She closed the door in my face and I stood there like an idiot for at least five minutes, contemplating the thought of knocking on her door.

And say what?

Since this morning, I haven't been able to get the image of her body out of my head. Then in an instant, because life likes to screw with my head, my arms were around that same body and I do nothing. My head can spew all the rationality it wants right now but every other part of me regrets not kissing her.

So close, so tempting and just so plain wrong. I turned on my heel and marched back to the house, if I stayed there any longer, I would really do something stupid. The house was quiet and dark since mom had switched off all the lights and I walked the empty halls to my room.

At one point there were a lot of people living in this house, now it was just me and mom. After my dad died and Jackson moved into his own place it's been getting too big for just the two of us. I've tried many times to convince my mom to get a smaller place but she wasn't having any of it, this is the home she and my dad built together, were Jackson and I were born and raised here. We've all had so many memories here and I knew it was hard to move on but eventually we would have to. Mom was the most stubborn person I have ever known and if she didn't want to do something well then nobody could force her.

Sleep evaded me so I did what I usually do. Overthink and overanalize everything. There was only one solution, I hade to stay away from Katelyn and with her not at the house it was going to be easy. For the most part at least.

The very next morning, I was up at the ass crack of dawn and long before the rooster even thought to crow. The house was quiet but I knew it wouldn't be long before everyone started showing up.

My mind flicked back to last night and the way Liam had looked at Katelyn and I clenched my fists. Katelyn may have seen the small interaction as nothing but friendly but I knew Liam, and he was trying to rile me up. For all the stupid shit that he's said and done, he was still the smartest, most conniving asshole I've ever known.

Suddenly the idea of sneaking put to avoid Katelyn didn't seem so appealing anymore. Then my mind drifted to last night, holding her in my arms and almost kissing her.

So what if Liam tries with Katelyn, who cares?

I snuck out the back door, walked around the house and hopped into my truck. The drive to Katelyn's house was relatively quiet and I was there within ten minutes. On the porch I sent a text to Liam telling him to meet me here when he was done eating all my food.

He may act like an idiot sometimes but he was one of the best people to help with this job, I should know, my dad taught me and Liam everything we know. While I took over my family business, Liam started his own auto body shop and was doing pretty well for himself.

Once in the house, I started taking note of everything that needed to be done. We had to remove all the wall paneling throughout the house so that the electrician and plumber could do their work. So I would start at the foyer then work my way back to the living room, kitchen, dining room and downstairs bathroom.

I started on the foyer, pulling out all of the old rusted nails when I was done dawn had already broken and sunlight was streaming in through the crack in the curtain. Although I knew that was a big job, too big for just one man, I loved working alone. The silence was an old welcomed friend.

The silence, however, was disturbed by the annoying rev of an overzealous engine. I groaned but remembered that I asked him here so I'd have to stick a pin in it, for now. There was still the whole Katelyn thing I wanted to strangle him for.

The front door burst open and instead of Liam, Katelyn stood in the doorway and she looked pissed. Her eyes swept across the destroyer foyer and landed on me. It wasn't supposed to be possible, but her face darkened ever so slightly and I would have dismissed the fact if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I frowned, "I think, and I'm taking a wild guess here, my job!"

"I told you I wanted to help! I passed your little test yesterday."

That made me laugh out loud, "You took out one couch," I held up one finger, "one Tarzan. That doesn't qualify you do do construction work!"

Katelyn visibly bristled as she took several steps towards me. If it wasn't for the fact that she only reached my chest in height, I may have found her threatening. Instead, I found her highly attractive and that was even worse.

"This is my house! I have every right to be here."

My patience started running out, I've done this for a very long time and the last thing I needed was a pint-sized supervisor with a stick up her ass. I knew what I was doing! Why couldn't she just let me do it?

"You're paying me to do a job, that's what I'm doing. You don't have to be here all the time, I know what I'm doing!"

"The hell I can't!"

Her eyes bore into mine and I felt the intensity drain all the fight from me. I had no idea why but I got the feeling that this was somehow important to her, like this was more than just a house.

"Fine, what are you even going to do here?"

"Whatever you ask me to. I only want to be apart of this."

I frowned, "Why?"

Katelyn hesitated, "it's important to me, that's all you need to know."

"Fine, go call Liam. He's probably just waiting for the smack-down."

Katelyn laughed and turned around but in the process her foot slipped. She grabbed a hold of one of the loose paneling and screamed. When her hand came back it was red with blood.

I jumped forward and grabbed her arm, looking back, I saw a rusted nail sticking from the paneling she'd just grabbed. Katelyn's eyes went wide as she stared at the blood pooling in her hand. When her eyes came up to mine, I saw all the color drain from her face.

Her head dropped and she looked back at the blood. I cupped her cheek and forced her eyes to meet mine, "Look at me, you're going to be okay. It's just a small cut."

It was relatively small but she would still need to see a doctor, the nail was rusted and the last thing we needed was her to get an infection. I slowly guided her to the door but Katelyn's feet crumbled under her. I steadied her weight, which was barely nothing, with my arm around her waist. It took me about a minute to realize that she had fainted.

Under any other circumstance, I would have found the whole thing funny but right now, I needed to get her to a doctor. I scooped her up in my arms and her head rolled against my chest. When I walked outside Liam's eyes went wide.

"Well maybe I should have gone in with her after all," Liam's eyes fell to Katelyn's bleeding hand and all the humor disappeared from his face, "what happened?"

"She cut herself on a nail, bring me the first aid kit from my truck, we need to bandage her hand."

I tossed him the keys from my jean pocket and Liam turned and sprinted to the truck. He came back seconds later with the first aid kit already open and a bandage in his hand. I sat down on the porch with Katelyn still knocked out cold in my lap.

Liam took Katelyn's hand and I resisted the urge to shove him away. After he bandaged her hand, I stood up with her.

"Give me the keys, I'm taking her to a doctor."

Liam didn't hesitate and tossed me the keys back then I helped Katelyn into the passenger seat and strapped in the safety belt. I rushed around the truck and hopped in.

Popping my head out the window I said to Liam, "Make sure all the nails are out. I'll be back soon."

Liam nodded his head just as I put the truck into gear and started speeding away from the driveway. Halfway through town, Katelyn groaned from the passenger seat.

"What happened?"

Her voice was groggy and I smiled to myself, "You kind of passed out."

She shut her eyes tight and I noticed her cheeks change from pale to pink, "oh god, I fainted?"

"To be fair there was quite a bit of blood." I laughed.

"Yeah, that'll do it, I've never been good around blood. Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to a doctor."

Katelyn instantly sat up and panic laced her voice, "That's not necessary, I'm fine. It's just a little cut."

"That nail was rusted, it could cause and infection."

"Lucas, really it's fine."

I shook my head, "I'm taking you to a doctor even if I have to drag you there."

"And I'm telling you it's not necessary. I'm not a child!"

"Then stop acting like one!"

Katelyn sat back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. I could care less if she was pissed, this was for her own good so why did she have to be so damn stubborn about it?

Dr. Jenkins office came into view and I pulled into the driveway . When I got out I saw that Katelyn was still sitting in the truck. I walked around the truck and knocked on the window. Katelyn huffed and turned away from me and locked the door.

I cursed under my breath, "I have the key you know? I could just open the door."

Oh the insanity. She claimed she wasn't a child but here she was acting like one and my patience was running dangerously low. I opened the door and bent down low so I could stick my head into the passenger side.

"Katelyn, you are either going to get out of this car and walk in there like a normal person or I could carry you. The choice is yours."

Katelyn turned her head and her nose was inches away from my own, "If you so much as touch me so help me god, I will scream loud enough to burst the sound barrier."

She was a tenacious little thing but now the image of her screaming my name implanted itself in my brain and I almost lost track of my thoughts. I blame all this on seeing her naked, if that didn't happen then this whole situation would have been different.

"Princess, I will drag you in there kicking and screaming your pretty little head off if I have to."

Katelyn's eyes narrowed to mere slits, "You wouldn't dare."

I sighed, clearly this woman was hard of hearing because unlike her, I couldn't care less what people thought of me and boy did I like a dare. I reached in and grabbed Katelyn around her waist and dragged her out of the car. In one swift movement, I launched her over my shoulder. Katelyn started wailing and pounding my back with her good hand and I couldn't help but chuckle. It barely even hurt at all and was more comedic than anything else. We sure did make a sight though.

When people started gawking and whispering, Katelyn ceased her pounding and screaming, "Fine! You win, just put me down!"

I gently lowered her feet to the ground and as soon as they touched the tar she turned to run but I grabbed her arm pulling her to a halt.

"I promise you, I can and will outrun you. This won't be so bad, promise."

If she was pissed before, she was livid now. Electricity was brewing in those storm cloud eyes of hers and I felt them charge me up with excitement. I loved the challenge though, even if she was being unnecessarily difficult. There was something about the fire in her eyes that drew me to her like moth to a flame. A very pissed off, burn-your-house-to-the-ground, kind of flame.

"I hate you for this."

"Fine, but I'm still taking you to the doctor."

With my arm on hers, I guided her into the doctor's office. Katelyn's face was a storm of emotions but one had me feeling like an asshole. She was scare.