“Am not.”
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. While he’d suspected that she didn’t want to go back to school, it hadn’t really occurred to him that she might not be able to go back for some reason. “You’re in trouble.”
“You said you wanted to get along, and now you’re teasing me?”
“I’m not teasing now. Can I help?” Jesse asked. All traces of humor were gone from his face.
“No. It’s okay.”
He could tell from the look on her face that something wasn’t right. “I don’t want to be indelicate here, but you’re not pregnant or anything, are you?”
“No!”
“That’s good, but if you change your mind and you want to talk, I can be a pretty good listener.”
“I’ll be okay, thanks.” She smiled. “You know quite a bit about me, and I don’t know anything about you, except for the fact that your uncle is now my mom’s boyfriend.”
“What would you like to know?”
“I don’t know. How old are you? What’s your last name? The basics at least.”
Jesse grinned. “Jesse Caldwell. I’m twenty-eight years old, and I run a business that I inherited from my grandfather.”
“Renovations?”
“In part. My real love is the outdoors, but I can turn my hand at most building works. I have off siders that help with the more specialized plumbing and electrics.”
“Oh?”
“Matty and Chase. We went to high school together. And then there’s my foreman Uncle Pete. No relative—that’s just what we call him.”
Alyssa giggled. “You call your foreman Uncle Pete?”
“He was my grandfather’s best friend, and he worked alongside him. He’s mostly retired now, but he likes to keep his hand in, earn a little money on the side. He’ll come with the boys for a short time, but he won’t stay the whole time.”
“Where are all these people?”
“They’re starting this morning. They got in last night but had to get settled. Except for Uncle Pete, we’ll all be here until we finish the house and garden renovations. I’ll be staying until your mom gets back.”
“And your uncle, the real one.”
“Yes, I guess so.”
He stood to leave. “Have a nice day today. Enjoy being home,” he said with a smile. “Just try and remember the agreed upon house rules.”
Alyssa saluted. “Yes, sir.”
Jesse turned his head when a truck pulled into the driveway. “There’s my helpers now. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
“Okay.”
Jesse held the door open and smiled as Alyssa ducked under his arm to go through. He guessed it was probably curiosity that had made her more compliant, but it was a start. He liked her like this; if not exactly happy, then at least less argumentative.
“Hey, good trip?” Jesse asked as his three friends got out of the truck.
“Yeah, great,” Matty said glancing over at Chase.
“Who’s your new friend?” Chase asked.
“Everybody, this is Alyssa. It’s Alyssa’s home we’re working on.”
“Pleased to meet you Alyssa,” Uncle Pete said holding out his hand.
“Hi, Alyssa,” Matty said.
“Nice to meet you,” Chase added. “I didn’t think the owners were going to be here.”
“They weren’t going to be. Alyssa is home on a break from school.”
“Oh, okay.” Chase shrugged.
“Why don’t you boys unload the truck, and then I’ll show you around,” Jesse said, already leading Alyssa back to the house.
“They seem nice.”
“They are nice. Uncle Pete is a man of few words, but he’s great when you get to know him.”
“Does he talk to your uncle at all?”
Jesse smirked. “In person. Don’t worry. He doesn’t do technology, so he’s not likely to rat you out.”
“That’s something.” Alyssa said with relief.
Jesse stopped short of the back door while Alyssa stepped inside. “Tonight after work, we’ll go grocery shopping. We’ll see what’s here and do a list.”
“Weren’t you going to have breakfast?”
“No time now and no bacon.” Jesse smiled. “I’ll get something later.”
“Guess I’ll see you tonight.”
“You will. Stay away from the back of the house where they’re working. They’re busy, and it’s not safe for you to be there without a hat.”
“Okay.”
* * *
Alyssa wandered around the house, reminiscing about the things that had made this house a home. The family portrait in the living room and the books on the shelves that her mother liked to read. There was even an old, worn copy of a book of fairy tales her daddy used to read to her before bed when she was little. She flipped through the pages and then placed it lovingly back in its place.
She flipped on the television, but after going from channel to channel, she turned it off and threw the remote onto the sofa. She finally decided to go for a walk. It would be interesting to see what had changed and what was still the same.
Alyssa walked and walked, her mind swirling with confused thoughts. She’d been so angry last night. First, she’d been petrified, convinced her life was in danger, and then when she realized that Jesse wasn’t some kind of crazy rapist or killer, she’d just been plain old angry.
She had to admit it that the whole evening had stirred up some weird feelings though. The spanking had hurt. A lot. Who would have thought that getting your ass smacked like that would be so painful and embarrassing? But it also felt good. No, good was a stretch. It wasn’t the spanking itself that felt good. The tingling sensation when the spanking was starting to wear off felt sort of nice. Oh, this was so weird. When he’d threatened to take her back over his knee, she had actually felt the stirrings of arousal. Did she want a guy to boss her around and tell her what to do? She’d never imagined that would be the sort of man she wanted to be with. But then, if she was honest with herself, she’d never been with a man. She’d had boyfriends, but they had been boys, not men. None of those short lived, so-called relationships had lasted long enough to explore what either of them wanted or needed. None had ever laid a hand on her ass, unless they were groping around in a make out session, hoping for some satisfaction. None of them gave her any kind of satisfaction at all. She’d never had a man do anything to her at all, much less tell her what to do and expect her to do it. He seemed to be a nice guy, but it still irritated her that he was so bossy about everything. Still, she wasn’t doing too well on her own, was she? Kicked out of school, and everything messed up. Maybe she needed someone to tell her what to do.
“Alyssa?”
Alyssa looked up and realized she was in front of her friend’s house. “Krystal?”
“I thought you were in school,” they both said at the same time. Both girls giggled.
“How come you’re home?” Alyssa asked, hoping her friend had a similar story to hers.
“I decided to take this semester off. How about you?”
“Same, kind of,” Alyssa winced.
“Sounds like a story there.”
“We should catch up for a coffee or something.” It’d be good to have someone to talk to. She didn’t realize how much she’d missed her old friends.
“I’d like that. I have to run a couple of errands now, but I’ll call you. Same number?”
“Yeah.”
“Great.”
Alyssa walked away feeling much happier.
* * *
When she got back to the house Alyssa could hear banging in the back of the house. Jesse had told her to stay away from where the work was being done, but Jesse wasn’t here. His car was gone, so what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. She followed the noise until she found its source. Her mouth dropped open when she realized Matty and Chase had already gutted the entire inside of the downstairs bathroom. Alyssa jumped when a deep voice rumbled from behind her.
“You shouldn’t be here without a hard hat.”
“Sorry, just wanted to say hi.” Alyssa waved to the others who sang out their hellos and kept on working.
“Hi. Now away from here, miss, before you get hurt,” Uncle Pete said sternly.
Alyssa turned and walked back into the other part of the house to find something else to amuse herself with. She watched some TV and then scrounged up a peanut butter sandwich. By late afternoon, she found herself actually looking forward to Jesse coming home.
* * *
“Alyssa!” Jesse called from the bottom of the stairs when he got home. “We need to go get groceries!”
She stood at the top of the stairs chewing her lip. “I don’t have any money.”
“I kind of assumed that. Come on. I don’t know what you like, so you can choose for yourself.”
“You don’t have to,” the stubborn girl said, not making a move from her spot on the stairs. She really didn’t want to be beholden to him, but her rumbling tummy was urging her to get going. All she’d had to eat was toast.
“Just come on,” Jesse said taking the stairs a couple at a time and grabbing her wrist, tugging her down after him while he spoke. “I’m starving.”
Alyssa’s tummy did a flip. She wanted to pull her hand away and demand that he couldn’t touch her, but her body was buzzing with some kind of invisible magnet. Did she actually like his work-roughened hand clenched possessively onto her like that? Okay, maybe not possessively. The only thing he was trying to control at that moment was his hunger. Once he had her at the bottom of the stairs, he let go, and she had to suck in a deep breath to push away the weird pang of disappointment that flashed through her so fast she almost missed it. She had to find a way to get him out of this house and away from her. Having him here was messing with her mind.
* * *
“What kind of cereal do you want?” Jesse asked pausing the cart in the isle filled with colorful boxes.
“I don’t eat cereal. Too many carbs.”
“There were carbs in my cookie dough ice cream.”
“Ice cream doesn’t count. It’s a liquid.”
“Uh-huh.” He popped a box of his favorite cereal in the cart and moved on.
“Whole milk, half and half, or skim?”
“Evaporated skim milk for coffee. Skim for the cereal. It’s better for you than regular milk.”
“I’ll get you some skim for the cereal you aren’t going to eat, and I’ll just get regular milk for me. I drink my coffee black.” He put a gallon of each in the cart. “I have no idea where to even start looking for evaporated milk. There’s creamer here, will this do?” he questioned, reaching for a box that was strategically placed in a display near the fridge. She shook her head, so he put it back.
“I don’t like that fake stuff,” Alyssa said when he dropped in a few packets of hot dogs. “It’s not even real meat. They’re full of chemicals.”
“Of course you don’t.” Jesse threw a couple of trays of meat in next to the hotdogs. “Don’t try and tell me you’re a vegetarian as well. You ate my bacon.”
“No, meat’s okay.” she said. “Good meat.” She actually loved hotdogs. She’d have to figure out how to eat a couple when he wasn’t paying attention. She was enjoying pushing his buttons.
“Vegetables?”
“I love vegetables.”
“Good.”
“Bread?”
“No. Carbs.”
“Right. The carbs. How could I forget the evil carbs?”
When they reached the candy isle, Jesse threw a few candy bars and a couple of bags of potato chips in. “I can eat all the carbs I want. I burn them off through the day.”
“Are you saying I’m fat?”
“No! How did you get that out of that?”
“Just put back all of my stuff, and I won’t eat anything at all except the vegetables.” It was all she could do to stop from laughing at the panicked look on his face.
“Honestly. I didn’t mean it.”
“I know. I’m just messing with ya. You’re way too serious, you know that?”
Jesse shook his head. “I think we have all we need. Let’s just go.”
Alyssa could see Jesse steering towards the checkouts, but she hadn’t finished with him yet and stopped in her tracks.
“Isn’t that it now?” he asked.
“Oh, there’s one more thing. I’m a little embarrassed,” she said coyly. “Feminine products.”
Jesse’s face was a study. His eyes widened, his lips parted a little, and she could see his color rising.
“Oh, right,” he nodded, allowing himself to be lead to the isle in question.
She poured over all the brightly colored packets, whispering loudly about the benefits of each brand. “Technology is something else you know? These ones used to leak all over, but now they’ve come up with these ones that have wings to take up the slack.”
Jesse snarled at the superseded ones and grabbed up a packet of the ones with wings and threw them into the cart like they might burn him. “Those okay?”
“No, silly,” Alyssa said with a grin while she removed them and put them back on the shelf. “I use these.” She took a packet from the shelf and held it up to show him.
“I know what they are,” he said. “Just put them in the cart, and we can go.”
“You should always choose the unscented because you really don’t want to get an irritation down there.” She would have loved to have added more. This was the most satisfying part of their little trip yet. The trouble was that she was close to exploding with a fit of the giggles.
Jesse snatched them and dropped them into the cart.
“We going now?” she asked almost running to keep up with the fast moving cart.
“Just gonna get some beer.”
“Now there’s an idea I like.”
“I hope you like watching because you are not old enough to drink.”
Her chin dropped. She wanted to offer a mature argument, but what came out was more like a babyish whine. “I’m almost?”
“Uh-huh. How long until you’re twenty-one?”
“Nine months,” she grumbled.
“Then I’ll happily join you in a beer in nine months.”
“We won’t know each other in nine months,” she said, poking out her tongue and stalking through the checkouts to wait in the car.
* * *
He had been so irritated with her by the time they got home, he almost took his finger off while he was peeling the potatoes for dinner. “Aren’t you going to help?” he asked when she took off up the stairs.
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
Jesse knew she wouldn’t be back in a minute, but to his own amazement he found he didn’t really mind. He liked cooking, and he liked the idea of cooking for someone else and not just for himself for a change.
As he prepped the chicken and vegetables and started on the rice, he mulled over the events since last night when he’d found her there. She was interesting. Alyssa was a very pretty girl, but that wasn’t what attracted him. Was he attracted? Of course he was. She was painful at times, but she was also funny and smart—plus a smart ass, if their trip to the supermarket was anything to go by. He knew she’d been playing him about the carbs, but she was having fun and it was harmless—irritating but harmless. He looked at the rice and smiled; carbs. She’d eat it. He knew she would. Just like she’d probably eat the candy and maybe even his chips if he didn’t hide a bag for himself. A girl like Alyssa would keep a man on his toes; things would never be boring.
* * *
“I thought you were coming right back,” Jesse asked Alyssa as she came back into the kitchen.
“Did you? Sorry. I guess I got distracted.” Not so much distracted as hungry. While she’d been soaking in the bath, she could smell the delicious dinner cooking.
“Uh-huh. You can clean up after dinner. Sit down and eat before it gets cold.”
“O
kay,” she said with a sweet smile. “This looks good. I love chicken.”
Alyssa tucked into the rice with gusto, forgetting all about her previous ban on carbs and not noticing Jesse’s hint of a smile. “This is delicious. I think it may even rival my mom’s. She used to make it a lot. It was my dad’s favorite.”
“That’s high praise.”
Alyssa smiled, unsure of what to say to that. “My dad used to cook the chicken on the grill while my mom made the other stuff inside.” It made Alyssa feel all warm inside to think about the happy meals they’d shared as a family.
As they finished their meal, they shared stories of their favorite foods. Alyssa was surprised to find it was actually Jesse’s grandfather who taught him to cook.
“The meal was lovely, Jesse, thank you. Your grandfather did a good job.”
“He was great, but then my mom was a good cook too. He taught her as well.”
“My mom does most of the cooking—well, all of it now. My dad grilled, but he didn’t really cook inside that much.”
“You had a good relationship with your dad.”
“Yeah, I did. I loved him always, and I loved the time I spent with him on my own outside. We used to play catch, or when I was really little, he used to push me on the swing. When I got older, we’d sit at the outdoor table and he’d help me with my homework. He was the one who planted all the herbs. That’s one of the reasons I liked my key to be left there; I know it’s silly, but it’s like he was looking after it for me or something.”
Alyssa looked up and found Jesse mesmerized by her story. She could see by the look on his face he was feeling sorry for her. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want his pity. Alyssa stood to leave. She’d said too much, she’d felt too much, and she would do better to go back to the original plan of driving Jesse out.
* * *
“Dishes.” Jesse said with a pointed look as she stood, leaving her plate on the table in front of her. “That was the deal.”
“I said I’d do them. I just have to make a call.”
“You can make your call after you clean up.”
The Man of Her House Page 3