“You wanted away from the past. I made it happen.” Lance finally looked his way. “You’re welcome.”
“And now I’m sleeping on a bed two feet too short and fighting with your sister.” He tipped his second chai tea of the day Lance’s way. “Thanks a lot.”
“You like to fight.” Lance stood up. “So does Alex. You’ll get along great once she gets her panties out of a bunch.”
“I don’t want to talk about your sister’s panties.” Edward wiped one hand down his face, trying to scrub away an image his brain had no business conjuring up.
Even if it’d been there more than a few times already.
Alex Karlson was exactly what he told her she was. Beautiful.
Stunning actually.
Tall enough to make him feel like less of a giant. Blond hair and piercing blue eyes that didn’t miss a thing. Long lashes, full lips, and the tiniest dusting of pale freckles across the bridge of her nose. The same nose that held the only bit of imperfection he’d been able to find. A slightly crooked slope that he wanted to run the tip of his finger down.
“Good, because she’d chew you up and spit you out in a heartbeat.” Lance grabbed his keys. “So are you staying or are you going back to sit around your apartment until you decided being with Alicia wasn’t as bad as you thought it was?”
“I don’t want to be with Alicia.” Edward raked one hand through his hair. “And it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t...” He tried to come up with a word to explain why he ended a perfectly acceptable relationship. “Right.”
He’d been with Alicia since college. Through job changes, new apartments and promotions. She was a perfectly nice woman with a decent sense of humor and a good job.
She was fine.
“Does that mean you’re staying?” Lance tucked his cell in his pocket. “Because if you are we can fix the bed situation right now.”
Edward tapped one foot against the floor of the small space he’d only occupied one night.
And it was one night too many.
“I’m staying.”
****
“DO THEY ALWAYS do that?” Edward met the gazes of the five women lined down the sidewalk, each glaring toward the back end of Lance’s truck.
“They don’t like change.” Lance put the truck in park before rolling down the windows as JD came down the steps of the taxidermy shop Edward toured after his first run-in with Alex.
While he gave her time to acclimate. Get used to the idea of him.
It didn’t work.
She stood at the front of the line of sisters, a pair of dark glasses shading her eyes. He didn’t have to see them to know the expression they held.
The woman hid nothing.
“Are they going to try to haul my ass out in the middle of the night?”
“Maybe.” Lance climbed out of the cab. “I’d consider putting an alarm on the hitch.”
Edward fought off a smile at the thought of Alex and her sisters trying to drag the camper out of town while he slept in it. It was already easy to imagine.
And might be worth the hassle to witness.
“You gonna take that over to the new hookup?” JD rested his arm on the side of the passenger’s door. “It’s shadier than the one we got in the back here.”
“Does shade matter?” Edward glanced at the travel trailer in the side mirror.
“Hell yeah it matters. That thing’ll be an oven in the sun.” JD squinted down the side of the truck. “You ever stayed in one of these?”
“Not yet. Looking forward to it, though.” He’d been in the same kinds of places his whole life. Done the same kinds of things day in and day out.
And the more he looked around Shadow Pine, the more he realized how very different it was from anything he’d ever experienced before.
“You need any help come holler at me.” JD shot a look toward where Lance stood talking to his half-sisters. The women circled around him, clearly unhappy with the current situation.
“Why are they so pissed about me being here?” Lance warned him the reception might not exactly be a welcome one, but this went beyond that.
“They aren’t.” JD tipped his head toward Alex. “That one is. And they’re like the fucking Three Musketeers.”
“All for one and one for all.” Edward watched the women as they went toe to toe with Lance. His old friend intimidated the hell out of just about everyone.
Present company excluded apparently.
“That’s right. You piss one off, you piss ‘em all off.” JD adjusted the baseball cap on his head as the smallest of the sister’s gaze came their way. Her blonde hair was cut short above one ear with cropped curls piled on the opposite side.
JD barely straightened.
The sister stared him down for a minute before turning away.
“I don’t think I’ve met her yet.” There were six sisters total, but from what he understood only five were currently in town. So far he’d been glared at by almost all of them.
“That’s Frankie. She owns the logging company.” JD gave Frankie one last glance. “I got work to do.” Without another word he was gone, disappearing back into the shop filled with stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes.
Supposedly there was even a polar bear somewhere in town.
Lance stood with the women a few minutes longer before coming back to the truck, the weight of five sets of eyes resting on his shoulders. He pulled the door shut and turned over the engine, pulling away.
Edward watched the sisters in the side mirror as they drove down the short main street in the tiny town. “Everything okay?”
“It’ll be fine.” Lance took a left turn onto a curbless stretch of blacktop. He squeezed the wheel, eyes narrowed, jaw set. “It okay if I set you up near the west entrance to town?”
“That the shady spot JD suggested?” Edward scanned the backside of the bakery as they took another left, this one onto an even smaller bit of pavement. Along his side of the road was a stretch of green grass and mature trees. An arrangement of wood stakes and string marked off an area about ten yards back from the roadway.
“Yup.” Lance slowed down as they approached two houses sitting just on the other side of the small downtown. “I’ve been trying to set up a few spots for campers since they’re all we have for now.”
“I’m glad Craig held onto his.” Edward studied the first of the two houses as they passed. It was a cottage style bungalow with a railed porch that wrapped around the front and down one side. The windows were wide and covered with white wood blinds and lace drapes. Roses bloomed in the flower beds and ivy draped from the window boxes. “Saved me from another night on that damn pull-out.”
“Thought you were used to sleeping on the couch?” Lance jabbed at him with the kind of truth only a good friend could.
“At least that couch was long enough to fit my whole body at once.” Edward’s mouth shut as the second house came into view. It sat back just a hair more than the first, making it difficult to see until they were right on top of it.
It was the complete opposite of the house next to it.
He let out a low whistle. “That’s slick.”
Lance glanced at the sleekly-modern structure as he pulled the truck into the lot beside it, lining the trailer along the concrete pad there. “That’s Alex’s house.”
He didn’t need Lance to tell him that. The place fit her to a T. The black-framed floor-to-ceiling windows lining the entire front were backed with pale wood blinds. The exterior was sided in wood the same color, along with a black section of angle-cut slats flanking the recessed front door.
“She’s got good taste.” Lance parked the truck. “Let’s get you set up so I can go the fuck to bed.”
“What time are you flying out in the morning?” Edward watched as Lance unhooked the trailer and set the leveling legs.
“I leave here at four.” Lance tossed him the keys to the trailer. “You gonna be good to hold down the fort while I’m gone?”
“Don’t I always?” Edward ran the Virginia office after Lance mostly moved to Greenlea to be with his wife, keeping everything running smoothly so Lance had one less thing to worry about.
It worked well for both of them. Lance could relax into family life, and Edward had something to finally break up the constant monotony of the life he never really settled into.
Lance let out a long breath. “I appreciate it, man. I hate leaving them here on their own, but Kari—”
“She wants to be with her family. I get it.” His own family was one of the many reasons he jumped at this opportunity when Lance floated it past him. His parents lived in northern California, so Washington was a much shorter distance for his own visits.
“You planning any trips home while you’re here?” Lance leaned against the side of the truck bed.
“Maybe once everything gets settled.” Edward glanced at the house next door to his new home. “Wouldn’t want Alex to get too excited thinking I left for good.”
“She’ll come around. Once she sees how much easier her life will be with you here.” Lance glanced back toward the line of buildings that made up the minuscule downtown. “The keys to Kari’s car are in the office. Take it anywhere you need to.” Lance pushed off the side of his truck. “Call me if anything weird happens.”
“Anything weird?” Edward lifted a brow at his friend and boss. “Should I be concerned?”
“Nope.” The answer came quick and firm.
Fast enough to clearly be a lie.
“I just meant if you have any problems you can always call me.” Lance pulled out the keys to the truck. “And you have JD and Craig.” He backed to the other side of the heavy duty vehicle. “It will be boring. I’m sure. Just spreadsheets and taxes.”
“Great.” Edward gave Lance a wave as his friend pulled away. He turned to his new home, picking through the ring of keys until he found one that seemed like it would fit the door lock. He got it right on the first try and stepped inside, switching on the lights, looking around the space. The main area seemed to be a living room/kitchen sort of combination, with a sofa and entertainment center on one side and a kitchen and dinette on the other. A bathroom sat in the middle, and a bedroom took up the back end.
The queen-sized bed would definitely be a tight fit, but it looked a hell of a lot better than a pull out.
Edward found the control panel and switched on the water heater before moving out the two slides, one holding the sofa and the other expanding the back bedroom.
Once the air was kicked on and the fridge was cooling, Edward walked the short distance to Lance’s temporary office downtown. The silver-sided trailer was leased until a permanent structure could be built. It was one of the jobs he was supposed to handle while Lance was gone, making sure the plans for the new office building were submitted with the county and approved so construction could begin as soon as possible.
Edward collected his things from the trailer before locking it up and going back to the camper. He expected to see lights on at Alex’s house, but the windows were a dark contrast to the light streaming from the house next door.
He went inside the camper, adjusted the thermostat to a more comfortable temperature, and unpacked his things, settling into the small space.
After a quick shower in the extremely cramped bathroom he toweled off and pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before slipping his feet into a pair of deck shoes and venturing outside.
The air was cooler now that the sun had set and the sound of cicadas echoed through the trees as he walked along the street. Alex’s house was still dark and silent. As Edward moved past the second house the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
He turned, fully expecting to find someone behind him.
There was no one there.
He rolled his shoulder, shrugging off the odd feeling of being watched and continued his walk. Maybe it would give him some clarity.
That was the point of this whole thing.
To figure out what in the hell he wanted.
What he expected.
If it was too much. More than was possible.
A light caught his eye as he wandered across the grass.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Edward went toward the illuminated window, standing on the other side and looking into the office he’d visited three times today, each trip more frustrating than the last.
Alex sat at her desk, long blonde hair pulled up into a knot with a pencil stabbed through it. Her shoes were kicked off to one side, bare feet tucked up in the chair with her as she worked late into the night.
The woman needed his help whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Stubborn.
Edward considered walking away. Letting Alex burn the candle at both ends. It was what she claimed to want.
But then she yawned. Long and wide, and for a split second he saw the fatigue she carried.
The exhaustion.
It wasn’t simply being tired or sleepy or worn out.
Alex was more than overworked. More than over-extended.
“Damn it.” He’d planned to wait her out. Ease his way into the work she guarded for whatever reason; hoping it might eventually be less of a fight.
But that just seemed stupid now.
Edward yanked open the door to her office, expecting Alex to jump at his sudden appearance.
Maybe be at least a little surprised.
“Didn’t know you were a voyeur, Ed.”
She didn’t even glance up at him. Didn’t so much as tense up when he walked in.
Like she knew he was coming.
“Didn’t know you liked to be a pain in your own ass, Al.”
Alex’s head whipped up, her blue eyes wide on his. “What did you just call me?”
Edward ignored the question. “What in the hell are you doing here so late?” He held one hand toward the door she hadn’t even bothered to lock. “Anyone could have come in here.”
“Anyone.” Her eyes raked down his body. “But instead I got you.”
“What in the hell is your problem with me?” She was frustrating as hell. From the way she refused the help she so clearly needed, to the way she assumed he was the kind of man she could walk all over. “I came here to help you and you’re been nothing but—”
“A bitch?”
“What?” He almost took a step back. “No. I was going to say rude.”
“Are you sure that’s what you were going to say?” Alex’s bare feet hit the floor and she slowly stood. “Because most men love to throw that word around when a woman stands up for what she wants.”
“This isn’t about standing up for what you want. This is about treating another human like shit just because you can.”
Alex blinked, her jaw going slack. For a second Edward thought he might have gotten through to her.
But the next heartbeat her chin lifted and her shoulders straightened. “I apologize if you took anything I said personally.”
He snorted out a laugh. “That’s not an apology, Al. That’s a self-serving statement.” Edward moved closer to where she stood, tall and defiant in a way he’d never seen anyone be. “Don’t think for a minute that I took anything you said personally.” He ignored the barely-noticeable droop of her lids. The shadow dusting the smooth skin under her eyes. “I’m a grown man who doesn’t need someone else to tell him who he is.”
Alex’s chin tucked a tiny bit.
“I came here to do a job and I will do it, Al. Come hell or high water I’m doing what your brother brought me to do.”
She stared him down for a second longer before her lips slowly twisted into a single-sided smirk. “I’ll remember you said that.”
THREE
“ARE YOU SERIOUS right now?”
JD stood just inside the door of her office, arms crossed over his broad chest.
“I’m busy.” Alex barely glanced his way as she continued working her way through the potential advertising options she’d amassed.
>
“Get your skinny ass up outta that chair and let that man out of his camper.”
“He has water and electric. He’s fine.” Better than she’d been for half her life.
Because of another man women found too handsome to resist.
“I don’t give a shit what he has in there.” JD’s thick brows lowered. “You can’t just go around doing whatever you want, Alex.”
“I can, though.” She shrugged. “If he doesn’t like it, he can leave.”
JD started laughing.
But not in a frustrated or exasperated sort of way.
He genuinely sounded amused.
“If you think that man’s leaving now then you shit and fell back in it.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “Now, you can either move your car or I will hook it to my truck and move it for you.”
“You can’t just drag it around.” She glanced out the window and across the open grassy lot to where Craig’s camper sat.
“Bet me.” JD turned and yanked the door open, turning toward where his truck was parked.
Alex jumped out of her seat and ran after him. “If you hurt my car I’ll—”
JD suddenly stopped and spun, making her almost collide with his chest. “You won’t do shit.” JD’s eyes narrowed. “You girls think you can just go around acting however you want and I’m fucking done with it.” He turned away and stalked across the street.
Alex glanced back to where her shiny new car sat. “Damn it.” She took off across the field, doing her best not to lose one of her loafer slides in the process. As she got closer the weight of Edward’s stare almost slowed her steps.
But the rev of JD’s engine pushed her forward.
The first friend they made in the real world was getting pissier and pissier every day, and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind JD had every intention of doing exactly what he said he’d do.
Edward stared her down from the dinette window as she went to the driver’s side of her car. Alex glared his way as she yanked open the door and fell into the seat. She flipped the car into reverse and backed up enough there wasn’t a chance he could ding her paint with the edge of the camper door.
He was out of the camper before she could even get the engine shut off, coming straight for her car. He opened the door, leaning down to meet her gaze. “Feel better?”
Alex (BIG Northwest Book 2) Page 2