Ghostly Liaison by Stacy McKitrick Read Free Book Online Page A

then go for it. But I know how much you love to work out there. Better yet, why don’t you take a few days off? Go fishing or camping or something. While you’re away, I can get a crew into Charlie’s house and fix it up for you. Then maybe you can sell the place.”
    “You don’t have to do that.” Rob waved a dismissive hand and returned to his seat. “I’m taking care of the house. I got a sitter and I plan on fixing it up myself.”
    “A sitter?”
    An image of Bridget and her fine ass made him smile. “Yeah, a sitter. She needed a place to stay and I needed someone there during the night.”
    Carl leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “She? Is this she pretty?”
    She was pretty and sexy and…oh yeah, off-limits. At least until she gave him the green light, and he would certainly do everything he could to get it. “It’s not like that. She’s Kate’s cousin.”
    “Which one? The pretty one you hung out with at the wedding?”
    “No. The one in the accident.”
    “Really? Is she disabled? Unable to work?”
    “No, nothing like that. She’s just getting back on her feet and Kate asked if I could help. You know, now that I think of it, I will take the afternoon off. I promised her I’d fix the hole in the bathroom first. No reason why I couldn’t start now.” And then maybe later he could talk her into dinner.
    * * * *
    Bridget’s bike riding stint had come back to bite her twofold. Not only did every muscle protest the abuse, her knee had swollen causing her to walk with a slight limp. But she was smiling. And why? Any day living on her own was a good day in her book.
    Bridget approached her house—though not technically hers, it seemed like it all the same—and found the garage door open with Rob’s truck backed in the driveway. Just thinking about seeing him again made her heart skip a few beats.
    Any thought of Rob got her motor running, which would only lead to heartache later on. The man would probably stop by frequently to fix the place. She needed to get herself together. Better to think of him as being a slob or an ungrateful pig, not the hunky and sweet specimen he projected.
    The door was unlocked, of course, and she let herself in. Slopping and scraping noises came from the bathroom. Bridget stepped around the small workbench and peeked into the bathroom.
    A chalky, dusty smell mixed in with the scent of her shampoo and soap. Rob crouched in the small room holding a trowel in one hand and wearing a blue chambray shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. He hummed a tune she didn’t recognize, but his jeans caught her attention. Or at least the ass that filled those jeans. Oh crap! She shouldn’t be looking at his ass. He and his ass were off-limits. But damn. His ass looked finer than fine. Her heart palpitated and her body clenched in need for something she hadn’t experienced in a very long time. She tore her gaze away and paid attention to what he was doing. He’d applied spackle around the new section of drywall. The hole was gone.
    “Wow! You work fast!” she said.
    He jerked and looked her way, pulling the earbuds free. His shocked expression morphed into a growing smile. “You don’t mind, do you?”
    “Well, now that you ask, I was growing attached to the passageway. I didn’t have to walk around to toss my towel back in the bathroom.”
    He scanned the area. “I don’t recall seeing a towel lying around.”
    “Oh. Well, I had to go back in and pick it up.” She laughed. “Can’t stand a messy room.”
    He laughed with her. “Me either.”
    So much for him being a slob. Sexy and clean. She was doomed. Oh wait, he could still be an ungrateful pig. There was hope yet.
    “I’m finished for today,” he said. “Care to join me for dinner?”
    She would have declined except for Charlie. Or would that be the hallucination who called herself Charlie? Better to have dinner with Rob, find out his sister had red hair and green eyes, and then enjoy her last good