Seducing my hot maintenance man

Chapter 2

Greyson’s POV

There’s no place to sit today, which isn’t all that unusual in Lee’s Pho King restaurant. Normally I’m more than happy to take my food to go and eat my sizzling beef bahn mi back at the apartment if the place is this busy.

But as I had walked up to my usual lunch place today I had caught sight of the most gorgeous young woman sitting near the window. I’m instantly attracted to her, and I feel strangely like she’s some part of my destiny. But the restaurant is packed, and there are no seats available anywhere near her. I’m disappointed, but I order my usual and ask for it to go.

I watch the woman while I wait for my order, feeling almost like a pervert. But she’s so easy on the eyes, with her straight blonde hair pulled away from her face and plaited into a long braid, bright blue eyes, cute button nose, and she looks like she is no stranger to the gym. She’s dressed very casually with minimal makeup and wearing yoga pants that look as if they’ve actually been worn inside of a yoga studio, and an old loose fitting tee shirt.

But even so casually dressed, I can imagine her dressed up in far more elegant clothing, at her ease at a cocktail party. Father would approve of her, I’m sure. Not that I really care about that.

The woman appears to be here with some guy, though. Is he just a friend? Coworker? Boyfriend? Or the worst thought of all, her husband? She seems very young to be married, though, and the guy seems even younger than her if I had to take a guess. I wish I knew what the deal with those two was.

It is the start of September, and still summer vacation for a lot of places. So maybe she’s here on vacation? Seattle is a great vacation destination during the warmer months. If that’s the case, I’ll probably never see her again.

I need to know more about this woman, or I will literally go insane!

Their food suddenly arrives, right as some people in the seats next to her leave. I decide to take my chance and swoop in to grab the seat directly next to my mystery woman before anyone else does.

I hear the tail end of a conversation between the two of them. I notice she has a lovely voice.

“I should know since I’m a lawyer!” She was saying to the guy, increasing my interest in her and my competition even more. “It’s better that McKenna should be told the ugly truth rather than believe the pretty lies!”

“OK,” he agrees, looking somewhat glum.

Who is this guy, and McKenna? Is he cheating on McKenna with this woman beside me? I need more details.

It looks like she’s gotten the seafood pho, and her companion got the meatball and brisket pho. She starts adding all the jalapenos from the plate of toppings placed between them, and adding copious amounts of sriracha, then a squeeze of lime. I’m seriously impressed.

“That looks good,” I comment, and she turns to look at me like a deer in the headlights with her mouth open. “I like things pretty hot myself.”

“Yeah, my sister likes things really hot!” The companion says. “The spicier, the better! Oof! Watch what you’re doing with those elbows, sis, it’s crowded in here!”

Wait, did he say sister? This guy is her brother? I guess they do share some family resemblance. I can’t help but give my mystery woman my most devastating smile, especially since I had noticed she wears no engagement or wedding ring on her finger.

“Oops, sorry bruh!” She says nervously, not even looking at her brother. “If you’ll excuse us, we need to eat and run.”

Then she goes back to her pho. I look over at the brother for any sort of explanation.

“Yeah, my sister’s busy moving into an apartment near here,” the young man says helpfully. Although apparently his sister doesn’t think so.

“I’m sure the nice man doesn’t care about that, Nick!” She tells him, sounding exasperated.

Nice man? Ouch, she’s completely given me the brush off! I may be down, but I’m not out yet. Not by a long shot. If she’s really moving in to an apartment near here, she could be one of the three new tenants that are moving in this week. If so, I’m sure to run into her again fairly soon.

Meanwhile Mr. Lee is handing me my sandwich, reminding me of what I actually came here for.

“Ah, I live near here, too!” I inform her, and watch as she seems to blush in embarrassment. This whole interaction is getting really awkward, really fast. So I guess that’s my cue to leave. “I’m getting my food to go. Perhaps I’ll see you around?”

“He, he!” She titters nervously. “Sure!”

On that note, I get up and go.

That was weird, I think as I head back to The Pines on 4th, the apartment building I own and maintain. I’m not sure where I went wrong back there, but I don’t usually get the brush off from the ladies. Not the ones I’m interested in, at any rate. Which is rare that I find anyone worth being interested in, since I tend to be highly selective.

“Greyson,” Linda interrupts my thoughts as I enter the front office. “Did you get the message I sent you about the toilet in 1202?”

I take out my phone to see that Linda had sent me a text about 2 hours ago.

“1202 again?” I groan internally. The Pattersons were a pain in my ass. “And I suppose Mr. Patterson is still complaining that I should just install a new one.”

“The Pattersons moved out a few weeks back,” Linda informs me. “It’s the new tenant complaining now. A Miss Downing.”

Good. Mrs. Patterson was always disabling the toilet on purpose so she’d have a reason to corner me within the small room and flirt with me shamelessly. I had to start coming to fix the toilet only when her husband was present.

“Wait, a new tenant?” I suddenly am very interested to know more. “Cute young gal, Lawyer, blond hair and blue eyes, with a brother?”

“I don’t know anything about a brother,” Linda says with a knowing gleam. “But the rest fits. Why do you ask?”

“I might have run into them while getting lunch,” I reply, handing Linda her cup of soup and order of spring rolls. “I better go fix that toilet while they’re still out. Do I have permission to enter?”

“You certainly do,” Linda says. “I made sure to ask. I know how you prefer to work without the tenants hanging about.”

“Thanks Linda,” I say, winking at her. “You’re the best. If only you weren’t happily married!”

“And if only you were 30 years older,” she gives me the usual reply back. “Get to work. I have a tour scheduled in 15 minutes, so I want to eat my lunch in peace before they get here.”

I head on up to the 12th floor, and knock on the all too familiar door, just to make sure that I haven’t mistaken the new tenant for someone else. I really hate walking in on people who supposedly weren’t at home. Twice I’ve witnessed people cheating on their spouse’s when they were supposed to be at work! So awkward.

I knock a second time, and then unlock the door.

“Maintenance!” I call out loudly, giving anyone nude within a chance to put on some clothes. “I’m here to fix the toilet!”

Everything seems to be clear, so I enter and head straight to the usual suspect. The hall bathroom toilet. I recall so many cringy moments in that small space with Naomi Patterson as she tried numerous times to seduce me. I’m surprised I haven’t got PTSD.

The bowl is full of s**t, and the lever definitely doesn’t work. I open up the lid to find that someone (probably Naomi Patterson as a parting gift) had absconded with the chain. I’ll need to replace it with something else that might work, take a chain from a new kit, or just replace the whole inner workings of the tank.

I should ask Linda if the Pattersons have been sent back their security deposit yet.

I don’t happen to have the kit I need with me, so I leave to go grab one.

I run into Mr. Phillips in the elevator.

“Hey, Greyson!” He says in greeting. “Thanks for that quick job you did fixing the garbage disposal yesterday. I keep telling my wife not to leave silverware in the sink like that, but would she listen?”

“Yeah, no problem!” I say as he gets off the elevator on the ground floor. I need to head down one more level to my supply closet in the garage. Another tenant stops to chat with me for a moment, and then I finally reach my destination. It takes me a few minutes to find what I’m looking for. And I only find one, which is unusual as I typically keep several extras on hand. Mrs. Patterson had been quite a drain on my supply, I suppose. Not that hers was the only one in the building with occasional issues.

And finally I am back to apartment 1202, ready to repair the wonky toilet for the umpteenth time.

Weird, the door is slightly ajar. I didn’t leave it like that, did I?

I open the door fully, but don’t see anyone right off the bat.

“Hello?” I call out.

I must have just been careless, I guess. I was only planning to be gone a couple minutes, after all. So I head towards the bathroom. And that’s when Miss Downing exits the master bedroom wearing earbuds in her ears. It is indeed the same woman from the restaurant. She catches sight of me and starts screaming bloody murder!