Free Within Reach by Sarah Mayberry Page B

they still want it to be coherent,
clean and modern.”
    “Bah, clients. Who needs ’em?”
    He smiled. “Yeah. If only we could build houses without
them.”
    “If only.”
    She passed him a cup and they sat on adjacent stools.
    “How about you? How are you finding things?”
    “It’s been three hours, but so far so good.”
    “Let me know if there’s enough light because I can talk to the
electrician again.”
    “Michael. It’s so bright in there I almost need
sunglasses.”
    “If it’s too bright, we can do something about that, too.”
    “It’s perfect. Relax. I’m a very happy freeloader.”
    He frowned. “I wish you’d stop saying that.”
    “I wish you’d let me pay rent.”
    “You can pay rent if I can pay you for helping with Eva after
school.”
    “You know I can’t let you do that.”
    “Then you can’t pay rent.” There was a smile lurking in
Michael’s gray-green eyes as he waited for her response.
    It hit her that he’d been lighter, less grim since starting
work.
    “You want a cookie? I hid some Tim-Tams from the kids the other
day.”
    “As if I’m going to say no to a Tim-Tam.” Chocolate on
chocolate with a chocolate filling, they were practically an Australian
icon.
    He went to rummage in the pantry. She watched as he reached for
the highest shelf, the movement tightening his shirt over the muscles of his
shoulders and back.
    “You realize Eva is only four foot tall, right?”
    “You think the top shelf was overkill?”
    She held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “Just a
little.”
    He dropped the Tim-Tams in front of her. “You can never be too
careful with the good stuff.”
    “True.”
    She tore open the package and offered him a cookie before
taking one herself. She immediately bit off both ends then dunked the exposed
parts in her coffee.
    “You’re a dunker. I never knew that about you,” Michael
said.
    “Isn’t everyone when it comes to Tim-Tams?”
    “I’m not a fan of the dunk.”
    Angie blinked, genuinely surprised. “Really? How can you not
enjoy a dunk?”
    “I don’t like it when the biscuit gets all soggy and
waterlogged.”
    “But that’s the best part!”
    Michael laughed. “There’s no need to look so outraged.”
    “I feel outraged. Next thing you’re going to tell me you don’t
like The Sound of Music .”
    “I can take it or leave it.”
    “Get out of here.”
    He laughed again. He looked so carefree, so much like his old
self that she felt a warm sense of achievement.
    She wanted him to be happy.
    The thought had barely registered when she became aware of two
things in rapid succession. The first was that his shoulder was solid and warm
against her own, their upper arms touching.
    And the second was that they were completely alone in the
house.
    A strange heat raced down her spine and spread throughout her
body. It was the third time it had happened now and she recognized it for what
it was straight away—sexual awareness.
    Or, more accurately, sexual attraction.
    I am not attracted to Michael. No way.
    The denial was instant, a knee-jerk response. She shifted on
her stool, moving away so that they were no longer touching. The feeling
remained. She frowned, shifting her coffee mug unnecessarily on the counter.
    “You know what I’ve always wanted to try? The straw thing. You
ever done that?” Michael asked.
    “Um, I don’t think so.”
    “Guess there’s no time like the present.” He bit off both ends
of his cookie then stuck one end in his mug. His cheeks hollowed as he attempted
to suck coffee through the center of the cookie.
    Even though she was more than a little alarmed and unsettled by
her reaction to his closeness, she couldn’t help laughing as the makeshift straw
dissolved in his fingers and crumbled.
    “Now that’s what I call waterlogged,” she said.
    Michael stared into his mug for a second before shrugging. “You
win some, you lose some.”
    He had melted chocolate on his fingers and he licked it