Down for Her by Melissa Chambers (best e books to read txt) 📗

a note like this. I’m pretty sure she assumes someone magically handles that for everyone. She’s always had someone clean her house…and so have I, for that matter.

It hits me that I could clean. Why can’t I? Sure, I’ve never done it before, but it can’t be that hard. The supplies are sitting right here.

I pull out the caddy and set it on the counter, investigating the bottles. Then I look around at the carnage of this place. You can’t actually clean surfaces until those surfaces are empty. I put on the rubber gloves and grab the trash can. I dump in day/week/month-old food from both the living room and the kitchen. Then I load the dishwasher full of nasty, caked-on pans and put soap in.

I find a brand-new broom in the closet with the cardboard still on it and sweep the floors in the kitchen and throughout the small dining room, living room, and hallway. I squirt toilet bowl cleaner all over the commode and then stare perplexedly into the water with the black mold on the sides. “How does that get clean?” I ask myself.

I take to Google, and thanks to a very helpful video, I find that the cleaner actually goes into the water. I decide to let that soak a minute while I figure out how to get the rest of the cleaner off the outside of the toilet. I’m pretty sure there’s no video for that.

I hear the front door open, and then two guys’ voices sound through the house. I sincerely hope neither of them has to pee right away. I walk into the hallway holding up my gloved hands. “I’m cleaning.”

“I can see that,” says a cute Hispanic guy. “I’m Val.”

“I’m Kylie. I hope this was okay.”

“Sure,” he says, coming down the hallway. “Knock yourself out.”

I squint at him. “Actually, do you know anything about cleaning toilets? I mean, I understand the inside where the water is, but the outside…is there a special sponge for that or something?”

He turns around and eyes Brett, who’s coming down the hallway behind him. “Is she serious?”

“Sounds like it,” Brett says, and they both come into the bathroom, inspecting my work.

“I didn’t want to use a towel,” I say. “That seems unsanitary…for the towel.”

Val leaves the room and Brett stands there looking at my phone propped up running a video of a woman mopping floors. “You have curious taste in porn. Is she gonna undress soon?”

I drop my head to the side. “It’s instructional.”

“You need instructions on mopping floors?”

“Clearly you do, as well, by the look of this place.”

“I just moved in here last weekend.”

I point at him. “So that’s why Lauren thought this was an open spot. You’d just taken my place.”

“No, I took my place.” He looks at the toilet. “You do know the cleaner goes inside the bowl, right?”

“I put it in there.”

“And everywhere.”

“I’m trying, okay? Do you have any suggestions?”

He picks up the bottle and points to the spout. “That’s why it’s angled like this.” He demonstrates for me, circling the rim of the bowl with the cleaner.

I put my hands on my hips. “That’s not how she did it in the video.”

He smirks at me. “You watched a video to figure out how to clean toilets, too? Do they not clean where you come from?”

Val shows up with a roll of paper towels. “Wet some of these and then wipe up the soap.”

Brett snatches the roll from him and shoves it at his chest. “You wipe it up. It’s your filth.”

“Yours, too.”

“I’ve just been here a week. This mold is yours from how long? A year? Two?”

Val purses his lips at us. “Fine. Get out. Both of you.” Brett ushers me out.

“I really want to do this solo,” I say. “I’m trying to say thank you for letting me stay.”

“It’s really not necessary.”

“Well, if she’s offering…” Val says.

“Shut up and clean your nastiness,” Brett says.

“So damn bossy,” Val says, unrolling some paper towels.

“What self-respecting gay man lives like this, anyway?” Brett asks.

“I break molds,” Val says and then starts singing.

Brett closes the door behind him, leaving us standing in his bedroom. “I was actually just gonna go have breakfast with Tori.”

“Oh, sure. Go.”

“Did you wanna…come?” he asks.

As much as I would love to have breakfast, I don’t have the funds. I’m looking at a pack of peanut butter crackers at best. “Nope. I’m cleaning this house.”

He just stands there, staring at me. I can so easily see why these women around here fall for his charms. He’s got this way of looking at me that makes me feel like I’m the only person on the planet…like I’m not the ditzy blonde that my father and Josh have such a lack of respect for.

He lifts his eyebrows. “Do you mind if I change?”

“Oh,” I say, coming back to earth. “Of course.” I back out of the room, bouncing off the doorframe. He lifts his chin with that half smirk that I imagine has brought many women to their knees and then closes the door.

6

Brett

“I thought you were spending today at your mom’s,” Tori asks, salting her eggs.

“I spent the night last night. Mimi needed some meds. Mom did some errands early this morning, but I’m going back tomorrow, too, just to give her a break.”

“Will you be able to tear yourself away from the blond bombshell staying at your house?”

I give her a look.

“What? You know you think she’s hot. You could have invited her to come with us.”

“I did,” I say, forking a piece of my waffle. “She’s cleaning the house.”

She kicks me under the table. “Why aren’t you helping her?”

“Ow. She said she wanted to do it solo.”

“So? Your mom would kick your ass if she knew you were here stuffing your face when a stranger was home cleaning your house.”

“Will you give me a break? I’m trying to figure this shit out. She’s staying with me this weekend. I need to keep space between us.”

“What was up with