Before being awakened, at the unseemly hour of 7:30 am, that is.

She marched down the stairs, still wearing Jackson’s shirt and her terry cloth shorts. Her bare feet barely made any noise on the carpeted stairs. Once she reached the bottom she looked both ways. Nothing seemed amiss. The family room looked undisturbed. The only thing that was different was the can of unopened paint next to the front door.

“Who’s painting at this hour?”

WHIRRRRRRRR.

She jumped, the noise so much louder now that she was downstairs. It had come from behind her, so she spun on her heels and went into the formal living room. It was done all in white with accents of Wedgwood blue. It didn’t look like Jackson’s style at all, but now that she saw how snooty his ex-girlfriend was, she had to wonder if this room reflected her taste.

She bent to look out the window. Matt was kneeling in the front yard next to something that looked like a big piece of white cardboard. A cloud of white dust flew around him. A second later, the noise started again.

WHIRRRRRRRR.

Ridley shook her head. She’d heard Matt when he said he would fix the hole in the wall, but she hadn’t thought he’d come over at the butt crack of dawn to do it. Just when she was about to pull the window up and tell him what she thought of his timing, he stood and pulled his shirt up to wipe his face, exposing a perfect six pack.

“Wow.”

“I’ll let him know you think so.”

Ridley turned slowly to face Jackson. “Oh, um, hi. I came downstairs to see what was making so much noise.”

Not to ogle your best friend’s insanely ripped abs.

Neither of them said anything for a moment and Ridley could only stare at him greedily. He looked just as good wearing slacks and a dress shirt as he had the previous night in nothing but sweatpants. And without sweatpants.

It doesn’t count, remember?

She was the one who’d come up with the stupid idea to keep their sex-a-thon to just one night, but she was already wishing she’d kept her big mouth shut. How was she supposed to pretend she didn’t know what he looked like under his clothes? That his skin was smooth and warm and tasted like wet silk. She shivered and crossed her arms.

Just then the door opened and Matt stepped in carrying a piece of the white cardboard. Jackson rushed over to help him.

“I needed to replace more than I thought,” Matt said. When he saw Ridley, he raised his chin in greeting. “Morning. Sorry for all the noise. I didn’t even think about it since Jackson sleeps like the dead.”

“Well, I won’t deny I was ready to give you a piece of my mind when that sawing noise woke me up. What were you doing, anyway?”

Jackson pointed to the cardboard that Matt had propped against the wall. “Since he punched out a section of the wall, he had to cut another piece of drywall to replace it. Then we’ll spackle and sand it. After that, we’ll paint over it so it all matches.”

“Oh. I was wondering if you were redecorating or something.”

“Well, it was a forced redecoration.” He smirked at Matt.

“I’ll get out of the way. I’m sure you guys have a lot of work to do.” She walked back to the stairs.

“Hey, wait.” Jackson jogged over to stand next to her. Since she was on the second stair she was able to look him right in the eye. The perfect height so that she couldn’t avoid his whisky brown gaze.

Geez.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay after last night.” He stepped closer until he brushed up against her. “I wish I could have kept you in my bed all night.”

Pleasure spread through her at his words. “I understand. I wouldn’t want the boys to come running in and see me there. Plus, we did say just one night.”

His eyes searched hers. “Yeah, just one night.” Then he looked away and cleared his throat. “Anyway, I hate to do this but I need a favor.”

“Of course. Whatever you need.”

“The babysitter my mom recommended is coming over this morning. Her name is Bessie Johnson. The thing is, I have an early meeting with a director about my group’s first music video that I don’t want to miss. If it was anyone else, I would cancel but it’s not like I really need to meet her since I’ve known her for years. Would you mind letting her in?”

“Of course. After everything you’ve done for me, I’d love to be able to return the favor.”

He let out a breath. “Oh, good. I hate to ask but I really don’t want to cancel on this director. He’s our first choice and hard to pin down. So, ok. Um, Chris is old enough to pour cereal; they just need help with the milk. Once Miss Bessie arrives, she can take it from there.”

Ridley put her hands on his shoulders. “It’s going to be fine. Breathe!”

“It’s been kind of stressful. The boys’ grandmother used to watch them four days out of the week and then my mom would take them on Fridays. But now that Cynthia’s mom has moved away, I’m really struggling. It’s harder than I thought to find a childcare provider that you trust.”

“Of course it is. After all, this isn’t something you can afford to get wrong. I totally understand.”

“Thank you. Hey, you should come with me sometime. I’m working on something a little different and I’d love to get your take on it. I’m trying to branch out into pop music and I’ve found this girl group that I think could be the next big thing.”