Free The Sextet - Occupational Hazards [The Sextet Anthology, Volume 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by The Sextet

marred his features made her wonder if she might have been wrong—perhaps he had meant to be flirtatious. Angelica wasn’t much good at that sort of thing herself, nor was she adept when it came to recognizing it in others. Her friend Joan had taken to giving her a kick or a nudge whenever a man showed interest because Angelica just plain couldn’t see it. Unfortunately, her upbringing had stressed that men were the ones who did the chasing; women were supposed to wait patiently for Prince Charming to come riding up on his steed. For her to go after a man was about as likely as for that old oak to shake its leaves and stand itself upright again.
    She had been known to look, however, and was steeling herself to keep from checking out Tyrone’s left hand when he saved her the trouble. Reaching up to scratch the side of his face, he drew her attention not only to the fact that he wasn’t wearing a ring, but also to the dark, sexy stubble on his cheek. He’d been clean shaven anytime she’d seen him before, but had evidently missed out on the usual quality time with his razor that morning.
    She was reminding herself that a lot of men didn’t wear wedding rings—particularly those who worked with their hands—when a voice called out from below. “Hey, Ty, could you give us a hand with the tarp?”
    “Be right down,” Tyrone yelled back.
    “Look, I really need to take a shower and get out of here,” Angelica said. “I’ve got a meeting with the bank this morning. If I can’t convince them to cough up a little more money, this project may be dead in the water anyway.”
    “You’ve got insurance, don’t you?” His concern seemed genuine, until Angelica realized that if she didn’t get the money, he didn’t get the full job. What a mercenary...
    “For the storm damage, yes, but the more I get into this project, the more things I find that need fixing or replacing.”
    “Still going through with it?”
    “Oh, yeah. I’ve gotten this far, and I’m not going to quit now. I’ve got savings, and I’ve been buying furniture for this place ever since I inherited it three years ago.”
    His gaze focused on her to the point that she could have called it penetrating. “You know, most bed-and-breakfasts are run by more than one person, usually a married couple. Are you really planning to do this all by yourself? Ever thought about taking on a partner?”
    Married couple. He just had to rub it in, didn’t he? “I know it’s a lot of work. I had a…a friend who was going to go into business with me, but he, well, he dropped out at the last minute. An investor or two would be a plus, and I’ll probably hire someone to help me, but I’m not sure I want to deal with a partner right now—especially someone I don’t know very well.”
    He nodded. “I can understand that. I’ve been partners with Luke and Derrick for several years now, but we’ve known each other since grade school. We’ve had our differences, of course, but we work well together.” His eyes never left hers. “I couldn’t do this kind of work alone.”
    The intensity of his gaze made her stammer. “I…I hadn’t intended to do this alone, either. It just turned out that way. Best laid plans and all that…” She glanced at the clock. “I’ve really got to get moving if I’m gonna make that meeting. Something tells me being late won’t help my chances for getting a bigger loan.”
    “I’ll get out of your way then. We’ll at least cut up the part of the tree that’s on the roof and get the tarp nailed down today.” This time his smile was reassuring. “And don’t worry, Angelica, we can fix it.”

    * * * *

    Ty jogged down the stairs. Great staircase. It was the one thing that didn’t need much work, though it could stand to be refinished. Unlike the rest of the house. Angelica was right about continually finding new things that needed fixing, like a rotted-out roof. His bid hadn’t included a new roof. They’d focused more