Falling Into Love (Paradise Place Book 5)

by Natalie Ann

  They’d talked a few more times in the past six weeks while she verified everything was being done to her specifications. She’d gotten a mental image of an older man with overalls on and a big belly.

  Why? She had no clue.

  It was nothing like the young six-foot-plus man standing there looking at her while he wondered if she’d get out of her vehicle or not.

  “Who’s the man, Mommy?” Jeffrey asked.

  “He built this house for us,” she said. “I think. Let’s find out. He’s going to give us a tour since he came out of the house.”

  She opened the door and stretched her legs, hearing her back pop. They’d only driven three hours today, having stopped last night to relax and get the kids under control again. She’d had plans to meet Ryan here at ten so that he could show her around the house and explain things.

  “Shannon Wilder?” he asked. Yep, it was his voice. Only it sounded sexy to her now that she was looking at his face.

  And why was she thinking that when she hadn’t looked at another man in over a year or thought of anything other than a man was the opposite sex.

  There was never any heat. Any feelings. Any attraction.

  Yet the man in front of her was rough and rugged and making her feel all tingly inside.

  “That’s me,” she said, extending her hand. “This is my sister, Zoe—she’ll be living with us—and my son, Jeffrey, and daughter, Maddie.”

  Zoe had helped the kids out of the car and they were just standing there staring at the man. They weren’t used to big men like this. Tyler was about five foot nine and on the thin side. In great shape which made his death all the harder to handle.

  John Mann, Tyler’s best friend and business partner was built the same. Her children had just never been around overpowering, slightly intimidating men.

  “Nice to meet you,” he said. “I’m sure you’re anxious to get inside and see your house.”

  “We are,” she said. “It’s been a long four days in the car.”

  “Four?” he asked.

  “Little kids and cross county road trips don’t always mix. Let me just grab my laptop and we can go in.”

  “You and that computer,” Zoe said. “I don’t think John meant you had to literally keep it next to you. You know all the data is on the network.”

  “I know. But I said I’d have it in sight and I’m a woman of my word.”

  “As we know,” Zoe said.

  It was a shot at the fact that once Shannon said she was doing something there was no going back. This move wasn’t something her sister had been in favor of but then started to get excited the closer they got to it.

  Once she had her laptop in her hand, she went in the front door and stopped. It was just as grand of an entrance as she expected. “It’s tall, Mommy,” Jeffrey said.

  “Yes, it is.”

  She’d wanted the ceiling to be open and it was perfect. Just as she envisioned and dreamed of. If she was building a new house and had the money, why not get everything she always wanted? That’s what Tyler would have wanted.

  “Do the floors meet with your approval?” Ryan asked.

  She looked down and grinned. She’d changed her mind three times on the wood floors. “They’re beautiful. I’m glad I decided on the darker wide planks. Especially against the white molding and gray walls.”

  “It does look great,” he agreed. “Office to the left.”

  “Shannon, this is too nice for an office. You want it to be dark and boring so you don’t spend time in here. This is bright and relaxing.”

  “Exactly what I wanted,” she said of the soft green color on the walls and the big picture window looking into the front yard. There were a few houses across the street and one on each side of her, but she’d seen plenty of open plots driving through this section. The newer section she’d been told. She’d check out the older section at some point.

  Zoe shook her head. “You spend too much time working as it is.”

  “It’s my job,” she said. “That’s why you are here. You’re the new nanny.”

  Zoe laughed. “Until I figure out what I want to do.”

  They’d been bantering back and forth for weeks over this. All in good fun. Her sister coming with her was the best thing she could have asked for. She’d have someone she could talk to and confide in and someone she trusted with her children.

  She knew Zoe wouldn’t stay in that position for long, but she wouldn’t leave her in a lurch either.

  “Formal sitting area to the right,” Ryan said. The house was big and empty, but in her mind she could already see where furniture could go.

  “I like the stairs,” Jeffrey said. “Is my room up there? Can I go check it out?”

  She knew the kids wanted to explore, but not yet. “We’ll get there. Let’s check the whole house out and then Aunt Zoe can take you to the backyard while Ryan shows me more things in detail.”

  Jeffrey shrugged and Maddie looked like she wanted to just take off, but they stayed by her side. Both kids were pretty good, all things considered.

  “Half bath next to your office, hallway to the mudroom and garage entrance,” Ryan said.

  “This is everything I hoped,” she said. “Looking at the blueprints just didn’t do it justice.”

  “I thought Whitney sent you some video footage,” he said.

  Whitney Butler had come through the property a few times and used her phone to show parts of the house during construction.

  “She had, but it’s not the same.”

  They moved down the hall and into the kitchen. “Now this is nice,” Zoe said. “It’s your dream kitchen that you always talked about. Look, kids, we can sit at the island while Mom bakes us cookies.”

  She grinned. “And while Aunt Zoe cooks us dinner as part of her nanny duties.”

  “Very funny,” Zoe said. “I can order out the same as you, but we know you like to cook.”

  “I do,” she said, looking at Ryan as he was watching the interaction between them. She couldn’t tell if he was being patient or counting silently in his head to get this over with.

  “Dining room past the kitchen, eating area, family room, glass doors to the deck,” he said. It was easy enough to see everything since it was so open.

  “Look at the swing set,” Maddie said, running to the glass door and putting her face against it. “And a dog door. When can we get our dogs?”

  “Soon,” she said. “We need to unpack and settle in.”

  “The master is this way,” Ryan said, so they followed behind, her eyes not roaming over his body. Liar!

  “You actually put a color in here,” Zoe said. “I thought the whole house would be gray and white by the looks of it.”

  “I like gray and white. It’s neutral. My office is green.”

  “Light green. This is light blue. Almost gray, but different enough,” Zoe argued. “I expected the bedroom to be bigger.”

  “It’s big enough for my bed and a few dressers. I just sleep in here.”

  “Master bath,” Ryan said. He wasn’t saying much at all, just being a nice tour guide regarding things they could have figured on their own. She felt kind of bad wasting his time this way.

  “I know what I’m doing tonight,” she said, eying the freestanding tub.

  “Are you going to let me use that?” Zoe asked.

  “You’ve got your own downstairs,” she argued.

  “Probably not as nice as this,” Zoe said.

  “Of course not. This is the master. I’m the master of the house.”

  She and Zoe both laughed, Ryan didn’t even crack a grin. Man, the guy was too serious by far.

  “Ready to go upstairs?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Jeffrey said, running out of the room and toward the stairs, Maddie following. “My kids are a little bored and ready to see their rooms.”

  They got to the top of the stairs into the bonus loft. “What’s this for?” Jeffrey asked.

  “Your toys,” sh
e said.

  “You and your clutter. Or anti-clutter,” Zoe said.

  “Downstairs is the adult space. Up here, kids.”

  “On this side is what I suspect are your kid’s rooms,” he said. A small hall had doors opposite of each other. One room was dark blue, the other purple.

  “Where’s my baseball stuff?” Jeffrey asked, his eyes almost filling with tears.

  “It’s all in the moving truck that will be here soon. And we’ll buy more.”

  “Then I can play T-ball?” Jeffrey asked.

  She winced, hoping that wouldn’t come up. The season would have started and been close to ending at this point. “Honey, we talked about this. The move made it hard.” She put her hand on his head and gave a rub to his brown hair. He reminded her so much of Tyler in looks and temperament. “Just think of where you want your bed and all your other things.”

  “This door brings you to the bathroom that they share. We can walk through to your daughter’s room now.”

  “I love it,” Maddie said, running around in circles, her arms out wide like an airplane, her blonde hair flowing behind her. At least one of her kids was smiling.

  “You like baseball?” she heard Ryan ask Jeffrey.

  “I do. Do you? Do you like to play catch? Can you play catch with me? I’ve got my ball and glove in the car.”

  “I do like baseball. My cousin just married a pitcher,” Ryan said.

  “Really?” Jeffrey asked. “That’s cool.”

  Ryan almost cracked a grin, but not quite. “The setup is the same on the other side of the bonus room for the other two bedrooms.”

  She followed Ryan down the stairs and then to the finished basement to see Zoe’s setup.

  “Okay, now this is nicer than my apartment was,” Zoe said. “It’s really all my space?”

  “For now,” she said. There was another huge family room, a kitchenette, an exercise room she couldn’t wait to fill and get moving in, then Zoe’s bedroom and bathroom.

  “How come I’ve got a dog door?” Zoe asked. “I’m not getting a dog.”

  “You won’t always be here,” she said, laughing at her sister. “And when you aren’t, the dogs might like to be down here and go out this way to the yard.”

  “Speaking of the yard,” Zoe said. “Why don’t I take the kids back there now while Ryan shows you everything important that you need to know.”

  Zoe opened the door and the kids just ran past her.

  Shannon turned to look at Ryan, with his dark hair, his dark eyes just staring at her and making her almost uncomfortable but not in a creepy way. More in a way like he was looking at her trying to figure her out.

  “I’m not completely helpless,” she said. “But it’s nice to have someone show me what I need to know about the furnace, the AC, fuses, and so on.”

  Tyler always took care of all of that and when he was gone she’d really felt helpless. Thankfully John came and walked her through it all and then she was on her own proving that she really could do it. That it was time to be independent and a role model for her kids.

  “You just drove cross country with two young kids and your sister to start a new life in a town you’ve never seen before. That doesn’t scream helpless to me.”

  That might be one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to her.

  4

  Change A Man

  “I’m sure you’ve got a busy day and I’m sorry if I’m taking up your time,” Shannon said to him.

  “Not a problem,” he said. “We make time for our clients.”

  One as stunning as her on top of it.

  Normally when he came across a good-looking woman he just shrugged it off and moved on. He didn’t approach a woman anymore and hadn’t in years. They came to him in the hopes of getting his name or changing his ways. Reforming the bad boy. He’d heard it enough.

  What was it about a woman that thought she had to change a man?

  He liked the way he was. He didn’t need to smile and laugh, joke or grin.

  So what if he frowned more than not? If he wasn’t talkative and wanted to be left alone?

  It’s not like he was an ass to people. At least not to those that were clients or outside his family.

  Even in his family he wasn’t a complete jerk. They knew what he was like and gave him the space he wanted.

  When he was moody—which was more often than it wasn’t—most let him be.

  “It’s been a long four days. Do you mind if I grab a piece of paper and write down notes? I’m just afraid I’m going to get overwhelmed and forget something important.”

  He walked over to the counter and handed her a folder. “Everything you need is in here. All your warranties that need to be filled out along with the manuals for the appliances. My business card is there too. You can call me or Whitney anytime.”

  She opened it up. “There’s a pad and pen in there too. You think of everything. Or your company does.”

  “Whitney’s idea. There is a magnet in the back to stick on your fridge. We don’t want people to be rushing around trying to find us if there is an issue.”

  “Nice touch,” she said with a big smile on her face.

  She was a lot shorter than him, on the thin side, her dirty blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and her face free of makeup.

  There wasn’t anything about her that would make men run to her in a bar, but to him, she was real. Natural.

  Her kids were tired but under control. They weren’t scurrying like animals loose at the zoo like most did after a long drive or whining at the very least. They asked to look something over and she calmly told them to please wait. Now he could see them in the backyard with their aunt running all over the massive jungle gym that was built. No small swing set either. There was a slide, a fort, a rock wall, swings, ropes, and other things that he had no idea about. All he knew was it cost a lot of money.

  Money she didn’t seem to mind spending on the kids.

  Or herself with the upgrades in the kitchen.

  “That’s Whitney’s doing. She’s more into customer relations and branding. I just swing a hammer.”

  She squinted one eye at him, the other one looking him over quickly, then said, “I think you like to take your aggression out that way.”

  He snorted. “Some days it’s the best medicine there is.”

  “I know all about finding ways to release anger,” she said, her voice dying off.

  “Sorry,” he said to her.

  “Don’t be. You don’t know anything about me to be sorry.”

  “Whitney told me you are recently widowed.”

  “A little over a year,” she said and moved away from him to look at her kitchen. That topic was off limits and he was shocked he’d brought it up when he wasn’t much for small talk. “I can’t wait to start cooking in here.”

  “Do you need me to show you how to use anything? I get the feeling you’re pretty well equipped in this room.” She knew exactly what she wanted. It was one of the only rooms in the house where she didn’t make any changes from the original plan.

  “I’m good. If you show me the furnace, fuses, water shut-off valves.”

  He grinned. He had to. Most women didn’t think to ask for that. “Right this way.”

  “I always want to know where to look if I blow a fuse or I have a leak. To me, I just shut the water off and then call a plumber. I know I can’t fix it, no use even looking or trying. It’s just best to minimize the damage.”

  “Efficient,” he said.

  “We all have our strengths and weaknesses.”

  “This sure is a lot of space for you,” he said. Normally the silence didn’t bother him, but he felt antsy around Shannon for some reason.

  “I wanted Zoe to be separate from us. She’s young still and trying to figure out her life. I was glad she was willing to move with me. Once she finds a career she wants, I’ll need another nanny. If I have to get a live-in one, I want them to have some space away from us.”<
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  “You work from home,” he pointed out.

  “I do. And for the most part I can come and go when I need to, but with the time difference, it might not always work out that way and there is driving the kids to and from school. I need to find a preschool for Maddie. She doesn’t do well sitting home all day. And I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

  “No problem. I’m sure Whitney can help you with some of those things. She doesn’t have kids but knows a lot of people. She lives in the development. We all do but one of the family.”

  “Oh,” she said. “So, you really aren’t that far if there is a problem.”

  She was grinning at him and making him feel chills that he’d never experienced before and was clueless over what to do.

  “My parents, my aunt and uncle and my cousins, all but Christian live here.”

  “Christian is the engineer that drew up my blueprints?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I would have thought he’d definitely live around here.”

  “He doesn’t swing a hammer as much as the rest of us do or did so he buys and flips on his own. We all help out now and again, but he lives in those houses. I think he’s nuts, but it’s his life.”

  “Nuts why?” she asked.

  “Because I couldn’t live in the clutter of construction. I’m around it all day long, but I’m organized. My own space has to be just right.”

  She laughed. “I didn’t expect us to share that trait. That is why the kids are upstairs so I don’t have to have my eye twitch when their stuff is left everywhere.” She leaned down and lowered her voice. “The same with my sister. She has big ears so she might hear me even outside.”

  He shook his head and showed her everything she asked. “Is there anything else I can show you?” he asked. They’d heard a loud truck and he looked out the front window of her office. “Looks like your movers are here.”

  “Yeah. I knew they weren’t that far behind. I wonder if they can get in the driveway.”

  “They should be able to back in once I move my truck. We’ll go open the doors up for them.”

  “I’ll pull my vehicle in one of the stalls, then they will have plenty of room for things I’m not sure what to do with in the other two stalls.”