Risqué Renovation [Blue Collar 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Nicole Morgan

  Every few minutes, she would look up and scan the restaurant as if searching for someone. Then she would quickly avert her gaze, back down to the paper. She wore her dark hair slicked back into a neat ponytail, which she twirled between her fingers whenever she appeared deep in thought. Her movements were slow and appeared rehearsed, as if she were trained not to make any sudden movements. Though she did jolt and bite her lip when a splash of hot coffee spilled onto her shirt, otherwise, she was fairly quiet.

  She may have been attempting to blend into her surroundings, but to Kade, she stuck out like a sore thumb. He knew every person in Grand Isle. He had grown up in the small town and knew an out-of-place stranger when he saw one.

  The smile on Janis Michaud’s face told him the showing of the Bryant place had gone well. That house had been sitting vacant ever since old man Bryant passed away a year earlier. The Bryant family, who had long since moved on to bigger and better things, hadn’t come back to Grand Isle since the funeral and they steadfastly refused to put any money into improving the property.

  Whoever the woman was, she was quite possibly crazy in addition to being mysterious. Kade figured she’d have to be to take on that old house. The pipes were galvanized steel and in horrible shape. He had recommended to Mr. Bryant that they needed upgrading to copper five years ago and he doubted they’d improved with age. The electrical wasn’t in any better shape, and he felt fairly certain the foundation was unstable. The whole house needed serious work done and it would cost a pretty penny to renovate it into being livable again.

  Regardless of her name, where she came from or anything else that would lend to her identity, something about her intrigued him. Maybe it was the odd behavior he’d witnessed in the café earlier that day, or maybe it was because he hadn’t seen a fresh face in town since, well, ever. Now that he thought about it, Grand Isle hadn’t gained a new resident in quite some time. Whatever the reason she’d captured his intrigue, he was curious to know more about her. Never being one to procrastinate, Kade knew there was no point putting off until tomorrow what could be done today.

  “Good morning, Janis,” he called out to them from across the street.

  “Oh, hello, Kade.” She waved. “This is Patreece Warren. She’s buying the Bryant place.”

  Kade closed the tailgate of his truck and jogged across the street to greet them. He stepped up on the sidewalk and offered Janis a kiss on her cheek, a tradition he had kept up on ever since he could remember. He didn’t miss the way their new resident had eyed him skeptically while taking her hand out of her purse. He didn’t know what she’d been clutching in her handbag, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to. She appeared nervous, but nothing about her seemed timid. He extended his hand. “Hi there. Kade Riley, pleased to meet you.”

  “Hello.” She shook his hand and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Patreece, Kade here is our town…well, he’s a little bit of everything, I guess. He’s a contractor, so there isn’t a repair he can’t tend to. He does it all. From plumbing to general handyman-type stuff, he’s your guy. Oh, and in the winter, you’ll want to use him for kerosene delivery. You could go with North Maine Fuel, but they’ll charge you more and aren’t as reliable.”

  “Janis, you’re too kind.” Kade attempted to sound modest. The truth was that he had no problem letting Janis talk him up to the lovely Ms. Warren.

  “Nonsense, I’m just stating facts. You are the best. Patreece here ought to know as much, too. I can’t very well welcome our new neighbor into Grand Isle without giving her any helpful tips. How’s your mother doing, by the way? Is she feeling any better?”

  “She is. You know Mom, though. It’ll take more than a summer cold to keep her down. I’ll be sure to tell her you asked about her.”

  “Please do. And tell her I will be by the café in the morning to help out with setting up for the pie stand.” Janis turned toward Patreece. “Okay, I better get going if I’m going to get everything ready in time. You know where to go, right?”

  “Yes. Thank you so much,” Patreece answered.

  “Very well then. I’ll see you soon.”

  Kade closed Janis’s door and waved as she drove away. She and his mother had known each other most of their lives, and to Kade, Janis had served more like a surrogate aunt than a neighbor or customer.

  He turned his attention back to Patreece. She didn’t appear any more comfortable than she had moments earlier. He knew he was nothing more than a stranger to her, but he didn’t like the uneasiness he saw in her body language. Her petite body seemed stiff and apprehensive, definitely not the type of behavior he’d been used to. Grand Isle wasn’t just a small town. It had a small-town feel to it as well. The residents of their humble town looked out for one another. They weren’t just friends and neighbors. They were the nearest thing to family.

  “So you’re buying the Bryant place, huh?” he offered, hoping to break the ice with her.

  For the first time since he’d laid eyes on her that morning, he got a good look at her. He’d originally thought her dark hair to be black, but looking at it in the sunlight, he could see it was actually a rich brown color. It had a healthy sheen to it, reminding him of a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning. Her eyes were brown with different flecks of gold scattered around the pupil. From a distance, it made her eyes appear more amber, but up close, he could see their true shade. The only thing he had been right about was her skin tone. It was flawless. She must be an expert at applying make-up. That or she had a natural glow about her. She didn’t wear anything on her eyes, and while he couldn’t be certain, he didn’t see any color shading her plump lips.

  She wore a pair of jeans—nothing fancy with a designer label, just good old-fashioned Levi’s that could be found at any department store. Her blue T-shirt was faded and worn, with a small stain below her breast where she’d spilled her coffee earlier that morning. He did his best not to stare at the small brown splotch, but a part of him really wanted to take a better look at the body hidden beneath the clothes.

  Despite her average-looking attire and understated beauty regimen, she appeared anything but ordinary. Kade didn’t date often, but when he did, it was usually with women he’d met in neighboring towns. They all would make themselves up, do their hair and nails as if they were preparing for a pageant or some grand affair. While those women always looked pretty, that wasn’t what he cared for most in a woman. It all seemed so unnecessary. He could never understand why a woman would go to all that trouble. He’d always been more attracted to the type who didn’t fuss with her hair or worry if her lip gloss had been smudged. He liked his women like he liked his food, natural without an ounce of artificial.

  Patreece Warren might be new to this town, but Kade had every intention of getting to know her better. She was a little thin for his tastes, but he figured a nice, fat and juicy steak cooked on his grill would cure that real quick.

  Completely lost in his thoughts, Kade hadn’t even realized she had been talking to him.

  “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “I was answering your question.” She gave him a quizzical look before continuing. “I just agreed to take it. The house, I mean. Anyway, I should really be going. I have a lot to take care of before I close on the house in a couple of hours.”

  “A couple of hours? Wow. That’s pretty fast. Especially for this town.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, Janis was nice enough to help hurry things along for me so I can start getting settled in.”

  “That’s Janis for you. She’s a really sweet lady. There’s not much she wouldn’t do for those she likes. She must like you.” Kade smiled.

  “Well, I like her, too. She’s nice.” Patreece opened her car door. “I really do need to be going now. It was nice meeting you.”

  He wasn’t sure why, but Kade didn’t want to let her go just yet. Reaching out, he held her door open just as she had been about to close it.

  “Likewise. And listen, your n
ew place is not in great shape. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, okay?”

  “Sure. Do you have a business card or something?”

  Her response had been polite, despite the distinctive tremble in her voice. He also noticed her fingers gripping the steering wheel until the whites of her knuckles appeared. Whoever Grand Isle’s newest resident was, she definitely appeared nervous and didn’t like people invading her personal space. He made a mental note to remember that tidbit of information for future reference.

  “Actually, no. You’d think I would, but most everyone knows my number by heart, so I never had a need for ordering business cards. Do you have a cell phone? I can add my number to your contacts.”

  “No, sorry. I don’t have one.”

  Kade laughed. It surprised him, as he hadn’t meant to. Her innocent charm had struck him and, it just sort of slipped out. Instantly he knew his mistake when he saw the annoyed look in her eyes.

  “Forgive me. It’s just, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone over the age of sixteen who didn’t have one. Heck, even people with bad credit have them. They just head over to the local Wal-Mart and pick up one of those pre-pay deals.”

  “Yes, well, I don’t. So if you’ll excuse me.” She shut the door quickly and locked it.

  She startled him with her abruptness but he reminded himself she didn’t know him from a hole in the ground. Kade tried to understand her demeanor. Being a single woman, on her own in a new town, she probably needed to take extra precautions. Not wanting his first meeting with her to end on a bad note, Kade leaned down and knocked on her window. He waited while she unrolled it a few inches.

  “Yes?” she asked.

  “Look, I am sorry. And I swear I’m not a bad guy. If you need anything, just ask Janis and she can give you my number, okay?”

  “Fine. Now I really do have to be going.”

  “Of course.” Kade stepped away from the window. “You have a good day now, Ms. Warren.”

  She may have been attempting to appear calm, but her eyes betrayed her. Kade wasn’t sure he’d ever met a woman quite as anxious as she appeared to be. Whatever had happened to her, it was clear it had done one hell of a number on her.

  He watched her as she drove away. The engine rattled a little as it got up to speed, but his expertise told him it was probably just a loose bolt clattering against the engine block. The two-door car had probably been a shimmering maroon color at one time, but the sun and elements had long since changed it to a dull red. The tires looked bald and hardly safe for the Maine winters. It may only be June, but soon she would have to consider investing in some snow tires.

  For all intents and purposes, her late-nineties Oldsmobile Achieva probably held up well and proved to be a good and reliable car. To be on the safe side, he would keep an eye on her, though. Being new to the area, she might need a hand, should anything happen. Should she need a hero to fix a flat tire or help with her groceries, he could be there to lend a hand.

  He waited until she rounded the corner a few blocks down and then made his way back across the street. The mess in the back of his truck would have to wait. He had other things on his mind now.

  He climbed into the cab of his truck and slid behind the wheel. With the key in the ignition, he started the engine and pulled away from the curb. He glanced at the house she would soon be living in as he passed by.

  Who was Patreece Warren? He knew she was shy, a bit jittery, and not very trusting. He also knew she was a beautiful woman. Nothing about her said she wanted any attention, but that didn’t matter to Kade. Whether she had meant to or not, she’d caught his eye.

  All he had to do now was figure out how he could get her to relax long enough for them to get to know each other better.

  Chapter Three

  Patreece walked out of the bank and breathed a sigh of relief as she got into her car. Janis’s sister, Shirley, had been just as sweet as she could possibly be. She’d helped Patreece get a cashier’s check ready for the purchase of her new house, open a checking account, and even gave her a small picnic basket the bank had left over from previous promotional giveaways.

  The entire process had lasted less than an hour, and not once did Shirley bat an eyelash at Patreece’s fake driver’s license. While Grand Isle didn’t exactly strike Patreece as the technology hub of the north, she had still been riddled with anxiety the entire time she sat in the town’s small savings and loan, fearing discovery of her deception.

  The identity she had purchased for twenty thousand dollars back in New York was as new to her as this town. Only having it for two days hadn’t offered up much of an opportunity to use it. Not that she actually wanted to, either. She had no idea who the real Patreece Warren was. The man who had sold it to her, along with her car, had assured her the identity he’d given her hadn’t been stolen from a real live person. With a charismatic smile, he’d gone on to explain that the identities he sold were cycled through from people who were either deceased or from what he referred to as “creative record manipulation.”

  His attempt at calm reassurance made her feel much more uneasy rather than calming her, as he intended. The “creative manipulation” part of his explanation worried her the most. Prior to meeting with him in a seedy restaurant in an even sketchier part of town, she hadn’t broken a single law in her entire life. At twenty-eight, she hadn’t even received a traffic ticket. Granted, she never drove much in California. Still, she had a squeaky-clean conscience and a record to back it up. At least she had up until two days ago.

  The identity dealer never gave her his name, a detail she found a bit ironic in light of his line of work. He may have looked like any ordinary Joe with the personality of a used car salesman, but she had to remind herself who she had been dealing with, a criminal first and foremost. He was also the one who had handed her the small 9mm handgun with the serial number scratched off. He could not be trusted and his assurances meant little. After all, he wasn’t exactly a front-running candidate for citizen of the month, and he had nothing to lose if she ended up getting caught with a stolen identity. So, while she wanted desperately to believe in him and trust all he had said to her, she knew very well she couldn’t. One thing she learned from her life in California was that she couldn’t trust anyone but herself.

  Thankfully, all of the worry that nagged at her as she sat inside the bank had been for nothing. Shirley had finished her paperwork, entered everything into the computer and even said Patreece had been pre-approved for a line of credit. Whoever Patreece Warren really was, she must have had stellar credit. The old her had never been pre-approved for anything in her life. Granted, she never dealt with the finances in Beverly Hills and none of their belongings were ever in her name. It was an odd contradiction, feeling glad to hear it, all the while knowing that the offer had been meant for someone else.

  She avoided thinking too much about the irony of it all. It seemed strange that the bank trusted her, since she knew the identity being used was stolen. She had no room for remorse in her life. She’d done what she had to do in order to survive. It may not have been the most law-abiding way to do it, but she had learned the hard way that the law doesn’t always protect the innocent.

  She politely declined the offer for credit and opened her checking account with just three thousand dollars. She had a lot more than that, but didn’t want to arouse the sweet woman’s suspicions. It may have been only a hunch, but Patreece had a strong suspicion that it wasn’t every day someone walked into the Grand Isle Savings and Loan with over two hundred thousand dollars in cash.

  Before she’d left the bank, Shirley had written down the address and directions to get to the attorney’s office, saying it should only take Patreece a few minutes to get there. Patreece smiled as she recalled Shirley’s warm laughter when she joked that pretty much everything in Grand Isle stood only a few minutes away.

  The more Patreece learned about this little town, the more she liked it. Beverly Hills was an entirely differ
ent world compared to this small corner of the country. That was a big part of why it appealed to her so much. The life she once lived back in California, she would much rather forget. What better way to forget than to live in a place that was the complete and total opposite of all she knew?

  Patreece glanced at her watch to check the time. Since she made the decision to settle in this small town, she had become even more eager to get in her new place so she could really start the new life she’d been dreaming of for so long. Since she had close to an hour before she had to meet Janis at the attorney’s office, Patreece decided to go get some supplies. She’d been putting off getting a cell phone because she didn’t want anything traced to her real name. It wasn’t until Kade that she even considered getting one of those pre-paid ones. Her mind had been so preoccupied with trying to put as much distance between herself and California as possible that she had thought of little else.

  She drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, thoughts of Kade rolling through her mind. The strange man she’s first seen earlier that morning in the café unnerved her for some reason. She had no idea why, but when he had gotten too close to her earlier, all she could think of was how to get far away from him as fast as she could.

  Kade Riley seemed like a nice enough guy and Janis sure seemed to think highly of him. Other than his obvious lack of respect for personal space, she couldn’t say anything bad about him at all. Still, her gut told her to keep him at arm’s length just to be on the safe side. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to keep herself safe from him exactly. Could it be his milk-chocolate skin or his striking blue eyes? Possibly, she thought. He definitely wasn’t lacking in the looks department. His smile alone could very easily bring quite a few of her friends back home to their knees. His large body didn’t hurt either. He stood tall, and from what she could tell, he appeared to be muscular. She figured it a safe bet that Kade Riley was the town playboy. He sure had the looks to get away with such a lifestyle.