An enormous spark popped out of the ceiling, and Matt cursed as he fell from the ladder. Letting go of the dog, she lunged for the ladder to steady him, but he grabbed it and took it with him, presumably to keep from falling on them. Shackles yelped and ran out of the bedroom. Somehow Matt managed to topple onto her bed, at the last minute throwing the ladder away from them both. It landed with a crash against the far wall.
Matt lay on his back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Recovering from her small heart attack, Sarah rushed to him. “Matt! Oh my God, Matt, are you okay?”
“I’m good,” he said, wincing.
She climbed on the bed with him. “If you say you’re good one more time I’m seriously going to have to kill you.”
He groaned his response.
“What can I do? Do you need me to call 911? Should I get you a cold wet rag? How about a warm one? Talk to me!”
It took her a minute to realize that in her panic she’d crossed a dangerous line. She was pretty much straddling his hips. Not exactly how she’d pictured winding up in this position, with all her clothes still on, but damned if she would move now. She had a perfectly good excuse to be hovering over him, in care and concern over whether he’d managed to electrocute himself trying to fix her money pit of a house.
“I’m okay.”
“What happened?”
“It’s worse than I thought.” He looked at the wiring above them, then at her. “I’m not sure I can move my legs.”
Sarah drew in a sharp breath. What had she done? Why, oh why, had she let him help her? “You...you can’t m-move your legs?”
He didn’t answer, but in one swift move he flipped her and now she lay under him.
“How about that? Guess I can move them. Just needed a little motivation is all.”
She pushed on his chest, marveling at how quickly he’d switched gears. “Not funny, Matt! You scared me.”
But his eyes were serious now, incredibly so, as he braced himself above her. She shivered when one hand skimmed down her arm until he came to her wrist and cuffed it. Sarah didn’t breathe. Didn’t move. Letting go of her wrist, Matt’s hand went to her hair clip and he removed it. He made an innately male sound as her hair tumbled down around her shoulders, loose. His finger traced the edge of her jawline and he followed with his lips. Oh boy. She’d wanted this for so long that the moment they were both caught in seemed surreal. But these were her hands moving under his shirt to touch the solid planes of his muscular chest, luxuriating in how warm and hard and positively male he was. This would finally happen. Happen now. Any minute he’d kiss her senseless, unless she kissed him first. Any time now.
The doorbell rang.
Shackles yipped and barked, doing his job and sounding the alarm. People! People! Hurry and let them in so I can sniff them!
Matt removed his hand from her ass. “You expecting anyone?”
“No.” She tried to tug him down by his powerful neck while she prayed silently that whoever was at the door would give up and go away. Fast. But Matt wasn’t giving an inch.
The doorbell rang again. Shackles became hysterical with the barking. Matt moved off the bed. And Sarah decided whoever was at the door would be dead in two minutes flat.
“Okay.” She rose from the bed and smoothed back her hair. Licked her unkissed lips. “I’ll go see who that is.”
But no one was dying tonight, because behind her front door stood Emily and Stone.
SARAH RELUCTANTLY OPENED the door because Emily and Stone had already seen her through the front paned window. All she had hanging there was a mostly see-through white cotton sheet. Besides, she should let her brother inside. He was blood and all that.
“Hi!” Emily said. “We thought we’d come by to help.”
“Hey,” Stone said to Sarah. “I don’t want to be here.”
Sarah smiled at her brother’s honesty and waved them both inside.
“It will go faster if Matt has some help.” Emily squatted as Shackles yipped and yapped his welcome.
“He doesn’t want my help,” Stone protested. “I’m telling you, his exact words were ‘I’m good.’”
“I brought some beer, too.” Emily held up a six-pack. “As a reward for when the guys are done.”
“That’s not what I want as a reward and you know it,” Stone said to Emily. Then he caught sight of Matt coming out of the bedroom. “What’s up?”
“Electrical,” Matt said and they both disappeared back into Sarah’s bedroom.
“How’s it going around here?” Emily handed Sarah the six-pack.
“Super.” She’d just been in Matt’s arms and about to kiss him. It was the best thing that had happened all year, hands down. Sarah opened the fridge and set the beers inside.
“Boy. You look...flushed,” Emily said as she studied her.
“This is hard work. And Matt got zapped.”
“Uh-oh.”
“He’s good, though.” Now she was adopting Matt’s pat phrase. “But I’m guessing my electrical isn’t.”
She was back to thinking about the house’s many problems when she would have preferred to still be wondering whether Matt wore boxers or briefs. She might even have been about to find out.
Shackles trotted to the sliding glass door leading to their backyard and Sarah followed, Emily behind her. Sarah stopped at the edge of the lawn and turned west to watch the sun begin its slow sink over the horizon. The painted skyline over the hills was awash in red and gold tonight and woke her up a little bit. She’d been about to cross a line with Matt, maybe even two or three, and somehow this should bother her. Worry her.
Only it didn’t. She’d wanted to cross lines with him for a long time. Erase them, if she were being honest. He’d been the one constantly holding back. Flirting but only to the edge and no further. But something had changed tonight. She hoped it had nothing to do with an electrical shock.
“You guys didn’t need to come over, you know.”
“Why? Did we interrupt something?” Emily grinned.
“Uh...no. It’s just... Stone has done enough. He put in the kitchen counters, and he basically sold me his half of the house for below market value. I don’t think he realizes I know.”
It was better, too, not to admit she’d figured it out. When she’d first come out to California, Fort Collins real estate prices were all she had to compare with. Bay Area prices for the oldest and smallest houses had been like a jolt of ice water on a cold winter day.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Sarah toed the edge of the lawn with one bare foot. “Okay, yes. Nothing happened. Something...almost happened. Am I that obvious?”
“It took you a while to get to the door, and once you did...your face. It’s flushed but in a nice way. And your hair. It looks good down like that. You look great, by the way.”
Her hair clip. Sarah’s hand went self-consciously to her wild and crazy mane of hair. It was so unruly she always kept