“Eggs are too expensive to waste them like that, Frankie,” Eden admonished. At least one of their females was sensible. “We need something cheap and nasty.”
“What? Like dog poop? Or toilet paper?” Frankie suggested.
“Hmm.” Eden looked thoughtful.
“No one will throw anything at the old bat’s house,” Marcun told them both sternly.
Frankie sighed. “You guys really are no fun.” She was peering out the front window again. “Jeez. It’s a day for visitors. What is she doing here?”
“Who?” Eden asked.
“The real estate agent.”
His body instantly went on high alert. “Crista?”
Frankie turned to give him a searching look. He made certain he kept his face uninterested, but he got the feeling that she saw more than he would wish her to.
“Perhaps she has something else to give us for the house,” Marcun suggested.
“I will go and see what she wants,” Nax asked, ignoring the look that Frankie sent him. She could believe what she wished, he had no interest in the flighty, chatty, real estate agent.
None. At. All.
* * *
Nerves had her feeling jittery and ill.
Crista hadn’t wanted to come here but her boss had insisted. He had a buyer interested in the house she’d just recently sold to the Clacka brothers. Interesting last name.
She opened the back door of her car and pulled out the bottle of wine she’d bought. She’d paid for it out of her own money, which she couldn’t really afford to do but her tight-ass boss wouldn’t let her use the petty cash. He’d probably used it all paying for his daily nooner. They all knew the woman who visited him each lunch time was not a masseuse. Or at least there was only one part of his body she was massaging.
She couldn’t just turn up empty-handed. That would have been rude. Or at least that’s what her mother had always said. Of course, her mother had belonged in a different time—one kinder and gentler.
Not this dog eat dog world where only the toughest survived.
Actually, come to think of it, Crista didn’t really belong here either. She certainly wasn’t tough or strong.
She let out a deep breath. But she didn’t have much choice. There was no knight in shining armor coming to rescue her like in those stories her mom used to tell her as a kid, where a handsome prince would carry her away to his castle and she’d live out her days dancing, eating, and having fun.
Fun, yeah right. Crista wouldn’t know fun if it bit her on the ass. She was too busy surviving to have fun.
“What are you doing here?”
Startled, she quickly straightened and banged her head on the edge of the car door. She let out a low groan as the world around her tilted. The pain was so sharp and sudden that she felt ill. Suddenly big hands steadied her, a warm body pressed against her. The scent of rain on a hot pavement enveloped her. She knew she should step away, but instead she found herself leaning back into that body with a soft moan.
She knew exactly who stood behind her. Nax.
“Ouch,” she groaned.
“Female, you should take more care. You could have harmed yourself.”
She was pretty certain she had harmed herself. Her head was throbbing and she still wasn’t entirely certain that she wasn’t going to puke.
“You were the one who snuck on me!” she snapped, before she could guard her words. She turned to glare up at the man standing behind her. Nax. God, he was hot. And rude. “You should make a noise or something as you move.”
“Why would I wish to do that?” he asked her incredulously. “Then my enemies would hear me coming up on them.”
“I am not your enemy. I’m a real estate agent.”
“What is that you hold in your hands?”
She looked down at the bottle of wine. Did he think she was holding a weapon?
She forced herself to take a step back, taking a deep breath as the world spun slightly. She moved slowly, feeling weak and shaky.
Nax glared down at her. Her heart skipped a beat. But not in fear. No, for some reason her traitorous body seemed to find this man attractive. She didn’t know why.
Come on, Crista, of course you know why. He’s freaking hot. He was the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on. Even more handsome than his brothers, although they all looked very similar.
Although he’d be even more attractive if he wasn’t frowning all the time. Like he was right now. She cleared her throat. She would not be intimidated, she would not drop her gaze. She was strong. Smart. Powerful. Okay, so she could pretend to be strong, smart and powerful. That counted for something, right?
And so, she forced herself to look up into his blue eyes. His frown increased. She wondered if anything ever pleased him. Maybe it was just her. Perhaps he just disliked her and with everyone else he was the life of the party.
God, her head still hurt.
“Hello, Mr. Clacka,” she said, proud of the fact her voice didn’t shake. “How are you today?”
He gave her an incredulous look. Probably wondering why she’d gone from snarling at him to pouring on the charm. She’d come here with a purpose and pissing one of her former clients off was not going to help her in that purpose.
“I am as good as any other day,” he replied.
“That’s good.” She resisted the urged to rub her head. No doubt she had an egg-sized lump there already.
“How are you enjoying the house?”
“It’s a house.”
She cleared her throat. He wasn’t exactly making this easy on her. But then, what had she expected?
“That’s good. No problems then?” she asked hopefully.
“No.”
Was he doing it deliberately or was being an ass just his personality? She couldn’t quite tell.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
Okay, straight to the point. She could deal with that. She held up the wine and smiled at him. “I brought you a gift. An early Christmas present if you like.”
“I don’t like.”
Could he be any more of a jerk? Her smile threatened to slip and she entertained the idea, just briefly, of whacking him over the head with the bottle of wine. But he probably had a skull made of concrete.
“You don’t like wine?” she asked. “What about your brothers? They might like wine.”
“They do not.”
“Their wives?” she asked, somewhat desperately. Someone in that house had to damn well like wine.
“Maybe,” he said grudgingly.
She nearly sagged with relief. Having a conversation with this man was like a rollercoaster, only mostly downs and very few ups.
It was a little weird how six brothers lived together. It was clear they were close. She’d actually wondered if they were sextuplets for a while there. They were a bit strange, but their wives were nice. Actually, they were quite normal. She wasn’t sure she’d be happy to live with her husband and all his brothers, but they didn’t seem to mind. She guessed they’d done it in order to pool their money together to buy this house. It was a beautiful house. She’d spent many hours wishing she could live in a house like this one.
But that wasn’t the life for her.
No, her life was a tiny one-bedroom apartment where she cared for her mother—when she wasn’t working. Speaking of her mother, she really needed to get home to her. Crista had locked her in and her next-door neighbor, who had a key, checked in on her a few times a day, but there had been many times when she’d returned home to find her mom gone. Thankfully, she never wandered too far and Crista had been able to find her before she got hurt or in trouble. Most of the neighbors knew her mom and would grab her if they saw her out walking around on her own.
That was why this job was perfect. She could do a lot of work at home while watching over her mother. Her last job had been a nightmare, ten-hour days plus an hour commute each way. One night she’d arrived home to find her mom wandering the streets in jus
t a nightgown. It had been pouring down and her poor mom had gotten pneumonia.
She grew chilled as she remembered how close she’d come to losing her. She was still paying off the hospital bills. The commission she’d gotten on selling this house to the Clacka brothers had made a serious dent in those bills, though. Just a few more sales like that and she would be able to breathe easier.
Of course, that meant keeping her job. And to do that she had to keep her jerk boss happy.
And right now, he wanted the Clacka brothers gone from this house so his own clients could buy it. She had no idea why, and when she’d asked him, he’d just given her a condescending look and told her she’d get her cut so why did she care?
She cared because it seemed more than a little weird. There were days when she wondered just how legal some of her boss’s dealings were.
She guessed that was a worry for another day.
Right now, she needed to figure out a way of charming the Clacka brothers into leaving their new home.
Nax, who for some reason had occupied far too many of her dreams lately, reached out and took the bottle of wine. “I will give it to Eden and Frankie.”
He turned away, leaving her standing on the sidewalk just staring after him.
“Um, Mr. Clacka,” she called out.
He stilled and sighed. Loudly. “Yes?” He didn’t turn around.
Okay, she got it. He didn’t like her. He couldn’t have made it clearer if he’d taken out a halo-ad. Had it splashed all over the city. And still, she couldn’t help but admire the way he filled out his jeans.
The man had an ass to die for. He probably didn’t have to do a hundred squats a night either. Considering his brothers all looked just as fit, he probably came from good genes.
All her genes had given her were cottage cheese thighs and small boobs.
“Are you going to invite me in?”
He turned now, looking incredulous. “Why?”
“Oh, well…” Crap. In her mind things had gone a bit differently. She’d go to the door, ring the bell, hopefully one of the women would answer, she’d offer the wine and charm her way in…not stand out here on the sidewalk practically begging to come inside.
“It’s Christmas?” That was kind of desperate, but it’s all that came to mind.
He actually seemed to think that over then shrugged. “Fine.”
He was nearly at the front door before she realized what he’d said, and she had to half-run, half-hobble in her heels to catch up. She hated wearing high heels, but unfortunately her boss had some set ideas about what agents should wear. Of course, all those ideas were to do with his only female agent. Her. Not the male ones.
Sexist prick.
“Pardon?” Nax stared down at her in amazement. His blue eyes were so dark they almost looked black in some lights.
“Sorry. Was I talking out loud? Just thinking to myself.”
He didn’t look like he believed a word of that. Not that she blamed him. But he just grunted and opened the door.
“Is anyone else home? I just wanted to make certain everything went smoothly and that you’re enjoying living in the neighborhood. Is Ioin here?”
From what she’d seen, Ioin seemed to be in charge. It was a little strange, but she guessed maybe he was the oldest. They all seemed to be the same age, though.
She’d kind of given up trying to work these guys out. The thing she’d cared most about was that they were serious buyers with seemingly big pockets, and she’d ended up with a nice commission.
“The house looks great. I see you guys kept most of the furniture. Suits the house, I guess. And less expensive than replacing everything. I mean, like I told you before, some of these pieces are very old and beautiful. Real wood.”
He just stood there in the foyer, looking down at her as though she was some strange sort of insect he’d never encountered before but which he’d really like to squish under his boot.
She licked her lips. He made her so nervous. In fact, all of the Clacka brothers did. But with Nax it was worse. It had almost felt like he’d avoided being near her when she had been showing them around houses. In fact, he’d probably barely said more than a dozen words to her.
Yet, he was the feature of her sexiest dreams.
And now she was acting like a babbling idiot. She really wished she could shut up.
“You didn’t wish to change the walls or floors?”
If she kept asking enough questions he might actually answer one. Maybe. Or he could just continue to stare at her.
“You can change the walls and floors? They move?”
“Well, only if you whack them down and build them back up,” she joked.
He didn’t smile.
Right. Because she wasn’t really funny. She was just uneasy and that meant she spoke without thinking.
“Oh, you mean are they actually movable? No. You can get some new apartments that have walls that do that, but they’re really pricey. Not saying you couldn’t afford them, but you wouldn’t get the lovely space you have here, nor the backyard.” Then remembering why she was here, she changed tact. “Of course, if you’d rather have that I’d happily find some apartments for you all and sell this place. It’s absolutely not a problem.”
“Ms. Nelson, hello.”
She turned, surprised to find the shorter of the two women behind her. She had a brain freeze. Crap, what was her name? It was a boy’s name. Sam. Jamie. Neil. Neil? Really?
Frankie. That’s right. She’d only met her once when they were closing the deal.
“Hi, nice to see you, Mrs. Clacka. Please, call me Crista.”
The other woman smiled, although she seemed wary. “Call me Frankie.” She reached out her hand and Crista shook it, nearly wincing at the other woman’s tight grip.
Ouch.
Crista wasn’t really athletic. Her idea of exercise was getting up to make a cup of tea or to chase her mother around the neighborhood. And she didn’t consider that fun.
“What can we do for you, Crista?” Frankie asked.
“I bought you all a bottle of wine. A sort of Christmas present. A thank you for being such great clients. I saw a police car pulling away as I drew up. Is everything all right? Is the neighborhood okay? It’s usually such a safe neighborhood.”
“It’s a very safe neighborhood,” Eden said as she appeared out of the kitchen. A big man walked behind her. Which one was he? Marcun. That’s right. “I’m afraid they were here to talk to us.”
Crista felt her eyes widen. “To speak to you? Is everything okay?”
“Just the world’s biggest busybody next door,” Frankie said.
“Next door? I’m so sorry to hear that.” Not really. “Is she or he a problem?”
“Not a problem exactly,” Eden said with a sigh. “Just that she tends to call the authorities on every little thing.”
“I wouldn’t have called that scream a little thing.” Frankie grinned as Eden blushed bright red.
Crista didn’t understand what they were talking about, and since Eden looked so embarrassed, she decided not to ask.
“I had no idea.” Crista actually felt pretty terrible. “Are you regretting buying this place?”
“Oh no,” Eden told her. “We love it here, don’t we?” She looked back at her husband with a smile. He nodded, his face softening as he stared down at her. At least, Crista thought it had. Maybe he just had gas.
“I wanted to see how you were getting on and you know, to bring you a gift and tell you if you ever need anything to let me know. If the neighbor gets too much, I can find you something else. Maybe something more low-maintenance. I notice you had a ladder out, hope there are no issues outside.”
“None. Well, other than our inability to hang a few lights,” Frankie told her lightly, although her gaze grew narrow as she studied her. “Seems unusual for a real estate agent to visit two months after a sale is final. Didn’t you give us a gift already when we bought the place?”
Yes, she had. And it had been out of her pocket as well. But she hadn’t minded, knowing the commission she was getting.
“Yes, but I like to follow up a few months later. Make sure people are enjoying the place they bought,” she lied. She hated lying. Mainly because she was so bad at it. She was also terrible at telling the truth from a lie in other people, which had led to her being tricked several times.
Trust didn’t come easily to her anymore.
“Anyway, I should go. Let you get back to your Christmas preparations. I’m meant to be decorating my place tonight with my mother.” And didn’t that make her sound pathetic. Yep, she lived with her mom. Christmas was always her mom’s favorite time of the year. So even though it was a small, plastic tree with some old, faded decorations, she made the effort each year.
“Enjoy the wine. And here’s a card if you decide to move.”
“Is there some reason we should move?” Frankie asked.
“Oh no, of course not. Just that neighbor sounds awful. Bye.”
She scrambled out the front door and practically flew into her car. Once she was safely inside, she took a breath trying to calm herself. That could have gone better. In fact, she was pretty certain there was no way it could have gone worse. She’d probably have been better off if Nax had left her standing on the pavement outside.
At least then there might have been a chance they’d call her if they ever decided to sell. Now, they probably just thought she was a babbling idiot.
Wonderful.
Nax had to fight the urge to follow the female. He did not know why. She was everything he did not enjoy in a human. Talkative. Nervous. Expressive.
Female.
Not that he was interested in males. If he took a mate, she would be female. But these females were far too excitable for his tastes. Especially that female. So why did he feel the need to follow her? To check that she was all right?
Because his instincts screamed at him that something was wrong.
“That was weird,” Frankie said as they all walked back to the kitchen where Sacaren was eating a sandwich.
Nax reached over for the other half, only to have Sacaren growl and snatch it out from under his hand.
A Sky Warrior Christmas Page 4
