Free Wild Fling or a Wedding Ring? by Mira Lyn Kelly

half done. Maybe a little more.” She blew out a breath. “I just can’t wait to finish. I’m ready to be settled in, you know.”
    “Yep. I get that.” He remembered the frustration of a life in limbo all too clearly, and imagined that with the frequency Cali moved the stability of a home environment was even more important to her.
    As she rested against the wall, the thumb she’d hooked into her front pocket slipped free, and she jerked as if she’d beenthree-quarters to sleep already. Jake’s focus narrowed on the smudges around her face, the shadows beneath her eyes. “Did you sleep?”
    “A little. Late-night working.”
    He reached out and brushed a streak of dirt from her cheekbone, letting his thumb run slowly across the delicate rise. No reaction beyond the sluggish shifting of her gaze to meet his. This was beyond tired. “That’s it. As a professional courtesy to the ER doctors on duty today, I’m taking you off box-cutting duty before you take off a digit.”
    Her nose crinkled in confusion.
    “I’m going to help you,” he clarified, in his most unyielding tone.
    She was beat, all right, without any fight left to muster. Too tired to shield the relief and gratitude that flooded her eyes. Too tired to make up some lame excuse to try and keep her distance. “Really?”
    Jake nodded as the elevator doors opened on seventeen. He took her arm, leading her down the hall to his door. “Quick pitstop here for some emergency rations.”
    Letting her in to his place, he went straight for the fridge and grabbed a couple of cans of soda. “Caffeine boost,” he said, handing her one. “Drink up.”
    Cali tipped the can back, taking a long swallow, and then followed him down the hall.
    “Jake, you’ve got to have more exciting things to do than sit around and unload boxes with me.”
    As a rule, most anything was more exciting than unpacking someone else’s stuff. Except this someone was Cali—and she happened to have a four-inch smudge of dirt peaking out of her cleavage. But even without that tantalizing attraction he liked being around her. Liked getting a rise out her and watching her frantic retreat when he got just that much too close.
    “I don’t know. I could get lucky and score the box with your racy panty collection and your dirty tell-all diary.”
    A reluctant smile spread over her lips as one fist settled on her hip. “Hate to rain on your parade, but neither exists.”
    “Then I’ll just have to settle for this being my good deed for the day.”
    “By keeping me out of the emergency room?”
    “Like you’d even make it there. One glimpse of the blood and you’d be out on the floor, your A-positive staining the hardwood. Really, my generosity is selfishly motivated.”
    She snickered behind him, sounding more alert already. “The cleaning and all?”
    “Exactly. Now, let’s get a move on.”
    Within a few hours they’d finished unpacking, and Cali’s apartment had begun to look like a home. Pictures of her family sat out on a corner table, books and knick-knacks filled her shelves. They’d even hung a few black and white framed prints on the walls. She’d tried to shoo him out over those hours, but Jake wouldn’t give and they’d ended up working and talking through the early afternoon.
    It had been easy. Fun.
    Being with Cali was unlike being with anyone else. There was just something about her he couldn’t quite get enough of. She’d asked him about his marriage and, to his surprise, he’d actually told her. Given her the nutshell version of his biggest failure. The “high school sweethearts getting hitched too early” song and dance. He’d been able to own up to the fact that he hadn’t had the slightest clue as to how to be a good husband, and Cali had seemed to understand.
    When she’d asked what had finally happened to end things, he’d told her about Pam’s affair in one concise sentence. He didn’t like to talk about it, didn’t like to think about it,