Michelle Celmer - Bedroom Secrets

She stepped closer and his pulse began to accelerate. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead and his head began to spin.

Relax. Breathe, in and out.

“My name is Tina DeLuca,” she said, holding out a hand for him to shake. He dreaded the words he knew were coming next. “I’d like the job.”

Brad Pitt, eat your heart out, Tina thought as she tried her best not to stare. They sure knew how to grow them in Chapel, Michigan. For some reason she’d been expecting someone older. Someone not so strikingly handsome or built to complete physical perfection.

Someone who wouldn’t look at her as if…she was a leper.

He retreated a step and waved away her extended hand. “We don’t stand on formality here,” he said.

Oookay.

She let her arm fall to her side. Not quite sure what to do with her hands, she clasped them behind her back. She’d never gone on a job interview before and wasn’t sure of the proper etiquette. Since the time she was old enough to have a real job, she’d been taking care of Aunt Louise. Her people skills were a tad rusty.

“Is the position still open?” she asked.

“Yes, but uh, the pay is pretty low.”

It couldn’t be any lower than the nothing she was currently earning. “That’s okay.”

“I mean really low, like minimum wage.”

“Minimum wage works for me.”

He frowned, his blond brow dipping low over his eyes. “It’s really lousy work.”

She tried to keep her voice cheerful when inside her heart was plummeting. Mae had made this sound like a sure thing. If she didn’t get this job, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Where she would go. She had no place to stay, no place to sleep. “I like to clean. And I have a lot of experience,” she added.

“A pretty girl like you? Wouldn’t you be happier as a model or something?”

A model? Was he kidding? At five foot two and 111 pounds, she wasn’t exactly runway material. “Mr. Douglas—”

“Ty,” he said, then winced, as though revealing his name had been some sort of fatal error. “Everyone around here calls me Ty.”

“Ty, I’m a hard worker.”

“I’m sure you are, Miss…?”

“Where I’m from, people call me Tina.”

“I don’t doubt that you are, Tina. I’m just not sure it would be a very good idea.”

He wasn’t going to hire her. She could tell by the look on his face. He was going to tell her no.

In the back of her mind she could hear the window again, but this time it was slamming shut. All she could do now was stick her fingers in the way and hope they weren’t lobbed off.

She took a deep breath, gathering all her courage, but still her voice shook when she spoke. “I really need this job. I’m desperate.”

“I understand.” He shrugged sympathetically. “I wish I could help you.”

The last bit of strength she’d been clinging to crumbled away, and the dam on her emotions broke. She was so tired of being lonely and afraid and hungry. She was just plain tired.

And she couldn’t be strong another minute. She crumpled into a chair, dropped her face in her hands and started to cry.

Aw, man, he’d made her cry. Ty looked helplessly around, wondering what he should do now. Seeing her bawling, knowing it was his fault, was even worse than the dizziness and the cold sweats.

Well, maybe not worse, but almost as bad. And it could have been avoided if he wasn’t so selfish. He hated what was happening to him, but he didn’t have a clue how to stop it—to fix it. His original plan—ignore it until it goes away—didn’t seem to be working very well.

And now, not only was he miserable, he was dragging other people down with him.

He grabbed a tissue and leaned over his desk to press it into her hand. “Here.”

She took it, wiped her eyes and nose. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to fall apart. It’s been a really bad week.”

“I can relate,” he said. More than once in the past three months he’d felt like sitting down and bawling, too.

“Just give me a minute to pull myself together and I’ll be out of your hair.” As she wiped away fresh tears, he realized there was no makeup on her face to smear. No mascara running down her cheeks. Hers was a natural beauty. Her face didn’t get all blotchy and red when she cried either like a lot of women he’d known. She might have looked wholesome had her dark features not been so exotic.

But she was just a kid. He was guessing no more than sixteen or seventeen. And she must have needed the job pretty badly to get this upset. She looked so lost. So…helpless.

Aw, hell.

“Can you start tomorrow morning?”

She looked up at him, lower lip still quivering. “You’ll hire me?”

She had trouble written all over her. But could he help that he was a sucker for a woman in distress? He knew it was a huge mistake. But it wouldn’t be his first, or his last.

Ignore it until it goes away.

Yeah, right.

He jotted an address on a slip of paper and located the correct key from the top drawer of his desk. He handed them both to her. “Everything you need is at the house. Cleaning supplies, vacuum, mop. The painters finished up two days ago, so everything should be dry by now.”

“I’m doing the entire house?”

“Top to bottom. Is that a problem?”

She shook her head. “No. No problem at all.”

“I want to start showing the property to renters as soon as possible, so try to get it done tomorrow if you can. When you’re done, I’ll come inspect it, and if everything looks good, I’ll cut you a check. If it works out, I have a small office building one block over I’ll need done later this week.”

She was actually smiling now. A brilliant smile that lit her whole face and warmed him from the outside in. He liked too much that he could make her that happy so easily. It shouldn’t have mattered how she felt.

At least he seemed to be over his initial anxiety. As long as he didn’t get too close to her he should be okay. But man, she was pretty. And vulnerable.

What the hell was he doing?

“Thank you Mr.—I mean, Ty. Thank you so much for giving me a chance. You won’t be sorry.”

He almost laughed. He was sorry already.

Tina gazed up at the brick bungalow that matched the address on the slip of paper Ty had given her. It had taken her a long time to find it in the unfamiliar city. So long it was already growing dark. Icy wind whipped around her, penetrating her denim pants and thin nylon jacket and sending leaves scurrying down the street. She was cold and exhausted and ached for a restful night of sleep. And a hot shower would be heaven. She hadn’t showered in days, only cleaned herself up as best as a person could in a bus station restroom. Which wasn’t all that great. Her skin felt grimy and her hair dirty and her scalp was itching like crazy.

She couldn’t believe what she was considering doing.

It wasn’t exactly breaking and entering, because she had a key. And it would be for only one night. Tomorrow she would have money for a motel. And a meal. And, of course, she would go back to the diner and pay Mae. If it wasn’t for the kind old woman, Tina wouldn’t have a place to sleep tonight. Or food in her belly.

And Tyler, well, she hadn’t quite figured him out yet. If she didn’t know any better, she would think he was afraid of her. Which didn’t make any sense at all. A man so physically beautiful couldn’t possibly be insecure. Everything about him screamed all-American hero.

Lord knows, he was her hero.

And how would he feel if he knew she was seriously thinking about crashing in his rental house? She would be violating his trust.

Well, not exactly, because technically he never said she couldn’t sleep here tonight. And what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Right? This way, she could get an early start on the cleaning and have it done in plenty of time. Then he would be more likely to give her another building to clean.