by Natalie Ann
“Okay, then no jacket,” Christian said.
“They are going to have fans going under the tents too. It is what it is. It’s only a few hours. Suck it up,” he said to his younger brother.
“I’m shocked to hear those words out of your mouth. I’m the more laid back one of us.”
“I’ve got bigger fish to fry than what shirt and shoes I’m wearing on Saturday.”
Christian shook his head and went to say something, but Evan’s phone rang. Part of him was hoping it was Parker but knew damn well it wouldn’t be.
He hadn’t seen or talked to her since she pointed her finger at him to leave her alone while she was mowing her lawn.
Here he’d thought he was doing a nice thing offering to go over and finish the front for her. She was still in her workout clothes and sweat was dripping off of every part of her. She looked like a wilted flower, even if in his mind she was still sexy.
But she’d seen him crossing the street as he pointed to her lawnmower and she started to scowl, lifted her hand and silently told him to stop in his tracks and back the hell up.
After he thought more of it, he wasn’t sure why he offered. Here he was always pissed when women wanted something from him. Neighbors too. Yet the one across the street wants to kick his ass to the curb for being...neighborly.
When he saw it was Ryan calling now, he grabbed it quick knowing it had to be important. Most texted back and forth and would respond when they could. “What now?” he said to Ryan.
“Dude. Sorry. Two pipes burst on Melody Lane in the Grayson house. It’s a mess and we are going to have to make repairs before we can move forward.”
“Shit,” he said. “I’m on my way.”
“What?” Christian asked.
“The Grayson house on Melody Lane had some pipes burst. Ryan said it’s a mess and repairs need to be done before they can move on.”
“How far are they on that build?”
Christian didn’t normally know much about the schedules. He wasn’t even on site unless there was an inspection or changes to the blueprints, like today.
“Just put the kitchen floors in a few days ago. I think the kitchens and baths were scheduled next, which is what is making me nervous over a pipe bursting.”
“Let me know how you make out,” Christian said.
Evan nodded and turned to leave. It was only a few blocks over, but he’d built up one massive headache on the way.
When he got there it wasn’t any better. “Son of a bitch,” he said when he walked into the kitchen and saw the remains of water all over the hardwood floors. The guys were still pushing it out and there were fans blowing everywhere trying to dry things. The pipe that had burst had no water coming from it, which meant they’d shut it off to the house. “What the hell happened?”
“No clue,” Ryan said. “I got a call from Rich who said to get over here this morning. My guess is it happened last night and this is what they walked into. There was close to a half inch of water in the kitchen alone. Some of it leaked into the dining room but no further.”
“So it was like this all night and I’m just hearing about it now?” Evan asked. It was almost noon at this point and he’d been working for over five hours just like his cousin and the rest of the guys.
“Rich shut it off and they were cleaning it up and moving out materials that were stacked in here.” He turned his head and saw cabinets on the front lawn in the sun. “It’s been every man on deck dealing with this. I’m getting an idea of what is salvageable and what has to be reordered and you’ll have to check out the schedule now.”
“Do I even want to know what caused this issue?” he asked Ryan.
“A faulty pipe by the looks of it. Whitney is on the phone with the company now. She was here taking pictures of everything, the pipe, the damage and so on. She’s going to make them pay if she can.”
“Got to love your sister,” he said. Whitney was as tough as they came when it had to do with business. She should have been this tough in her marriage with her cheating ex, but she hadn’t been. Not until years later. No one knew the whole story and he suspected not many would.
“Until then though I’ve got a list of what should be replaced. I think we are good on the cabinets. They were sitting in the dining room while we waited to get the last one delivered. I guess that was a good thing or they would have been installed and ruined. They got a little damp, if that, but I’m sure you’ll check it out.”
“Let’s go look now,” he said, needing to get some air. “Those floors are going to have to come up,” he said of the rich chocolate wood floors. What a shame.
“Yep. We’ll start on that soon. I wanted you to see everything first. Subflooring might need to be replaced with it. Again, I’ll grab pictures if need be.”
He looked at the cabinets with Ryan, agreed they were fine, and then said he’d go talk to Whitney and figure things out in the next day or so.
“Thanks,” Ryan said. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
“It’s been one of those days,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. Two more days and you’re out of here for a week. Don’t even think about this place during that time.”
Ryan laughed. It was almost shocking to see his cousin that didn’t smile much in life, but since he’d met Shannon he’d been a walking ray of sunshine. “Trust me. My mind will be on my wife. I have to make sure she is okay leaving the kids for the week.”
“Zoe is staying with them at the house, right?” he asked of Shannon’s younger sister that moved here with them. She was the nanny that lived in the basement apartment of Shannon’s massive house.
“She is. My parents will take them and give Zoe a break too.”
“How has that been having her live there? You went from a bachelor to a ready-made family and a nanny?”
“It’s fine. No problems. We don’t even know Zoe is there since she’s separated from the house so much. She’s been making noises about wanting her own place, but Shannon is trying to talk her out of it. I don’t want her to think I want her gone, so I’m putting my two cents in too to keep her there.”
“Better you than me dealing with that drama,” he said.
“No drama,” Ryan said.
Evan shook his head and moved on to drive to the office and talk with Whitney. Before, Ryan would be cursing and swearing and throwing fits over what happened today. Now he was mellow and calm. What a difference a woman could make.
And that thought pissed him off because he found he was acting differently too since he met Parker when he’d said he wasn’t changing for anyone.
15
Make That Change
A little after seven, Parker pulled into her driveway. She’d been on the road since six this morning and was ready to call it a day. That wouldn’t be happening yet because she had too much paperwork to do by the morning to get everything ordered from today’s adventure.
She loved her job. The hustle and the bustle. The action and the thrill. But it was tiring. She knew it would be at some point too, but she was young yet.
Just not so young she wasn’t eying a future or change. Where she might find a place to fit in at her current company in a different role or somewhere else.
There was word of a Director of Development opening up at St. Peter’s too. She’d even been told she had what it took if she was interested.
But was she ready to make that jump when there were so many other changes in her life?
Then she had to remind herself that so much could change without warning or control that maybe this was one she could at least look into.
She’d talk to Jeremy and get his take since he worked there. Not that having her brother there would give her an advantage or disadvantage, but she’d like to get his opinion.
She was ready to hit the button and shut the garage door when Evan’s truck pulled into her driveway. They hadn’t spoken since she’d left his house on Saturday after dinner. Their only communication was their s
ilent one when he looked like he wanted to mow her lawn and she shooed him away.
“Hello there,” she said, moving toward him. He had the window open in his truck, leaning out of it. She couldn’t put her arms on the frame even with her four-inch heels. “Just getting out of work too?”
“I am. I’m in desperate need of a beer and a sandwich. Can I talk you into joining me?”
She could tell he looked haggard and maybe a bit stressed. In the past she might try to make an excuse to go elsewhere and not be bothered, but she found there was something about Evan that pulled her in when she was used to pushing people away.
“A beer and a sandwich sound like they would hit the spot.”
“Come to my place when you’re ready. I’m going to take a quick shower. I’ll leave the garage door open, so just walk in.”
“Sounds like an invitation to walk into your room and join you in the shower,” she said laughing.
“That is an open invitation anytime you want,” he said, his hand reaching out and running down her arm.
His eyes seemed a little lighter now and she was glad for that. “Maybe another time. I’ll go change and be over soon.”
He put his truck in reverse and pulled out and then went into his own driveway, her going back in her garage and shutting the door.
She put her briefcase in her office and knew she should have told Evan no, that she had too much work to do, but she did want to see him. One hour wouldn’t make that much of a difference in her eyes.
Once she was changed into shorts and her hair in a ponytail, she grabbed the makings she’d gotten for ice cream sundaes the other day and decided to bring it over. Not sure it’d go with beer, but she wouldn’t mind a bowl of it for dessert since he was providing dinner.
She opened the door into his mudroom and took a few steps in. He wasn’t in the kitchen and she thought she heard water running. Then she wondered if he was taking longer hoping she’d go up and join him like she joked.
She wouldn’t, even if it was tempting.
With the ice cream in the freezer and the whipped cream in the fridge, she saw the sandwich meat drawer and pulled out everything he had. Which was a lot. He probably lived off of sandwiches.
“You didn’t need to do that,” he said a few minutes later when she had everything all laid out on the counter. She even had two beers poured.
“Nope, but I was hungry and needed the distraction.”
“Ah,” he said, moving toward her and pulling her into his arms, then tipping her chin up for a kiss. “Thinking of me naked in the shower or what we did on this island not that long ago?”
“Both,” she said.
His mouth slanted over hers and there was almost something primal about when the two of them were together. But tonight she didn’t have time to do much more than eat and maybe chat. If they started to get naked again, she’d be here more than an hour.
Not only that, she wasn’t sure what they had. She wasn’t going to be someone he could stop to spend time with whenever he wanted to screw either. That wasn’t her and never would be.
Hell, she didn’t normally have sex with someone until she’d been on at least five or six dates. Yet with Evan, they’d been on what? One dinner? She wasn’t sure going shopping with her and then her cooking dinner was much of one, but it probably was. So two dates. Nope. She put out before dinner was cooked.
Damn it. Did he think she was easy? That would have to be addressed tonight too.
And she would address it, when his mouth wasn’t on hers and making her want to run her hands up and down his body. He had one hell of a pull over her and though she never understood how her sister could fall for what she did in the cult, she understood that emotions could run deeper than she ever thought imaginable.
He lifted his head and she inched back out of his arms. “So we should talk,” she said giving them some distance.
He laughed at her. “And this is where you say something along the line of you aren’t here for sex and that I better not think this is some friends with benefits thing whenever I get an itch.”
He was good. “Exactly.”
“No need to say it to me when I wanted to make sure you didn’t think I thought that. It crossed my mind when I was in the shower.”
“Would we be having this conversation if I did join you in the shower?” she asked as she pulled a hard roll out of the bag and started to assemble her sandwich.
“Since you didn’t, that question is moot. I’m not sure I’d be able to do much thinking at all if we were naked again. You seem to zap me of everything.”
“The same,” she said. “And though I’m not sure what we’ve got other than I’m not seeing anyone else and you said you weren’t, I’m still not going to be a booty call for you.”
“Same here,” he said. “You could be thinking you needed an itch scratched too. I can’t be a boy toy. My feelings might get hurt.”
She started to cough she was laughing so hard. “Very cute.”
“What?” he asked. “I’m not allowed to have feelings?”
He was smiling when he said it, but something told her that he might be serious. “Of course you are. My bad.”
He reached his hand out and tapped her on the nose. “You’re cute when you’re confused.”
“And I get the feeling you are trying to confuse me on purpose.”
“Not really,” he said, sitting at the island and taking a bite of his sandwich, then picking up the beer. “Ah, this hits the spot. Not as good as that kiss, but a damn close second.”
“So, what was so bad about your day that you needed this?” she asked.
“You name it, it happened. One mishap after another. Nothing I’ve never seen or had happen, but when several happen in one day it just builds. How about your day? I saw you pulling away before I left this morning.”
“Were you watching me?” she asked, frowning.
“No. I was coming down the stairs when you pulled out and I can see your house, as you know.”
“Point taken. I’ve been on the road all day and all over the place, but not too far from home. I started out in Glens Falls and was around the North area a bit and then made my way back. I had planned on having a bowl of ice cream for dinner while I finished up my paperwork.”
There was no reason to bore him with her job or that she was thinking of making a change at some point. He wouldn’t care. They were nowhere near anything serious enough to be talking like that. Even if she did remember she’d told him more about her family and personal life than anyone else had ever known.
“So that is your way of saying, sandwich, beer and goodbye?”
She laughed. “Not quite that fast. I did bring dessert.”
“You did?” he asked, attacking his sandwich some more. “What?”
“Ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream.”
“All we need are some nuts,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
She almost spit the beer out of her mouth that she just drank. “That was crude and funny at the same time.”
She’d been exposed to enough of that by men in her line of work. Many wanted to see if she could hang with them; others were hitting on her and hoping for more.
Sure, there were sexual harassment laws, but some people felt they were exempt from it.
Besides, she could hold her own and did. Most knew where they stood with her and things never got out of hand.
“I thought so,” he said. “I do have some. Honestly, not just being crude.”
“I might take you up on them,” she said. “The ones in the jar.”
“I figured,” he said. “So your week has been good?”
“The same as it normally is. Tomorrow shouldn’t be too bad. I try to schedule as much as possible earlier in the week and then get a little lighter on Fridays if I can. Not many want to deal with salespeople to begin with, but by Friday most are fed up.”
“I don’t think too many people get fed up seeing you,” he said.
“I’m good at my job,” she said. “Anyway, Saturday I’ve got plans with family.”
“Same here,” he said. “My cousin Ryan is getting married right here in Paradise Place at my grandparents’ house. Friday night is the rehearsal dinner.”
“Are you in the wedding party?”
He laughed. “No. Ryan’s fiancée is a widow with two young kids. Shannon’s son, Jeffrey, is the best man and her daughter, Maddie, is the maid of honor.”
“That is adorable,” she said.
“Shannon didn’t want anything big. She had that the first time around. It’s Ryan’s first wedding, but he isn’t one for being the center of attention. They decided to have it at my grandparents’ place with tents and having it catered. It won’t be big, just family and close friends. Shannon moved here from out west a year ago. Her family is flying in but that is it.”
“She sounds young. What happened to her husband?”
“He had a blood clot form from knee surgery and it broke free and traveled to his heart. It was sudden and scary and lets you know that there are no guarantees in life.”
She finished up her sandwich and took a healthy sip of her beer. “No, there aren’t. I know that too.”
And an hour later she was helping Evan clean up his kitchen. They’d each had a bowl of ice cream and she was stuffed. “I know you need to get some work done and it’s after eight now. Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. I can say no.”
He grinned. “I know you can. You say it very well too.”
“Will you say no if I want a kiss before I leave?”
“I’ll never say no to you,” he said, yanking her into his arms, his mouth crushing hers. His tongue slipped in and they started to duel.
Before she realized what she was doing, her hands were running up his chest and back down, then going under his shirt. She needed to touch his skin. It’d hold her over for the night. Or the next several days. She figured it might be a week or more before they saw each other again, but she was finding she didn’t want to wait.
He made the move today; she’d make the next one. Fair was fair.