Harlequin E Contemporary Romance Box Set Volume 2: Maid to CraveAll I HaveThe Last First DateLight My Fire

by Rebecca M. Avery

  As she neared the living room, she stopped to listen to Zach reading a book. That stupid song that Seth had let him listen to had been stuck in her head all week, but it was really helping Zach sound out the words. His reading was improving daily. Heading to the kitchen, she could smell something simmering on the stove. Lifting the lid to the pot, she found potato soup. It smelled wonderful and she went in search of Seth to thank him for making dinner and all his help with shopping earlier. Entering the living room, she noticed that only Caleb and Zach were in there.

  She waited until Zach finished reading and then looked at Caleb. “Where is Seth?”

  “He had to work—” He stopped. “Um, he had some work to do for…Rusty. He said he’ll be by in the morning. The landlord says they should have the elevator working tonight, but if you don’t mind, I thought it would just be easier to move tomorrow. Is that okay?”

  “Yeah, sure, that’s fine,” she replied. She was surprised at the disappointment she felt that Seth was gone for the evening.

  “Seth is right. You have definitely been hitting the books. Excellent reading, little man. Excellent,” Caleb said to Zach. “Homework’s all done so I guess that makes you a free man for rest of the weekend.”

  Zach smiled and asked, “Is the soup stuff ready that Seth made?”

  When dinner was finished, Zach headed upstairs to his room and she found herself in the living room with Caleb. Against her better judgment, she wanted to know more about Seth. Did he have a girlfriend? Was he normally nice? Had he just been having an off day at the wedding? Was that why he’d said what he said about her? Why was he working two jobs? Was she not paying him enough? She hadn’t missed Caleb’s slip-up about Seth working this evening.

  Unwilling to start the conversation that she wanted to have, they instead talked about movies, the weather and the accident that had so badly interrupted Caleb’s life. He and Seth looked alike, had many of the same personality traits and the same sense of humor. Somehow, though, they were very different. Caleb was more like what she imagined a brother would be, with his easygoing style and mischievousness. Seth was intense and created an interest in her that was far from familial.

  “So what’s cooking up there in that brain of yours?” Caleb finally asked with a grin.

  Deciding she just didn’t have the guts to ask the questions she really wanted to know, she simply said, “Nothing. Just thinking I should try and get Zach in bed and then get some more work done.”

  “He’s not with a girlfriend if that’s what you’re thinking,” Caleb volunteered.

  “Oh, that’s none of my business. He can do whatever he wants when he’s not working for me,” she quickly explained.

  “You two are cracking me up,” Caleb said. “Neither one of you is willing to admit that you like the other and all my attempts to help you both have gone unnoticed—or at the very least aren’t being acted on. So I give. Either way, though, I’m telling you that there is no one serious in Seth’s life at the moment. He doesn’t really have time for that, and he really is working tonight,” Caleb finished with a sigh.

  “Why do you think he said that about me at Kayla and Ronnie’s wedding?” she finally asked. Caleb had opened the door for the conversation so she decided to walk through.

  “Seth is a good guy, really he is. I can’t sit here and pretend or deny that he didn’t say that about you. You obviously heard what you heard, but I can say that is not typically his style. In fact, to be honest, I’m surprised by it. Why he said it? That I cannot answer…only he can.”

  “Why is he working two jobs?” she blurted out. “I’ve never had a housekeeper before so I don’t know what they normally make, but if I’m being cheap…”

  “No. It’s got nothing to do with you. It’s because of me.” Caleb sighed. A guilty look full of pain and regret crossed his face.

  “What…what did you do?” she finally choked out.

  “The accident. I just graduated from college last summer and had been living with our mom in Arizona. I have this awesome degree, but couldn’t get a job in Phoenix and was struggling to make the payments on my student loans. So when Ronnie got married, Seth and Ian invited me to come to Dayton and see if I had better luck with employment here,” he said.

  She knew what was coming next, but he seemed to need to say it out loud and she could understand that. His whole life had been changed in the blink of an eye and picking up the pieces from devastation like that couldn’t be easy. Rather than prompting him, though, she waited for him to continue with whatever was bothering him.

  “When the accident happened, the focus was on my survival at first. When that hurdle had been cleared, then it became about getting me back on my feet. Somewhere in the middle of all that, the medical bills started coming in, along with notifications that my student loan payments were in arrears. Seth doesn’t know that I know, but he has been paying out quite a bit of money for me. I have no idea how much, but I’m sure it is substantial,” he finished quietly.

  Caleb’s face read like a book. He felt responsible for his brother having to work two jobs. As much as she wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, she also knew it wouldn’t do any good. Guilt was guilt regardless if it was warranted or not. The fact that Seth was making these sacrifices without saying anything to Caleb spoke volumes about their relationship.

  Tori felt bad that while Caleb and Seth were so close, they both were heavily impacted by the accident. She’d never been close with her sister. They’d always had to compete. She was even worried about her sister’s scrutiny of her new home. In all honesty, she would rather have what Seth and Caleb had—a strong bond that didn’t rely on the blood in their veins, but rather the love in their hearts. She’d take that any day over money, prestige and privilege.

  That kind of connection was what she’d been looking for when she’d hooked up with Zach’s father during her senior year of college. Closeness…a bond with another person that was unbreakable. She’d met Lucas at the internship program the college required to complete her Master’s degree. It was sponsored by a large technology firm where he worked.

  Her naiveté, combined with his good looks, had landed her in his bed within a couple of weeks of starting the program. All her college advisor’s counsel on avoiding workplace fraternization and how it often led to heartache and job loss had been completely forgotten when she’d been in Lucas’s arms. Instead, she had bought Lucas’s whispers about how much she meant to him—until she’d become pregnant…and he’d moved on to greener pastures.

  “I’m sure you would do the same for him and he knows that,” she finally replied, shaking off thoughts of her failed relationships—both with her family and the one man she’d ever dared to love.

  “Yes I would, but so far he’s two for zip while I’ve been the beneficiary twice now. He also paid my way through college, or at least most of it minus about twenty grand, from what he made in the military. It feels like all he does is pay out the nose for me and right now it feels like I’ll never be able to repay the favor,” Caleb said.

  “Seth doesn’t strike me as the type to keep score,” she replied.

  A grin spread across his handsome face, reminding her of Seth. “Does that mean he’s forgiven, that you’re done punishing him for his past indiscretions?”

  Smiling back, she said, “You two make it really hard to stay mad at either one of you.”

  “Our mom says the same thing all the time.” He laughed.

  After getting Zach in bed and Caleb settled, Tori headed back to her office. She’d migrated most of the patient billing data to the new server and into the new database tables. As she began doing validations of the data to determine if the information was the same in both the old system and the new, it hit her. Caleb had been taken to one of the hospitals in the network.

  It was unethical to look, but she could no more stop herself than she could quit looking at Seth. Both things should be equally off limits, but weren’t, and she was una
ble to curb the appeal of either. She brought up Caleb’s records at the hospital. Having worked with the billing and financial side of the network during her first two years on the job, she knew that Caleb was right. The total bill was probably substantial.

  After finding what she was looking for, she was shocked at the amount of money Seth had paid already. It made her feel guilty that she was essentially sitting on a pot of gold she would never use. Due to pride and feelings of betrayal toward her father, she’d refused to use the trust he’d set aside for her.

  The amount of money still owed on Caleb’s account was nearly as painful looking as the man’s injuries. Forcing her mind to refocus on her job, she used Caleb’s file to begin validating the information that had been migrated over so far.

  Realizing it was really late and she’d more than made up for her time shopping with Seth, she finally went up to bed. She fell asleep thinking of Seth’s smiling face as he’d dragged her from one area of the store to another.

  The following morning, she woke to the sound of her cell phone ringing and forced herself out of bed and downstairs only to find Caleb, Seth and Zach eating cereal at the dining room table. They stared at her and she stared back for several moments before heading to her office. She groaned to see Tim’s name and number displayed on the screen of her phone. Listening to the message only made her groan louder.

  She should be happy that he wanted to see her more often. It was a sign that he was serious about her. This was what she wanted. Right? If that were true then why did it feel like a chore to get through a date with him? Deciding she would call him back later, she went back up to her room to shower and change.

  After getting ready, she decided she would do a little shopping for her own for clothes, something that didn’t make her look so frumpy. Clothes that would make Seth look at her like he had been looking at her for the past couple of days.

  She went back downstairs and found Zach dragging Caleb’s duffle bag toward the front door.

  “We’re moving Caleb back to his house and then Seth is going to take me to the gym again, okay, Mommy?”

  “I figured you probably needed to work since we were gone so long yesterday,” Seth explained as he exited the living room and walked over to Zach.

  “Actually, I was going to do some shopping. Are you sure you don’t want to go with me, Zach? We can get you some new clothes, as well,” she said.

  “I want to go with Caleb and Seth,” Zach replied, his tone indicating just how badly he wanted it. “Ian lets me sit on his back when he does push-ups. It’s like riding a horse and lots of fun, Mommy. Please?”

  “Are you sure it won’t be too much to watch him and get Caleb situated, as well?” she asked.

  “No, he’s helping. Check it out,” Seth said, pointing to the duffle bag that was nearly the size of Zach. “You go on. Take your time. Buy something nice for yourself,” he finished, his eyes taking in her appearance.

  Her outfit wasn’t the jeans and tank tops from the past couple of days, but it was better than her normal wardrobe. Amazingly, it garnered the same look from him. She felt equal amounts of insecurity and awareness creeping from her upper chest to her neck and onto her cheeks in the form of a blush that she couldn’t stop. He blessed her with a lopsided grin that stole her breath and left her mouth hanging open. He should be in a magazine, one that showed off his muscled chest and that grin…and any other parts of him that were equally fine.

  For the most part, she hated shopping, but somehow going with a purpose in mind—no matter how reckless, immature and wasteful—was…fun. Dressing up for Seth was just shameful, but she could not keep the smile from her face as she found the types of jeans, shirts and accessories that Caleb had suggested. Whoever thought only gay men knew how to be stylish hadn’t met the Lewis brothers.

  Her last stop at a lingerie store was almost too much since it wasn’t like Seth would see those things and the thought of wearing them for Tim wasn’t something she could look forward to.

  Crap…Tim! She’d been so focused on shopping and imagining the way Seth might look at her in each outfit, she had completely forgotten about calling Tim back. Shuffling the shopping bags around, she managed to dig her cell phone out of her pocket. She heard a cell phone ring almost in conjunction with the ringing in her ear. Looking across the crowded walkway, she spotted Tim digging his own cell phone out of his pocket.

  Hanging up just as he answered, she headed in his direction. Maybe she could get their date out of the way early enough that she could then…What? What would she do? Nothing. She shouldn’t be making excuses to visit with Seth, or look at Seth, or talk to Seth…or anything with Seth. Seth was off limits. He was too sexy for her. And he was an employee! Tim was what she should focus on…safe, reliable Tim. She didn’t really even like Seth, she needed to remember that.

  As Tori approached Tim, a woman came out of a store and touched his arm. The touch wasn’t anything really, but it did make Tori pause. The woman was dressed seductively, at least by Tori’s standards. When Tim noticed her, a confused look crossed his face before he smiled and said something to the woman, who removed her hand from his arm.

  “I was just calling you back. I heard your phone and then saw you…” Tori said, looking curiously at the woman who had pasted on a fake smile.

  “Oh…I…this is my friend’s sister, Vanessa. He asked me to escort her through the mall. It’s just not safe for a woman to shop alone anymore,” he said by way of introduction. Then, looking at the woman he said, “This is my girlfriend, Tori Stewart.”

  “Oh. It’s nice to meet you.” Vanessa smiled at her.

  Unknowingly, he’d just given Tori a way out of going on a date with him. She smiled first at the woman and then at Tim. “That’s nice of you. I’m guessing you’ll be hanging with your friend this evening then, which is just as well. I’ve started validations on the data and I was just taking a break from it. I kind of wanted to get back to it this evening.” She lifted her bags slightly to indicate her break had entailed some shopping.

  “Yeah, I figured that was why you didn’t call me back this morning,” he replied. “Maybe some night this week or next weekend instead?”

  “Yeah, that sounds good,” she said, slightly ashamed at the level of relief she felt for having thwarted a repeat of the only kind of date Tim had ever taken her on—dinner and a movie.

  Leaning toward Tori awkwardly, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. After saying his goodbyes, he and Vanessa walked away. If Vanessa hadn’t confirmed with her silence that Tim was merely acting on the request of a friend, Tori would have sworn she’d just caught him out on a date. Vanessa was out of his league, though—stylishly dressed, even if slightly trampy-looking, with heavy makeup and not a hair out of place. A small part of Tori wondered at Tim’s concern for Vanessa shopping alone when he had simply walked away and allowed her to continue on alone.

  Stopping in one last store, Tori purchased a final outfit and decided to wear it home. Perhaps she would call and see if she could stop by Seth’s apartment and pick up Zach. Grinning foolishly, she dialed Seth’s cell phone number knowing full well she wanted to feel his hungry gaze drinking her in. When had she turned into such a flirt? Why was she so eager to toy with Seth, but not Tim? It made no sense.

  When she got no answer, she decided to stop by his apartment anyway. She remembered his apartment number from the paperwork Caleb had received upon being released from the rehab center. Pulling up next to Seth’s old and raggedy car, she parked and headed up to his apartment. She was surprised when he answered the door wearing jeans and a button up shirt. He was gorgeous…and smelled good enough to eat. When he looked at her with his intense gaze, she found it hard to stare him down.

  He looked like he was dressed up for a date.… Was he? A caress of jealousy stroked down her neck and she forced herself to push the feeling away. What did it matter? She was with Tim.

  Seth studied her curiously for a moment before holding the door
open for her to enter. Stepping inside, she could hear Caleb and Zach and someone else in another room cheering as though they were watching sports.

  “I, uh, work weekends and I was just getting ready to head out. Caleb and Ian were going to hang with Zach until you got done shopping and then Ian was going to run him home. I guess I should have checked with you first. Don’t be mad. Ian’s great and you know Caleb so…” Looking unsure of himself, he rubbed his hand across the back of his neck and said, “I really have to go or I am going to be late.”

  The sound of Zach’s giggles made her smile even amidst the awkward feeling that had settled in her chest as she continued to stare at Seth. Caleb, Seth and the rest of their buddies were a good influence on Zach. They were a lot of fun—not just for Zach, but for her, as well. Her little boy needed the guidance of respectable men. So until Tim was ready to step into that role, she was glad Seth and his friends were including her little boy on their manly outings. Hiring Seth as a housekeeper was turning out to be a benefit to both her and Zach in ways she’d never imagined.

  “Oh, sure, sorry,” she said, stepping inside and out of his way. As she watched him leave and close the apartment door behind him, she wasn’t sure if she was disappointed that he would be working and therefore unavailable to hang out with her after she’d canceled her plans with Tim, or if she was relieved that he wasn’t going on a date. Especially looking like that.

  Forcing her thoughts away from Seth, she followed the sounds of cheering, giggling, and counting. As she neared the end of the hallway, she nearly fainted. Ian held Zach in his two meaty paws, lifting the boy high over his head as though Zach was a barbell and weights. Had Ian not had such a good grip on Zach, her fear of her son falling from such a height probably would have made her pass out.