Free Heating Up by Stacy Finz Page A

fridge and opened a tin of caramels, popping three in his mouth. Damn, they were good—and unexpectedly salty. He looked at the package. “Made with the finest sea salt,” it said.
    Hmm, good idea , he thought. It cut the sweetness. But he needed real food and decided to hit the Nugget Market as soon as he found an air conditioner. First, he needed a shower. On his way to the bathroom, he couldn’t help himself from peeking inside Dana’s room. Everything matched. The walls, the bedding, the window coverings. She must’ve worked around the clock.
    Aidan shut her door, stripped down in the bathroom, and jumped in the shower. He’d left his toiletries at Sloane and Brady’s, so he’d have to forgo shaving. After four days away, he’d gotten pretty scruffy. He used Dana’s soap and shampoo and hoped she wouldn’t mind. There’d be no way to hide it because he smelled like her. Peaches and vanilla.
    He dried off, wrapped a towel around his waist, and headed to his bedroom when who should he meet coming down the hallway but Dana. She got one look at him and covered her eyes with her hands.
    â€œSorry, sorry. Oh God, I just knew this would happen.”
    â€œWhat?” he said. “It’s not like I’m naked.”
    â€œWell, you may as well be.”
    â€œYou’ve never seen a guy’s chest before?”
    â€œOf course I have.”
    He had a good mind to flash the rest of himself. Instead, he took his sweet-ass time walking to his room. “I know you’re looking.”
    â€œNo, I’m not.”
    He heard her door bang shut and smiled. The lady was a prude. Aidan shuffled through the boxes until he discovered the one he wanted, sifted through the contents, found underwear and cargo shorts, and tugged them both on. He shoved the rest of the stuff into his dresser drawers. In another carton, he found his T-shirts, pulled one over his head, and unpacked the rest. Two boxes down, ten more to go. They could wait till later.
    He found a crate of tennis shoes stashed in the closet and put them on without socks. Too hot. In the kitchen, he found Dana making a sandwich.
    â€œThe house looks great, like a freaking model home. Thanks for doing all this.” He looked around the kitchen, noting her little touches everywhere. Matching towels hanging from hooks near the sink. A big bowl of fruit on the counter. She’d even put a list of emergency numbers on the refrigerator. “To repay you, I’m gonna install us some sort of cooling system, even window fans if that’s all I can find.”
    She lifted the hair off the back of her neck, and for some reason, he found it sexy as hell. “That’s great because it’s been so hot in here I can’t sleep at night even with the windows open. This is pretty unusual for the Sierra. Typically, it cools down in the evening. Where do you plan to go?”
    â€œI don’t know. Is there a big hardware store around here?”
    â€œReno has the biggest ones. But you could try Mountain Hardware in Clio. We could call first.” She grabbed a phone book out of a drawer. Yep, she was that organized.
    He used his cell to call, and while he waited for someone to answer, asked Dana, “Slow work week?”
    â€œAre you kidding? I sold two places. One, a farm on the outside of town to this really great couple who raise sheep and alpacas.”
    A man from the hardware store came on the phone and Aidan paced around the small kitchen, telling him what he needed. He signed off and said, “They’ve got a couple different window units. I say we get one for every room.”
    She blinked up at him. “That’ll cost a fortune.”
    â€œNah.” He shook his head, then noticed the back door had a screen and opened it. “We don’t need one for the kitchen, just the living room and two bedrooms. I’m paying, anyway.”
    He watched her cut her sandwich in