23. Brick

I swear, I still had the scent of bacon in my nostrils the next day at work and the words, I knew you were a keeper, floating through my head as I tapped the end of my Montblanc against the top of my desk and tried to concentrate on work.

But I couldn't.

I had some designs to look over and consider, a new assistant I still needed to hire, and some calls to make with a couple of fabric manufacturers, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the woman I seemed to end up with every night.

She’d gotten under my skin.

What’s more, I actually liked her there. I liked hanging out with her, even when we weren’t having sex.

It was weird.

Take last night for example. After supper, I’d put my new hammer to use and installed a couple of hooks on the wall in her living room so I could hang her ax there to display it properly.

“How’s this look?” I had asked, lifting my hand from the finished project and backing away slowly, nodding out my own satisfaction as I went.

When she’d answered, “Perfect,”