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I was glad I’d worn my sweatshirt when I walked into the yard from the kitchen and felt a cool breeze The path to Willialy lined with solar la open doorway So mischievous in me wanted to surprise hi In my sneakers, it wasn’t hard to be silent on the brick path

A haht have been operated by machinery I knew that Willia it for several years, as a matter of fact, and I’d adined he had a lot of work to catch up on

But there wouldn’t be any ht We had important work to do Williah the open door and, as I’d hoped, I caught his in one hand and hales on and jeans with a full leather apron I was briefly reods of Greece But he had been defor about William’s body that could even be remotely described as defor hiut A pleasant punch, actually I inhaled a deep breath and drank hi as his biceps and triceps bunched and stretched with the rhyth--superb I hadn’t noticed under all that arood physical shape Willia out and training he’d been doing over the last four ht scruined those shapely, solid arms wrapped around me Distractedly, I licked my lips and looked away, startled and even a little unsettled by this powerful jolt of attraction I’d always thought Willia and kneas attracted to hiotta-have-him sort of way At least not until now

Suddenly, the ha with the attractive ripple in his back , Williahtened and said, "You’re thirty-three minutes late"

My jaw dropped How the heck did he do that? Had I been breathing too heavily or so? Damn "Oh, uh I’ainst the piece he orking on, but he still didn’t look atthe doorbell"

Oh shit I’d couard…and he sounded pissed off about it Though honestly, it was always hard to tell with him He was like a Vulcan on steroidsto stifle a little heat--both from embarrassment and irritation

"Your bad what?"

"Uh…" Okay, noas coht with you This needs ain, then added, "Oh, good evening I hope you are well" He recited the words as if he’d learned that that’s how you greet a person Like he actually was a Vulcan who had just landed on the planet wielding his trusty guide, The Custootten myself into

While I watched William finish his piece, I continued to be disturbed by how much the movement in his back and armto take in the shelves of his workshop Atop each shelf were pieces--soress--all meticulously labeled with their intended destination They were arden implements and lots of metal buckles for period-style belts, armor straps, weapon sheaths and canvas tents People who made these other items depended on William to supply them with the hardware

There were alsofor practice I’d read somewhere that it took years and years of fullti This was William’s hobby, but from the looks of his workshop--fully tricked out with his own forge and bellows--it was a serious hobby

I also spotted a full suit of armor on a stand in the corner It did not reseet a closer look In the process, I stole a glance at hiht on his sweat-coated upper body as he bent to drop his piece in the bucket of water With a slight hiss, it sank to the bottoles and pulled his apron from around his neck

I stopped in my tracks Now his chest was fully exposed and I had to suppress a gasp Heat rose to my face Holy Artemis, he was hot His chest was all sharp planes and les, and it looked very, very hard I stopped fantasizing about touching hi hi, and he, in turn, atching ain focused on the suit of armor

"Don’t touch that," he said as my hand was halfway extended toward the breastplate I jerked it back, flustered

"That piece is broken and needs to be fixed…it’s too delicate to handle right now"

"Huh I was just wondering where the Ark Reactor was…" I snarked, still staring at the wall "It’s obviously not, um, not on your chest--" I cut myself off, thankful that he couldn’t see , irl I sed the thick lump in my throat

William pulled his piece from the water bucket--or at least that’s what it sounded like "That’s not an Iron Man suit Those don’t actually exist"

I laughed "Yeah, I knew that I wasn’t expecting you to go flying around or anything" I faced hianytiht, you know"

He blinked "I’m finished I just need to bank the fire It won’t take all night Just a ht he was o was merely to help me blow off some steam I was flustered and embarrassed--both at my reaction to hiuy, he would have checked me out twice by now Instead, he’d barely looked at me since I arrived