by Lexi Blake
Darnell was all smiles. “How is that boy of yours doing? He must be growing like a weed.”
She glanced down at the steps. They were completely redone, each one looking solid. Though they needed to be painted and sealed, they were safe to walk on.
Harry. Harry had done that and now he was covering for her, and the parish official who should have been worried seemed perfectly comfortable. Harry had done that, too.
She gave Shep a pat and started up the stairs. “Oh, he is. How are your kiddos?”
Darnell held out a hand as she reached the top step. “They’re doing well. My oldest started high school this year. Time flies. I think it’s nice that you make sure to go home and have lunch with your son. You know, one day this could be a great place to raise a family. But you’re also smart to not move in.”
“Oh, no. I love this place, but it needs so much work,” she said, shaking his hand. “And I don’t know that I’ll ever live in it. It’s way too big for me and Luc, but I love this house so much. I grew up here.”
Darnell’s lips curled up as he watched her move to Harry’s side. “Well, you never know. What seems too big now can feel just right down the line. Yes, this will make a fine home for someone. I’m going to send you a copy of this paperwork, but Harry here went over all the plans. You seem to know exactly what you’re doing. There are definite violations, but I’ll give you some time. I’ll be back out in ninety days, but I have no doubt you’ll get everything done. You have a nice afternoon.”
Ninety days? She had ninety days. Her hands were shaking, and she realized they had been from the moment she’d understood Celeste Beaumont was coming after her. She’d thought she would have to fight, have to beg, have to explain why she hadn’t even fixed the steps needed to get inside the house.
She watched as Darnell got into his truck and drove away.
“Sera, I’m sorry I didn’t call you, but I had some time earlier today and . . .”
He didn’t get much past those words when she burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.
* * *
***
Harry felt the breath leave his body the minute she was against him. The move had shocked him because she’d seemed perfectly composed the moment before. If she’d been surprised he was there, she hadn’t shown it at all. She’d taken his every cue, and there was no question in his mind that the compliance officer had been happy with both the inspection and the fact that Seraphina Guidry knew what she was doing.
She didn’t, but she was smart and she could figure it out if she was given the time she deserved.
“Hey, it’s okay.” He gently put his arms around her because she seemed to need some affection. Yeah, it didn’t have anything to do with how soft and warm she was. With how good it felt to hold her.
Right. It felt right to hold her, like he was supposed to comfort her when she was sad.
“Sylvie told me they were going to try to condemn the place,” she managed.
So she’d known what was going on. He let his hand find her hair. “He’s not trying to do anything but make sure the place is safe. I found him to be reasonable. It’s all going to be okay.”
She cried, holding on to him like he was the only real thing in the world. It broke his heart, those sobs of hers.
Shep sat down, looking up at him and whining because he couldn’t stand to hear her cry, either.
He also couldn’t stand the thought that someone else could drive up and see her pain. She was a private woman. Even though he hadn’t known her long, he’d figured that out about the lady. Though it seemed like the house was isolated, it wasn’t. While he’d been working on the steps, he’d been interrupted by three different people, two who’d been on the water and his cousin, who was on her morning run. Angie had stopped long enough to give him a lecture on how her mom wouldn’t like the fact that he was helping out, but she herself thought it was a great idea.
If anyone found them like this, there would be gossip, and while he couldn’t care less, Sera would.
He leaned over and pressed his arm under her knees, lifting her up. She gasped but her arms went around his neck before she started to cry again.
“I’m sorry,” she managed through her tears.
He got the door open and carried her inside. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
If she’d known about Darnell, then she’d likely been worried about the visit. He didn’t know why she’d stayed away this morning, but he would bet she’d gotten here as fast as she could after she heard the news. She likely hadn’t thought she would walk in on him talking to the man who could shut her whole operation down.
She had to have been overwhelmed. Just the size of the job would be overwhelming, but knowing someone was trying to stop her seemed to have sent her over the edge.
He carried her to what he’d come to think of as the formal living room. There was a mid-century modern sofa complete with plastic covering over all the pillows that would make it very uncomfortable to actually sit on, and a china hutch that displayed an astonishing array of ceramic owls.
He lowered himself carefully down, forced to think about every move because the last thing they needed was for him to fall. He eased onto the sofa as she was starting to relax in his arms. “It’s going to be okay.”
How much responsibility had been placed on her slender shoulders? She truly believed this house was her shot at giving her son a bright future, but she was trying to take it all on alone. She had to feel so isolated.
She shuddered and her chin came up. Her face had gone red, every bit of emotion stamped there, but it didn’t make her less appealing. In fact, it dialed his attraction up a few notches because she was so real and raw. Because she wasn’t holding back. There was something about this woman that called to him, and he didn’t even want to think about all the reasons he shouldn’t be here.
He wanted to be here for her. Whoever her son’s father was, he’d left her alone to deal with raising a kid and having someone’s entire future in her hands at an age when she should still be figuring out who she was and building her career. He wanted to be someone she could count on.
She sat on his lap and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry I lost it like that, but I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
“It’s okay.” He didn’t want this moment to end. She would realize that they were too close and then she’d put that careful distance back between them. This might be the only chance he ever got to hold her, and he wanted it to last. “You’ve got time.”
“You fixed my steps. I was going to do that. I was going to make my brother help me, but I was going to do it first like you said I should,” she said, her gorgeous eyes on him.
“I didn’t have anything to do this morning and I had some extra wood,” he explained. “It’s nothing I would use for the latticework on the gazebo. It was to support the base.”
“You took it from Beaumont House?” She’d stiffened in his arms.
She was so touchy about anything to do with his family. “I bought that wood myself. It wasn’t expensive. I wasn’t even going to ask her to pay me back. Don’t worry about it. It’s okay. It’s okay to need to lean on someone. I want to help you.”
She relaxed again. “But you shouldn’t.”
“I shouldn’t want to help you?”
“No. You’re a good person, but you should stay away. It would make things so much easier.”
“It wouldn’t make things easier on you,” he replied simply.
She seemed stumped by that, and he had to wonder how many people outside of her family she could truly count on. She shook her head, seeming to come to some kind of decision.
“Harry, I know it’s dumb, but I want you to kiss me. It won’t mean anything except I want to know what it feels like to have you kiss me just once.”
His whole body went still, antici
pation nearly overwhelming him. She’d asked him to kiss her? He could do that. He’d dreamed of doing that since the moment he’d seen her. Even as he’d gone over all the reasonable arguments why it would be a bad idea, his hands had itched to touch her. He wasn’t a player. He liked relationships, but the last few years his vagabond lifestyle hadn’t led to long-term bonds. He wanted that with her, wanted more than the mere physical.
She didn’t want that. “It will mean something to me.”
She shook her head. “Then I should get up.”
Nope. He tightened his arms around her. He would take whatever scraps she would give him. “Just one kiss? That’s all you want?”
“That’s all I can let myself have.”
“Then I’m going to make it count.”
He stared at her for a moment, catching her gaze and memorizing how blue her eyes were, how gorgeous she was all flushed with emotion. He let his hand stroke her hair and revel in how soft she was. And then he lowered his mouth to hers and closed his eyes, allowing touch to lead him.
If he’d thought her hair was soft, her lips were even softer. Warm and lush, he gave himself a moment to explore. He felt her palm run along his jawline up to the back of his neck, making his skin come to life everywhere she touched him. His whole body tightened with anticipation he knew damn well wasn’t going to be assuaged.
He started to pull away because the last thing he was going to do was take more than she wanted to give.
“Not yet,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his again, needing more.
He gave in, hauling her closer. He deepened the kiss, letting his tongue run along the seam of her lips until she sighed and opened and let him in. He felt her tongue come out to tentatively touch his own and it was over. He couldn’t stop himself from invading. He took over the kiss and felt the moment she softened around him, offering herself to him in the sweetest way possible.
He let his hand move to her hip as she molded her body to his.
“Harry.” She whispered his name, her voice hoarse, and he knew he was about to go over an edge they couldn’t come back from. Because that whisper of hers wasn’t a stop. It was a go further.
And he knew. He knew she would shut him out if they went much further. She wasn’t ready for anything serious.
He pulled back and took a deep breath. “Well, that went about the way I thought it would.”
Her eyes widened and she sat up, scrambling off his lap. “I can’t believe I did that. Harry, I’m sorry. I was . . .”
There she was. There was the skittish, scared Seraphina who hid under all that sass. “You had a rough morning and you needed some comfort.”
Her face was flushed. “Comfort would have been a hug.”
He forced himself to stand. That kiss had just about done him in. There was nothing he wanted more than to pull her back in his arms and show her how much comfort he could give her. He shoved his hands into his pockets so she wouldn’t see how they were shaking. “You’re too hard on yourself. It was a kiss, nothing more. It was a great kiss.”
Her eyes flared. “Great?”
He smiled her way. “I can’t help it. I’m a really good kisser.”
She snorted, a sound he shouldn’t find so adorable. “Arrogant much?”
He forced down a sigh of relief. If she was sassing him, she wasn’t embarrassed anymore. “I’m only being honest here. I have it on the highest authority that I’m a world-class kisser.”
“And whose authority is that?”
“Suzy Perkins. She was my girlfriend through the last couple of years of high school and my Army days. She would write me long letters about how much she missed kissing me.”
“Then she should have married you. Yet I don’t see a ring on your finger.”
“She really wanted a guy with both limbs.” It was actually easy to joke about it now. Suzy had been a sweet girl, but she hadn’t been able to handle what rehab had been like. She hadn’t liked hospitals and doctors and dealing with his grumpy ass. Somehow he kind of thought Sera wouldn’t have wilted like Suzy had. Sera would have yelled at him when he hadn’t wanted to do the work it took to walk again. She would have been strong enough to handle it.
Sure enough, her eyes flared and her shoulders went straight as an arrow. “She left you because of your leg?”
There was the lioness who would defend those she loved. “I don’t think it was really about the leg. I think it was more about the fact that I wasn’t the most lovable guy at the time.”
“You had just had your leg amputated,” she said with righteous indignation. “You were in pain and shock. You needed her. You didn’t even have your mom. You were alone. Who took care of you?”
“You don’t want to hear it.” God, he wanted to touch her again.
“Oh. It was Celeste.”
He didn’t want to make more of it than there had been. “She came to see me in the hospital, and then she paid for a nurse and a physical therapist.”
“You needed someone who loved you to be with you.”
“Yeah, well, Suzy didn’t love me. But I am an excellent kisser, and I’ve obviously worked my magic on you because you aren’t crying anymore.”
She reached out and put a hand on his arm. “She was wrong for you. I’m glad Celeste came to visit you. I might not like her, but I’m glad she was there for you.”
“Me, too,” he replied. It would have been so easy to lean over and brush his lips against hers again. It felt like the right thing to do, but he forced himself to take a step back. “I’ve got a week before I’m going to have to split my time between here and the gazebo. The stairs and the porch are solid now. I’m not going to repaint until the end of the project, so what shall we work on next?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I can help you.” He wanted to. “I’m waiting on the special wood I need for the gazebo. I’m at loose ends, and I’m not good at sitting around. I like to work.”
“Harry, I’m so glad you were here, but you have to know it was your aunt who called in code compliance on me.”
He wouldn’t put it past his aunt to call around and put a bug in someone’s ear. “She wants to buy the place. And honestly, they probably would have come around at some point.”
Sera shook her head. “She won’t stop, and she’ll be angry when she realizes you’re helping me.”
“I wasn’t planning on telling her.” He also wasn’t planning on hiding it. He wouldn’t bring it up, but if she asked, he wasn’t going to lie. His aunt’s morning routine didn’t lead to a lot of conversation. She was in the office by eight a.m., and unless it was a Sunday, she didn’t eat breakfast. He’d barely said hello to her before she was running out the door today. Cal had left for New Orleans and wouldn’t be back until Friday. Angie was wrapped up in wedding plans. No one even bothered to ask him what he would be up to. He didn’t think that would change.
“It won’t work,” she insisted.
He shrugged. He wasn’t sure it could work, either, but he wasn’t about to leave her alone to handle this job, especially now that she was on a clock. “I’m going to see if I can fix the wiring in the kitchen. It kind of sparks at odd times.”
“Harry.” She stared up at him, the saddest look on her face. “It can’t work.”
He knew what she was talking about, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. If she kicked him out, he would stay away. But he would also give her an out if she couldn’t ask him to stay. “I think it can. Oh, it will likely require an entire rewire, but that weird lamp will work again. I promise. The only thing I’m better at than kissing is fixing things.”
Her eyes rolled. “You’re not that good at kissing.”
“Oh, I can try again.”
She gave him a flustered smile. “Go look at the wiring, weirdo. I’m going to get my tool kit. I got
new locks since I can’t find my aunt’s keys to the old ones. I think she might have buried them somewhere.”
Shep followed her out.
And Harry got to work.
* * *
***
Celeste stared at the phone. She had it on speaker since she was alone in the space she used at Beaumont Oil’s small but elegantly appointed office in the town square. There was a larger office in New Orleans that served as the main corporate headquarters, but the family had always kept this building in Papillon for everyday work. Cal spent four days a week at the New Orleans office, staying in the French Quarter house that had been in the family since they’d moved to Louisiana from Texas.
She was glad he was there now because she didn’t particularly want anyone to overhear this conversation. “What do you mean she has ninety days?”
There was a pause on the line that let Celeste know her tone had been heard and properly received. Margret Hawkins cleared her throat before she began speaking. “Well, there are rules, you see.”
“Then bend them.”
“Well, uhm, you see I wasn’t able to send out the man I would normally send out. He’s more willing to listen to reason,” Margret said in a breathy tone. “I had to send out Darnell, and he’s a real stickler for the actual rules we have in place. He said it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected and felt that Ms. Guidry had a real handle on things. He liked her contractor a lot. Said he was a solid guy.”
“I would like to know the name of that contractor.” She would find out the name and then hire him right out from under her. There weren’t many contractors around, not ones who could stop everything they were doing to put all their eggs in Seraphina’s not-well-funded basket.
There was a shuffling sound. “It’s not in the paperwork. We don’t require that a homeowner have a contractor. Most of the time they can do the work themselves or have family helping them. You know our rules are actually pretty relaxed.”
