by Angie West
“Yeah,” Jaxson agreed with a shrug, as if he hadn’t really noticed before she brought it up.
“Is this a family home?” she asked, following as he led the way through the sitting room and up a dark staircase that she hadn’t noticed when they’d been in this room earlier.
“No. It’s just a rental. Watch out, somewhere here in the middle, there’s a place in the carpet that sticks up.”
“Oh, I think I just found it,” Kate gasped, wincing when she fell forward on the stairs and banged her shin hard. Above her, Jaxson stopped and swore under his breath before he backtracked to help her to her feet. He kept one hand wrapped around Kate’s arm, just above her elbow, until they made it to the second floor landing.
“Sorry. I keep forgetting to replace the bulb up here. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just clumsy,” she said, stepping away from Jaxson to face the long, darkened hallway.
Jaxson walked a few feet past Kate and suddenly the hallway was illuminated in a soft, golden light. “Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour, then you can pick which room you want for the night.”
“How many bedrooms are up here?”
“Six.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. So, you’ve got five to choose from.”
Outside, the storm peaked. They strode down the hallway, toward the first of the six bedrooms as rain pinged loudly against the roof and windows. A flash of blue arced across the sky, casting the large bedroom in an eerie light the minute Kate and Jaxson entered the room.
“This room will be fine,” Kate said, turning a slow circle as Jaxson closed the door behind them. She wandered closer to the window, peering at the black, rain soaked, wind-whipped world beyond the pale lace curtains. “There’s a bathroom through that door?” she asked, turning to the left.
“Yeah. I think there are towels beside the sink. And there ought to be blankets in here somewhere.” Jaxson’s voice was muffled for a second, and then he emerged from the walk-in closet, a thick chocolate-brown fleece blanket clutched in one arm, a set of navy blue sheets in the other. “Found ’em.”
“Thanks.” Kate held out her arms for the bedding, but Jaxson didn’t move.
“I’ll help you make the bed,” he offered after standing awkwardly in the middle of the room for a moment.
“Oh, okay.” She nodded, moving to the other side of the bed and catching the end of the sheet he draped across the full-sized mattress. “So,” Kate said casually as she tucked her end around the corner of the mattress and then straightened. “You never said why you came to Florida. How come you left New York?”
Deep rumbling outside seemed to match the sudden shift in Jaxson’s mood. For some reason, Kate realized as she stood facing him now beside the bedroom door, her question had struck a nerve.
His face was a tense, irritated mask before even that much expression was shuttered. “It was time for a new start. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Jaxson, wait—”
Another sharp crack and resounding boom echoed around them, and the lights flickered one final time before the room went black.
Chapter Six
In The Dark
Jaxson turned and for a second, his face was illuminated in the flash of blue-white light through the partially open curtains.
“There should be a flashlight in the top drawer of the nightstand.”
And then he was gone. The soft click of the latch signaled his exit from the pitch dark bedroom. Well! Kate huffed out a breath and put one hand out as she navigated the furniture around her in order to get to the bed and the promise of a flashlight. It wasn’t hard to do; all the furniture in the room was pushed up against the walls. Within thirty seconds the tops of her thighs hit the mattress of the extra large bed—the only piece of furniture that stuck out into the middle of the room. Kate climbed onto the bed and ran a hand against the soft, quilted fabric of the bedspread. It’s so dark in here…
She waved a hand back and forth in front of her face and shivered a little when she could only just make out the outline of her fingers. She glanced down at the bedspread beneath her and tried to remember what color it was supposed to be. Blue, maybe? Like Jaxson’s dress. Yes, that was it, blue with little white flowers dotted across the top and bottom.
Jaxson. Kate sighed and tucked her legs beneath her bottom in the middle of the enormous bed, then leaned over abruptly when she remembered there was supposed to be a flashlight in the bedside table. There wasn’t one, but Kate found a small stockpile of thick pillar candles and several packets of matches in the drawer on the other side of the bed. Several long minutes’ worth of fumbling in drawers produced a small silver tray that she assumed was meant to hold the candles as they burned.
She struck the match along the side of the rough strip along the edge of the matchbook, pupils dilating as sparks raced along the line and the match flared to life. She lit two candles and settled herself against the pillows, reclining back, kicking her rubber-soled clogs off her feet and onto the carpet, and laying back down to cross her legs at the ankles. Absently, Kate turned her head and twisted the gold ring on her thumb around in slow circles as she watched the flickering flames throw shadows on the delicate, tea-rose patterned wallpaper beside the bed.
She yawned, and her mind began to drift over her very eventful first night back in her aunt’s home—her home now, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time since she found out she’d inherited the place. Remnants of the storm echoed in the now soft spatter of raindrops against the roof of the house and the distant rumble of thunder. The midnight soaker seemed to have moved on for the night, further inland, leaving a calm, easy silence in the candle-lit bedroom.
Kate breathed in the peaceful, comfortable stillness, let it soak into her skin, because in the morning reality would once again come crashing down around her. She would have to go back to her own house; the day after that she was due back at the hospital. According to the nursing Shift Coordinator, Kate was banished to basement for corpse-sitting duties for another six weeks. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. At least she wouldn’t be alone during her next shift; she’d already been informed that a guard typically completed each night shift alongside the night shift nurse.
Apparently, the hospital in Crystal Cove had its share of midnight vandals—kids breaking into the morgue for kicks. She shuddered and turned onto her side, propping her head on her hand and watching the candle’s cheery flame dance in the shadows. What kind of kid broke into a morgue…for fun? She could see a kid sneaking into a school, sure, or onto a football field to spray paint something, maybe even a movie theater—which, admittedly, sounded kind of intriguing, but the local morgue? No, she just didn’t see the appeal. But she could understand why the hospital’s board of directors had voted to beef up security and place a nighttime guard in the basement.
What she didn’t understand was what she herself was doing down there. Granted, she was fresh out of nursing school, but Kate didn’t think she’d ever heard of a hospital employing a third shift “morgue nurse.” Really, what was she supposed to do? Make sure anybody the staff brought down in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning was really dead? Wouldn’t the attending doctors and nurses have already determined that?
Well, at the end of the day it didn’t matter, she decided. She had a steady job with decent wages at a small-town but reputable facility. There would be money in the bank every week to pay the few bills that she and Lilly incurred. She could keep the fridge and pantry stocked with food; cooking dinner for only Lilly at the end of the month, and then lying to her sister and saying she’d already eaten, would now be a thing of the past. Now that their mother’s final medical bills were paid off, maybe she and Lilly could even afford a luxury or two—some news clothes, a girls’ night out. So, who cared if her current job description was a shade on the morbid side?
The house, though…that was another thing altogether. That did matter. For one brief, wild second
, Kate entertained fantasies of trying to sell the old place. Immediately, she put the brakes on that train of thought. Selling the house before Lilly was finished with college and comfortably out on her own, would be foolhardy. What if they had some emergency or an illness, or…well, Kate couldn’t think of anything specific right off hand, but the reality was, any number of situations could pop up over the next four or five years and severely tax her and Lilly’s limited resources. And aside from some distant aunts, uncles, cousins, one grandmother, and a very well-meaning Lindsey, she and Lil were on their own.
Kate felt a twinge of conscience at discounting her family. Okay, maybe she and her sister weren’t “on their own.”
But it wasn’t anyone else’s job to take care of the two of them. They all had lives and bills and problems of their own. And to Kate’s way of thinking, she’d done a good enough job taking care of her sister, these last few years. Even Aunt Charlotte, when she’d made the trek from Louisiana for Lilly’s high school graduation, had remarked on what a good job Kate had done. The same family members who had initially balked at the idea of an eighteen-year-old guardian for a fifteen-year-old girl, had eventually come around to admit that Kate had stepped up to the plate.
They didn’t know about the things Kate had went without in order to take care of her sister and put herself through nursing school. And it didn’t matter now. Her hard work had finally paid off and they’d made it through one of the darkest parts of their lives. Now, there was real hope for a better future and she wasn’t going to screw it up by throwing them into debt. She sighed and sat up to blow out the candle.
So, someone had broken into her house tonight…tried to? Kate wasn’t sure, but thought she may have come home before the intruder had a chance to actually enter the house. She didn’t care what those officers said—someone had forced her door open—and not from inside the house, either. Kate had never heard a more ridiculous scenario. Were the police experts on door latch damage? Really, how hard would it be to really determine such a thing? Kate didn’t know, but why would someone even do that? For what purpose?
A chill crept along her nerve endings as another thought came to mind. Assuming the lock had been damaged from the inside…what if whoever had been on that porch tonight had tried to make it look that way, to throw off suspicion for the breaking and entering they’d done? So, this…thief…picks locks on people’s front doors, then somehow scratches the latch to make it look like the damage was done from inside the house? Kate frowned, but figured it made as much sense as anything else, and moved forward to extinguish the last candle. There was only one problem with her scenario. Nothing had been stolen.
Sure, maybe she’d interrupted him before he could go into her house. But if that were the case, why had he already covered his tracks with the whole funky lock damage thing? Kate paused over the candle, lips pursed, but then shook off her anxiety and put out the flame. She could spend the rest of the night attempting to pick apart the actions of a crazy person, or she could get some sleep and, in the morning, go shopping and splurge for a better lock on her front door.
“Fuck!”
Kate’s head snapped up at the muffled curse that carried through the wall. Sitting in the dark, she bit her lip and giggled at the torrent of curses that echoed from Jaxson’s bedroom to hers. Clearly, he had the room next to hers. What was he doing over there? Did she want to know? A crash and a bang effectively finished shattering the peaceful solitude of the house. Kate clapped a hand over her mouth as her mind whirred through the possible scenarios of what was going on in the next room. Her new neighbor wasn’t boring, she’d give him that.
Kate vaulted easily off the bed. Walking carefully in the dark, she followed the sound of Jaxson’s grousing and the intermittent thumps, to the adjoining bathroom. She and Jaxson had connecting rooms? One hand groped along the grainy, textured wallpaper of the bathroom and a second later, she located the switch and flipped it on. Three large, pale globes buzzed to life over the single wood-and-porcelain vanity, and Kate spied the door at the other end of the cozy bathroom. Apparently so.
She rapped gently on the door and when a thick, answering silence was the only response, she twisted the knob and slowly pushed the door open. Cautiously, she poked her head around the now partially open door. She bit her lip at the sight that greeted her.
“Jaxson, what are you doing?” She brought both hands to her mouth and hurried over to the tangle of man and pantyhose on the floor beside the bed.
“What’s it look like?” he grumbled, sitting up and reaching for his tangled stockings. This time, he jerked them the rest of the way off and, smooth, muscled legs freed, stood up to face his neighbor.
Chapter Seven
A Declaration of War
“What are you doing in here?” Jaxson demanded, shoving a hand through his hair and struggling to hold on to what little patience he had left. That fact was driven home when his fingers encountered the rough edge of the platinum wig that now rested haphazardly on his head. He had no pride left.
Reminding himself that none of this was Kate’s fault helped somewhat. His problems had nothing to do with her; his neighbor was an innocent bystander, and a passing one, at that, he was quick to remind himself.
“What are you doing in here?” Kate countered, pressing her hand tighter over her mouth. “I heard all the, um, noise…”
“If you’re going to laugh at me, then get out.” His eyes narrowed before he looked beyond Kate, to the pale light that spilled onto the carpet and rimmed her hair in a dusky halo. He’d been stumbling around in the damn dark and the power was back on? He closed his eyes and silently counted to ten.
“Uh…Jaxson?”
“When did the power come back on?” He voiced the question without bothering to open his eyes.
“Oh. Just now, I guess. I hadn’t even noticed until you pointed it out.”
He opened his eyes then and stared at the woman who’d taken several steps into the room. Hands at her sides, her steps were tentative now, but she was steadily coming toward him. His mouth twisted into a frown but her steps didn’t falter. Within seconds, she was standing in front of him. “You didn’t notice?”
Kate shrugged and stared up at him. “In the south, the power is always going out. You get used to it.”
Jaxson didn’t want to get used to it. Any of it. Not the heat or the shit weather, damn sure not these godforsaken wigs. He watched Kate’s chest rise and fall as she inhaled, and then she took the final step that brought her toe to toe with him and he couldn’t think at all.
“So…” Small, white teeth briefly clamped down on her full bottom lip, but then her head came up and she regarded him in the cool stillness of the bedroom. “Do you need help?”
“I…” He shook his head and tried to block out the warmth emanating from her body. Jaxson quickly found out that by taking small, shallow breaths, he could—mostly—block out the cross between cotton candy and caramel that was Kate’s scent. “No.” His mouth snapped shut and he took a step back. “Just hit the light on your way out, will you?”
“Uh…oh, okay, yeah,” she stammered, blinking rapidly.
Jaxson turned his back to her and faced the nightstand, fingers only a little unsteady as he once again began to work the long pins out from around the edge of the wig, just like his aunt had shown him.
They weren’t coming out. He bit back another string of curses as he tried to get a grip on one of the long pins, only to find it was hopelessly entangled in both the thickly woven backing of the hair piece and the wig cap. He gave it up for the moment as a lost cause, moving on to the pin next to it. He managed to yank that one out and flung it onto the dresser as he heard the tell-tale click-click-click of the light switch across the room. Kate’s voice rang out a second later.
“It’s not coming on.”
Jaxson grunted. “Bulb must have blown.” He tugged at another pin. “Just leave the bathroom door open, then.”
When silence was
the only response, he figured Kate had left to go back to her own room. He jumped a foot in the air when smooth, cool fingers pressed against his shoulder.
“Here. Let me help.”
He turned to face her, and long moments passed while he stared down at her pixie face. She seemed hesitant again, unsure of herself, maybe unsure of him. He inhaled, then cursed himself an instant later when her scent filled his senses. “Most of the pins are stuck,” he heard himself say.
Her fingers moved skillfully over the same pin he’d had no luck with, and in less than sixty seconds Kate had extracted it from the wig cap.
“Okay. I’m impressed,” he grudgingly admitted, a ghost of a smile curving his lips. Kate deposited the pin in the hand that Jaxson held, palm up, between their bodies, and went to work on the next one.
“I used to do Lilly’s hair,” she murmured, dropping another pin into his waiting hand.
“Your sister?” he asked, distracted and struggling to form a coherent response as Kate leaned up on tip-toe in order to reach the pins and fastenings behind his left ear.
“Hmmm.” She nodded. “Besides, I’m a nurse.”
He wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything, but he held his breath when she leaned forward.
“Oh, wow, this is really stuck.”
Smooth, cool strands of her hair brushed against Jaxson’s chin; his gut clenched and he closed his eyes, fought hard for control. Oh, yeah, he was definitely getting hot for his neighbor. And that was just flat out stupid. Idiotic. His life was a tangled fucking mess. He didn’t even know her.