“I’m fine, keep going. I like watching.” His lips pulled at the corners, and I found myself slowly drifting to sleep in his presence.
∞∞∞
I was woken up by the sensation of someone poking my shoulder. My heavy eyes slowly opened, and Grant was crouched down beside me, the tile in the half bath almost finished.
“I’m up. I’m up.” I lifted my face and looked down at my hands which were slightly wet with drool. I felt my cheeks get hot, and I wiped the corner of my mouth with my sleeve. Grant chuckled a little.
“It’s late; let’s get you home.” He reached down to me to help me up.
“Thanks. Sorry, it’s just been a long day.” He tucked the fallen strands of hair from my bun behind my ear. “It’s all right. I’m glad to have company.” His fingers lingered on the soft, exposed skin below my ear lobe, sending tingles down my neck.
Grant drove me back home, telling me a story about how Beau got stuck in a crawlspace one time. I laughed harder with him than I had in a long time. With the windows down and Grant’s country music playing, I felt at peace, like the universe had me right where I needed to be.
He pulled up to my building, parking out front. “Thank you for going over there tonight and fixing my oven. You work harder than you need to. I’ll pay you extra for all this, I promise.”
He turned the radio down a couple of notches. “It really was nothing, Hart.”
I smiled at him and opened the door, feeling slightly disappointed he had just dropped me off.
We said goodnight, and I went to bed dreaming of tiled floors and my hot contractor.