âYou wouldnât happen to be doing laundry first, would you?â Cain asked.
âWhy?â
âI sort of made fifty percent of my underwear pink.â
Liz laughed. Visions of other times, other laughter, assailed her, and she felt as if she were caught in a time warp. Their marriage had ended so badly sheâd forgotten the good times, and now suddenly here they wereâall at the forefront of her mind. But that was wrong. Six years and buckets of tears had passed since the âgood timesâ that had nudged them to get married the week theyâd accompanied friends to Vegas for their elopement. Only a few weeks after their hasty wedding those good times had become few and far between. By the time sheâd left him they were non-existent.
And now she was his maid.
SUSAN MEIER spent most of her twenties thinking she was a job-hopperâuntil she began to write and realised everything that had come before was only research! One of eleven children, with twenty-four nieces and nephews and three kids of her own, Susan has had plenty of real-life experience watching romance blossom in unexpected ways. She lives in Western Pennsylvania with her wonderful husband Mike, three children, and two over-fed, well-cuddled cats, Sophie and Fluffy. You can visit Susanâs website at www.susanmeier.com
Cleaning houses used to be a chore for friends Liz and Ellie. Now itâs their new business venture and their path to independenceâ¦and romance!
Follow their stories in Susan Meierâs new duet:
HOUSEKEEPERS SAY I DO!
In August, read all about Liz and Cain in
MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE
Donât miss Ellieâs story,
MAID FOR THE SINGLE DAD, coming next month
Miamiâs newest maid service is open for business!
PINK UNDERWEAR?
Grimacing, Cain Nestor tossed his formerly white cotton briefs into the washing machine and slammed the door closed. Damn it! He should have stopped at the mall the night before and bought new ones, but it had been late when his private plane finally landed in Miami. Besides, back in Kansas he had done his own laundry plenty of times. He couldnât believe heâd forgotten so much in twelve years that heâd end up with pink underwear, but apparently he had.
Tightening the knot of the towel at his waist, he stormed out of the laundry room and into the kitchen just as the back door opened. From the pretty yellow ruffled apron that was the trademark of Happy Maids, he knew that his personal assistant Ava was one step ahead of him again. Heâd been without a housekeeper since the beginning of February, three long weeks ago. Though Ava had interviewed, heâd found something wrong with every person sheâd chosenâhis maid lived in and a man couldnât be too careful about whom he let stay in his homeâbut the lack of clean underwear had clearly proven heâd hit a wall.
Leave it to his assistant to think of the stopgap measure. Sheâd hired a cleaning service.
Ready to make an apology for his appearance, Cain caught his once-a-week housekeeperâs gaze and his heart froze in his chest. His breathing stopped. His thigh muscles turned to rubber.
âLiz?â
Though her long black hair had been pulled into a severe bun at her nape and sheâd lost a few pounds in the three years since heâd seen her, heâd know those catlike green eyes anywhere.
âCain?â
A million questions danced through his head, but they were quickly replaced by recriminations. Sheâd quit a very good job in Philadelphia and moved with him to Miami when sheâd married him. Now, she was a maid? Not even a permanently employed housekeeper. She was a fill-in. A stopgap measure.
And it was his fault.
He swallowed. âI donât know what to say.â
Liz Harper blinked a few times, making sure her eyes were not deceiving her and she really was seeing her ex-husband standing wrapped in only a towel in the kitchen of the house that was her first assignment for the day. He hadnât changed a bit in three years. His onyx eyes still had the uncanny ability to make her feel he could see the whole way to her soul. He still wore his black hair short. And he still had incredible muscles that rippled when he moved. Broad shoulders. Defined pecs. And six-pack abs. All of which were on display at the moment.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. âYou could start by saying, âExcuse my nakedness. Iâll just run upstairs and get a robe.ââ
Remarkably, that made him laugh, and myriad memories assaulted herâ¦
The day theyâd met on the flight from Dallas to Philadelphiaâ¦
How theyâd exchanged business cards and heâd called her cell phone even before she was out of the airportâ¦
How theyâd had dinner that night, entered into a long-distance relationship, made love for the first time on the beach just beyond his beautiful Miami home, and married on the spur of the moment in Las Vegas.
And now she was his housekeeper.
Could a woman fall any farther?