by Elle Kennedy
“Finally. So when are you coming to finish it?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk about. It’ll probably have to be at the end of the week.”
“Why not earlier?”
“No time. We’ve got a massive renovation to finish this week, kiddo.”
Marley rolled her eyes. “Don’t call me kiddo. I’m three years older than you, Sammy.”
“On paper, maybe. But in maturity, I win.”
“In your dreams.”
“See how immature you are? Only ten-year-olds say ‘in your dreams.’” He suddenly sounded contrite. “I’ll try to make it earlier, since you’re being so difficult.”
“What’s difficult is having to jump over a huge hole in the floor every time I walk down my hall,” she countered.
“I’ll fix it soon, I promise. Anyway, I’ve gotta go. We’ll talk this week, ’kay?”
“Hot date?” she teased.
“Yep.”
Marley grinned to herself. “Should I bother asking for her name or will she be but a mere speed bump in the road that is your love life?”
“Very poetic. And the answer is we’ll see,” Sam said mysteriously. “I’ll talk to you later, kiddo.”
They hung up, and Marley was still smiling as she started the car and left the hospital staff lot. Sam always managed to brighten her day. They hadn’t been very close growing up. He’d been the epitome of a pesky little brother, what with his unfunny pranks and that God-awful, year-long “why?” phase. Oh, and she most definitely hadn’t appreciated the time he’d squeezed purple hair dye into her shampoo bottle. Permanent hair dye. But after their mother died, they’d banded together to console their dad, and a bond had formed. Now, Marley couldn’t imagine not having Sammy in her life.
Turning onto the main street, she headed in the direction of home. As she pulled into her driveway, she noticed a shiny black Range Rover parked next door and her heart gave an involuntary jump. She thought of Caleb Ford’s piercing blue eyes and lean, muscular body, then pushed the memory of her neighbor from her mind. She parked and climbed the rickety porch steps, her feet aching the entire time. Forget yoga tonight—she was heading straight to the bathtub and staying in there for hours.
Kicking off her flip-flops, she closed the door, hopped over the stack of two-by-fours on the floor and made a beeline for the narrow staircase. The moment she reached the top step, the doorbell chimed, startling the hell out of her.
Sighing, she headed back downstairs, determined to get rid of whoever had rung the bell. No one she knew would show up unannounced, so it was probably someone selling newspaper subscriptions or something equally annoying, and she wasn’t in the mood to deal with that right now. She paused in front of the door and peered into the peephole.
A shaky breath flew out of her mouth when she found Caleb Ford’s blue eyes peering back at her.
Shoot. She was so not prepared for a visit from the hottie next door. She had convertible hair, wasn’t wearing a spot of makeup and she hadn’t even bothered putting on a bra when she’d changed out of her nursing scrubs.
But she couldn’t not answer the door. He knew she was home. He’d probably seen her pull up just now.
The doorbell rang a second time.
Maybe she shouldn’t answer it all. She didn’t know this guy—just because he was renting the house next door, that didn’t make them buddies. She didn’t owe him anything.
Actually, you do. He helped you escape death.
A sharp knock rapped against the door, making her jump. Wow, this guy was overeager, wasn’t he?
Taking a deep breath, she finally reached for the knob and opened the door. And then there he was, standing on her porch and looking even sexier than she remembered.
He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his faded blue jeans. The stance just screamed cool, emphasized by the way the sun was setting directly behind him. Dark oranges and reds lit up the sky, and in turn cast a ruddy glow over him. He looked like a cowboy in the Wild West, standing in the sunset.
Vivid imagination, Marley.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Caleb asked in a deep sexy voice that made her shiver despite the balmy breeze drifting into the hall.
She shook the cobwebs from her mind and tried to remember what she’d been doing before being assaulted by his sex appeal. “I was about to take a bath,” she admitted.
Something flickered in his eyes. Heat?
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry I interrupted you. I came by to see about your arm.”
“My arm?” Then she remembered, and glanced down at the bandage covering the cut. “It’s fine, just a scrape.”
“Oh,” he said again, shifting awkwardly. “I guess I’ll go then. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
Promise to keep an open mind. Be open to some flirting, or heck, even a casual conversation.
Gwen’s words buzzed in her head. She hesitated. Okay, maybe she could manage some light-hearted small talk, a flirty remark or two. It wouldn’t kill her. He was obviously trying to be nice, coming over to check on her.
Besides, did she really want to send away the first man who’d made her feel anything close to desire in months?
“The bath can wait a little while longer,” she found herself saying. “Do you want to come in for a quick cup of coffee?”
He nodded. “Sure, if it’s no trouble.”
“None at all.” She opened the door wider. As he stepped into her narrow front hall, she felt overpowered by the sheer maleness of him. He was at least six-two, his big firm body dominating the small space. Before she could stop herself, she imagined that big firm body dominating her, and her breasts immediately ached, her nipples poking out against the front of her tank top. She wasn’t surprised when Caleb’s eyes dropped to her chest, lingering only for a second.
And with that one brief look, a rush of heat filled her body. She was rooted in place, watching his face as he watched her, and for a moment she experienced a sense of familiarity. As if they knew each other. There was something unbelievably intimate about his gaze.
She cleared her throat. “Uh, the kitchen’s this way.”
Caleb followed her down the hall, keeping a respectful distance behind her. As they entered her kitchen, she experienced a twinge of embarrassment at the chaos in the large airy space. Last weekend she’d scraped off most of the awful flower-patterned wallpaper the previous owners had described as charming in the real estate listing, and the walls were now bare. Paint cans sat near the splintered oak counter, which she needed to replace, and since she planned on painting the pantry, too, all the food from there rested in boxes against the wall. The room was a disaster.
“Sorry for the mess,” she apologized. “I’m doing some renovating.”
He raised a brow. “On your own?”
“Yep,” she replied, gesturing for him to sit at the table tucked in the corner of the room. “I’m about to start the kitchen, which leaves me with, oh, every other room in the house.”
Caleb’s mouth lifted in a crooked smile. Marley’s breath caught in her throat. Wow. This man definitely needed to do that more often.
He sank into one of the tall-backed chairs and crossed his ankles. “You’re a do-it-yourself type then.”
“Of course. It’s not fun hiring someone to do the job for you.” She shrugged. “Way more satisfying knowing that I did the work.”
She flicked on the coffeemaker and opened the cupboard above the sink, pulling out two mugs. “So what brought a New Yorker all the way across the country?”
There was a long pause, and then he chuckled. “Checking up on me, huh?”
She turned around and met his knowing look. “What?”
“I never told you I was from New York.”
Heat scorched her cheeks. Shoot. Totally busted. How could she slip up like that?
“I called Debbie in Paris,” she admitted. “I just wanted to make sure you were on the up and up. They didn’t
mention a renter before they left.”
“It was a last-minute thing,” he said, not offering further explanation.
The coffee machine clicked, and she poured the hot liquid into the mugs, glancing over at him. “Let me guess, you take yours black.”
His lips twitched. “How’d you know?”
“Just a feeling.” She dumped two spoonfuls of sugar into her cup, then walked over to the table and handed him his. Rather than sitting, she leaned against the counter again, blowing on her coffee to cool it.
“You’re just going to hover over me like that?” Caleb asked.
“I hate sitting down,” she confessed. “Probably because of my job. I’m on my feet all day, and I’ve gotten used to it. I go a little stir crazy when I’m in a chair.”
“So…” He held his cup in one hand, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Do you usually make sure everyone you meet is on the up and up?”
The blush returned to her cheeks. “Not really. I just…well, I like the Strathorns and I wanted to make sure…” Her voice trailed, and she made a wry face. “Sorry, I guess I’ve been having some trust issues lately.”
He appeared to mull over her remark, then raised his mug to his lips. She watched his throat work as he swallowed, her stomach doing a funny little flip. Caleb Ford oozed masculinity, even when he drank. She couldn’t help wondering if he’d be like that in bed, controlled, powerful.
As if he’d read her mind, he locked his eyes with hers. Little sparks danced along Marley’s skin. There were sparks in the air, too. Hard to ignore them, zinging back and forth between her and Caleb, heating her skin. Breaking the eye contact, she distracted herself by taking another sip of coffee.
“Yeah, I know all about those. Trust issues,” he clarified with a shrug. “To be honest, trust isn’t something I’m good at.”
She was suddenly curious. “Giving it, or getting it?”
“A little of both, probably.”
Before she could press for details, he glanced around the room, taking in the paint supplies scattered on the tiled floor. “So you’re starting with the painting first?” When she nodded, he said, “What else are you planning to do?”
Considering the grief Gwen had given her about these renovations yesterday, it was nice talking to someone who actually seemed interested. Before she could stop herself, she launched into a recitation of everything she planned to fix up. She was vaguely aware that she’d gone into babbling mode, but hey, at least it helped her ignore the rampant flames of sexual attraction threatening to burn down her kitchen.
CALEB WAS HAVING a very tough time keeping his eyes off Marley. Leaning against the counter in her faded jeans and curve-hugging tank top, with her golden hair up in a messy ponytail and her bare feet, she made a seriously alluring picture.
Her mere proximity made his body burn. Despite the odor of paint fumes lingering in the air, he could also make out a more subtle fragrance. Strawberries. The feminine aroma drove him wild. So did her legs, encased in that stretchy denim, and damn but she had cute feet—small and dainty with bright-pink toenails.
He imagined those legs wrapped around him, her heels digging into his buttocks, and fought back a moan.
It had been a mistake coming here. He was pretty good at talking women into going to bed with him, but just talking to them? He sucked at it.
He sipped his coffee, using the pause in the conversation to figure out his next move. Okay, so he’d made contact, but sitting around in Marley’s kitchen wouldn’t land him any answers. He needed to get her talking about Grier. But though he’d been watching her for more than a week now, to her he was a stranger. And women didn’t open up to complete strangers.
He glanced at the sliding door on the other side of the kitchen, pretending to admire her backyard while he planned what to say. The sight of the oak tree in Marley’s fenced-in yard brought a flicker of guilt, as he realized AJ had set up one of their cameras in the tree’s enormous branches. As if someone wanted to hammer the point home, the branches rustled, sending a few leaves fluttering down to the grass.
Caleb shifted his eyes back to Marley. He opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by the ring of his cell phone. “Excuse me,” he said as he fished his cell out of his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID, saw AJ’s number and stifled a curse. “Do you mind if I take this?”
“Go ahead.”
He flipped open the phone and said, “Hey, Vic, what’s up?”
“I thought you were going to make contact later tonight,” AJ hissed.
“I was, but I decided to work on the chapters earlier,” Caleb said smoothly.
AJ let out an expletive. “I need you to get her out of the kitchen.”
“Are you still in New York?” From the corner of his eye, he saw Marley discreetly move to the sink to rinse out her mug.
“I’m in the freaking tree out back. Looking at your ugly face as we speak,” came the heated whisper.
It took all of Caleb’s willpower not to look through the sliding door again. Evidently the rustling he’d seen in the tree hadn’t come from a mischievous squirrel. The image of AJ’s huge leather-clad body up in those branches nearly brought a laugh to the surface, but he quickly clamped it down.
“What are you doing in Florida?” he asked with great interest. AJ had left the house next door an hour ago to grab some groceries. Now he was in Marley’s backyard?
“I was coming back and saw the camera dangling from one of the branches. Must have gotten dislodged. She always goes upstairs and does the yoga/shower thing after work so I figured I had time to fix the camera before she saw it, but then you just had to show up and bring her into the kitchen. And now I’m in the tree. The end.”
“Bird sanctuary, huh? Can’t say that’s my cup of tea.”
AJ swore again. “Just get her out of the kitchen so I can hightail it back next door.”
“Sure thing, Vic. I’ll email you the chapters by the end of the week so you’ll have them when you get back from your vacation.”
Caleb hung up the phone and rose to his feet, just as Marley rounded the counter again. To his dismay, she headed right for the patio door and peered out.
He came up behind her. “What are you looking at?” he asked as casually as he could muster.
“I heard you say something about birds,” she answered with a sideways glance. “It reminded me that I haven’t put seed in my bird feeder for a few days.”
She extended a dainty hand, pointing at the bright red bird feeder hanging from the largest branch on the elm. “I made it myself,” she added. “The sparrows love it.”
Panic rose up Caleb’s spine, mostly because he could now see one of AJ’s black biker boots camouflaged in the leaves. “I should go,” he burst out.
She wrinkled her brow. “Oh. Okay.”
“That phone call,” he said in an attempt to explain his abrupt exclamation. “I’m a writer, and my agent reminded me I need to revise a few chapters. So, uh, yeah, I should go do that.”
Moving away from the patio door, Marley nodded. “I’ll walk you—” She tripped over one of the paint cans on the floor, letting out an unladylike curse as she stumbled forward.
Snapping to action, Caleb reached out to steady her.
And regretted it the second his palms made contact with her hips. Her tank top had ridden up, and he was touching skin. Bare, warm skin, so soft that he hissed in a breath.
“I…” Marley’s voice drifted and her mouth fell open when she caught sight of the obvious desire in his eyes.
He could do nothing to hide the swift response. Her flesh felt like heaven under his hands, and that sweet scent wafting into his nose was far too intoxicating.
He coughed ever so slightly. “You all right?”
She nodded wordlessly, then glanced down at his hands, which were still on her waist. God help him, but he couldn’t seem to let her go.
And she wasn’t complaining. Rather, she shifted so they were face to face. Her
liquid brown eyes searched his. “I’m…a klutz,” she murmured without breaking the eye contact.
Caleb swallowed, his mouth in desperate need of moisture, his lips in desperate need of her. Before he could stop himself, he moved his hand over her hip in a fleeting caress. An unsteady breath slid out of her throat.
Insanity. This was freaking insanity, and he was helpless to stop it. He’d been watching Marley Kincaid for seven days, watching and yearning and fighting the arousal he knew he shouldn’t be feeling.
But he couldn’t fight it now. Not when she was this close.
As his pulse drummed in his ears, he finally gave up. Screw it. Kissing her was wrong on so many levels, but at this point he didn’t care. He wanted her so badly his bones ached.
So he took her.
4
MARLEY LET OUT a little gasp as he captured her mouth with his, but the second their lips met, she melted in his arms. He thrust his fingers into her hair, angling her head for better access, while he slid his other hand to her waist and drew her body to his.
She made a gentle, keening sound against his mouth, and then lifted her arms to his shoulders, pulling him closer. Her lips parted, her tongue darted out to toy with his and Caleb nearly keeled over from the jolt of desire that shot through him.
She tasted incredible. Like coffee, cinnamon and heaven and he couldn’t get enough of her. He deepened the kiss, drowning in her scent. Damn it, he hadn’t known it would be so uncontrollable.
A muffled thud sounded from outside. Marley must have heard it, too, because her eyelids fluttered open at the same time as his.
And then she was out of his arms.
His arms felt empty without her warm supple body in them, his mouth going dry when seconds before it had been moist from the tip of Marley’s tongue teasing his lips. Even as his body tried to recover from that unbelievable kiss, his brain went back to business, directing his line of vision to the now-empty yard. Relief coursed through him. AJ had managed The Great Escape.
“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I didn’t mean to do that.”