by Seana Kelly
He looked confused. And sexy. The bastard.
“Why are you here?” I put as much anger as I could into my voice. I would not break down in front of him. “No more animals caught in traps. No need to keep wasting your time on nothing. Nothing to see here. Nothing at all.” My voice caught on the third nothing. I cleared my throat and continued, “Move along.”
Sighing, he ran his hands over his face. “Katie, when I said that, the nothing thing, it was your first day back. I didn’t know you. I was angry about Alice, and I knew Pops would try to set us up.”
I laughed. It was bitter sounding, even to my own ears. “No worries there. Your grandfather thinks I’m the Antichrist. Trust me, no one wants a loved one to date the Antichrist.” I heard something in the house and turned.
“Why are you sitting out here in the freezing wind in only a T-shirt and shorts?”
I scooted closer, draping Chaucer’s warm, furry legs over my knees. “It’s refreshing out here. And last time I checked, being cold wasn’t illegal. Bye now.”
He walked back to his car. Good.
Unfortunately, he jogged back holding a big sweatshirt. “Put this on before you freeze to death.”
“Nope. I’m good. Buh-bye.” I shivered uncontrollably. Stupid Maine weather.
He walked closer and shoved the sweatshirt over my head.
I sputtered. “What the—dude, you cannot just force clothing on unsuspecting people! Go arrest yourself.” Ah, warmth. I pulled the sweatshirt down over my bent knees. My entire body folded within the sweatshirt. “But before you fingerprint yourself, could you pull up the hoodie?”
Brushing stray curls from my face, he pulled the hood forward. Warm, calloused fingers brushed my jaw and tipped up my chin. “I’m sorry.” He paused. “About a lot of things, actually.” Scooting me over, he sat on my other side, adding another heat source and wind break.
He nudged my shoulder. “Thanks for keeping the secret.” Tipping his head toward the front door, he continued, “About the open windows and the animals.”
I nodded, shifting away from him, leaning into Chaucer.
“Why did you?”
“I promised you, didn’t I?”
He leaned forward, his arms braced against his knees, and sighed. “Yes, you did.” He stood abruptly, cursing. “I’ve got to go do something,” he said, as he strode back to his cruiser.
“What about your sweatshirt?” I didn’t want to give it up, but he already thought I was a cruel, shallow bit of nothing. I didn’t need him to add thief to his assessment.
He waved away my question and drove off.
Score! New sweatshirt for me.
The front door opened and the Mark guy came out. “Ma’am, I have a preliminary number for you and your husband—”
“Ex.”
“Right. If you could give me a day or so, though, I can give you the most accurate number. I need to check recent sales in this area.”
I stood. “Take your time, the longer the better.” The sweatshirt fell to my knees. “Actually, can you give me the ballpark number now?”
He looked over his notes. “I’d say at least a million and a half. I’ll check sales on comparables and get back to you.” He tipped his head and jogged off to his truck.
A million and a half? I couldn’t afford groceries. How was I supposed to come up with half of that? I couldn’t breathe.
I was going to lose Gran’s house.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Aiden
I PULLED UP to Pops’s house and turned off the engine. Damn it. I did not want to do this. I stepped out and mounted the stairs. When I knocked, Pops opened the door almost immediately. He looked confused and wary.
“Pops, I need to talk to you.”
He opened the door wider, still watching me suspiciously. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at him on the phone, but he’d knocked Katie around. The Katie bashing had to stop, me included.
I sat on the couch and waited for him to take his chair. “I need to tell you something, and I really don’t want to.”
His confusion deepened. “You can tell me anything. I thought you understood that.”
“It’s about Katie.”
He bristled. “I don’t want to talk about her.”
I sat forward, not knowing how to begin. “I know.” I took a deep breath. “The furniture? That was our fault, my fault really.” He started to speak, but I cut him off. “Nellie had windows open in her house when we moved her out.”
“So what?”
I shook my head, thinking about it. “I used to drive up there once every shift. Just to check on the house. Make sure no one broke in.”
“Oh.” He looked like he was waiting for a shoe to drop. “That was good of you.”
I rubbed my hands down the thighs of my jeans. “But I never went in the house, Pops. After we moved Nellie to your place, I locked the doors and never went back in.”
“Okay.”
“See, it’s my fault, Pops. I thought I was keeping an eye on her house, but I didn’t check the windows before I locked up.” He opened his mouth, but I had to get it out quickly. “Animals got in. A lot of them. By the time Katie arrived, the house had been abandoned to forest creatures for months. There was mud and feathers, smears and droppings everywhere. The furniture had become infested.”
I heard Pops’s shocked intake of breath, but couldn’t stop. “Katie’s been sleeping in her car. She’s been washing down walls and mopping floors. She carried most of the furniture out all by herself. She’s been terrified to go in, but it’s her Gran’s and she seems to feel it her moral obligation to fix it.”
Pops’s hands started to shake.
“She’s had it rough. Her husband lied and cheated. Now he’s trying to take Nellie’s house away from her. The asshole wouldn’t even let Katie eat. She’s skin and bones. And when she left, he apparently canceled her credit cards and did something with their bank account so that she doesn’t even have enough money to buy food. Her pantry and refrigerator are empty.” I stood, needing to move. “She got a job working in Chuck’s food truck, but I think that’s so she can feed her dog.”
“But she never said—”
“I asked her not to. I knew you’d be upset if you knew Nellie’s house had been completely trashed.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Even with you yelling at her and pushing her around, she kept her promise and didn’t tell you why.”
Pops stood, too. “I won’t be coddled and protected by you. You should’ve told me.”
“Yeah.” I dropped back onto the couch and scrubbed my hands over my face. “As we speak, she’s sitting there, shivering in the wind, starving, while an appraiser does the preliminary work to take her house away from her. A house she’s been killing herself to clean. And even though I said I’d pay for it, she spent the money her mom sent her to live on to pay for the exterminator.”
I took the hands from my face and looked Pops in the eye. “She wouldn’t accept any help from me. She was sitting there, shivering in the cold, holding on to that dog, who seems to be the only one looking out for her, and refused to break. So, I’m sorry I kept it from you, Pops, but you have got to lay off her, okay?”
“What can be done? There’s got to be a way to stop her husband.” Pops was pacing, fired up. “What’s that lawyer of hers doing?”
“Not enough.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kate
AFTER A LONG, hot shower, I dressed in my coziest sweats and pulled on two pairs of socks, hoping the layering would keep me warm. I took the freshly laundered blankets from the dryer, draping one around my shoulders and carrying the other two in my arms. Delicious heat seeped into me. In the living room, I folded two into beds, one for me and one for Chaucer, and then used t
he sweatshirt Aiden had left me as a pillow.
Exhausted, I cocooned myself in the third blanket and had just lain down when Chaucer jumped up and barked at the door. A knock sounded a moment later. “Oh, come on. Do you understand how difficult it is to stand up now?” I struggled to extricate myself from the cozy, warm blankets. Another knock echoed in the room. “Keep your hair on,” I shouted.
Chaucer was wagging his tail, so I opened the door. The porch was empty except for four grocery bags. I heard a car door slam and squinted out into the dark driveway. “Hello?”
Aiden jogged up the steps into the light pooling on the porch from the open door. “Delivery, ma’am.” He pushed past me, two bags in his arms, and went straight down the hall and into the kitchen.
“Um.” What the hell was that?
He emerged a moment later. “Can you get one of the bags? I’ll grab the other three.” He strode back out onto the porch. “Actually, I’ve got them. Just get the door.” He picked up all four and brushed passed me on his way to the kitchen again.
Chaucer trotted after him, leaving me alone in the doorway, wind whipping my hair into my face. Shivering, I closed and locked it before cautiously making my way to the kitchen. I pushed open the door and found Aiden crouched down in front of my fridge, pulling food from the bags on the floor around him.
“I don’t understand.”
He glanced up before continuing to load my refrigerator. “I’ve had about as much as I can take.” He stood. “Why don’t you finish up here? I forgot something in the car.” He walked out, and I stared at an unfathomable amount of food.
I looked in one of the bags and saw doggy jerky treats. My throat tightened.
Aiden walked back in a few minutes later with a forty-pound bag of dog food under his arm. He opened the pantry door and dropped it on the floor. When he turned, he found me standing where he’d left me. “I believe you were given a job.” Grinning, he brushed me aside and finished unloading all the grocery bags.
I stood frozen, unable to make sense of what was happening. I reached up my sleeve and pinched myself. Yep. I totally felt that.
Aiden stood in front of me, eyebrows raised and said, “So, is this happening?” I pointed a hesitant finger at him.
Scowling, he said, “What did I tell you I’d do if you poked me again?”
I jabbed my finger into his hard chest. Ow.
He grabbed my finger and held on to it. “Is the rest of you as cold as this finger?”
“I was super warm and snuggly in my just-from-the-dryer blankets until you knocked.”
He took both my hands and held them in his own, leaning down and breathing hot air onto my frigid fingers. He looked at me under his dark lashes. My stomach flipped and then growled. He grinned. “I brought dinner, too. Come on.” He pulled me forward, handed me two plates from the cupboard, then spun me and pushed me toward the door. “I’ll get glasses. Go.”
I walked back to the living room in a daze. Next to the door was a sleeping bag and foam pad. Aiden walked up behind me and gave me a little push. He was carrying a wine bottle and two glasses. He placed them on the floor, picked up the sleeping pad, rolled it out and then unrolled the sleeping bag on top of it.
He pointed. “Sit.”
Plates still clutched in my hands, I dumbly followed his orders, dropping down onto the wonderfully cushioned floor. He smirked as he took the plates from me, before shaking out one of my blankets and pulling it close around me like a shawl. I was so tired, I could have dropped off right then and there. The scent of meaty, cheesy goodness was the only thing keeping my eyelids from drooping.
“Here, sleepyhead. Stay awake long enough to eat something.”
He handed me a plate with a piece of pizza on it. A moment later a glass of red wine was dangling before me. I snatched the glass and took a big gulp. Ah. I put the glass down and picked up the slice of pizza. The smell alone had my mouth watering. I took a cheesy, spicy bite and groaned. Not peanut butter! I inhaled the slice and then went back to the wine.
“Do you want another piece?”
Another? “I want it very much, but I don’t think I could eat it.”
He made a disgruntled sound.
“It’s delicious. I’m just full.”
He was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall nearby. “I’m not angry with you. I’m angry that one piece of pizza fills you up. Your stomach has shrunk to the size of a pea because you’re not eating.”
I huddled under the soft, warm blanket, my tummy blissfully full, and took another sip of wine. “I eat fine.”
“What have you eaten today?”
My eyes drifted closed. His deep, grumbly voice was oddly soothing. “I had a peanut butter sandwich this morning.”
“With what? There’s no bread in your kitchen.”
“The bread was implied. I imagined bread while I ate a spoonful of peanut butter.” Mmm, delicious wine. Alcohol should be on the bottom of the food pyramid. It was definitely more important than meat or grains.
“Didn’t you have a hot dog when you were at work? I know Chuck allows one free dog per shift.”
“I gave you my free dog, Mr. You-Owe-Me-A-Free-Lunch.”
“Damn it, Katie! You have to eat.”
“Couldn’t afford it. I only had ten dollars on me. I spent that on the nice mom and her son. He was so cute my heart hurt. I couldn’t pay for yours, too, so it had to be mine.” My voice sounded hollow and far away.
I felt myself start to tip. I had a moment to worry that I’d spill my wine and then it was gone. I snuggled down into my blanket, my head on Aiden’s sweatshirt. “I like your sweatshirt. You smell nice.”
I think I heard him sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”
I liked it when he kissed me. Maybe he’d do that again.
“Okay.”
Okay? Cool. He can read—oh, right. Stupid mouth was always getting me in trouble.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Aiden
SHE WAS OUT. I considered putting the rest of the pizza in the fridge, along with the wine, and then taking off, but I couldn’t make myself leave. I brushed her hair back from her face. She sighed.
“I like kissing you, too,” I whispered.
“Thank goodness. That would have been awkward.”
I leaned forward and watched her. She was sound asleep and talking. I wished I were a better person. “What do you think of me?”
“Mean. Grumpy. Hot. Amazing kisser. Broody. Great ass. Ma’am.”
I chuckled. “Great ass, huh?”
“Mmm-hmm. Damn.”
Shaking my head, I tried another one. “Why did you really wreck your husband’s car?” Her brow furrowed in her sleep, and I instantly regretted the question. It was wrong, prying into her subconscious this way. “Never mind. Go back to sleep.”
“He stole Gran from me. Drove everyone away.” She curled tighter. “Never loved me. Cheated. Never smart enough. Pretty enough. Thin enough. Sexy enough. Never enough.”
She was breaking my heart.
“Gran was sick and didn’t tell me. She died. Without me. Didn’t tell me. Ignored me. Smirked. Turned his back. On the phone. Golf club. Got his attention.”
“Yeah, I bet you did. It’s okay now. You’re safe. You can sleep.”
“Gran hates me.”
I leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “No. Nellie loves you and always will.”
Her brow cleared and her breathing slowed.
“Sweet dreams. Think about my hot ass.”
“’Kay.”
Lying down on the blanket next to her, I grinned. As I drifted off, Chaucer settled at our feet.
I awoke early the next morning. Katie was sound asleep, still cocooned in blankets. I took a
moment to watch her sleep, to marvel at her soft radiant skin, the light dusting of tiny freckles over her nose and cheeks. I’d forgotten she had freckles. Her hair was curling again, not as tightly as when she was younger, but she was looking more like herself now.
Her dark lashes fluttered sleepily, and then I was staring into her glassy green eyes. I watched emotions flit across her face, cataloging them. Confusion, fear, memory, confusion again and finally exasperation.
“Why are you staring at me?” Her voice was early morning creaky.
“Because I can.”
“Stalker.” She closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Checking my watch, I groaned and got up, my body stiff from the floor. Chaucer got up with me. I walked him to the back door. Opening it, I waved him out. “Go ahead.” Extraordinarily, he didn’t run right out the door. He stared at me, looked back toward the living room where Katie was sleeping, and then stared at me again. He didn’t want to leave me alone with her.
“Okay, I’ll step out, too.” I stood on the porch, in easy view, as he trotted out to a nearby bush and watered it.
“Chaucer, baby, where are you?”
We both heard Katie’s voice from inside. Chaucer finished, hopped up onto the porch and tried to push the door open with the top of his head. I reached over him and turned the knob.
“Chaucer?” Katie’s voice took on a hint of panic.
The dog hurtled through the kitchen and out of sight.
“Oh, there you are. You scared me.” Her voice was coming closer. “Were you trying to figure out how to open the pantry door again? It’s not going to happen, dude. No opposable thumbs. Make your peace with it.”
I was leaning against the sink, laughing, when they walked in.
Katie’s face went white at the sight of me, her eyes huge. She reached for Chaucer as she stepped back.
“It’s just me. I was going to make some coffee, if that’s okay.”
“Aiden?” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Holy crap. Knock before you come in!” Shaking her head, she continued, “I finally rid the house of varmints hell-bent on eating my face, and I get human intruders. Doorbells. They exist for a reason.” She checked the clock. “And why are you here so early?”