On the sidewalk, Reese stuffed his hands in his pockets as he watched the cars go up and down the dark street. “You have a ride home, or can I give you a lift?”
“A lift would be nice. Or…you could let me drive.” She shot him a coy look.
“Or…you could remember that my last answer to that suggestion was ‘hell no’ because I don’t trust you behind the wheel of my car.” Reese shot her a fake smile and then looked both ways up and down the street.
“You’re going to let me drive that SUV one day.”
“Ha.” Reese led the way across the street, and she followed behind him.
He helped her up into the vehicle and watched as she smoothed the dress over her thighs. He bit the inside of his lip to quit from groaning, wishing his hands were the ones doing the smoothing.
He slammed the door and had a stern talk with himself as he rounded the front and climbed into the driver’s seat. Their easy-going banter continued on the ride to The Winthrop Hotel. Reese drove well below the speed limit to prolong their time together, and when he finally pulled up outside the hotel, disappointment replaced the levity he’d come to enjoy.
Waving away the doorman who approached to open Nina’s door, he asked. “What are you up to this weekend?” He didn’t want the night to end, and that was the first question he thought of to keep her in the SUV.
“Nothing major. On Saturday, I’m working with a group named Build a Home to finish construction on a house on the outskirts of town. They do the same work as Habitat for Humanity, but on a local level. We’re working on a four-bedroom, three-bath house for a single dad who adopted five special-needs kids.”
“What do you know about building houses?” She never ceased to amaze him with the time she put into helping others. Nina was never satisfied with simply donating money. She often physically participated in the work needed at the charities she supported.
She straightened in the seat, angling her chin higher. “I’ll have you know these hands have done all kinds of work, including construction. I helped build a house in Honduras two years ago.”
“Your little ass?” Reese laughed.
“Shut up!” she said, though she laughed right along with him. “Anyway, that’s what I’ll be up to this weekend. What do you have planned?”
He was supposed to meet a few friends in the park to play football, which seemed frivolous now and paled in comparison to the work she would be doing.
“No major plans. I could come help you guys if you need an extra pair of hands.” Bonus, he’d get to spend time with Nina.
“You?”
“What the hell? Yeah, me.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that. But if you come, you have to work, Reese. It’s labor-intensive.”
He tapped his thumb on the leather steering wheel. “I’m going to ignore the insinuation that I don’t know about work and point out that if President Jimmy Carter can build houses with Habitat well into his seventies, then I can build them at almost thirty, damn it. I got this. Have you forgotten I’m an athlete?”
Her eyes skimmed the muscles exposed by the short-sleeved shirt and the way his slacks fit snug on his thighs. No, she hadn’t forgotten, which gave him an immense sense of satisfaction.
Nina shifted in her seat. “You can’t just walk onto the site and start working. I’ll make a call to the crew leader and make sure it’s okay.”
“Cool. Thanks.”
Reese jumped out of the vehicle and opened her door. With a hand on her forearm, he helped Nina to the ground. Her skin was soft to the touch, and the fragrance she wore tonight was light—something in the rose family, for sure.
He didn’t step back to give her room. She gazed up at him with vibrant brown eyes that no longer held sadness and made him want to lean in and kiss her. He stood there, way too close, with that one thought swarming in his head.
There was so much he wanted to say about how he felt and how much he’d missed her over the past five weeks, but he remained silent. A fight with her fiancé in no way meant she was ready for that conversation.
“Thanks for keeping me company,” Nina said.
“No problem. Any time.”
“Good night, Reese.”
“Good night.”
He stepped back and watched until she entered the hotel in her green satin dress. His eyes followed the swing of her hips, and he cursed quietly. She had no right to look that sexy, that elegant.
Young Nina had been quite a catch, but mature Nina was a force to be reckoned with. Andy was a damn fool. Were Reese in his shoes, he would have apologized whether or not he was wrong.
After she disappeared, he climbed into his vehicle and pulled away from the building. Coasting down the street, he stroked his jaw with one hand and considered what he’d learned.
Nina and Andy had a fight, big enough for her to go off on her own. Could there be trouble in paradise?
Man, he sure hoped so.
Nina undressed and climbed into bed. She rubbed the spot where Reese had held her forearm when he helped her from the Mercedes. His hold had been firm but gentle, and her skin still tingled from his touch.
As she settled under the cool cotton sheets, she looked at her phone, which she’d ignored all night. There was a message from Andy. She read it lying back against the pillows.
Andy: How long of a break do you want? One week? Two weeks?
He’d misunderstood what she meant by needing a break. She’d simply meant that she wanted to clear her head for the night, but he was suggesting a week or two of separation.
Did they need a break? Maybe time apart would be good for them. They’d been so close overseas, but now that they were back in the States, reality had struck—and so had the cold, uncomfortable truth that Andy had been deceptive. Was his deception enough to throw away their relationship after almost two years?
He wanted marriage and children. They knew many of the same people, and they cared deeply for each other. She didn’t want to walk away for good yet, so a break could put their situation into better perspective.
She waited a few minutes before responding and then quickly tapped out a message before she changed her mind.
Nina: Two weeks.
The response came one minute later.
Andy: OK.
Chapter 17
Nina arrived at the Build a Home house in her low-key vehicle, a black Lexus sedan. She was still fuming with road rage after dealing with slowpokes afraid to drive over the speed limit. Then she’d flipped the bird at a guy after he cut her off, and that incident almost made her miss the exit. Honestly, people didn’t know how to drive in this city, and if she didn’t have Philippe to drive her around most of the time, she’d be in a perpetual state of anger every single day.
Shaking off her impatience, she walked up the driveway and greeted the familiar as well as unfamiliar faces with waves and a smile. After donning a hard hat, she walked through the house to her assigned spot. Today she’d be working on flooring, putting down carpet in two rooms and tile in the kitchen.
While new to the Build a Home family, Nina was familiar with working construction. She’d provided labor to Habitat for Humanity International on two projects during her years of travel, and the sense of accomplishment after working on a structure from the beginning until it was move-in ready was a feeling she longed to experience again.
She had volunteered several days already, so she’d come to know some of the other volunteers well, but not so well that they knew who she was. They had no idea she was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It was better that way, to avoid being treated differently—either by people who wanted to give her special privileges or by anyone who doubted her sincerity and tried to make her feel unwanted.
With her hair simply pulled back from her face, jeans, and no jewelry—not even her engagement ring—she looked like any other worker there, and that’s exactly what she wanted.
A few minutes later, she saw Reese pull up th
rough the window in a small two-seater, the car he drove when he didn’t want to bring attention to himself. She smiled, happy he’d kept his word and shown up.
She paid him no mind and started setting up, letting Ridge, the crew leader with a red beard and mustache, meet with Reese and give him a quick overview of expectations and how they worked. Afterward, they both approached her in the living room.
As they did, she gave Reese a quick once-over. As usual, he looked unjustly amazing in a Biggie Smalls and Tupac T-shirt with jeans and boots. The outfit gave him a rugged look and caught the eyes of several of the women who angled their heads in his direction when the men walked by.
She couldn’t blame them. Her hormones did a happy dance that reminded her of the first time she’d come face-to-face with him in the school parking lot after his team bludgeoned hers in a football game. She recognized him because he was an athletic star. That night, he’d been on an obvious high, with everyone vying for his attention after scoring two touchdowns, one of them after an interception catch.
But in that parking lot, he’d only had eyes for her. He blocked her path, smiled, and introduced himself, uncaring that they attended rival schools and claiming that he’d noticed her in the stands, though she couldn’t fathom how that was possible among all those people.
He was the son of a billionaire. From birth, he’d received anything he wanted. That night, he wanted her, and with admirable persistence he convinced her to give up her number and go on a date. From that moment, she was lost.
Ridge pulled a pencil from behind his ear and wrote on his clipboard. “I’m going to have Reese work with you on flooring today.”
“No problem,” Nina said.
“If you need an extra pair of hands, grab Vivian.” He turned to Reese. “Since you already know Nina, I’ll leave you two alone. I’m sure you know she’ll take good care of you.” Ridge went outside to speak to an older guy using an electric saw to cut wood in the yard.
“You’re not going to be a slave driver, are you?” Reese asked, his low voice sounding more like a man in the middle of a seduction instead of someone having a conversation about laying flooring.
From beneath the hard hat, he looked down at her with lowered eyelids, as if he was about to go to sleep. But it wasn’t a sleepy look. He was almost…predatory, his gaze skating over her bare fingers before traveling over her hips and breasts.
“Only if you deserve it,” Nina said.
“And of course, you’re the person who determines if I deserve it or not.”
“Exactly. I’m going to have fun bossing you around.”
Reese groaned, which sounded much more sexual than she’d expected because it reminded her of the night he’d kissed her. He’d groaned like that when he pressed his face between her legs.
Her skin flushed hot, and she refocused on the words coming out of his mouth.
“I hope I didn’t make a mistake coming here,” Reese said.
“You didn’t. Come on, let me show you what to do.” She pointed out their tools and explained the process of installing carpet. When she finished, she rested her hands on her hips. “Got it?”
“Got it,” Reese confirmed.
They went to work, first installing the tack strips around the room and then putting down the carpet padding. They worked well together, and he was a fast learner and good at following directions. At various stages in the process, he wore an adorable frown of concentration, a carbon copy of the one he wore when working on a computer problem.
Halfway through the morning shift, they took a break with the rest of the workers. Nina hung back at the door while Reese chatted up a few of the guys outside. He fit right in, but she’d never doubted he would. Reese had charisma and a friendly personality, so it was hard not to like him.
“Who is that?” The voice behind her left ear belonged to Vivian, someone she’d become friends with since the first day on site.
“Who?” Nina asked, feigning ignorance.
Vivian, who wore her hair in a bleached-blonde short natural, came to stand beside her. She folded her arms. “Your friend. He’s hot.” Vivian knew about Andy, so it was no surprise she didn’t assume Reese and Nina were a couple.
“You’re not here to pick up men.” Nina kept her voice light, though irritated by Vivian’s comment.
“Says who?” Vivian’s voice went lower. “My uncle advised me that if I wanted to meet men outside of the usual work and club environment, I should do volunteer work. I’d get in some hours as a good citizen, and a side perk is that I might meet a nice man.” She winked after dropping that gem of knowledge.
“You should probably set your sights elsewhere,” Nina said.
“He’s too fine to pass up. I’m going to introduce myself.”
“You’re going to be disappointed. He’s already taken,” Nina said. She didn’t know why she lied. She wasn’t protecting Reese because, aside from being a bit chatty at times, Vivian was a great person.
Vivian’s face fell. “Of course he is. All of the fine ones are.” Her face brightened. “You know what, I didn’t see a ring on his finger, and I don’t see his woman here with him. As far as I’m concerned, I still have a chance.”
Before Nina could discourage her, Vivian sashayed her way over to where the men stood and introduced herself to Reese.
A nasty emotion claimed Nina, and though she didn’t want to give a name to it, she knew exactly what it was. Jealousy.
Watching from a distance, she reached to twist the ring on her finger—a habit she’d developed ever since she accepted Andy’s proposal—and was met with the stark emptiness of her finger. She swallowed back the ugly green monster that threatened to choke her as she listened to Reese’s laughter—a hearty and robust sound that matched the pure joy on his face.
He fit so well into any situation, and she wondered if Andy would have been as comfortable here. Overseas, she’d always taken the lead in making friends and learning more about the people they met on their journey. She never judged him for it because not everyone had an outgoing personality. Some people were quieter than others, but today certainly made her aware of the contrasting personalities between both men.
Her attention lingered on Reese, and when his eyes swept the area and found hers, emotion stomped through her chest, and her eyes and nose burned with tears that came out of nowhere. She couldn’t go down this road with him again.
She gave him a quick smile, spun away from the door, and went inside to compose herself.
When the break ended, Reese joined her in the dining room where they’d left off.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Uh-huh. Everything is fine.” At least, now that she’d regained her composure. “Ready to get back to work?”
“Let’s do this.” He rubbed his palms together.
This time around, her awareness of him increased exponentially. She couldn’t help but notice the beauty of his hands as he secured the carpet at the seams. When he asked a question, his voice was more attractive and his laugh more appealing. She stepped back and let him use the carpet stretcher, and he worked deftly, muscles bunching and elongating with each movement, captivating her attention and making her fidgety.
She was relieved when Ridge alerted them that lunchtime was near. She needed the break from the thoughts of Reese kissing all over her body, or his face pressed between her legs. Those lewd thoughts resulted in aching breasts and unwanted wetness between her thighs.
Swallowing hard, she guiltily pushed the fantasies away, but they persevered like ocean waves that continuously rolled back onto the shore.
Chapter 18
Waving his hands overhead, Ridge caught everyone’s attention before they left the site for lunch. Nina, Reese, and the rest of the workers created a semicircle around him outside of the house to hear his announcement.
“We have a nice surprise today. An anonymous donor is treating us all to lunch.”
Gasps and cheers went up from the gr
oup.
“Where from?” a male voice asked from the back.
“Ivy’s Restaurant, you lucky slobs. Today we’re eating like royalty.”
Whoops of joy filled the yard, and Vivian turned wide eyes to Nina. “I’ve always wanted to eat there. Yes!”
“Aren’t we lucky,” Nina said to Reese.
“Aren’t we, though?” Except for a faint smile that played around his lips, his face remained expressionless.
“And here they are!” Ridge announced.
More cheers filled the air when two unmarked white vans pulled up to the curb.
Four workers, two from each van, hopped out and introduced themselves and then went to work setting up in the backyard where there was more shade and the temperature cooler.
The ones from the second van set up tables and chairs with help from some of the volunteers. More volunteers helped the two from the first van set up tables where they placed chafing dishes filled with the entree options. There was plenty of food for their twenty-person group, and everything looked and smelled divine. The entree options were roasted chicken garnished with strips of pearl onions, lemon-baked fish, and a vegetarian option with sautéed vegetables. Sides included potato puree, rice pilaf, red and gold beets in a sweet vinaigrette, spinach salad, and crusty bread.
The servers spooned generous servings onto each plate, adding additional helpings for anyone who requested extra portions. Reese sat down across from two of the men he’d been talking to earlier, and when Nina saw Vivian making a beeline for the empty chair next to him, she quickly plopped down in the unoccupied space and pretended not to notice Vivian’s pout as she turned away.
“You want something to drink?” Reese asked when he saw she didn’t have a beverage.
“That would be nice. Water, please,” Nina said.
He was such a gentleman. Another mark in his column. Not that she kept score.
He got her a bottle of water and reclaimed his seat.
Deeper Than Love (Brooks Family Book 6) Page 11