wind, didn’t I? I took care of that all by myself, didn’t I?” he asked sarcastically. “I was just making sure, trying to be nice.”