Burn So Bright

by Jennifer Bernard

  “Why, is that so out of character?” She gave him a wicked sidelong glance.

  “Watch the insults, babe. I could do or say anything in there. You don’t want to piss me off.”

  Her expression instantly transformed to something more sober. “No insult, I promise. I just meant that we should make use of your overwhelming masculine charm.”

  “You know I can hear the mockery in your voice, right?”

  She turned into a section of Jupiter Point he’d never seen before, where the homes were grander and set farther apart, hidden behind groves of cypress and eucalyptus. Her posture tightened, her shoulders hunched forward. He realized she was nervous.

  “Hey, don’t worry so much. It’ll be okay.” He touched her neck, sliding his fingers under the silky bundle of hair. He massaged gently until her shoulders relaxed. “Uncle Josh is here for you.”

  The corner of her mouth turned up. He couldn’t help remembering how her lips tasted, like fresh rose petals dipped in champagne.

  “Oh, one more thing,” she added. “The owner’s name is Mrs. Chu, not Shrew. I occasionally call her that because she hates me, but please wipe that from your mind. Mostly, I’ll do all the talking. You just have to shake hands, flash your dimples, and act like you want to spend the rest of your life with me.”

  “Shrew, not Chu. Rest of my life. Got it,” he repeated.

  “No! It’s Chu. Choo choo choo. Like a train. You know what? I’m going to say you have laryngitis. That way you don’t have to say a word.”

  He threw his head back and let the laughter roll out of him. “I was joking, you little crazy pants. We’ve got this in the bag. You can just relax and start writing your down payment check.”

  She turned onto a driveway so long and curving, he couldn’t see the house yet. “Okay, we’re almost here. No more joking.”

  He put up a hand, Scout’s honor style. “No more joking. I don’t know why you want to tie yourself down to a mortgage payment, but whatever. I’m here for you.” He gazed at the parade of tall cypresses lining the drive. What was this place, some kind of mansion?

  And then they came around a curve and a vision appeared before him.

  He blinked to make sure it was still there.

  Yup. There was no denying it. The house—or castle—looked like something from a children’s fairy story, with kind of a Secret Garden/Red Riding Hood vibe. Or maybe Rapunzel, based on the two shingled turrets that couldn’t possibly have any practical purpose. Thick ivy climbed up the walls; he could just imagine the rats shimmying up and down the vines. The deep green leaves looked as if they were wilting in the August heat. He spotted gaps where shingles should be and shutters that used to have paint—possibly apricot-colored, based on the shreds that remained.

  “Turn the car around,” he told Suzanne.

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to help you buy this house. It’s a money pit. It’ll ruin your life.”

  She kept driving forward, her jaw set. “You said you’d help me. If you go back on your word now, you’ll be a promise-breaking, untrustworthy jerk.”

  “I can’t in good conscience let you throw your hard-earned money away on this—”

  She slammed on the brakes and the Miata jerked to a stop. She turned on him. “The only time I’ve ever been truly happy in my life was when I lived in that house.” She jabbed her finger in the direction of the monstrosity. “The only reason I can afford it is that I’ve been saving up since I was sixteen and because my parents forgot to liquidate my savings bonds when they left the country.”

  He stared at her in shock. “Left the country? When did that happen?”

  “When I was fifteen.”

  “Fifteen? And they left you behind?”

  She rubbed the heel of her hand across her forehead. “It was fine. I didn’t want to go. I lived with Evie and the McGraws. But right after they left, I stayed here by myself for almost two months. I had no problem taking care of myself. I would have stayed forever if Mrs. Chu hadn’t bought it out of foreclosure. I love the place.”

  It was all starting to come together now. This wasn’t just any other house to Suzanne. It had much deeper significance. To be honest, based on her breezy spirit and sassy attitude, he never would have guessed she had so many troubles in her past.

  He heaved a sigh. “You know that entire house is a fire hazard, right? I ought to put my yellows and greens on just to go inside.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Nomex. Fire-resistant. But we’d be better off in bunker gear.”

  She laughed. “That’s actually not a bad idea. Remember how I mentioned Mrs. Chu doesn’t like me? Well, she has good reason. When she first moved in, I refused to leave.”

  Oh, this just got better and better. “Do I want to know the details?”

  “I…well, I might have done some Beetlejuice-type things. Me and my friends. We wanted her to think it was haunted so she’d go away.”

  “How did that work out?”

  She took her foot of the brakes and cruised slowly toward the eyesore looming ahead. “Not very well. Mrs. Chu is one tough cookie. On the bright side, my community service was awesome. I got to know the girls at the YWCA and I still volunteer there. I planned that fundraiser for free, you know.” She smiled at him impishly.

  He was still laughing when she parked the car in a cobblestone courtyard that served as driveway and parking area. Suzanne was full of surprises, most of them darker and edgier than he ever would have imagined. She had an unexpected rebellious streak that really appealed to him. He could just picture her as a mischievous fifteen-year-old dropping water balloons from the turrets and moaning through the heating vents.

  As they walked across the decrepit drawbridge, which seemed to be rotting into the swamp below, he draped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. At first she stiffened in surprise, but he bent to her ear and murmured, “Well, hello, Mrs. Chu. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life here with Suzanne, replacing shingles on this monstrosity. Do I have that right?”

  Her lips curled up at the corners in that adorable way he’d really grown to appreciate. Suzanne’s smiles always started like that, as little divots on each side of her mouth, growing into a full-fledged, wide grin that took over her entire face.

  He loved seeing her smile.

  He looked up to see a tiny elderly Asian woman in a tailored black business suit planted at the front door, arms crossed over her chest. The nervous-looking Realtor hovered behind her.

  “You,” spat Mrs. Chu, looking at Suzanne. “You have a nerve. You think I will sell you this house? Pfft.”

  “It’s been almost ten years, Mrs. Sh—I mean, Mrs.—you.” Suzanne was obviously rattled by Mrs. Chu’s laser-guided glare. He was amazed she hadn’t melted into a puddle already. Instead she was babbling and about one second from calling the owner a shrew.

  “Hi there.” He dropped his arm from around Suzanne’s shoulders and strode forward with his friendliest grin and his hand held out. Experience taught him that most people weren’t so outright rude as to refuse a handshake, and once you touched someone’s hand, it was harder to hold on to your antagonism. “You must be the queen of this here castle.” He added a hint of Texas twang to his voice, as the down-home cowboy thing also seemed to disarm people. “I’ve never seen anything like it in all my life. When Suzanne described it, I almost didn’t believe her. It’s like a fairy tale come to life. You must be a visionary woman, Mrs. Chu.”

  “Visionary, absolutely,” said the Realtor, seizing on his compliment with an expression of massive relief. She aimed a vague wink at Josh. “That’s so very true.”

  Mrs. Chu didn’t look as impressed, but she did shake his hand and allow Josh and Suzanne to step inside the house. She jabbed her finger toward their shoes and pointed to a basketful of little slip-on disposable booties. “Either take off your shoes or put those on.”

  Josh looked askance at the worn floorboards, which had maybe
been varnished once upon a time, or maybe not. Hard to tell. What was she trying to protect?

  He glanced at Suzanne, who was slipping off her flats. Damn, did he have to take off his cowboy boots? He didn’t want to leave them lying around for the mice. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed a couple of booties and sat down on a little bench situated next to the door.

  As he pulled the booties over his boots, he scanned Casa di Stella’s interior, which was just as quirky as the exterior. The high-ceilinged entryway was lit by a chandelier dripping with cut glass. An actual cuckoo clock stood guard next to a spiral staircase that disappeared into the dusty shadows of the next floor. A balcony overlooked the foyer. Old-fashioned wallpaper covered the walls in a pattern of roses and water stains.

  He startled when Suzanne took his hand. “Honey, it’s even better than you described.” He brought their clasped hands to his lips. A fiancé would do that, right?

  Mrs. Chu was watching them narrowly. “This house must have new life.” She spoke like someone used to being obeyed. “I purchased for my grandchildren, to encourage them to visit. But now, all they want is Pokemon Go. This,” she waved at the entryway, “big waste. No one here to enjoy. It needs young people, children who like this sort of thing.”

  Josh wondered if by “this sort of thing,” she meant rotting floor beams and stained wallpaper. “I can’t imagine too many kids who wouldn’t love it, Mrs. Chu. Even I would have, when I was young.”

  Now, not so much.

  Suzanne started to say something, but he squeezed her hand. His take on the situation was that Mrs. Chu was never going to warm up to Suzanne. Best to keep the focus on him.

  “Who was the original owner?” he asked.

  Translation: Who would be insane enough to create this fantasyland?

  Lisa stepped in to answer that one. “One of the early Disney animators retired here to Jupiter Point. He had twenty grandchildren and, just like Mrs. Chu here, wanted to give them something fun to look forward to in their visits. It was built in the nineteen-sixties and most of the original structure is still intact…”

  They followed her through the downstairs rooms as she pointed out the various unique features of the castle. You had to pass through a tunnel to reach the kitchen—that feature, he definitely would have loved as a kid. She pointed out little reading nooks nestled into window seats and a miniature table perfect for a tea party. She talked about the turrets, and the sheltered stargazing platform that stretched between them. The whole house had secret passageways and vents that carried sound from one section to another.

  Josh noticed that Suzanne kept gazing around at each new room as if greeting an old friend. She didn’t say much during the tour. When Mrs. Chu and the Realtor ducked their heads to enter the kitchen tunnel, he pulled her aside. “Everything okay?”

  “Of course. I haven’t been in here since I was fifteen, that’s all. It’s just…it’s strange. It looks the same, but it doesn’t smell like my family anymore. Know what I mean?” She pointed at the tea table, which held a complete set of little china teacups and saucers. “My mother loved that. She always wanted me to have tea parties with her, but I thought it was stupid. I was more of a tomboy.”

  Josh eyed the squat little teapot. “Any chance there’s alcohol in that?”

  Suzanne giggled. “Might have been, knowing my mother. She lives in her own little world. She’s never worked for a living, never lived on her own. My father is twenty-five years older than she is and treats her like some kind of doll. “

  “Where is she now?”

  “They live in Costa Rica. It’s very affordable.”

  Lisa yodeled to them from the other end of the tunnel. “Come see this absolutely adorable kitchen! The tea kettle actually sings! Like literally sings!”

  “You know,” Josh whispered to Suzanne, “I can feel my balls shriveling up a little more with each step. This is literally the most emasculating house on the planet. By the time we’re done, I’ll be skipping around in pigtails.”

  She giggled as he ranted. Ducking into the tunnel, she took his hand. “Oh come on. It’s not that bad.”

  “You should have warned me. I would have pumped some iron and eaten a few steaks to juice up my testosterone levels. They’re just about depleted.”

  “I’m sure they’re just fine. Don’t firefighters come with an extra dose anyway?”

  “That’s right, baby. We do. I’m worried about Logan though. Do you think he has what it takes to withstand the girliness?”

  Suzanne made a face at him over her shoulder as they picked their way through the short tunnel. “He’s going to be a badass divorce lawyer, so I think he’ll be fine.”

  “This just gets better and better,” he muttered.

  “Divorced people need lawyers too.”

  “Believe me, I know.” His parents had each hired and fired several, but he didn’t want to talk about that. He shouldn’t rag on Logan’s profession. It wasn’t even the worse thing about him. The free pass proposal still took first place in that respect.

  Then again…he watched Suzanne’s cute little rear sway back and forth, just as sassy and saucy as the rest of her. Maybe the free pass wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Maybe it meant that Suzanne had free rein to compare and contrast. Maybe it was the perfect exit ramp. Maybe it was his duty to show her the kind of man she really deserved.

  The kind of man.

  Not to say that he was the actual man she deserved. Because if this castle represented the kind of life Suzanne wanted, they existed in two different worlds, him and Suzanne. He’d prefer an emergency fire shelter during a burnover to this ridiculous structure.

  But that wasn’t the point. The point was that Suzanne was so much more than a beautiful, tart-tongued, blond knockout. He could read between the lines of her history and see her vulnerable heart. She deserved someone who understood that about her. Someone who looked past her sexy surface.

  7

  Suzanne had to admit that without Josh, the showing would have been a disaster. It wasn’t a typical showing anyway. She wanted to buy the place no matter what condition it was in. If any “showing” had to be done, it was on Suzanne’s part. She had to show off her fiancé and convince everyone that even though she was technically still single, a husband and family were right around the corner.

  And Josh did it. His relaxed manner, his easy smile, his cowboy-drawl charm all wove a magic spell over both Lisa and Mrs. Chu. The owner actually smiled at him when they left. Sure, that smile dropped as soon as her gaze touched Suzanne. But hey, they’d all seen it. She’d also mentioned that she was going back to Hong Kong for a few weeks and Lisa would be in charge.

  Thank God.

  All in all, it was a fantastically successful day, and Suzanne could have hugged Josh for helping her out.

  In fact, she did hug him. Mrs. Chu had already gone back inside, so the embrace wasn’t designed to impress her. It wasn’t designed at all; it was a completely spontaneous outburst of affection for the man who had taken time from his day for her sake.

  “Thank you thank you thank you,” she told him as she flung her arms around him.

  “Mmm, I can already feel my masculinity coming back,” Josh murmured after a few moments had ticked by. “You must have magic powers.”

  “No, you do. That woman is like every mean principal I ever had, and she was eating out of your hand.”

  “She’s not so bad. She bought a castle for her grandkids to play in, how bad could she be?” He ran his hands up and down her spine, just barely grazing her ass. She melted against him, going liquid inside. She remembered exactly how his calloused hands felt against her skin.

  “That’s true.” Suzanne dropped her arms and took a little step backwards. The temptation to just surrender to their attraction was incredibly strong. But she couldn’t. She didn’t want to. Well, she wanted to—but she didn’t want to think about what it could mean, or where it could lead. “Maybe I was jealous because I was on my own.�
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  She laughed it off, as if it meant nothing anymore. But Josh didn’t seem fooled by that. “If I ever meet your parents, I might have a few things to say to them.”

  She unlocked the doors of her Miata and skipped around to the driver’s side. “Yeah, well. That won’t happen. My mother could come, but she never leaves my father. She’s afraid to travel alone. It’s too bad, because I know she misses my aunt Molly.”

  “Molly McGraw is a darling.” Josh swung into the passenger seat.

  “How do you know her?” Since Molly had an advanced case of Parkinson’s, she rarely left the house.

  “I helped Evie with that new ramp they put in. Apparently power tools are not the McGraw family’s forte. I asked where their tools were, and she showed me a drawer full of compasses and protractors. There might have been an X-Acto knife, too.”

  As they drove back to the street, sunny afternoon light sliced through the cypresses along the drive. “First Evie, now me. Do you just go around helping people out?”

  Josh shrugged. “I was trying to earn points with my crew boss’s girl.”

  Suzanne doubted it, but let it go. “I want to do something nice for you now, since you helped me out. How about a hot fudge sundae at the Milky Way?”

  “It might take more than that to make us even, Suzie Q. There was a singing teakettle.”

  She laughed. “Pizza first? With extra pepperoni?”

  “You’re getting there. But do I have to remind you about the booties?”

  “Fine.” She threw up her hands in surrender. “You pick. I had no idea you were so hard to please.”

  “I am hard to please, and yet you do it so well.”

  She snorted and focused her attention on the road ahead. She didn’t want to see how much he’d surprised and touched her with that comment.

  Uh-oh…had he offended her? Had he let his attraction to her run away with him? But it was true—Suzanne did please him. Looking at her pleased him, so did touching her, and inhaling the fresh fragrance that drifted from her hair. So many things about Suzanne pleased him.