“I don’t remember inviting you in.” Shutting the door, I moved toward the fridge and opened it. Looking for a bottle of water, I found a half empty one in the door. After chugging it, I heard someone clear their throat and looked back over my shoulder.
“You going like that?” Mike crossed his arms over his chest, trying to be all intimidating, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Something funny?”
“Yeah.” I tossed the water bottle to the garbage, and it missed by more than six inches as it hit the wall at its side.
“You said you’d help,” he added, still standing with his feet about two feet apart. “Maddison wants this.”
“Pleasing Mad is your job.” I loved to get a rise out of Mikey. It was so easy to do in regards to Maddison. “Is she bored already?”
“You wanna know what it feels like to take a face dive off a three-story balcony and hit pavement, you’ll keep that shit up.” A stoic look still covered his face, but I could see the way his nostrils flared, and that vein in his forehead was popping.
“Testy today.” Peeking around his shoulder, I found Terrance and Rhett chuckling at the state of Mike. Dipshits loved to observe, but most of the time neither of them pushed him as hard as I did. “Now that she’s pregnant, did she cut you off? Because I always thought that with the hormone shift, it was the opposite.”
“Rhett, open the balcony door.” Mike dropped his hands to his sides and made fists.
“I’m sure Mad wouldn’t object if you got yourself one of those pocket girlfriends, you know, the kind that just require a little lube and the movement of your hand.”
“Shit.” I think it was Terrance who tried his best to hide his laughter but failed miserably.
“Listen, fucker.” Mike took a step toward me, and I could no longer hold back my laughter.
Holding my hands up, I braced myself on the countertop behind me. “Okay, man, okay.” Stepping around him, I slapped him on the back. “Give me ten to jump in the shower.”
“You’ve got two,” Mike grumbled, and I laughed as I walked across the room and entered my tiny bathroom, closing the door behind me.
Taking a few minutes longer than I had been given, I made sure to add a little fire to the already burning flame. It was my fault the guy was all flared up, so honestly it would be a waste not to take all I could get.
By the time I exited the bathroom, Rhett and Terrance were quietly staring at the television and Mike, well, his face was as red as a fire truck.
I opened the front door, grabbed my keys and wallet, and waved my hand in a come on motion. “Move already, you asses. Y’all are holding me up.”
***
Four and a half hours later, we had Maddison’s little greenhouse all framed up and ready to set all the glass windows. I wasn’t expecting to get too far along in one day, but apparently Mike worked better when he was in a pissy mood.
Taking a break, Rhett opened the cooler with all the sandwiches that Maddison had made and started tossing them in each of our directions. I grabbed the closest lounge chair and sat down near the cooler that held the beers and waters and lifted the lid. Holding them up in the air, I waited for each of the guys to nod and did the same as I tossed one to each of them.
Mike finally sat down and popped the top off of his beer, and when he glanced in my direction, I knew I could fire him up more, but there was something about the day, something about how particular he was with every angle of each board and the position of the greenhouse, that made me stop.
“I think she’s gonna love it.” He shifted his gaze, looking again toward the large structure. “It’s gonna be perfect.”
“It has to be.” The guy adored Mad. He was head over heels, lived for her smiles, and died a little inside every single time she cried kinda of love. He worshiped her, and it was strange, really; he’d always been a hard ass, as long as I’d known him anyway, but not with Mad. She was his weakness.
“We’ll make sure it is.”
I lifted my own beer to my lips and took a swig. He gave me a little nod as he finally settled back into his chair. It was almost like I could physically see his body finally relax and give way to the stress.
Rhett and Terrance took it as a cue that it was safe to join us. The four of us sat discussing the plans for the next steps, eating and drinking. The Georgia sun heated the backyard, warming my skin. Leaning back, I looked up at the sky and closed my eyes, feeling the rays on my face.
“I heard about your dreamy date last night.” The way Rhett said dreamy gained my full attention. Meeting his humored gaze, I understood this was his attempt to reverse the roles of earlier and get a rise out of me this time. It wouldn’t work. “Dinner, a walk hand in hand, followed by dancing under the stars.” Giving me that faked awe look, I remained seated where I was enjoying my beer and his pathetic attempt to irritate me. “Though Chloe did say something about feeling like it was all too orchestrated.”
Arching a brow, I leaned forward before I could stop myself.
“I think some other guy she dated did pretty much the same thing, though he took her all the way to the fountain instead of hidden in the trees.” My pulse sped
