Read Major Renovations (Ritter University #1) for Free Online

father dragged her to.
    “Would you like to see the progress?” Samantha smiled at Ryan and Ski tried not to growl.
    “Sure. So how’s it going with my boy here? Is he driving you crazy with his freakish intelligence?” Ryan’s eyes went from Ski to Samantha. He saw something. He must. He was always way too perceptive.
    Samantha’s smile was more like a smirk now, or maybe that was just Ski seeing things. “No, not with his freakish intelligence.”
    Ryan laughed. “So, which part has driven you crazy? His face stuck in a book or his obsession with working out?”
    “Or maybe it’s his freakish strength after that time he beat the crap out of his best friend.” Ski glared at Ryan. The glare said shut up , if Ryan would just stop laughing and take a good look.
    Damn Ryan.
    Samantha shook her head and gave Ryan another party-hostess smile. Ryan followed along behind her while she gave him a tour of the kitchen, showing him the tile, the fridge, the freshly painted walls. They walked through the downstairs room by room, with her explaining what was done and why.
    “What’s left? It seems you have everything done.” Ryan leaned his head in the general direction of the front door and laughed. “Well, except for the porch. Looks like someone took a bite out of it.”
    She laughed. Laughed . “Yeah, there were some— unforeseen issues.”
    Now he was an unforeseen issue. Real nice.
    “I love that we’ll have lights across the whole front of the house now.” Ryan stepped outside, waving at the inside of the porch roof. “This is going to be great. We just have to make sure none of the barbarians we live with fall through the roof or do this again.” He poked at the hanging rail.
    “It can be hard to control the barbarians,” Samantha agreed, her gaze finding Ski. “But I will be double-bolting the railing to ensure stability.”
    “That’s probably not a bad idea.” Ryan stamped one foot on the decking. “You upgraded the joists to two by eights, right? It feels a lot sturdier.”
    “I did.” She smiled at Ryan, and Ski seriously though he was going to be sick.
    He narrowed his eyes at Ryan. “I didn’t know business courses covered building construction.”
    “They don’t.” Ryan gave Ski an innocent look that Ski totally didn’t trust. “It’s a hobby. I took an architecture course.”
    Great— a hobby that got Ryan closer to Ski’s woman. Not that she was his woman or anything, but that didn’t mean Ryan and his name-brand jeans could come in and swoop her up. There were codes. Bro codes.
    Thou shalt not steal thy brother’s woman.
    Again, not that she was his— but he saw her first. Did he really just think that? Dammit. Just… dammit.
    And Samantha was still smiling at that snake Ryan. “Well, we can always use some help around here, especially from someone with experience.” She laughed. Laughed . Again.
    He’d taken hits on the field that hurt less. Ski was a nuisance, and Ryan was the second coming of Christ, for fuck’s sake.
    The smiles. Ryan got a smile . Ski got scowls.
    The laughter. Ryan got laughter. Ski got yelling.
    Fuck. Ski bent over backward, and got nowhere. Ryan mentioned joists and suddenly was short-listed for best friend status. Or maybe more. Was Ryan trying for more?
    “Don’t you have a girlfriend or an arranged marriage or something?” Ski spit the words out before he really thought about them.
    Ryan took a step back and stared. Dammit. Ski should’ve thought twice about throwing that out there. Ryan hated that his parents were constantly trying to throw the country club women at him. One woman in particular. An old family friend Ryan would never see as anything more than a friend. And Ski knew it. Knew how much it upset Ryan.
    “Yeah.” Ryan brushed nonexistent dirt off his jeans. “I should go.”
    “Wait.” Ski’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he automatically checked the screen. His cousin. His cousin was with his parents in Poland. What