by Jessica Gray
Never again.
Women might be great for a quick hook-up, but relationships were for those poor suckers who didn’t know any better.
He forced his thoughts back to the present. Life was just that: life. During the day he worked hard at whatever jobs he could find, and in the evenings he drank until he felt numb enough to forget his misery and sleep. Rinse and repeat. Every day. And sometimes he even managed to believe he actually liked his life.
But Charlie’s niece had touched him deep down, someplace he’d buried beneath too much alcohol. He glanced toward the windows again and saw Little Miss Taylor come out of her bedroom and head toward the kitchen once.
Unfortunately, she was no longer sporting the too-short rain jacket, but had dressed herself in curve-hugging blue jeans and a dark red turtleneck sweater. She had also repaired her makeup and fixed her hair; his initial assessment was correct – she was gorgeous.
Earlier this morning when she had confronted him in the buff, he’d been intrigued and only the absurdity of her actions had doused the flames of desire to a manageable level. Now, seeing her all cleaned up, his body responded again – each and every one of his muscles suddenly strung tight, and his manhood taking on a life of its own when he remembered exactly what lay beneath her clothing. Those luscious curves. That soft alabaster skin.
She’s way out of your league. You’ve become a rotten bastard, and a gorgeous woman like her will never hook up with you. Get over it.
He returned to the task of removing the split boards and replacing them with new ones. She was a complication he just didn’t need right now. Or ever.
***
Lee exited her bedroom and headed straight for the phone located in the kitchen. Grabbing the cordless phone, she immediately dialed her uncle’s number and paced while she waited for him to pick up the line.
She’d tried not to pay any attention to Rocco Cooper when she came out of her bedroom. She almost made it, but then she turned to walk back toward the kitchen again and he had moved to the back of the house and was working directly in front of her – in all his muscled glory. The wall of windows on the cabin was definitely not an architectural feature she’d ever be tempted to duplicate. With this thought, she turned and paced in the other direction. The only place that afforded any privacy from the outside world was the bedroom, but she couldn’t spend the next several weeks holed up in the tiny bedroom; she’d go stark raving nuts.
“Good morning, doll, how’s the cabin working out?” Lee’s uncle answered the phone with his deep voice.
“Good morning, Uncle, the cabin is gorgeous, as always.” She cradled the phone between ear and shoulder, while she continued pacing.
“Did the caretaker get the fridge stocked and the firewood stacked up for you on the back porch?”
“I haven’t had a chance to check the firewood yet, but the fridge is fully stocked and she even left some casseroles in the freezer with directions on how to reheat them.” Lee had read the note from the caretaker upon her arrival the night before, and been touched by the thoughtfulness. “The reason I’m calling so early is, there was a problem this morning at the cabin.”
“Problem, what sort of problem? Is everything okay?” Lee could hear the worry in her uncle’s voice and hurried to assure him that she was fine and that it was only a minor problem.
“There’s a man here doing some repairs on the deck outside. It appears you hired him to be here at the same time I would be here.”
“Oh, now that you mention it…I totally forgot to tell you about Rocco; best carpentry work I’ve ever seen. He’s going to fix the outside first, and then do some remodeling for me on the inside. I’m gonna tell him to work out a schedule with you for access to the inside. Have you talked to him already?”
“Sort of…the noise from his drill woke me up this morning. We haven’t really introduced ourselves yet but I’ll take care of that when I hang up the phone. How long do you think his work will take?” Lee glanced outside at Rocco Cooper working on the deck.
“Not exactly, but at least a month. When he finishes the outside, he is going to remodel the bathroom and put in new lighting in the family room.” Lee listened in shock as her uncle continued to outline all of the remodeling work he had hired Rocco to do. No way would she stay trapped with this man during her entire stay at the cabin.
As she listened, she ran through her other options for the next several weeks. Her city apartment was a no-go; she’d sublet it to her best friend Karen Prescott’s parents for the next three weeks. And renting a hotel room wasn’t within her budget at the moment. When her boss Trevor Armstrong had forced her to take the sabbatical, she’d decided ridding herself of the stress associated with debt would go a long way toward helping her find some peace. So she’d drained her savings account to pay off her student loans – and paying off her mother’s credit card bills.
Thoughts of her mother brought feelings of love and despair into her heart. Lee loved her mother dearly, and prior to graduating from college, she had relied on her mother for everything, including spending money, clothing, gas for her car – literally everything. She’d never questioned where that money came from.
After graduating from college and obtaining her current position at Parker & Armstrong, she’d become suspicious over all of the time off her mother seemed to have. Her mother had finally come clean and confessed she’d lost her job during Lee’s junior year and had been living on unemployment. Her mother had wanted Lee to finish college, so she had hid her job loss from her and maxed out her credit cards with cash advances whenever Lee needed anything.
Even today guilt and shame for being such a carefree brat made her squirm. From that moment on, more than a year back, Lee had taken over the monthly credit card payments. And with the money left from her savings, after paying off the student loan bill, she wiped out the remaining credit card balances. Which left her without the means to rent a hotel room now.
“I’m sure you and Rocco will be able to work everything out. He’s a rather nice young man and you two should get along fabulously.” Lee’s uncle had continued to talk while her thoughts wandered.
Realizing he had grown silent and was waiting for her response, she hurriedly said, “I’m sure everything will be just fine. I can’t thank you enough for allowing me the use of your cabin for the next several weeks. I already feel more at peace here.” She crossed her fingers behind her back at the bald-faced lie. Bothered would be more accurate. But her uncle had been so generous and kind to her, she didn’t want to hurt his feelings by letting him know how much she dreaded staying there with the handyman around.
“I always feel more relaxed after spending some time up there. Take a few walks, sit on the porch and listen to nature, and before you know it, you’ll be feeling one hundred percent better and ready to tackle the world again,” he advised her.
Lee didn’t have the heart to tell him what she really wanted to do was get in her car and drive away. “I’m sure I will. Thanks so much for everything, Uncle Charlie. I should probably let you get on with your day; I just wanted to touch base and let you know I had arrived okay.”
“Alright then, doll, have a wonderful day and relax. I’ll talk to you soon.” Then he hung up and left her alone with her thoughts – and with Rocco Cooper.
She sat down at the kitchen bar and realized, like it or not, she was stuck here. Squaring her shoulders, she decided to make the best of it, starting with introducing herself to her new companion for the remainder of her stay. Maybe she could lay down some ground rules that would make things at least tolerable. If she was able to negotiate multi-million-dollar divorce settlements, surely she could handle one hunky handyman.
Chapter 3
Rocco had just finished replacing the top board when he heard the back porch door open and Miss Taylor stepped out onto the deck. She hadn’t introduced herself earlier, but he figured she must be Charlie’s niece Lee. His breath hitched when she strode toward him. Fully clothed
now, she was still sending heat waves throughout his body. She wore a tight white t-shirt, with a pair of worn-out jeans, cut above the knee – and shoes.
A short flash of worry crossed his mind as he wondered if she’d been able to remove the splinter she received earlier. He’d seen her wince as the splinter went into her tender foot, and would have been more than happy to assist her in its removal – if she had stuck around long enough, that is.
“Excuse me, could I interrupt you for a minute?” He saw her take a deep breath before she presented him a calm, collected, and mature version of herself. So unlike the angry, temperamental, and stark naked woman he’d had the pleasure to observe before.
Rocco hid a grin while he set down his tools, and got to his feet. Let’s see how calm you really are, babe. He deliberately ogled her up and down before settling on her eyes and face. “Sure, honey. What can I do for you?”
Lee bristled under his perusal, and he observed her taking another deep breath, obviously struggling to maintain her composure. “My name is Marilee Taylor. And it appears my Uncle Charlie forgot I’d stay at his cabin when he hired you to do the repairs.” She paused and gave him a cold stare before she continued, “I came here to recover and find some peace. I just spoke with my uncle and he has instructed me to work out a schedule with you, so I won’t be bothered in my much-needed rest.”
Rocco crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned negligently back against the deck railing he’d just replaced. How dare this woman talk down to him, as if he were some sort of servant? If she continued with this attitude towards him, she could forget about her “much-needed rest.”
Oblivious to his disapproval Marilee continued, “I would appreciate it if in the future you didn’t show up for work prior to 10 o’clock in the morning. I am a very light sleeper and the noise from your power tools gave me quite a scare this morning, and the ensuing headache is only now starting to go away…”
She must have gone crazy, he thought. “Lady, I don’t know who you think you are, but there’s not a handyman alive who starts work at the pussy hour of 10 o’clock. You’re asking me to forego almost four hours of work, and I get paid to put in a full day’s work. Not happening.”
“There’s nothing wrong with 10 o’clock. It’s a perfectly respectable hour and one where I might be able to tolerate the awful noise you’re making out here,” she said, her voice getting more high-pitched with every word she said. She was losing it, and he was curious to find out how it would look when she unraveled in front of him. But no such luck; she wrapped her arms around herself, visibly tightened her muscles, and probably counted to ten. At least that’s what he would have done.
Rocco took one last look at the uptight woman across from him and shook his head at her. 10 o’clock in the morning; what planet did she live on? There was no way he was adjusting his schedule for someone like her – well, he might if she’d asked nicely. But commanding him? No way. If he gave her a finger, she’d take an arm. He had met her kind before.
Before he bent down to pick up his drill once again, he gave her a glance over his shoulder and said, “Sorry, but no can do. I have to get this job finished up and there’s no way I can do that if I have to miss four hours of work each morning so you can get your beauty sleep.”
Without further taking notice of the fuming woman he placed the next board and began drilling it in place. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her turn around, and grinned. Today was a good day. He worked his way across the deck and started whistling, something he hadn’t done in a long time. Not since he’d found his girlfriend in bed with another man.
***
Lee fumed. Rocco had gone back to work, as if she wasn’t even present. Whistling, of all things! The arrogant creep didn’t have a decent bone in his body. All she was asking for was a little peace and quiet. Surely, there was something else he could do that didn’t require the use of that obnoxious-sounding drill.
She stomped off and re-entered the house, taking minimal satisfaction in slamming the door. She headed to the kitchen and started coffee brewing. The caretaker had left a breakfast casserole in the fridge, so Lee cut a small piece from the plate and placed it in the microwave to warm up.
The entire time, the noise from the drill invaded her thoughts. She took her coffee and breakfast into the small sunroom on the other side of the house, trying to get away from the noise. It didn’t work. The blare was pervasive and she was unable to find a place in the cabin where it didn’t penetrate.
Finally, she could stand it no more and turned the stereo system on with the volume up loud. Listening for a moment, all she heard was the steady bass and the drums of the music. No drill. Lee relaxed her shoulders and mentally patted herself on the back for having won this battle.
With no idea what else to do, she retrieved her laptop from the bedroom, settled into the plush couch, and opened up her email program. As the music was so loud, she slipped her headphones on to help dim the noise and quickly sorted through the messages. She was on a sabbatical, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t move things forward, right? Soon she’d answered all the emails, and sent a million requests to colleagues at her company to “stay in touch.”
In all the time that had already passed of her sabbatical, she never once had found the time to read a book. At the beginning she’d been too tense, then she’d been occupied reading law magazines – and now? Her mind still circled around her last case and the ones to come, half in need of starting working again, half agonized about yet another dirty divorce case she’d have to battle.
But with Mr. Gorgeous-Obnoxious out there how could she concentrate on law? She eyed her Kindle with longing and disdain. The Internet here in the cabin was too slow to do anything but batch-working emails and maybe reading the news.
Once she’d picked up her Kindle she remembered having downloaded a few mystery books prior to coming here. She might as well start reading one of them. Leaving her headphones on, she was soon immersed in the lives of the book’s main characters and the big secret to be solved.
***
Rocco continued to work his way around the deck, replacing the top rail as needed. As hard as he tried to ignore Marilee and his body’s reaction to her, it wouldn’t work. The wall of windows made it nearly impossible, and he had to steal glances at her enticing body every once in a while.
An angry laughter escaped his throat when she’d turned up the music turned up so loud; his ears were starting to ring. This hellish woman complained about his drill noise and then she blasted her ears out with that music? He rolled his eyes; he had no business even thinking about her. She was so much out of his league – and absolutely anything but affable.
Just as he finished this thought, she closed her laptop and reached for an e-reader. That was when he noticed the headphones. No wonder she wasn’t bothered by the loudness of the music. One more reason to stay away from Marilee Taylor and her crazy antics. He had much better things to do.
Several hours later, Rocco stopped to stretch his sore back muscles. Working on his knees for the last hour had caused his back to tighten up and become painful. He reached above his head, grasped his hands, and stretched as far as he could reach. As he brought his hands down, he noticed Lee working on her laptop again. Why did that crazy chick insist on working inside the house, when she was here in the middle of paradise? Normally people came up here to the mountains to relax.
The look of concentration on her face had him wondering what she was doing. Against his better judgment he was drawn to her like a moth to the flame and couldn’t help but observe her.
Her perfect face changed and he saw despair and even sadness take possession of it. It almost broke his heart to see her so shattered, which was a terrifying feeling; he shrugged it away. Rocco Cooper! Get it together, you’re done with women.
He watched as she closed her computer and placed it on the table in front of her. For several minutes, she just stared at it, as if she expected it to move or open its
elf back up.
Finally, she glanced up and caught Rocco staring at her. He gave her a small grin, then picked up his drill, and intentionally gave it a few pulses of power. He had work to do that had nothing to do with the uptight woman sitting on the couch inside.
Chapter 4
Lee couldn’t believe her boss Trevor had just threatened to fire her via email. During the last months, her secretary had kept Lee in the loop on all the important cases. It was vital she stay in the know, especially on the cases with her more prominent clients, despite her sabbatical.
Everything had been going excellent – until this detestable Rocco Cooper appeared. It was all his fault. His drill noise had distracted her so much, she’d hit “Reply to all” when responding to a particularly delicate email. Let’s say Trevor wasn’t amused when he learned she’d been working behind the scenes while on her sabbatical.
Several minutes later a reply from him had landed in her inbox, threatening her that, if she did not cease working for the remainder of her three weeks, she’d be looking at not working at all because he’d fire her on the spot.
She read the email again: “…I have further instructed everyone in the company not to communicate with you workwise until your sabbatical is over. Take your time and relax. Otherwise you’ll be dismissed immediately.”
Lee imagined Trevor’s face. He was a kind and caring man, but he always meant what he said. No joking around. Therefore she replied, “I understand.”
Now she sat looking at her laptop for several minutes wondering what she was supposed to do. She couldn’t very well read books for the next three weeks. Maybe she’d go for a walk?
When she glanced up, of course the handyman leered at her through the window. Gosh. I feel like a bug in a glass jar! All morning she’d sensed Rocco’s presence outside the large windows. If he wasn’t so arrogant, she actually might have enjoyed the view.