As he got closer to my front door, he lifted the ID badge clipped to his belt. "Phil Darling, Miss Harper. Noah said you'd be expecting me."
Opening the screen door, I nodded. "Only I haven't discussed pricing with anyone."
He offered me a broad grin and a wave of his hand. "All taken care of."
The hell it was! A string of swear words lined up along my tongue. I would be damned if I was going to owe Noah a single penny or let him buy his way out of fucking and then dumping me.
No matter how many times he'd made me come.
I tried to explain the problem as politely as I could — minus the bit about the one night stand and multiple orgasms. "It isn't taken care of, Mr. Darling, because I haven't discussed it."
I felt the brief caress of his shielded gaze directed at my breasts and then he smiled again. Reaching along his belt, he unclipped his phone, slid it open and started thumbing at the keypad. "Please, call me Phil."
His head was tilted down as he stared at the keyboard. He looked up at me over the black frames of his sunglasses, his speckled blue irises haloed by a ring of dark gray. "Noah said you'd argue with me, said to tell you this is Mike's rate and-"
"You know my brother?"
"You don't remember?" Smiling wider, he pushed his sunglasses up to rest on the top of his head. "Used to live on Madison, went by my stepdad's last name — Wilkins."
I shook my head. Even as a teenager, Noah had been the only one of Mike's friends I'd ever paid attention to.
"Well, I sure remember you, Miss Patty Harper." I felt another sweep of casual interest emanating from his blue gaze and then he looked back down as a new message popped onto his screen. Reading it, he gave a little chuckle. "I'm also supposed to make you feel guilty about my coming out here on my day off to get this installed."
Great, Noah could answer Darling's text immediately but I was still waiting on a reply to mine two hours later.
"Fine." I surrendered with a soft growl. Noah knew exactly how to push my buttons — in bed and out. That didn't mean I couldn't argue money with him later. "I still need an invoice."
He shook his head. "I'm not authorized to give you one."
Oh, the hell he wasn't! "It's my house-"
Darling shrugged like he wanted to help me out but couldn't. Glaring at him, I stepped forward, holding the screen door open so he could enter.
Instead of walking past me, he reached one thick arm up and grabbed the top of the door. Looking down at me, he smiled. "Ladies first."
I went inside, forcing myself not to stomp around like a two year old having her third temper tantrum of the day. "Do you need any assistance?"
When he didn't answer immediately, I turned to look at him. I had on a short sun dress, black with white polka dots, and he was staring at my legs. I didn't blame him, they're shapely but somewhat out of place on a body with broad hips, a full bottom and rounded arms. Still, it wasn't very professional of him and I cleared my throat, drawing his gaze up to mine at last.
"I asked if you need any assistance." My voice didn't sound the least bit annoyed and I allowed myself a small smile. Playing nice with Phil Darling would be good practice for ignoring Noah the next time he lowered himself to coming by.
Darling's head moved in something that started as a negative shake but slid into a nod. When he spoke, his gaze sparkled and I felt my smile widen.
"Yeah, I could use a little help."
Really, he didn't, but I followed him around for twenty minutes pretending like it was a two-person job. I badly needed the experience of smiling at another man, pretending to flirt, acting like I'd never even heard of Noah Lodge let alone felt his lips on mine or surrendered to the hard, penetrating thrusts of his cock as he drove me on to my fifth orgasm.
If I could smile and convince Darling that I hadn't had my heart broken that very morning, I could convince another man and the one after that. Eventually, I'd convince myself.
I was still smiling later when Darling rested one big hand against the wall, his palm pressed flat about a foot above my shoulder. Leaning in close to me, he confessed he'd wanted to ask me out a time or two growing up.
I arched a brow, my lips curling up in surprise. "Why didn't you?"
"I always figured if Mike was going to let any of his friends date his baby sister, it would be Noah." He laughed just as the unlocked front screen swung open.
I looked to my right to find Noah standing in the doorway, his body framed by sunlight, his face in shadows.
"I don't think Mike would mind." I pushed off from the wall, offering Darling one last smile before I pointedly ignored Noah and headed into the kitchen.
The next few minutes were filled with the low rumble of male voices as Darling explained to Noah the work he'd done and answered questions on how the security system functioned. The whole scene was ridiculous — Noah wouldn't be turning the alarm on or off. Hell, after Darling left and I reset the pass code, Noah wouldn't even know what it was. But he sure sounded like he would — he sounded exactly as if it was his security system, his house, his family.
Mine.
The word rose unbidden in my mind, quickly followed by the memory of his voice last night as he had said it.
Mine. Mine to protect. Mine to…
I gave an angry shake of my head, forcing myself not to listen or care what Noah was saying in the next room. He hadn't finished his sentence last night but it was all too clear this morning what he'd left unsaid.
Fuck and dump.
That's what he'd done. Fucked me. Thoroughly. Even now, angry as I was, the memory made me wet and aching for him. I swiped a sponge along the kitchen counter, scrubbing at a dot that was nothing more than a fleck of metal in the polished granite top.
"Dude, you look like you're going to clock me-" Darling's statement broke my concentration.
Both men were almost down to a whisper, their voices strained.
"You were flirting with her."
"Noah, I didn't realize-"
"Realize what?"
Darling's voice dropped even lower, the words almost indistinguishable. "I mean, I thought you were just taking care of Mike's little sister."
Noah cleared his throat, his tone sounding almost normal to someone who didn't know him like I did. "I am."
"I meant…you know — is that all you're doing?"
Noah answered too low for me to hear it. Three seconds later the front screen banged shut and he was gone.
I ate my southwestern bean pie alone — not even the prospect of a future date with Phil Darling on the horizon.
I was okay with that. I wasn't attracted to him, hadn't been remotely attracted to any man other than Noah for a good three years. I'd felt like a liar on every one of my dates over that time period and I didn't want to lie to Phil.
Or lie with him.