by Joanne Rock
"Not so much as a whisper." She rearranged a length of ivy along a countertop, her hands treating the delicate vine with tenderness. "Believe me, I would have remembered that part."
No wonder she was a landscaper. She was obviously damn good with plants even if she didn't know squat about brooms or mops. Something about her gentle touch as she handled her foliage made him wonder…
He stopped himself cold, allowing her words to sink in. Could it be a coincidence that his uncle had hired a young woman who, Vito was beginning to realize, was actually very attractive underneath all that grass stain? And could it be random accident that Giuseppe had invited a woman to sleep in the house when he knew damn well Vito would be coming home for his sister's wedding? Not a chance in hell.
"I'm afraid I have to apologize." Setting his empty lemonade glass on the counter, Vito thought he had a better handle on this whole bizarre situation now. Uncle Giuseppe, eternal matchmaker, strikes again.
"My uncle is a notorious family cupid and I have the feeling that he set us up to stumble on one another like this. Once he hired a pool boy for my aunt Lorraine who didn't even own a pool. Another time he wrote love poetry for his brother to help him land a woman. He takes a lot of joy putting people in one another's paths and seeing what happens. And since I'm way past marrying age in Uncle Giuseppe's book, I've apparently become his new target."
"Wait a minute." Christine frowned, her wide blue eyes turning a shade darker. Her shoulders straightened and her cheeks flushed pink. "Do you mean to imply your uncle only hired me as a potential hookup for you and not because of my landscaping skills?"
"Hell no." His uncle had been raised in a culture that didn't approve of hooking up. He approved of marriage. Kids. Family. But Vito wasn't about to share that with this gardening goddess who looked mad enough to spit nails. Although he had to admit that her pink cheeks were turning him on and making him think of wholly inappropriate other ways to make her flush like that. "He probably just wanted me to meet some more nice women—"
"I am not a nice woman." The female who'd been so gentle with her ivy plant and so protective of her fire bush looked ready to personally take him out if he dared to suggest otherwise. "And I will sue your uncle for breach of contract if he thinks he can pawn me off on some overgrown, flashy playboy who is so far removed from nature he wouldn't know what to do with a bag of birdseed if he tripped over it."
"Now wait a minute." Vito had always prided himself on having more patience than his hotheaded brothers who made a habit of speaking before thinking. But where did this woman get off calling him an overgrown playboy? And did she have any idea what it made a guy think when a woman told him she wasn't nice? "I don't think we need to start launching personal attacks to solve this. I was simply trying to share with you my uncle's motivations."
"Well you can tell him I don't appreciate being hired for my ass and not my professional assets, okay? I agreed to a job, not a blind date."
And before he could think of a comeback, Christine Chandler pivoted on her heel and walked right out the kitchen door.
If that didn't beat all.
Of course, Vito couldn't help moving to the kitchen window and watch the ass in question saunter away, hips twitching with her snappy walk down the driveway. He felt a little bad for enjoying the view and the residual sparks in the air when she was clearly mad, but hell, wasn't the urge to ogle tattooed across the Y chromosome?
Reaching for the door to follow her outside, hormones kicking to life, it occurred to him he didn't feel tired anymore.
* * *
2
« ^ »
Christine hated to muck up her big exit by simply digging her hands right back in the dirt to continue working for a guy who saw her presence as pure fluff.
Then again, what choices did she have? Pausing in the middle of Vito Cesare's driveway, she scanned her brain for more options. Her beat-up secondhand truck was parked in the carport, so she possessed the means to leave. But where would she go?
She had no ready cash, and she was between apartments. Actually, she hadn't even thought about looking for a new apartment for another month since this job was supposed to have taken at least that long. And if she left now, she could kiss her dreams of owning her own landscaping business goodbye. If she went bankrupt, no one in their right mind would ever give her a loan to start up again.
Peering around the yard for inspiration, her gaze landed on the fire bush already wilting in the Florida heat. She couldn't just let the plant die so she could make a great exit.
Swallowing her pride, she trudged across the tilled up ground that would one day be a lush flower garden.
As she finished securing the bush into the ground and giving the shrub a nice long drink, she couldn't help but think of the fat investment account her older brother had started in her name.
She had the money to finance this dream. But damn it, she didn't want to start her own business with money someone else had earned. Her older brother Seth had worked long hours for years after their father walked out, slowly growing adept at reading the stock market and knowing where to invest. He'd made huge profits on his investments, funneling money to both Christine and their brother Jesse.
But she'd never been comfortable with the idea of someone else making money on her behalf. What kind of satisfaction would she take in owning her own business if the whole operation rode on the shoulders of Seth's hard work and not her own?
The answer remained the same as it had been for the last six months she'd struggled to start All Natural.
None.
Rinsing her hands in the stream from the hose before tossing aside the nozzle, Christine prepared herself to go back and face Vito Cesare. To somehow eat humble pie and pretend it tasted good.
Definitely not her forte.
But as she straightened, he was already there in front of her, dressed in olive-colored shorts and a white knit collared shirt. He held two glasses of lemonade in his hands.
He stepped over the hose to offer her a drink, his feet now visible in black flip-flops. "I would have come out sooner to apologize for that whole misunderstanding, but I thought it might be better if I cooled off first."
He looked far more approachable in flip-flops. The gold wristwatch was gone, as were the slick shades. She wholeheartedly approved of the more laid-back Vito. In fact, if she hadn't seen a glimpse of Vito the worldly jet-setter, she could almost be attracted to him.
Gulping down the lemonade he handed her, she decided she was the one who needed cooling off. No way would she develop a thing for the man who held the future of her fledgling business in his hands. Too unprofessional. Too tacky.
"Actually, I was just about to come looking for you to apologize, too." She pressed the bottom of her cool glass to her hot forehead, the icy cold condensation a welcome relief from the sultry temperature outdoors and her hot flashes inside. "I was sort of taken off guard to think your uncle didn't care about having the yard look really great. I wanted to be impressive with the best landscaping job I could provide and not because I look better in shorts than my competition, you know?"
His eyes flicked south at the mention of her legs and Christine found herself wondering how many other women had fallen victim to that hooded stare. Been there. Done that. Lived the public humiliation of having been taken in by a pro.
She swigged the rest of her drink and kept her mind on business.
"I understand better than you think." He nodded toward the house. "There are some chairs around back on the patio if you want to sit for a minute."
Nodding, she followed him since they obviously had a few glitches to iron out together.
"So, are you suggesting you know what it's like to be hired for your bod instead of your brains, Cesare?" She could hold her own with this guy as long as she kept things light, easy. She would put herself in the driver's seat of this relationship and stay there.
"As a matter of fact, I do. Sort of." He led them to the patio that she
'd commandeered for peat moss.
Thankfully, she'd used all the bags of manure a week ago.
She couldn't picture Vito hanging out around the fertilizer, even in his flip-flop guise. Settling into the wrought-iron chair across from him with a big glass-topped umbrella table between them, she placed her empty glass on the surface and was grateful the lawn wasn't in full destruction mode back here. A tire swing still hung in an old banyan tree behind a big workshop in the backyard. "And how is it that you end up being judged on your looks? Are you an underwear model on the side?"
"Are you suggesting I'd have a future in the industry?"
"Just taking wild guesses." She wished she hadn't emptied her glass so quickly as she conjured images of Vito in his underwear. Was he a boxers or briefs kind of guy?
Considering his flashy clothes earlier, she'd have to go with silk boxers. But if ever a man had been built for tighty-whiteys…
"Christine?"
Her underwear daydreams faded at Vito's voice. "Sorry. You were saying?"
"I'm a race-car driver." The humor in his eyes suggested he knew the direction of her daydreams. "And sometimes people bet on a driver because he looks good in his racing suit instead of how well he drives. That bugs me, too, so I don't blame you for being miffed that my uncle would be so superficial. If it makes you feel any better though, I'm sure he never would have hired you if he didn't think you'd do a great job on the landscaping. He's really excited about Giselle's wedding."
"You race cars?" Christine didn't know squat about any sport. For that matter, was racing even considered a sport since it didn't have a damn thing to do with being athletic?
"I'm a Formula One driver." At her blank look, he continued. "It's open-wheel racing. You know, as opposed to stock cars like NASCAR?"
"Don't have a clue about any of those, actually. Although I'm sure you look very cute in the racing suit." She'd flirt with him before he had the chance to flirt with her, putting herself firmly in control of the situation. No sense making herself seem like a novice when it came to men. She wouldn't be taken advantage of again. "But back to the matter at hand, what do you suggest we do in relation to my work here?"
He peered around the yard, his square shoulders settling deeper into the wrought-iron patio chair. "I think you'd better keep working. No offense, Christine, but it looks like a natural disaster around here."
"It's a work in progress." She wasn't always the neatest person, even when she wasn't involved in an extensive landscaping job. But she could see the potential for the yard and had every confidence it would be gorgeous by the time she finished. "Besides, I was operating under the impression that the house would be vacant except for me, so I'll admit I've been a little more lax about daily cleanup just because I'm working such long hours on this job. It doesn't make much sense for me to put away my tools in the garage every night when I'm only going to need them six hours later."
"You're putting in that much time on the yard?"
"Have you seen the property recently? It was in shambles. Not that it looked terrible from the street or anything, but from a professional perspective, it needed to be almost started from scratch. Just keeping up with all the watering is more than a full-time job for transplants in this heat." She leaned closer, elbows on the table. "But you think I'll be able to stay on here and finish up the job?"
She folded her hands inward so he wouldn't see her crossing her fingers.
"Definitely. I sure as hell couldn't have my baby sister come home with the house looking like this. Giuseppe told you it needs to be ready to go September first?"
"It won't be a problem as long as I can continue to work at manic speed, which means I can't take off many afternoons like this." She plucked her T-shirt away from her damp skin in the hope of catching a breeze. "And I'd also need to be able to stay onsite so I can maximize my work hours. Do you have any family you can stay with for a few weeks while I finish up? Giuseppe, maybe, since he's the one who assured me I'd have twenty-four-hour access to the property?"
"That could be a problem." Vito drained his lemonade glass with one long swallow. The upturned glass dripped condensation down into the open neck of his collared shirt, drawing Christine's eye to that dark expanse of skin glistening with a slight sheen.
She blinked fast before the underwear fantasy came back.
"How so? If you don't want to stay with your uncle, maybe you could stay at a swanky hotel while you're in town. Aren't European race-car drivers practically made of money?"
"No. But money isn't really the issue here—it's more of a comfort concern. I like to stay at the house whenever I'm in the States. I grew up here, so it's sort of … home." He met her gaze, his hazel eyes dark and intense despite his relaxed tone.
Christine had the feeling he wouldn't be changing his mind on the issue anytime soon.
"Well, we can't both stay here." What did he expect her to do—pitch a tent out front for the next month?
"Why can't we?"
For a moment she thought he really wanted her to get to work on the tent, until she realized she'd never said that part out loud. "You mean both of us in the house?"
"It housed a family of seven before my parents died. Later it accommodated five kids, most of them teenagers. I think it ought to be able to handle two of us." He grinned. "You don't look like you take up much room."
Did she understand this man correctly? "I'm sorry, I must be out of mind, because I could have sworn you suggested that I take it on blind faith you aren't some kind of psychopath and should share the house with a virtual stranger."
His grin faded. "You've got a point. If my sister pulled a stunt like that, I'd— Well let's just say I'd be mad and leave it at that."
"See? You making vague threats of hypothetical retribution isn't convincing me you're not a psychopath, that's for sure." Damn it, why did he have to show up today and throw a huge wrench in her plans? She needed this job, needed to work things out with him.
"If you could convince Giuseppe to foot the hotel bill for me, I suppose I could make the trip back and forth. I just don't like to drive when I'm tired." And by the time she was done with the physically demanding work this job entailed, she was usually so bone-weary she was cross-eyed. What if she knocked herself out to make her business work, only to wrap her piece-of-junk truck around a telephone pole because she fell asleep at the wheel?
"No. You're working too hard already. Don't you have any other employees or co-workers who could help you out with this job?"
How could she afford to hire anyone when she could barely keep herself afloat? Of course, she wouldn't tell him that. "I'm giving your uncle a cut-rate price. There's no budget for anyone else."
"I can increase your budget." He looked ready to whip out a checkbook then and there.
And she definitely didn't want to get roped into that discussion.
"Look. I appreciate the offer, but I'm not trying to bleed more money from you. I just want to be able to fulfill my end of the bargain with your uncle." Was it her fault the guy had had more than gardening on his mind when he'd hired her?
"Okay. How about this—I'll haul a few neighbors over here to vouch for me. For that matter, you can have my license and check me out."
Vito had to admit he respected a woman who looked out for herself. How could he have suggested for a minute that she stay in the house with him when for all she knew he was a wanted man in ten states? She hadn't even recognized his name from his racing career, so she wouldn't know the first thing about him.
"What do I look like, a private eye? I don't want your license." She brushed aside the idea with an airy wave of her hand.
Vito studied her the way he'd check out a new racecourse, seeking hidden obstacles and tricky angles. She was tougher than she looked with her wispy brown hair fluttering around her chin and her short stature. Despite her delicate features and heart-shaped face, she was a hard worker in a physically demanding job.
She was also pretty damn sarcast
ic.
"I realize you're not a private eye. Don't you have any friends who are cops? Or you could look up my name on the Internet and make sure there aren't any stories about me getting arrested or groping unsuspecting landscapers." Women couldn't be too careful these days. How many times had he told his sister Giselle that very same thing? "Do you have any family in the area? Anyone who can watch your back while you're out working?"
Who made sure she arrived home every day? In her line of work, she must meet a lot of strangers.
She frowned, those narrow arches of her eyebrows flattening into one line of dark scowl. "I imagine your job is far more dangerous than mine. And I certainly don't need my family to help me run my business."
Touchy subject, apparently. Vito made a mental note to revisit the topic at another time.
Wait a minute. Had he really just planned for future personal discussions with Christine Chandler, prickly gardener and owner of a very tempting pair of legs?
Bad idea, given his brief time in the States and his dating code of ethics. He made it a point not to get involved with women who weren't looking for the same things from a relationship as him. And he could almost guarantee that this woman who put down roots for a living wouldn't be romanced by the idea of a fast fling.
Time to rein in those wayward thoughts about her sexy legs and the enticing contrast between her nurturing profession and her tough personal side.
"So what do you suggest?" he asked, the oppressive heat robbing him of alternative ideas for their dilemma.
"The house is very big," she admitted. "And it's not like I spend all that much time in it."
Vito about fell out of his chair. She'd been driving such a hard bargain about the house issue. Was she actually relenting? No matter what she said to him about not trying to angle for money on this job, Vito would make sure Giuseppe gave her some sort of bonus for all her overtime hours and having to deal with the inconvenience of him showing up. That was only fair compensation.