She nodded in understanding.
Seth ended his phone call and looked angry. Walking back over to where they stood, he said, “He says we can get a hotel room for tonight and possibly tomorrow night until the elevator is fixed and he’ll take it off next month’s rent. I swear I didn’t know about this when I picked you up. I can try to call Rusty and see if he can put you up for the night.”
“That’s what you get for not coming home,” Caleb said with a smirk. “Do you have money for a room? I hate to put Rusty out, especially since Ian is staying with him to give us the extra space here.”
Did Seth have a girlfriend? Is that why he hadn’t been home and didn’t know about the elevator? She watched as Seth glanced at her cautiously before giving his brother a look. What did it matter if Seth had a girlfriend? She didn’t date hot looking guys and she felt pretty sure that Seth probably didn’t date women like her.
Knowing they needed to figure out something quickly, not just for Caleb’s comfort but also in case she needed to cancel with Cody’s mom, she decided to help them, if they would allow it. Seth’s hesitation told her that perhaps he didn’t have the money to rent a hotel room or he didn’t like the idea of his injured brother having to be in a hotel. Again, his protectiveness was something she could relate to and respect. Looking out for family was commendable no matter what other personality flaws a person possessed.
Looking again at Caleb she said, “You are welcome to use my sofa, if that would help. My guest bedroom is upstairs, and it’s unfurnished anyway.”
“No,” Seth said at the same time that Caleb said, “Are you sure that wouldn’t inconvenience you too much?”
“It’s just until the elevator is fixed. That would be fine. It’s no problem, no inconvenience,” she answered. Caleb grinned and Seth rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
After a brief pause, Caleb said, “Well, lead the way, baby.…”
She blushed at the look Seth shot her so she quickly walked out the door of the apartment building. They all loaded back into the car and headed to her house. She went ahead inside and put Caleb’s duffel bag near the couch and then went in search of some blankets and sheets while Zach held the front door open for Seth and Caleb. By the time Caleb was settled on the sofa, she knew she needed to call Cody’s mother and reschedule.
“I hate to dump you and run man, but Zach, his buddy Cody and I are going to hit the gym as soon as I put together a couple of PB and J sandwiches for us. Will you be okay here until I get back?” Seth asked Caleb.
Glancing at her, Caleb grinned and said, “I’m sure Tori can keep an eye on me for a little while.”
“Don’t…” Seth warned with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Oh, go on. I’ll be fine.” Caleb chuckled.
Seth quickly put together a couple of sandwiches and grabbed a couple of granola bars and juice boxes from the refrigerator and handed one of each to Zach. Turning to her, Seth said, “We need to go if we are going to make it there on time. I’m just going to grab Zach’s seat out of your car.”
Zach and Seth made it out the door and were gone in record time. How was Seth able to get Zach to move so quickly when most mornings she was almost late dropping him off at school because he took so long to get ready?
Caleb continued to smile at her like he knew a secret she didn’t and awkwardness set in until she noticed the television set and said, “Here, let me turn on the TV for you. I don’t watch it much so I just have the basic programs.”
“You must work a lot to afford a place like this,” Caleb replied with a smile.
She turned on the television and then asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Not really. I ate earlier. Something to drink would be great, though,” he replied.
Grateful for the escape, she went to the kitchen and brought him back a soda and a glass with ice.
“I think I’ll fix up something to eat for when they get back,” she said awkwardly.
“Before you run off, I was wondering…what did my brother do to piss you off so bad?” he asked.
Startled, she could only stare at the man. She wasn’t mad at Seth, more like leery of him…cautious. Had Seth said something about the way she had treated him?
“With my brother, it could have been any number of inappropriate remarks. If you want real payback, to make him sorry for whatever he did to offend you, I can help,” he said with another mischievous grin.
So much like Seth’s grin and yet so different.
“How so?” she asked.
He patted the seat cushion right next to him. She slowly walked over and sat down beside him. Reaching up, he pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair and then removed her glasses. He handed both things to her and looked her over from head to toe.
“Do you have any mascara and maybe a tank top?” he asked.
“Why?” she asked suspiciously.
“Seth has a thing for the-girl-next-door types and you have that quality in spades. If you want to make him really sorry for offending you, let him see more clearly what he has already noticed,” Caleb said with a mischievous grin.
The only thing Seth has noticed about me is my size and lack of breasts. “He said I look like a twelve-year-old boy and perhaps if I drank all my milk with dinner I’d develop boobs,” she blurted out.
Caleb made a face as though disgusted and sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Yes, I’d say he more than deserves a little payback then. Forget dinner. Order a couple of pizzas in about half an hour. In the meantime, go find some jeans and shirts and bring them in here. I’ll help you pick the best outfit. Do you have contact lenses?”
“No, but I mostly need the glasses for when I am working on the computer,” she supplied.
Did she really want to make Seth sorry for a comment he’d made months ago?
Yes. Caleb’s suggestion had triggered something in her. A need to prove to Seth that she was attractive—inside and out. Having basically made herself as inconspicuous as possible since Zach was born, she was nervous about even considering changing her look.
Creating a spark of interest in Seth when she didn’t need any fire or passion in her life wasn’t a very smart thing to do. Yet now that Caleb had put the idea in her head, she knew she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
She wanted the “cute boy at school” to finally notice her and be sorry he hadn’t before.
Chapter Four
This was just great. He’d been working for Tori for less than a full week and already his personal life was affecting his job.
He’d forgotten what it was like to be state side and not housed at a base. The hardest part of adjusting to civilian life was dealing with every situation on his own. No commanding officer to tell him how to handle things, no orders to follow. In the service, the issue with where to house Caleb wouldn’t have been a problem because Seth wouldn’t have been the one handling it. He would have had someone telling him what to do—how to handle the medical bills, the medical care and the physical therapy appointments on top of working two jobs. Now Rusty was just a friend, one of the guys.
Out here in the real world, Seth made the decisions and carried them out. Occasionally, like today, life didn’t follow his orders very well.
Looking in the rearview mirror, he couldn’t help but grin at Zach in the backseat. Seth had never thought of himself as someone who liked kids, but the boy was cool as hell. Zach was wearing the sunglasses Seth had told him were essential to being cool while singing the letter sounds song. He looked like a Stevie Wonder impersonator as he swayed back and forth singing at the top of his lungs.
As they pulled into the parking lot of the gym, Seth watched a tall busty woman crossing the parking lot with a little kid.
“That’s Cody Manson,” Zach supplied.
“Where’s his sunglasses?” Seth asked. Zach didn’t answer his question, but merely smiled at him.
After parking the car, Seth and Zach strode across
the parking lot toward the front door of the gym. As they approached, Seth caught the image of himself and Zach walking side by side reflected in the dark glass of the door, and couldn’t help but smile. The kid was even imitating the way Seth walked. Between that and the sunglasses they wore, the boy actually did resemble him. Was this paternal instinct, wanting a miniature version of one’s self?
Cody’s mom held out her hand in greeting and gave Seth the kind of onceover she might have given a clothing rack of the latest fashions. Normally, he liked attention from women, so he was surprised that he had no desire to flirt with the woman in return.
“You must be Zach’s father. I met your wife earlier,” she said, shaking his hand and quickly inspecting his ring finger.
Her touch did not send signals of awareness through his body like Tori’s slight touch had done while they’d cleaned up after dinner the night before. He could only smile at her. For the first time ever he wished he could say he was taken, that he was part of a pair rather than a lone ranger. He looked down at Zach. The boy was looking up at Seth with a form of adoration Seth actually enjoyed more than he enjoyed the woman’s appreciative scan of his muscles.
“No, I’m not Zach’s father,” he said, ruffling Zach’s hair. “I’m Seth, and you can pick up Cody in about an hour,” he finished without further explanation. Let her think what she wanted.
“I could wait, if that would be easier for you,” the woman offered as a mild form of flirtation.
“Nah, run some errands. Take a break. I’ve got it,” he said, smiling at her.
He enjoyed working out with Zach and Cody almost as much as he enjoyed working out with Ian. Unlike Ian, who was constantly training and preparing for his mixed martial arts competitions, Seth worked out for the health benefits and to ensure that the ladies he danced for appreciated what they saw.
The two little boys didn’t care about fitness, training or ladies. They were content to count sets for him, try their hand at lifting different weights and do push-ups and even chin-ups. By the time an hour had passed, Seth felt his cheeks burning from smiling so much at the two boys who were trying desperately to appear like they knew what they were doing.
Zach seemed like a different kid from the one he’d been the past few days. As he and Cody moved from one workout to another, he more than kept up with Cody, who was almost a half a head taller than Zach and had at least twenty pounds on him. As they collected their things and walked out to the parking lot, Seth even heard Cody inviting Zach to sit at his table the next day at school. Friends would go a long way in helping the little guy fit in.
After ensuring that Cody made it safely across the parking lot to his mother’s car, Seth and Zach loaded up and drove back to Tori’s house, jamming out to the letter sounds song. Seth was impressed with Zach’s ability to mimic some of the dance moves from the video. The kid was cool and funny, and Seth couldn’t help but laugh with him.
As they pulled up to the house and made it inside, he and Zach followed the smell of pizza into the kitchen. Seth got a couple of slices for Zach and then got a couple for himself and they sat down at the bar just as Tori entered the room. It was one thing for her get her jabs in when talking to him, but it was another to do so by completely switching from frumpy-braid-and-glasses girl to a vision that had his whole body on full alert. He even had to force his teeth together to finish taking the bite of his pizza.
How did he manage to leave behind nerdy Tori only to return and find sexy-as-hell Tori in her place? She hadn’t grown any, but the clothes she wore now completely changed the way she looked. Her dark jeans hung low on her hips and were held in place by a plain tan belt. She wore a white tank top. The glasses were gone and she was laughing, which lit up her entire face making her…breathtaking. Yet again her hair was loose and wild as though…Oh, hell no!
He jumped up and out of his seat and headed to the living room where Caleb was sitting up on the couch watching television. Caleb glanced at Seth and then back to the television and then back to Seth again.
“What?” Caleb asked.
A sickness invaded Seth’s stomach at just the thought…but he had to know.
“Did you…” he asked in an angry whisper.
Caleb smiled a suggestive smile and just as quietly said, “Not yet, but I think she’s warming to the idea. Did you see? She changed clothes.”
“Do not even go there with her. She’s—” His.
What the hell? She was his boss and she was nerdy. Try as he might, he couldn’t bring back the image he’d had of her since he’d met her. Instead, he could only imagine her as he’d just seen her in the kitchen a moment ago. She didn’t look nerdy now; she looked hot!
As much as he appreciated when women got dressed up and went all out to impress him, there was something about a woman who possessed a natural beauty, a woman with a style that said she could just as easily be your friend as your lover. The woman in the kitchen talking to Zach was dressed just like…Seth’s biggest fantasy.
“I think I finally get your whole ‘girl next door’ fascination. I didn’t before, but damn…did you see that?” Caleb asked, pointing in the direction of the kitchen.
“I mean it, man. Back off. Not cool!” Seth said angrily. What was wrong with him? This was Caleb! Seth would never deny Caleb anything, especially now that he’d been injured. But the idea of him and Tori made Seth physically sick.
“Sorry,” Caleb said, holding his hands up defensively. Then he gave Seth a look that said he had just caught on to a secret. “She’s the one who dissed you. Isn’t she?”
He could only give Caleb a dirty look before slowly turning around and walking back toward the kitchen to face the new star of his next erotic dream. Maybe he should offer to stay overnight to help Caleb out and also to ensure that things between the two of them remained strictly friendly. As he rounded the corner, he was again met with a visual image he did not need of his nerdy new boss…who could barely tolerate him.
She was bent halfway across the counter, facing Zach who sat at the bar. Her tiny but nicely rounded ass swayed in those jeans. Then, upon hearing him enter, she looked back over her shoulder. Suddenly the image in his mind was of him behind her in such a position…making her disorderly hair even messier.
He scanned her from head to toe and was shocked to find she was also barefoot. Her tiny feet merely completed the picture. Forcing his eyes back to hers and his mind away from the fact that his all-time greatest fantasy was standing right in front of him, he could only stare until she turned back to Zach.
She really couldn’t care less that he was not only scoping her out, but was having a moment of full-blown lust because of her. She continued talking to Zach as if Seth wasn’t right behind her enjoying the pleasure of her body with nothing but his eyes.
As much as he wanted to find some way to get her alone and inspect this new side of her…personality, he knew better. He needed this job more than he needed to get laid, even if she were interested in him. He stared at the far wall for several moments trying to clear away the image of her tight butt in those jeans and her perky breasts displayed perfectly in the tight white tank top.
“Are you sure you don’t mind Caleb crashing here? Hopefully it will only be for a day or two at the most,” he managed to say a little breathlessly. “I can stay as well to keep an eye on him.”
“No. I don’t mind at all. He’s sweet. You don’t have to stay over. Go on home and get some rest. I don’t really have anywhere for you to sleep anyhow. However, you don’t need to worry. I will take good care of him,” she replied, glancing again at him over her shoulder.
Damn she was more than hot. She was smokin’ hot! His own words from a little more than a week ago, about how nerdy and unattractive she was, filtered through his mind like a slap. Then just as quickly as the image of her bent over the counter shot straight to his groin, his next thought left him feeling completely at a loss for words. Was she interested in Caleb instead of Seth?
&nbs
p; Experience told him some women liked to take care of a man while others liked a man to take care of them. Some women liked being in charge while others liked the man to take control. Tori Stewart was a contradiction all the way around, and not just in her switch from nerdy to hot as hell. She’d hired Seth to take care of her, but she looked almost eager to take care of Caleb. Was it because she was a caretaker type or because she was interested in his brother? For the first time in a long time, a woman’s motivation really mattered. Trying to persuade his mind that it only mattered because she had no interest in him whatsoever, he walked a little farther into the kitchen.
“Thanks for hitting the gym with me, little man,” he said to Zach. Then looking at Tori again, he said, “I should go then, but I’ll see you tomorrow. You have my cell phone number so don’t be afraid to call me, even in the middle of the night, if Caleb needs anything. I can be here in like ten minutes and I’ll be by first thing in the morning,” he offered.
Then he pictured Tori with her arm around Caleb’s waist trying to help him to the bathroom and decided he would make sure that wouldn’t be necessary before he left. Hell if he would give her an excuse or an opportunity to touch Caleb. If she wanted to touch a man, she could touch Seth…for free. No tips required.
He helped Caleb to the restroom and then helped get him situated for the night, complete with the TV remote and a glass of water. Caleb only grinned and gave him a knowing look. Ready to escape his own ridiculously jealous thoughts and ludicrous feelings toward Tori Stewart, Seth left so quickly that he only realized he hadn’t given her back Zach’s booster seat when he pulled up in front of his apartment building.
By the time he made it upstairs to his apartment, he was starting to get annoyed with himself and his inability to get her out of his head. It was Tori Stewart. No one had sexual fantasies about a chick that nerdy.
She hadn’t been nerdy tonight, though.
Again and again his mind brought forth images of her bent over the counter. By the time he made it into the shower to wash off the grime of the gym, he was fully aroused.
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