by Sherri Hayes
But he wasn’t stupid. If Jan and his mother had already talked about it, it was a done deal. One way or another she would be joining them. He knew Jan was only being courteous, giving him the opportunity to extend the invitation. “Okay, fine. I’ll ask her.”
Jan gave him a hug. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
He snorted, but hugged her back.
Two hours later, he knocked on Elizabeth’s door. The men from the alarm company were finally finished, the alarms in place, but for some reason, the idea of her back in her own apartment sent a rush of fear through his gut. She’d stayed with Jan while the workmen were here, and only came into work when Jan left to do her volunteer work. Everyone had agreed it wasn’t good for anyone to be here alone until all the alarms were installed.
He’d like to say his fear had to do with her intruder, but he’d be lying. At work, there were always ways to occupy himself, to stay focused on things other than his attraction to her. He’d made sure not to repeat his mistakes, so avoiding her was out of the question. Instead, he tried to act as though everything were normal and just ignore the elephant in the room. Here, however, there wasn’t the buffer of work between them. Once the door closed, they would be alone. It was the reason he decided to remain out in the hall when he knocked on her door.
“Who is it?” she asked through the closed door.
“It’s Chris. Can I . . . Can I talk to you for a minute?”
When she opened her door, his best-laid plans almost went out the window, and he scrambled to calm his body down. She was wearing another one of her oversized dress shirt, yoga pant combos. He could see a hint of what lie beneath and his hands tingled, wanting first-hand knowledge of what their weight felt like against his palms.
“Hi.” Her voice was all it took, and he knew he needed to get this over with before he went with his instincts.
He clenched his fists, willing his feet to remain where they were. “My brother has a game in Cincinnati next weekend. He’s getting tickets for everyone, and I was wondering if you’d like to go.”
“Game?” she said, clearly confused.
He’d told her nothing of his family, really. “Football. My brother plays for Tennessee.”
It took her a moment, but then her face lit up. “Football? As in NFL football?”
“Yeah. He’s their starting quarterback.”
“I love football.” She smiled.
He shifted trying to make himself more comfortable. “You do?”
“Yes! I haven’t been to a game since college, though.”
“Oh. Well you’ll love it, then. Gage always gets us really good seats.”
“You could sit me in the nosebleeds, and I wouldn’t care!”
Her joy was infections and unfortunately, it didn’t help his current situation. “So I’ll let you know when we’re leaving next week. It’s an early game and about an hour’s drive.”
“Just tell me when and I’m there.” She was beaming.
Ever since Chris had asked her to go to the football game, she’d felt like she was floating. She’d always loved football, but it was one of those things that she’d put on the backburner when she’d married Jared. The first time she’d watched a game after their marriage, Jared had forbade her from watching football in the house. It just wasn’t appropriate for a woman like her to watch a sport like football and yell like the rest of the fans, not even in front of the television in her own home.
Things were different now. Jared wasn’t here to stop her, and Chris didn’t seem to mind. He’d invited her after all. Plus, she was hoping this meant maybe she’d get some more time with him. Though he tried to be subtle about it, she knew he’d been careful not to be alone with her if he could help it.
At first, she’d considered that maybe he was regretting kissing her, but that didn’t make sense. He’d kissed her twice. The first time had been wonderful, but the second—the second had been along the lines of feeling the earth move.
She’d spent the last week contemplating what exactly she should do about Chris and his reactions. After meeting his ex, she had a feeling she knew.
He was scared.
As big and tough as Chris was, she seemed to frighten him. And after seeing Carol, she could understand. She was obviously a user.
Now all she had to do was figure out what to do about it.
Just as she was shutting the computer down, her phone rang. “Daniels Custom Builders.” She had stopped introducing herself as part of her hello after the call she’d received from Abigail. It wasn’t a huge buffer, but every little bit helped.
A male voice she didn’t recognize said, “Yes I’m looking for Elizabeth Marshall. I was told I could reach her at this number.”
She swallowed nervously. “May I ask who’s calling?”
“My name is Detective Robert Stephens from the Springfield Police Department.”
“Oh. Yes. Hello, Detective. I’m Elizabeth Marshall.”
“Hello, Ms. Marshall. Is this a good time?” the detective asked.
Chris was suddenly standing in his doorway.
“Sure. How can I help you?”
“I just wanted let you know that the test results are in. Both the blood and the tissue are bovine. That’s cow to you and me,” he said with a little chuckle, trying to lighten the mood, no doubt. “Have you had anymore incidences since this happened?”
“No, sir. Nothing new.”
“Great. I want you to know I’m following up on the information you gave in your statements, and I’ll get back to you if I have any follow-up questions. I’d also like to give you my direct number. If anything else happens, call me. Someone went to a lot of trouble to scare you. Hopefully that’s all this is, but I don’t want to take chances.”
After she’d given him her number, he said, “There’s a note in the report that there was no sign of a security system in place. I would highly suggest you look into that, ma’am.”
“It’s already done.”
“Good, good. I’ll let you go, then. Have a nice weekend, Ms. Marshall.”
“Thank you. You too, Detective.”
Immediately after she hung up Chris said, “What was it?”
“Cow.”
He nodded. “Makes sense. There are plenty of farms around here. Easy access.” She just stared blankly ahead. “Anything else?”
“No.” She shook her head. “He just gave me his number and said to call him if anything else happened.”
He came over and picked up one of his own business cards, writing the detective’s name and number on it, and put it in his wallet.
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah,” she said, closing her purse and quickly forwarding the phones to voicemail.
Chris walked her out to her car before getting into his own as he had every day since she’d returned to work. He’d never offered to drive together again, and she’d not brought it up. If he was scared of whatever was happening between them, she didn’t want to make it worse. She was never alone though. If Chris had to leave, Terry would come into the office to “make some calls” until Chris came back. Although she felt it was somewhat ridiculous, she appreciated the effort. Even if Chris hadn’t kissed her again since that morning in her apartment, he was showing her he cared by making sure she was safe. It was new to her, but she found that she liked it.
Sunday morning Elizabeth and Jan piled into Chris’s truck for the drive to Cincinnati. The two women were excitedly chatting away while he, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck.
He’d manage to keep things appropriate for the past week, making sure he was never truly alone with her. At the office, he stayed at his desk for the most part. And when she came in, he made sure his butt stayed firmly planted in his chair.
It had worked. He hadn’t kissed her again even though the thought crossed his mind about a thousand times a day.
As much as his hormones were wreaking havoc with his mind, he knew there was no way his famil
y would let Elizabeth’s presence slide, especially his mom. He was already on alert due to their conversation two weeks ago, and there was little doubt that Jan had helped fuel the fire.
The problem was he couldn’t deny it. He liked Elizabeth. He wanted her. He just wasn’t sure those were good things. He had to keep reminding himself that eight months ago, she was married. A relationship was not what she needed right now.
A relationship. Was he really contemplating getting involved in a relationship with her?
All too soon, his parents’ house came into view. He parked in front and they all got out. His mom was out the door to greet them before they’d reached the front walkway.
“You made it,” she said, pulling him in for a hug.
“Morning, Mom.”
She smiled up at him before glancing over his shoulder. “Jan!” Mary quickly moved and gave her a warm hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“We really should get together more often.”
“You’re so right.”
“So,” Mary said, looking back over her shoulder at him. “Are you going to introduce us?”
“Oh! Of course. Sorry. Mom, this is my new neighbor and assistant, Elizabeth Marshall. Elizabeth, this is my mother, Marilyn Daniels.”
Mary enveloped Elizabeth in a quick hug.
Her tense look almost had Chris stepping in when his mother leaned back and said, “I’m so glad you could join us today, Elizabeth.”
“Thank you for inviting me.”
A screen door opening and out came Chloe. Chris turned around to meet her bright smile. “Uncle Chris!” she squealed.
He bent down and picked up the four-year-old and she hugged him. “And how are you today, Miss Chloe?”
She giggled. “We’re going to the football game to see Uncle Gage play.”
“I know. It’s been a while since you’ve seen Uncle Gage, hasn’t it?” She nodded in a way that reminded him of a bobble head. “Well, I’m sure he misses you.” Chloe glanced behind him and then ducked her head in his shoulder. “What’s wrong?” he asked, looking behind him.
“Stranger,” she whispered.
He looked back again and saw Elizabeth was still talking to his mother. Chris frowned. That didn’t bode well.
Before he could dwell on the situation, he turned back to Chloe. “That’s Elizabeth. She’s living in the house with Jan and me now.”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
“No, she’s not.” He couldn’t even define what she was to him right now, let alone try to explain it to a four-year-old.
“Oh,” Chloe said, seemingly disappointed.
Her reaction stung more than he would have liked to admit. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on his love life, or lack thereof. The sound of the screen door opening again had Chris looking over his niece’s head to find Paul, his brother, strolling toward them with a smile on his face.
“I see you found your Uncle Chris.”
The little girl twisted in his arms. “I did, Daddy.”
He went straight for Elizabeth. “Hello. I’m Paul, and you are?”
His mom supplied the introduction. “This is Elizabeth Marshall. She’s a friend of Chris’s.”
The implication was clear, and Paul turned with a raised eyebrow to look at him. “She moved into the second floor apartment,” he said quickly.
“Ah,” he said, clearly not convinced.
He’d known with every fiber of his being that if Elizabeth met his family they would not believe that she was just a friend. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about their assumption.
Soon, Chloe wanted down so that she could meet Elizabeth, and he had to admit that, so far, his mother seemed to like her. That was more than could be said of Carol. His mother had never liked his ex-wife, not even when they’d been dating.
Just after eleven o’clock, everyone was ready to leave. Elizabeth had met everyone in his family except Gage, who she would meet after the game, and Trent, his brother, who would be pulling up with minutes to spare if history was anything to go by.
Sure enough, with everyone already divided as evenly as possible between the two SUVs, two minutes before they were to leave for the stadium, Trent pulled up in a pickup truck not that much different than Chris’s.
“Hey, family! Sorry I’m late,” he said waving to their mom, dad, and Jan in the other vehicle as he squeezed into the SUV with Paul, Chloe, Chris, and Elizabeth.
Once everyone was strapped in, Paul put his vehicle in gear and headed to the stadium.
Chloe said, “Uncle Trent, Uncle Trent. Guess what Daddy bought me?”
Trent glanced over at Paul. “What did your daddy get you, Princess?” Paul sent a quick glare over at Trent before returning his eyes to the road, which only made the brother’s grin widen.
“I’m wearing Uncle Gage’s jersey. See?” she said, squirming in her booster seat. Chloe was trying to pull the oversized shirt out from under the seatbelt so that Trent could see the big number seven. “It has Uncle Gage’s number and everything.”
Trent twisted around in his seat to look back at his niece, and Chris knew exactly when he spotted Elizabeth. “Yeah, Princess. I like it. Uncle Gage will too, I think.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I do,” Trent said to Chloe, but his eyes were on Elizabeth and she shifted.
“Hello there. I’m Trent. And you are?”
“Elizabeth.”
“It’s nice to meet you. And how do you come to be with us this fine day?”
Not liking the way his brother was looking at Elizabeth, Chris rolled his eyes and moved his arm to rest on the back of the seat behind her. There was no physical contact, but the implication was clear. “She moved into the second floor apartment at Jan’s, and she’s my new assistant.”
“I see.” Trent’s expression clearly indicated he was not deterred by Chris’s show. “Well, I’m glad you could come today. You can sit by me and I’ll talk you through the game. Football is a lot more fun when you know what you’re seeing.” He winked.
Elizabeth’s back straightened, and she got a spark of determination. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Maybe it will be me talking you through the game.”
Trent fell back dramatically. “Be still my heart. I think I’m in love!”
Chloe giggled at her uncle. Chris, however, was not amused. His fists tightened, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from responding.
From the front seat, Trent continued to flirt with Elizabeth all the way to the stadium. He took a little break when he went over to hug their mother, father, and Jan. After that, however, he was right back at Elizabeth’s side, chatting away.
Chris said nothing. She wasn’t his, not really, but the last thing he wanted was for his brother to flirt with her.
The game started and he hoped the flirting would stop. It didn’t. What made matters worse was that Elizabeth seemed to be eating it up. She was smiling and laughing right along with him.
By the time halftime rolled around, he was seeing red. “You know . . . ,” his mom leaned in from her seat behind him and whispered, “. . . if you’d stake your claim, your brother would back off.” Chris held tight to the arms of his chair and shook his head. “Suit yourself,” she said, sitting back.
It continued like that until it was time to leave. Tennessee had won the game by a field goal so Gage would be in a celebrating mood. Chris could only hope that didn’t mean he’d have two brothers to fight off Elizabeth. One was enough.
Elizabeth was having a wonderful time. There was lots of standing and shouting, just the way she liked it.
Trent had stayed close to her side the entire game. He poked fun at Gage or joked about how the other team couldn’t seem to catch a pass, and yelled right along with her when a bad call had been made, or jumped up with her and cheered when there was an especially good play.
The only downside was that Chris had not participating in the celebration. Every time she’d gla
nce over at him, he didn’t seem happy. The rest of the family was getting into the game, while he just sat there looking as if someone had died. She didn’t understand it. His family was great. They’d welcomed her, made her feel included. She hadn’t felt this carefree since her parents had died in that horrible car crash almost four years ago.
It was only after Trent had lifted her off the ground in a celebratory hug at the end of the game that she understood. Chris didn’t like his brother giving her so much attention.
She didn’t understand. Chris hadn’t made any attempts to kiss her again, nor had he acted as if he was open to discussing it. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he just wasn’t interested.
She liked Chris. More than liked him. And she loved kissing him. That was something she definitely wanted to do again.
But for whatever reason, a reason he wasn’t sharing with her apparently, he wasn’t jumping at the chance to be with her. Meanwhile, Trent seemed more than happy with her company.
The seating arrangements in the SUV for the trip back Mary and Mike’s house were such that Trent could be in the back with Elizabeth. Chris didn’t seem all that happy about it, but he didn’t protest either, so she went with it. She was not going to force herself on a man that didn’t want to be with her.
Once at the house, the brothers pulled out a large grill onto a large back deck and fired it up. She settled into a lounge chair and of course, Trent sat in the one beside her.
Just as Chris’s dad, Mike, was putting the meat on the grill, a sleek black sports car pulled up to the curb, and a young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties stepped out. She surmised that this was most likely Gage. The family resemblance was uncanny with his dark hair and broad shoulders.
Gage strolled with purpose toward the group lounging in the backyard, but went directly to his mother, picking her up off the ground and twirling her around. She swatted his arm when he finally put her down. “I don’t know why you continue doing that to your old mother. You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.”