Read Online All of Me (All Series Book 2) by Natalie Ann - Free Book Online

ago, but in her mind that week after the deadline was still considered tax season. There was still work to do, but the mad rush had stopped.
    Content to relax, she was ready to catch up on the rest of her life that she lost during those first few months of every year. Starting with a glass of wine.
    Taking a sip and savoring the taste on the tip of her tongue, then swallowing, she immediately took another. This was the best part of tax season for her. The end.
    The loud bang caused her to sit upright, spilling half her glass on her jeans. Before she could stand up, more thumping followed.
    “Crap,” she screeched, placed the glass down—losing more of the wine in the process—and took off running for the laundry room. Grabbing the glass lid of the washing machine, she went to lift it up, only to find it locked shut. The machine was clanging even louder and shifting on the floor.
    Frantically she searched for the button, found the right one and pressed it. The thumping stopped, and once her towels stopped spinning, the lid unlocked.
    Lifting it up, she reached in and found all the towels had somehow bunched up on one side, causing the machine to be off balance. Struggling, she pulled up the heavy cotton pieces, trying to separate them as best she could, and rearranged them evenly.
    Positive she had done a good enough job, she put the lid back down, hit the start button again and watched the machine start to spin, then congratulated herself.
    The minute she picked up her glass of wine, the thumping started again, only this time louder than before.
    Dashing back to the laundry room, she saw the machine had moved a good three inches away from the wall. Swiftly, she pushed the button again—she knew where it was now—and watched the machine slow down and the lid unlock.
    Seeing no way out of it, she pulled every single dripping wet towel out, dropped them in the basket—cursing at the sheer number there were—then one by one put them in as best she could to allow an equal weight distribution.
    Once satisfied, she put the lid back down, pressed the button and stood there to make sure it wouldn’t start thumping again. After a minute or two, the machine was back to spinning quietly.
    A little shove here and a tiny push there and the machine was back to its original spot.
    Twenty minutes later, towels washed, rinsed and spun free of all the water, she went back into the laundry room, only to find water on the floor and a nice steady drip coming out of the ring around the hose connected to the faucet.
    Mopping up the mess—hoping it was a one-time thing—she quickly threw her towels in the dryer and started a second load of laundry. Learning her lesson, she only put in half the amount she originally planned.
    Unfortunately, the minute the water started to fill into the machine, equal amounts were dripping out of the hose. No way around it, she had to make a call.
     
    ***
     
    “How long are you going to be?” Alec asked Phil.
    “Why, do you have a hot date?” Phil knew that Alec hated working in the office on a Saturday, but it was unpreventable. They were way behind and needed to finalize blueprints for the ten new houses that would be breaking ground on Monday. It was the biggest number of projects they’d ever had going at once and Phil didn’t want any errors.
    “As a matter of fact I do.” Alec looked at his watch. “I need to run home and shower before I pick her up in two hours. So I can only give you another hour, tops.”
    “We should be done soon. I want to go over the foundation adjustments we made to four of the houses last week and make sure there are no issues.”
    “Phil, we still have time before the concrete is poured. We’re just digging for the foundations this week,” Alec explained.
    “Yes, and before you know it we will be pouring foundations and I wouldn’t have seen you for more than ten minutes with all the work we’ve got to do,” Phil argued.
    “Point taken. Fine, let’s hurry