Still, I enjoyed every second of her attempts to ignore my presence.
She turns to face me, and my gaze travels back up her body. Fuck yeah, I like this outfit a hell of a lot more.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Enjoying the view."
"Me stripping wallpaper is considered a view?"
"It's not the wallpaper, it's the woman."
A blush creeps up her neck before she says, "That's slightly inappropriate."
"Not to me. Considering it's been a week since I've seen you, I'm enjoying this."
She tries to remain straight-faced, but the glint in her eye gives her away. "What do you think?"
"I prefer to see you naked first thing in the morning, but that outfit is almost as good."
"Miller!" She props a fist on her hip. "I was talking about the room!"
"What about it?"
Her eyes narrow at the same time she blows out a breath. She can try to fool me, but I'm onto her game. I hold her gaze, grinning knowingly.
"I thought we discussed this wouldn't be awkward. Are we going to have to set boundaries?"
"You can try, but I'm not a big fan of rules."
"I haven't had enough coffee to handle you this morning."
"From my experience, you never needed coffee to handle me in the morning."
This time she throws her head back to the ceiling, mumbling something about me being impossible. I trail my eyes over her one last time and decide to let her off the hook.
"You did well, I don't see too much damage to the walls." I knock on the drywall.
"Thanks, but I'm afraid the upstairs wasn't as easy."
"You've already finished up there?"
"Yes."
"How long have you been at this?"
"I couldn't sleep so I started early."
"Those are high ceilings. Told you I'd work on them later today."
"No need. I used the ladder."
My playful mood vanishes and irritation spikes. After she picked out the materials for her kitchen, she was rearing to get going on something physical. Since I had a few loose ends to wrap up before moving my time over to her project, I sent daily task lists.
Most of it was easy and tedious. Even through text messages, it was easy to read into her frustration at being bored. When I mentioned it was time to get the wallpaper down in the rooms and bathrooms, she jumped at the chance. Her bitter attitude turned eager, and she assured me she’d finish today.
There was one rule, and apparently, she ignored it.
"I told you not to get on that ladder without me here."
"I must have missed that." Her coy smirk tells me all I need to know.
"Dammit, Ashlyn, you could have hurt yourself."
"But I didn't, so why are we talking about it?"
"Because if you're going to be working here alone, you have to take safety precautions." I cross my arms and glare at her. "You need to understand that."
"Okay," she states dismissively.
"I'm serious."
"I'm sure you are."
She places the steamer on the side of the sink and comes to stand in front of me. "I think it's cute you're trying to use the pushy, bad boss attitude on me. But you need to learn I have over thirty years of practice with a dad and two brothers."
My arm jets out, wrapping around her waist and yanking her to me. Her breath hitches when her chest hits mine. Before she can argue, I brush my lips across hers and press our foreheads together. "Think twice about comparing me to your family, Princess, because I promise the outcome will be different. I'm finding your sass a huge fucking turn on."
Her eyes grow wide, flicks of green burning darker. The warmth of her breath coats my lips, sending a message straight to my dick. "Miller." My name comes out winded, and I know she feels my cock against her thigh.
"Say my name like that again, and I'll prove to you exactly what—"
"Miller! You around?" a voice booms from somewhere in the house.
"Fuck," I hiss, and she jerks out of her daze.
"Yeah, Rod. Kitchen's straight back. Be right there," I call over my shoulder.
"Who's Rod?" Ashlyn tries to wiggle free, but I only give her a few inches. "And why did he walk into my house without knocking?"
"Most likely, he saw my truck out front and knew I was already working. He's here to look over the plans for the kitchen."
"But I sent you the email this morning to finalize."
"Got your email, made the call, wanted a workup, and now he's here."
She chews the corner of her lip, holding my gaze. "Do you always get what you want?"
"Usually. People work hard to please me. Although I don't recall you having to work hard at it."
"Stop."
"Thought about it, but made that mistake once."
"Mistake?"
"The one time in my life I let a woman call the shots, I was left naked in a hotel room without even a phone number. This time, I'm calling the shots."
"There are no shots to call! We are not going over this again."
"You can keep telling yourself that."
She huffs, squirming again. "Will you let me go so we can meet him?"
"I'm gonna meet him while you put on a different shirt."
"What's wrong with this?" she snips.
"Not a goddamned thing if it's the two of us. But your nipples are poking through, and I'd hate to fire one of my best guys because I catch him staring at your tits."
Her jaw drops, and she shoves at me; this time I let her go. "You and I are definitely setting boundaries." She stomps past me, and I adjust my cock to hide the bulge.
"Something to look forward to," I call to her back, my eyes on her ass.
Her grumbling sounds through the house until her door clicks shut. I grab all the paper off the floor, using the time for my dick to relax,
