Josie groaned. Throbbing pain on her lower back made her wince with every step. Physical and mental exhaustion had her worn out mentally and physically.
For so long she’d had a nice job in a cushy office. Until her divorce, she’d never known what it was really like to work so physically hard and earn so little, and with people who did nothing but disrespect you. They took one look at her curves and judged her. All her life, she had dealt with people who thought because she was bigger she had no feelings.
She was in better health than ninety-five percent of them, too. She just had her physical and the doctor confirmed it; she was in fantastic shape. That didn’t make her a bad person, and she was tired of anorexic housewives looking down their noses at her.
Josie pulled her car to a stop outside Xander’s apartment and waited, debating what to do. Part of her wanted to run and never look back. The sane part reminded her how much she needed that money. She could do this.
She had survived the slander and abuse her ex dealt out, so surely, she could handle one panty-dropping man for a few nights. Right. Maybe if she had enough wine in her. Who was she kidding? Wine would probably make her panties drop even faster.
This was for Nick. What made things harder was that she couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t get Xander out of her mind. All day she’d done nothing but imagine his sexy eyes, that gorgeous smile, and his voice. His voice had sent shivers racing down her back.
She barely knew the man, but he was going to drive her to drinking at this rate. Her heart told her he was the one. That alone was enough to send her running for the hills. How could she feel anything for a guy she’d barely spent a few hours with? All because he’d come to her rescue. She needed to stop the whole Cinderella mentality and get her shit together.
She climbed out of the car and marched toward his door with determined strides. She debated about knocking or just entering. He’d given her a key, but was that too presumptuous? Josie hesitated and glanced around, trying to decide what to do. She smoothed down her skirt and pushed the loose strands of hair behind her ear.
She was glad she had brought a change of clothes, but now all she wanted was to take a shower, minus the Twister game, and go to bed. She knocked twice and then opened the door and stepped inside hesitantly.
Surprise stopped her in her tracks. What the hell? Was she in the wrong place? The apartment had been transformed. The dartboard had been replaced by a scenic painting of bears playing in a stream surrounded by the forest.
The disco ball was gone and replaced with two elegant lamps, one on each side of the still very large couch. The pool table had a covering on it that transformed it into a table and it even had chairs around it. The table was set and had candles and flowers in the middle.
Xander stepped out of the kitchen with a bottle of wine and smiled. “Hey, sweetheart. Welcome home.”
Josie floundered for a response, her mouth dry at the sexy vision he made standing before her. Did he just call her sweetheart? Great. That’s all she needed, pet names.
He wore a formfitting old T-shirt. She could tell it was a favorite from how worn-out it was. Jeans that rode low on his sexy hips and had faded patches from too many washings. Bare feet and the sexiest grin she could ever recall seeing on a man.
“I hope you’re not offended when I say that outfit on you is giving me some very interesting ideas, and none of them have to do with cleaning.”
She blushed and laughed at his words. He was sincere, if the clear lust on his face was any indication. She licked her lips and looked up at him from beneath her lowered lashes. “You have a thing for curvy maids, do you?”
Xander cleared his throat and set the wine bottle down. “I have a thing for you, and now after seeing you dressed like that, I have to admit I just might have a thing for your curves in that.”
Josie’s blood heated. He slowly stalked closer, the heat in his eyes threatening to burn her alive. “I need to take a shower. I’m all gross and dirty from working.” She turned and fled to the safety of her room. A low growl sounded behind her. She didn’t dare stop to look. She was too close to throwing caution to the wind, and for once giving in to her hormones for melt-your-batteries-hot-loving time. Of course, that could only happen once she did take a shower. Not now. No way.
A soft knock at the door made Josie jump. She leaned her head against the door and whispered past the dryness in her throat. “Yes?”
“Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. Unless you want to try out the Twister shower with me, and in that case, I can put the food to warm so we have time.”
It didn’t matter that she heard the humor in his voice. She was so very tempted and almost groaned aloud at his words. The images that suggestion created in her mind were positively decadent. “Fifteen minutes is perfect. I will be out in ten, no problem.”
She waited with her ear pressed to the door for his footsteps to move down the hall. If she saw him right now, she’d be in trouble. Oh, such trouble. There was no doubt she would jump him and ride him all night long. Her hands trembled at how badly she wanted to open the door and invite him in. It took all her might to hold her ground.
She quickly gathered a change of clothes and headed into the shower. This was going to be torture. Her body hummed. Her skin felt hot, tight, and so sensitive. She was sure she could come from just the slightest touch.
Thirteen minutes later, Josie hesitantly entered the kitchen to offer her help. She burst into laughter as she came around the corner and found Xander with his head in the freezer. “What are you doing?”
Xander jumped back with a curse. “Shit, I didn’t hear you come in. I, um, was um…” He sighed and blushed. “I was cooling off. To be honest, knowing you were in the shower after seeing you in that outfit, I got a little overheated, I guess you could say.”
She bit her lip, heat crowding her cheeks. To know he wanted her that much made her ache. She moved to sit so it wouldn’t be obvious that she was soaking through her panties. She was glad she had put one of her nicer bras on. This one helped hide the fact that her nipples were at attention and begging for his mouth.
“Would you like a glass of wine? I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I went with something simple. It’s an old family recipe, honey-basil chicken. I also have fresh green beans and new potatoes, and for dessert a three-layer chocolate fudge cake.”
“You cooked all that? When did you have time?”
Xander looked sheepish as he placed the food on the table. “My best friend, Keir, sent me home from work. He said if I didn’t leave, I was going to have to hire new employees as half of them were threatening to quit. I might have been a bit anxious to come home and see you and get to know you better.”
“I’m flattered, and a bit intimidated.” She glanced around the kitchen. “You went to so much work. It smells amazing.”
“Good, all I wanted was to make you smile.” He passed her the dishes one by one and urged her to eat as much as she wanted. “Don’t be embarrassed to eat around me. I appreciate a woman who doesn’t hold back.”
“I was surprised to see the changes in the apartment today,” she said hesitantly, curious as to what he would say about it.
“I should have done it years ago. I just got complacent and didn’t think about it. No one ever comes here, and I spend too many hours at the office out of boredom. I can’t tell you how embarrassed I was when I realized what you were going to walk into. I wasn’t able to do much on short notice, but I tried.”
She grinned at how quickly he went from big tough man to slightly embarrassed. “It looks wonderful, Xander, but you didn’t have to worry. I wasn’t judging you by this apartment. I could tell what type of man you were from the minute I met you in that alley.”
“Speaking of that, how is the bruise today? The colors are definitely coming out quite nicely. Did you have any problems at work over it?”
Josie frowned slightly at his words. “Actually, I did. My boss isn’t happy. She is making me take the next few days off. Something about giving the clients a bad impression.”
“Seriously?” he spat, his tone deeper into a rough growl. “Did you tell her how it happened? That it wasn’t your fault. You were attacked.”
Josie reached out and placed her hand on top of his and squeezed gently. “It’s okay. I knew that was a possibility when I went in this morning. These people are rich, snotty housewives who already think we’re trash. I really don’t mind taking a few days away from the nasty remarks and veiled criticisms of my body.”
Xander’s face grew red, and for a second, she was mesmerized watching him sprout a beard out of nowhere. “That’s not a way to handle this kind of situation. Clearly your company needs to be advised of proper employee human resources management.”
They lapsed into silence after that, both eating their meals very aware of the other’s stolen glances. The tension continued to rise as they made small talk about their days and what they liked to do.