From Temptation to Twins

by Barbara Dunlop

  “I had a stopover,” she said, taking Caleb’s advice and keeping the explanation short. “I thought I’d come by and say hi.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.”

  “You sounded funny on the phone.”

  “It was an unsettling night.” She silently acknowledged to herself that it had been unsettling in far more ways than one. “Can I come in?”

  “What kind of question is that?” He frowned as he stepped out of the way.

  She realized it had been too much to expect that he’d be in a good mood. “I have an hour or so, and I thought we could talk.”

  “About what?”

  “I’ve got some pictures of the construction.” She opened her purse to retrieve her phone.

  He waved her away as he closed the door behind them. “I don’t want to see them.”

  “We’ve got a carpenter helping us. He’s really good, and his prices are reasonable.”

  “You should come home. You should both come home, find real jobs, give up that run-down, ramshackle restaurant. There are a lot of nice men in Portland.”

  Jules mind went involuntarily to Caleb, and she quickly banished the picture.

  “You know we want to do this, Dad. We think we can make it work, and we promised Grandpa.”

  “You should never have made that promise to your grandfather. And he should never have asked you. I should contest the will.”

  “You’re not going to contest the will.”

  Although her father would have loved nothing better than to sell the land under the Crab Shack as well as her grandfather’s house, no court in the country would overturn the will, and he knew it.

  “You’re going to lose all your money.”

  Jules took a seat in the compact living room. “We told you, we’re willing to take that chance.”

  “You dragged your little sister along on this misadventure.”

  Jules clenched her purse on her lap. “Melissa is perfectly capable of making up her own mind.”

  “She follows you. She always has.”

  “But she argues with me when she doesn’t agree.”

  Roland scoffed. “Don’t give me that. You know you’re the one in charge.”

  “I’m not—” Jules stopped herself, realizing the futility of going around and around on the issue.

  “I wanted you to know I was fine, that we’re doing fine. I thought you might be worried.”

  “When I think of the two of you next door to that family,” he spat.

  “It’s only Caleb now. Kedrick moved to Arizona.”

  Her father pounced. “How do you know that?”

  She realized she’d made a mistake. “It’s a small neighborhood.”

  Roland’s eyes narrowed. “That’s a lot of detail.”

  “It’s not.”

  “How did you hear so much about that family?”

  “We’ve run into Caleb and a few of the other neighbors.” She tried to move the conversation past the Watfords. “Matt Emerson owns the marina now and lives in the house above. It’s really grown. And TJ Bauer bought the O’Hara’s place and rebuilt. Ours is the only original house left.”

  “The land is worth a fortune by now. Selling is the only logical choice.”

  Something in his tone gave Jules pause.

  “Do you need money?” She hadn’t thought of it from that angle before.

  Her father had never made a lot as a hardware store manager. They’d never talked much about money, in general. She and her sister had grown up in a very modest household without any extras.

  He glared at her. “I can take care of myself.”

  “It was your family home.”

  Her grandfather might have willed it to Jules and Melissa, but her father had an equal moral call on the money tied up in the property—which was the only family legacy the Parkers had.

  “This is about you and your foolish idea, and my father’s irresponsible decision to have his pipe dream cross generations. As your father, it’s my responsibility to save you from yourself.”

  Jules felt her spine stiffen. She loved her father, but he was irrational when it came to Whiskey Bay, and he was just plain wrong on this. It was a dream worth pursuing.

  She realized she shouldn’t have come here. She’d thought she might be able to make it a bit better. But she was only making it worse. She made a show of looking at her watch, and she came to her feet.

  “As an adult, it’s my responsibility to make my own decisions.”

  “You don’t know these people.”

  She knew them better than he could ever imagine. She didn’t trust Caleb, but she did know him, intimately. Last night tried to rush back into her brain, but she fought it off.

  “I know me, and I know Melissa, and I know what Grandpa wanted. I’m doing the right thing, Dad. I hope you’ll see that someday.”

  “I hope I’m not around long enough to see you ruined.”

  “Can you at least have a little faith?”

  He didn’t answer.

  She gave a sad smile, crossed to his chair and bent down for a quick hug. “I hope you’re around for a long, long time.”

  He gave a grunt.

  She left the town house and headed for the corner where she could hail a cab. Her father’s harsh words fought with an image of Caleb.

  Last night might turn out to be one of her biggest regrets in life, but it was also one of her most fantastic experiences. And right now it was a balm to everything else.

  She stopped fighting and let the memories of Caleb crowd in.

  * * *

  Caleb had spent nearly a week in San Francisco. Jules invaded his thoughts at every turn, while he ensured the building was safe and the repairs got underway. His marketing staff was busy planning an exciting reopening event, and the community support had been enormous. As soon as things were under control, he left the manager in charge and flew back to Whiskey Bay.

  Back home, his first interest was definitely Jules, so he made his way down to the Crab Shack.

  Coming up on the building, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  It was Jules. She was on the roof. Noah was up there with her, tools hanging from his belt as he set up the first row of cedar shingles.

  “Hi, Caleb,” Melissa greeted him, coming out onto the patio.

  Noah turned and looked down.

  “That’s not happening,” Caleb said to Noah, nodding his head in Jules direction.

  “She’s not using the nail gun,” Melissa said.

  “She’s coming down right now,” Caleb said in a booming voice that caught Jules’s attention.

  “It’s not hard,” she told him, walking down a plank on the steep pitch toward the edge of the roof.

  “Stay back from the edge,” he warned her.

  She seemed completely unconcerned. “I’m not going to fall off the roof.”

  “Get her down from there,” he told Noah.

  “I work for her,” Noah said.

  “Noah wanted to hire an assistant to do the roof,” Melissa said to Caleb.

  “We don’t need to pay for an assistant,” Jules said.

  “This is ridiculous.” Caleb marched to the ladder and began climbing.

  “Go away,” Jules told him. “This is none of your concern.”

  He wanted to argue that it was most definitely his concern. Since last weekend, everything about her felt like it was his concern. He wasn’t about to stand back and watch her get hurt or worse.

  “Come down, Jules.”

  Her expression turned mulish as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked adorable in dusty blue jeans, a red plaid shirt and leather work boots. Her braid st
uck out of a red baseball cap, and she had a measuring tape clipped onto her waistband.

  He wanted to take a picture. More than that, he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her like a fireman down the ladder. Then maybe he’d keep going, all the way to his house, all the way to his bed, where he’d strip off those work clothes and join her in his tile shower.

  He stepped onto the roof. “I’ll be the assistant.”

  He didn’t have a ton of time to spare, but there was no way he was risking her.

  “We don’t want your help,” she said. “And we don’t trust your help. You’ll probably put holes in my roof.”

  “I’m not going to put holes in your roof.” Grateful that he’d worn treaded hikers, he walked up the pitch of the roof.

  Noah watched from the sidelines, apparently content to let them work it out between themselves.

  “You are going to listen to reason,” Caleb told her.

  “You’re not being reasonable.”

  “You’re a complete novice and roofing is dangerous. How is that not reasonable?”

  “This isn’t your restaurant, it’s mine. I’ll be careful, and Noah’s doing most of the work.”

  “You’re just as high off the ground as he is. You don’t have to be operating a nail gun to fall twenty-five feet.”

  “I’ll stay away from...” Her expression shifted, turning resolute. “Hang on. I don’t need to justify this to you. It’s my decision.”

  “Get down off the roof, Jules.” There was no way he was leaving her up here.

  “Or what?”

  “Or I’ll carry you off.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Look at my face. Do you think I’m bluffing?”

  “I think you’re trespassing.”

  “You want to go that route?” Once again, he was confronted by her intellect. She was way too smart. Why did she always have to make things so hard for him?

  “Yes, I do,” she said.

  “You can.”

  “I know I can.”

  “But what about this?” He was fully aware that brute force wasn’t going to succeed. “I help Noah up here, and you help Melissa down there. You get my free labor and the irony that goes with that.”

  It was obvious his offer gave her pause.

  “You’ll get more done,” he said.

  “Stop making sense.”

  He fought a smirk. “I’m only forced to do that because you’re so stubborn.”

  “I’m not stubborn. I’m independent.”

  “Noah?” Caleb called over his shoulder. “Would you rather have Jules help you or me help you?”

  “You have any idea what you’re doing?” Noah asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you.”

  “I’ve got Noah’s vote,” Caleb said to Jules.

  “Since when is this a democracy?”

  “He’s right,” Melissa called from the patio. “We’ll get more done if Caleb helps us.”

  Jules kept her gaze on Caleb while she answered. “He’s up to something. Watfords don’t help you. They stab you in the back.”

  Caleb blew out a breath of frustration. “You honestly think I had time in the past five minutes to come up with a master plot to do you some kind of harm by roofing?”

  “You’ve got the cunning gene.”

  He pulled out his phone. “Tell you what. I’ll sweeten the deal.” He pressed Matt’s speed dial. “I’ll get us another guy and speed things up even more.”

  “Who are you calling?” she asked, but Caleb was already speaking to Matt.

  He quickly sketched out the problem and ended the call. “Matt’s heading over,” he told Noah.

  Jules’s face had gone a shade darker with her anger. She was even prettier if that was possible.

  “You are an unbelievable bully,” she told him.

  He leaned in close, lowering his voice. “Now that I’ve seen that beautiful body, I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to it.”

  She sucked in a breath of obvious shock.

  He pulled back and put a hand on her shoulder. “Please get down off the roof, Jules. It’s more dangerous than you know. And I truly don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “He’s right,” Noah said. “Facts are facts. We’ve got two capable volunteers, it makes sense they should do the work up here.”

  “Okay,” Jules said tightly, clearly reluctant to give in to logic and reason. Then she leaned close to Caleb’s ear. “Don’t you dare bring that up again.”

  She was right to be annoyed. He truly wanted to keep his promise to leave San Francisco in San Francisco. But he wasn’t sure if he could. They’d made love. He couldn’t undo it, and he sure couldn’t forget it.

  She was in his head and under his skin. He liked her, and he desired her. In his weaker moments, he found himself contemplating a relationship with her. But that wasn’t about to happen. They were locked in a battle only one of them could win.

  She climbed down the ladder and disappeared inside with Melissa.

  “I wasn’t sure which way that would go,” Noah said to Caleb.

  “Neither was I.”

  “She definitely doesn’t trust you.”

  “Yet, she trusts you.” Caleb glanced around to see shingle bundles and strips of flashing.

  “I’m not trying to destroy her business.”

  “I’ve never killed anybody.” As soon as the taunt was out, Caleb regretted it.

  But Noah seemed to take it in stride. “Put that on your résumé, do you?”

  “That was out of line.”

  Noah gave a shrug. “Nothing I haven’t heard before.”

  Caleb hesitated over his next words. But because it was all wrapped up in Jules, he dived in. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to tell me what happened.”

  Noah extracted a blade from his tool belt and headed for a bundle of shingles. “It was my stepfather. He attacked my sixteen-year-old sister. I stepped in and stopped him, and he grabbed a knife.” Noah raised his bare forearm. “I got a scar, and he hit his head on the way down.”

  “So, totally self-defense.” Caleb couldn’t understand why Noah had gone to jail at all.

  “My sister mentally blocked the attack, so I didn’t have a witness.”

  “Did she ever remember?” Caleb was thinking Noah might be able to get his record expunged.

  “I hope she never does.”

  “Okay, now I trust you, too.”

  Noah gave a wry smile. “Not my priority, but I’ll take it.”

  “I’m trying to find a way through this, you know.” For some reason Caleb wanted to explain himself to Noah.

  “Nothing to do with me,” Noah said, shifting the bundle of shingles.

  “She’s better off with Neo down the street than being out here all on her own.”

  “You mean they’re better off?”

  “Yes, them. I meant both of them.” Caleb hoped Noah wasn’t too perceptive. But just in case, he gave himself some cover. “Melissa’s been the reasonable one all along. I think part of her is on my side.”

  Noah scoffed a bit at that.

  Caleb found himself curious. “You don’t agree?”

  Had Melissa said something to Noah? Was she only humoring Caleb by seeming agreeable?

  “She knows her own mind,” Noah said, cutting the black straps that held the shingles in a bundle.

  “Has she said something? About me, my offer, Neo?”

  “She admires your success with Neo.”

  Caleb guessed there was more to that statement. “But?”

  “She’s excited about the Crab Shack, and she’s loyal to her sister.”

  “But she c
an see there’s a path forward with me?”

  If Melissa could understand what was in everyone’s best interest, there was still a chance she’d help convince Jules.

  “I don’t know what you think she’s told me,” Noah said. “We’re not exactly best pals. I work, she... Well, she does as much as she can. But she’s here every day, and she never complains.”

  “And, Jules?” Despite himself, Caleb had to ask.

  “Jules is a force of nature.”

  Caleb couldn’t help but chuckle at that. He didn’t disagree.

  “If I was you, I’d give her whatever she wants.”

  “If I give her what she wants, it’ll cost me a million dollars and my dream.”

  Noah paused at that, a considering expression on his face. “Might be worth it in the end.”

  Caleb narrowed his gaze, trying to penetrate Noah’s poker face. Had he somehow guessed at Caleb’s feelings for Jules?

  That was impossible, because Caleb didn’t have feelings for Jules. Okay, he had feelings for her. But a million dollars and his life’s dream? After only one night? Not a chance.

  * * *

  While the sun was setting over the ocean, TJ Bauer had arrived at the Crab Shack carrying boxes of pizza and a bag of soft drinks. Jules found it hard not to like Caleb’s friends. She didn’t know why Matt had dropped everything at the marina today to help out, and TJ acted like it was the most natural thing in the world to spring for dinner for a group of people, half of whom he barely knew.

  They were all good-humored about the situation, concerned about Melissa’s healing hand and even joking with Noah.

  TJ had set the food on the drop cloth–covered bar and invited everyone to dig in. Jules would admit to being starving. She’d scooped a slice of Hawaiian and plunked into a chair near one of the picture windows, setting a cold can of cola on the wide sill.

  Caleb approached, using his foot to push a second chair close to her.

  “I feel like I need to thank you,” she said as she took a first bite.

  The three men had finished over half the roof today.

  “But you’re not feeling grateful?” he asked as he sat down.

  “What I’m feeling is confused.” She’d been mulling the possible reasons for his help all day, but had come up with nothing. “This seems out of character for you.”