A garbled sound catches in his throat. “I’m not sure about that. You saw the house.”
“It’s just a few dirty dishes, Jaxon.” His mouth turns down, and I get the sense there is more going on with him. I should leave it at that but instead find myself asking, “What?”
“It’s just… My fucking in-laws are trying to get custody of Cassie, trying to prove I’m an unfit father. Shit, if they showed up and saw the state of my house…” His voice falls off as he rubs his hands over his chin.
My heart pinches. “I’m sorry.”
“I can’t lose her. She’s all I have.”
“Then it’s a good thing my car broke down, because now you have me.” Something moves into his eyes, something that looks like heat as he glances my way. “I mean, now you have me to help out,” I clarify.
“Yeah,” he says quietly.
He takes the corner and I lean into him. “You can drop me off there,” I say and point to my lecture hall. He pulls the car over and I unbuckle.
“Do you have a drive home?”
“I can walk, or take the bus. It’s a nice day.”
“I pick Cassie up at two. I can swing by if you need a lift. Just text me.”
“I don’t have your number.”
“I have yours, so I’ll send you a text.”
I smile at that. Was he really one of the nice guys? I honestly don’t know, being a jerk magnet and all, and truthfully, I don’t want to know anything more than I already do. This is business only, and I don’t care if he’s six million degrees hot. I don’t want anything more, and clearly he doesn’t either. We both have secrets, and at the end of a busy day, neither of us has time for anything else that might complicate our worlds.
“Okay, thanks,” I say, with zero intentions of texting. I grab my backpack, and exit the vehicle. As he flicks on his signal, waiting to pull back into traffic, I give him a wave, and turn to find a couple of my classmates walking toward me.
“Who the hell is that hottie?” Allison asks as we all start walking to class.
“My neighbor,” I say with a shrug, not wanting them to read anything into it. “My car broke down and he gave me a lift.”
“That man can give me a lift anytime, anywhere,” Sue says. “Preferably to his bed.”
The sudden image of me on his bed rushes through my brain and has heat spreading though me. Ah, what was that I just said about not wanting anything more?
I cast a quick glance over my shoulder, and when I find Jaxon watching me, I jerk back around and pick up my pace. “Let’s hurry or we’re going to be late.”
I spend the rest of the day going from class to class, trying to concentrate on the words my professors are saying when my mind wants to keep straying back to Jaxon—to my phone. Why hasn’t he texted yet?
Cut it out, Rachel!
After one meeting, the man is proving to be a distraction I don’t need. I should have somehow found the money to pay him instead of offering my services.
Tit for tat.
Oh, God.
Midafternoon rolls around and I grab a muffin, my stomach growling since the only thing I’ve put in it all day was a cup of coffee. I munch on it, and start toward home, the heat of the day falling over me. Maybe I should have accepted Jaxon’s offer and caught a ride with him. Then again, the less time I spend around him the better.
I turn the corner and as I walk along the sidewalk, I spot Cassie and Jaxon. I grin when I see her coveralls—a familiar sight. Poor girl is going to grow up to be a tomboy. What she really needs is female influence in her life. I’d lost my mom in my teens, and that was hard. I can’t imagine what it’s like for Cassie to have no mother. Jaxon clearly didn’t want to talk about it. Did he still love her? Is that why I’ve not seen him with any other woman in all the time I’ve been here? He’s waiting for the love of his life to come back? If that’s the case I really need to stop drooling over him—and even if it’s not.
Normally I’d give Cassie a wave and dart inside, but since they’re working on my car, I stop. “How’s it going?”
Cassie’s head pops up from beneath the engine bonnet. “We fixed your spark plugs,” she says, a spot of grease on her face. I can’t help but grin at her cuteness, the fact that she has the same blue eyes as her father.
“Why thank you, Cassie,” I say. Jaxon helps her from the crate she’s standing on, and that’s when I notice he’s still wearing the T-shirt he tugged on this morning.
Too bad.
What, wait! Oh, God.
“Why don’t you go in the backyard and play?” He rubs her head and she dashes toward the swing set.
“Is it fixed?” I ask.
He nods, and wipes his hands on a rag. “But I have bad news.”
“Really?”
“I went over your entire car and your tie rod end is going. It’s not safe to drive until I can get it fixed.”
I do a mental calculation of the money in my bank account, and how many more horrible shifts I’ll have to take on at Pizza Villa. “How much will that cost?”
“Nothing. You’re working it off, remember.”
Warm from my walk home, I pull my t-shirt away from my body a couple times, fanning my skin as I think about that. “I know, but that’s pushing it. I can’t expect you to do all this work for cleaning and babysitting services.” Jaxon’s gaze drops to my chest as I cool my body, and for a second I get the feeling that he has other ideas on how I can work off my debt.
