by Vivian Wood
Once they’d docked on the mainland, Faith was disappointed in herself when she realized she scanned the parking lot for the rednecks’ truck. Her heart rate slowed slightly when it was nowhere to be found. I’m not going to let those jerks get into my head.
“All right,” Caleb said as he slapped Alex on the back. “We’re Gonna take the Chevy. I’m guessin’ you’ll be in the Mustang.”
“You guessed right,” Alex said.
“Chevy?” Faith asked. “How many cars do you guys have here?”
“Enough,” Alex said, and Caleb let out a laugh.
The Chevy’s garage was right next to the Mustang’s. Faith watched as Caleb and Matt uncovered a pristine 1950s truck with glistening chrome trim. “Wow,” she said. “That’s beautiful.”
“Sounds beautiful, too,” Caleb said with a wink.
She tried to help Alex uncover the Mustang, but he whipped the cloth off so quickly it nearly seared her hands. “Hey!” she said.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
She thought he might have said more, but the roar of the Chevy drowned out everything else. He did look over and inspect her hands, briefly, before they set off. The touch of his skin on hers made it nearly sizzle.
In the Mustang, she waited to see if he’d reach for the convertible switch, but his hand remained firmly on the stick shift. Faith recognized some of the landmarks as they headed into the city. When they passed the exit for the barbeque joint, her stomach rumbled. The last time in Savannah seemed like ages ago. And we are farther apart now than ever. What had happened?
“Home Depot first?” Alex asked.
“Sure!” she said. Faith tried to sound upbeat, but it came off as fake even to her.
Alex parked far from any other cars in the expansive parking lot. He commandeered one of the bright-orange shopping carts and started to methodically go through the aisles. Faith tried to tick off the shopping list items she had, but it seemed like he had his own agenda.
“Doorbells!” she said as he barreled down the aisle. “Craig told me to pick one out. I guess Lydia never got around to putting one in. What do you think about—”
“Can’t you shop for this useless stuff another time?” Alex asked curtly. “We have some real high-need items to take care of.”
Faith had an oil-rubbed bronze doorbell in one hand and a brushed nickel in the other. It took all her willpower not to throw one directly at his head. “What’s your problem?” she asked coolly.
“My problem?” Alex glanced around the aisle, but they were miraculously alone on a Saturday morning.
“Yes. Your problem. Are you still upset about the other day?”
“The other day?”
“Oh my God. Are you just going to repeat everything I say? Yes, the other day. Look, you told me it was a mistake, and I heard you. Loud and clear.”
“Oh.”
Is he blushing? What the hell?
“You want me to be honest?” he asked. Suddenly any trace of embarrassment was gone.
“Yeah,” Faith said. “That would be nice for a change.”
“Yeah. I’m still kind of weirded out by the other day. And, Jesus, the other night just keeps replaying in my head. I know it was a mistake. You know it. But that doesn’t exactly make it easy to be around you.”
Faith was so taken aback she nearly stumbled. “Well. Thank you for being honest. And I’m sorry you feel like that.”
“Faith,” he said in dismay. He let go of the shopping cart and stepped toward her, but she matched his stride and kept her distance. “It’s not like that. Shit, I don’t know how to say this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. She put back the nickel doorbell and tossed the bronze one into the cart.
“I am worried about it,” he said. “I know how it must seem—”
“Oh, do you?” she asked. “Good, then I won’t have to explain it.”
“Faith—I can’t. I can’t even look at you without thinking about how you looked that night—”
“I’m not interested in talking about this anymore,” she said. She brushed her hair from behind her ears to hide her crimson face. “I’m going to go look at floor tile. If you want to help, go pick up the bathroom piping Craig asked about.”
Faith stalked off into the depths of Home Depot without a clue of where she was going. She didn’t hear Alex follow her. After a few minutes, she glanced behind her, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Morning, ma’am.” A young, handsome salesclerk in an orange apron appeared in front of her. “Can I help you with somethin’?”
“Uh, yeah, thank you,” she said, and plastered on her brightest smile. “Floor tile?”
The man whistled. “Floor tile. That’s a big project. You doin’ it yourself?” he asked as he led her to the other side of the store.
She laughed. “I wish,” she said. “I have a contractor.”
“Your husband’s no good with his hands?” the clerk asked. “Or boyfriend?”
She blushed. It had been a long time since someone so overtly flirted with her. It was nice. Refreshing. “No husband,” she said. “Or boyfriend.”
“Well, ain’t that a shame,” he said, but his smile suggested otherwise.
Faith let the clerk flirt with her as he explained the difference in the tile. Still, she kept an eye out for Alex and kept checking her phone. Where the hell is he?
“There you are,” Alex said from behind her. He was armed with loads of plastic piping.
“Well, hey there,” the clerk said. He looked confused.
“I told you I’d be in tile,” she hissed.
“This what you wanted?” Alex asked as he raised the pipes up.
“I don’t know,” she said and stormed off again. This time, she left two men in her wake.
She might be a lot of things, but she was nobody’s mistake.
Chapter 20
Alex
He couldn’t wait to get out of that Home Depot. Alex didn’t know if Faith was oblivious to how the salesclerk ogled her, or if she relished it because he couldn’t do or say anything about it.
She’d dragged him around that store for another hour. Alex had worked doggedly to get through Craig’s list, but Faith tended to linger. “You want this or this?” he’d ask her, as he held up two different lighting options.
Her answers were either immediately, “This one,” or “You choose.” Alex couldn’t accuse her of ignoring him since she answered all his questions. Yet her tone was frosty.
There were only a few items on the list that demanded much debate on her end. Thank God, Alex thought. It was like Craig knew better than to send a California girl into a home improvement shop with much wiggle room for choices.
Alex watched her as she started to head into the appliance section. Oh God.
“You know, you’ll get a better deal on appliances at Best Buy.”
“Oh,” she said but continued to check features and prices.
“Generally lower prices and free financing for something like eighteen months,” he said.
“I don’t need financing,” she replied.
That’s right. She’s rich as hell now. Alex didn’t know exactly how much the inheritance was, but it was basically an entire island. A tiny island and a rundown plantation, but still.
“Seriously, if I were you I’d wait till the Labor Day sales,” he said.
“That might be a good idea,” she agreed and angled the cart out of appliances.
Alex was in charge of what Faith called the building stuff. It included the literal nuts and bolts, wires, pipes, and materials that Faith didn’t care much about selecting.
“I think that’s it,” Alex said as he dumped the last of the shopping list into the cart.
“I’m not sure if I should look at paint here .”
“Craig said the local shop by his office was better.”
Faith sighed. “Fine,” she said.
By the time he’d loaded up the trunk, Caleb had
blown up his phone with texts. Lunch? Caleb had asked at noon. LUNCH? repeated in three strings of texts by one.
Never take a woman to Home Depot, Alex texted back. He glanced at Faith in the passenger seat. Ate yet?
No. CBP. Our ETA is fifteen min.
“Hungry?” Alex asked as he slid into the front seat.
“I could eat,” Faith said. She rested her chin on her hand and stared into the distance.
Alex couldn’t get to the Crystal Beer Parlor fast enough. He wove through the streets of Savannah well above the limit, but Faith acted like she either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“ʼBout time,” Matt said as they sat down. He and Caleb had already finished one IPA each.
“This place is cute,” Faith said. She pulled her sunglasses on top of her head and smiled at Caleb and Matt.
Where had that cheeriness been earlier? Alex wondered. He made a huff and pretended to look at the menu, though he always ordered the same thing.
“Not as cute as the company,” Caleb said with a wink. “And I don’t mean you,” he said to Alex.
“Stop!” Faith said with a giggle. She slapped Caleb’s arm lightly. “Hey, look, they have fried green tomatoes for starters. Like the movie.”
“Yeah,” Matt said. “Or, you know, like the southern dish that everyone’s eaten for ages.”
“I already ordered some plates to share. The tomatoes, fried okra, and the onion rings.”
“Well, that sounds healthy,” Faith said with a laugh.
“Muscles and curves require a healthy appetite,” Caleb said. He winked at Faith. “Figured you’d know that, ma’am.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve figured a few things out,” she said. Faith bit her lip and looked unabashedly at Caleb’s biceps that burst out of his shirt.
Alex steamed behind the menu. Since when had Faith shifted all her attention to Caleb? Hell, he is an outrageous flirt even without her encouragement!
“What do you recommend?” Faith asked the table.
“Au poivre burger,” Caleb and Matt said in unison.
“Where’s that?” Faith asked as she scanned the menu.
“Got cracked pepper, peppercorn brandy, grilled onions,” Caleb said. “Trust me, try it.”
“Oh, what the hell,” Faith said. “And a beer, too.”
Alex went to the bar for a round, happy for any excuse to get away from Faith and Caleb. He took a shot of whiskey at the bar, even though the waitress cocked her eyebrow. “You have no idea what I’m dealing with,” he told her.
That made her smile. “I got you, baby,” she said and covertly poured the whiskey into a soda glass topped with Coke.
Back at the table, the group grabbed the beers from Alex and ignored him once again. Matt was buried in his phone, while Caleb and Faith had eyes only for each other.
“I think you’ll really like it,” Caleb told Faith as Alex settled back in.
“I’m nervous!” Faith said. “You shouldn’t have told me about the whole shark thing.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” Caleb said.
Alex half listened to their plans for diving while he let the whiskey and beer do their job on his empty stomach. I did tell her we were a mistake. Or that she was a mistake? Hell, he couldn’t remember exactly. Either way, it sure didn’t sound good, and it certainly hadn’t come out right.
“Stop it!” Faith said as Caleb pinched her thigh and imitated a shark. She giggled and put her hand on his forearm.
“Hey, now, I’m just giving you a preview,” Caleb said. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re Gonna have to do as I say on that boat if you wanna stay safe.”
“Okay, okay,” Faith said. “I’ll be good.”
“Not all the time, now,” Caleb said.
“But tell me how you got started,” Faith said. She took a pull of the beer. “Diving, I mean.”
“Oh, me and Alex were always in the water as kids,” Caleb said. “Swimming, snorkeling, everything. Dang near drowned each other all them summers. Remember that, Alex?”
Alex grunted in agreement.
“But I dunno, I got the diving bug when I was ʼbout sixteen I guess. Mama was happy to send me to the mainland for a month of scuba lessons for the summer. One less boy to deal with, she’d say. And that was that.”
“It just took a month?” Faith asked. “That’s not too bad.”
“Lots o’ people get certified on vacations,” Caleb said with a shrug. “But there are all kinds of levels.”
“And what level would you say you’re at?” Faith asked.
“The level where I oughta know better than to take a beautiful distraction out on the water,” Caleb said.
“A distraction!” Faith said. “That’s hardly complimentary.”
“I s’pose that depends on who you ask.”
“Matt, do you hear this?” Faith asked.
“Huh?” Matt said as he tore his eyes away from the screen.
“What’s so interesting in that phone, anyway?” she asked.
“I’m surprised you’re not on yours. Isn’t your firm bombarding you with emails?”
Faith sighed. “I think they’ve given up on me for the summer. I’m pretty much a glorified virtual administrative assistant at this point. As long as I log the documents daily, they’re happy.”
“That doesn’t worry you?” Matt asked. “What about job security?”
“I don’t know,” Faith said. “I was stoked when I first landed that job. But now? Maybe . . . maybe law isn’t for me after all.”
“Awful young to decide that,” Matt said.
“Better now than later, right?” she asked.
“I suppose.”
“You can always come work for me,” Caleb said. “I could always use a hot assistant.”
“There’s no way I’d be your assistant!” Faith said. “We’d never get any work done.”
“You don’t think? How come? What you imagine we’d be doin’ instead?”
“Oh, I don’t know . . .”
“C’mon, you can’t leave a guy hangin’ like that.” Caleb nudged. “Gimme some ideas.”
“Some ideas for what we’d do instead of work?”
“Sure.”
“Probably fight off sharks and start drinking way too early.”
“There’s no such thing as drinkin’ too early. Especially since, well, you know what they say.”
“No, what?”
“The more you drink, the better I look,” Caleb said with a wink. “And the whole lowered inhibitions thing don’t hurt, either.”
“Right, like you really need help looking better,” Faith said.
“Why, is that a compliment, Miss Capshaw?”
“You take it however you like.”
Alex couldn’t take much more of this. Matt might be totally oblivious, but it felt like he was the fifth wheel on a date that was headed straight for a hookup.
I can’t be mad at her. Or Caleb, he reminded himself. Caleb’s clueless, and I might as well have told Faith that I regretted having anything to do with her.
“That’s so bad!” Faith’s giggle burst through his thoughts. He didn’t even want to know what was so bad that Caleb had said or done.
Shit. But just because he’d backpedaled, that didn’t mean he wanted to sit around and watch her flirt with his brother. The two of them were putting on a show that was too embarrassing to bear.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Ladies’ room before the food arrives.” Alex had to lean back to let her out, and as she passed him her ass was right in his face. The same sweet ass he’d kissed and nibbled on just a few days ago. Those shorts were so tiny, he thought he could still see a hickey between her thighs.
“Damn,” Caleb said as Faith made her way to the far end of the restaurant.
Alex realized they both ogled her ass as she swished away.
“They don’t make ʼem like that round here,” Caleb told Alex.
“Maybe you don’t look hard eno
ugh,” Alex said.
“You’re one to talk,” Caleb retorted. “You just literally had the finest thing I’ve ever seen in your lap and didn’t do a damn thing about it.”
“Maybe I don’t feel like going to battle with my brother for a piece of ass,” Alex said. He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but it was too late now.
Caleb didn’t seem bothered by it. His face lit up as the waiter arrived with their order. “Excuse me, y’all,” Alex said as he got up. Caleb and Matt didn’t even seem to notice.
He headed straight toward the restrooms. Faith waited in line for the women’s restroom. Jesus, she is hot. “I need to talk to you,” he said. The older woman behind Faith gave him a hard look.
“Right now?” she asked.
“Yes, right now.” He took her elbow and led her out the back kitchen door.
“Hey, y’all aren’t s’posed to use that!” the woman hollered as the door slammed shut.
“What the hell are you doing?” Faith demanded. Finally, some kind of emotion.
“What am I doing? What do you think you’re doing?”
“Uh, trying to pee,” she said. “If, you know, I hadn’t been interrupted.”
“You know what I mean,” Alex said. He wanted to tell her to stop toying with Caleb, but the words wouldn’t come together in his mouth.
“What, do you want to tell me again how hooking up with me was a mistake? I got the message, Alex,” she said. “You weren’t exactly subtle about it.”
“Look, I get that you can flirt with whoever you want, okay? But my brother is off limits.”
Faith laughed and rubbed her hands along her bare thighs. “Then you tell him to stop flirting with me. Okay? I’m not going to be rude to him just because you don’t know how to act after a one-night stand. At least he’s nice to me.”
That stung, but Alex knew she had a point. But one-night stand? Is that what she thought it was? “That’s how he is with everyone,” Alex said. His effort to brush it off landed flat.
“Oh, is it now? You’re telling me that he’s just being friendly? How much do you want to bet that I can get him to kiss me?”
Alex went tense, and Faith noticed.
A smile crept across her face. She crossed her arms over her chest.