by Sara Rider
“Nah, it’s beautiful, man. Don’t change a thing.” He clanked his glass against Eli’s and savored another taste.
“FYI, Kelly left fifteen minutes ago. Told me I needed a haircut on her way out.”
Jake’s shoulders tightened. “She wasn’t wrong. You look like a Muppet.”
“All the better for the ladies to run their fingers through it and tell me they love my sensitive side.”
Jake laughed in spite of himself. There’d been a time when Eli had an endless stream of women knocking at his door, but that had come to a grinding halt the minute they opened the Holy Grale. Eli had only been on a handful of dates in the ten months they’d been living together, none of them leading to anything serious. “The only thing sensitive about you is when you complain about your shirt tags itching your neck.”
“Those things are irritating as fuck.” Eli shuddered. “Devil’s fingernails.”
Jake polished off the rest of his drink then got back to work on the kegs. Eli pitched in, thankfully keeping his mouth shut while they scrubbed and cleaned until they’d both worked up a sweat.
It was almost an hour later before they’d finished, rewarding themselves with another half-pint of the Imperial porter. They sat on a couple of overturned crates in the corner of the large room, while the muffled sounds of crowds in the front room mixed with the whirring of the tanks. These were the moments Jake loved most about this place. The Holy Grale was the brainchild of two dumb college kids complaining about the shitty beer at the campus pub. If they’d had any clue how much time, money and energy actually went into running their own brewpub, they’d never have followed through with it, but he was damn proud of what they’d created.
And if Jake couldn’t get his ego in check, he was going to fuck it all up.
“So, are we gonna talk about it or just brood a little more? Cause if we’re going with brooding, I think we should switch to the Devout Stout. More bitter aftertaste, ya know?”
“Stout,” Jake grumbled.
“While I’ll never disagree with choosing delicious beer, I just want to know one thing. Were you more upset about Kelly showing up here, or about the fact she interrupted whatever weird chemical reaction was happening between you and sweet little Clementine Cox?”
Jake straightened so quickly, he nearly spilled his pint glass. “Nothing was happening with Clem. She was upset and I was comforting her. That’s it.”
Eli raised his eyebrows.
Fuck. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but something inexplicable had passed between him and Clem when he’d touched her. Like an electric shock reminding him in the sharpest way that she was a beautiful woman with serious curves. He’d taken a chance on her when she’d come into the bar three years ago about as soon as he’d put up a help-wanted sign in the window, which proved to be one of his few, unmitigated mistakes. She was a disaster. There was no nicer way to put it. She screwed up the change on every single bill, spilled more drinks than she delivered, and looked like she wanted to strangle herself anytime someone tried to talk to her. He’d had no choice but to fire her on her second day, figuring it would be the last time he saw her.
She surprised the hell out of him when she showed up the next day, sat down at the bar, and asked for a pint of his Lord’s Work Lager. She’d come back almost every day since, working away in her notebook. She was the kind of mystery he itched to unravel, but knowing she guarded her privacy like a bank vault, he vowed not to ask her what she was working on until she brought it up. Besides, no matter how much he liked the look of her sitting at the bar across from him, he’d been engaged to Kelly at the time. Clem was off-limits, which meant he’d had no choice but to ignore the intriguing brunette since then.
After feeling those lush curves beneath her navy blue sweater, he’d never be able to ignore her again.
“Until today, I didn’t even know she could talk,” Eli said. “She’s like a little lost puppy that keeps showing up.”
“You just compared a woman to a dog. I feel like I should slap you on behalf of womankind.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. But you’re right. She’s way too hot to be compared to an animal—canine or otherwise. And that voice? All sexy and husky. Makes me wonder if I shouldn’t ask her out. You think she’s single?”
“Don’t,” he said sharply enough to make Eli laugh.
Eli leaned back against the wall and stretched his long legs in front of him. “Fair enough, man. You’ve got your eye on her so I’ll back off.”
“I’m not making a claim on her. She’s just been through a traumatic situation and this isn’t the time to hit on her. She needs sympathy. Support. Hell, she probably just wants someone to come over and clean her house.”
“Alright.” Eli stood up and grabbed a broom from the corner of the room. “Let’s go.”
“What?”
“You’ve still got some simmering rage issues to deal with, and there’s nothing left to clean back here, so let’s go clean her house. Everybody wins.”
He stood up, scrubbed his hand along his jaw and considered what Eli was suggesting. It was a stupid idea, but he couldn’t think of a good reason to say no. “Sure. Why the hell not?”
Clem unlocked the front door of her tiny craftsman house, sat down on the one semi-intact couch cushion left, and contemplated just how badly she’d screwed up. This was terrible. Beyond terrible. She’d lied to her family and they’d called her bluff. What the heck was she going to do now?
She leaned back and yelped when something jabbed into her butt cheek. She pulled her left Cole Haan high-heeled shoe from beneath the cushion. A big chunk of the sparkles had been scuffed off of the toe. Chastity had pressured her into buying them on a shopping trip last year. Clem had never once worn them. Never had a reason to. Heck, she never even wanted to have a reason to. She actually kind of hated them and they pinched her toes. But the fact someone destroyed them without permission filled her with burning rage.
The logical reaction would’ve been to be grateful she hadn’t been hurt and the perpetrators, who’d been too dumb to realize everything of value was in her basement studio, had been caught, but right now the aftermath felt crushingly heavy.
Self-pity wasn’t going to get her anywhere, though. She forced herself to stand up and start cleaning. With any luck, the physical exertion of cleaning would stimulate her brain into coming up with a solution to the impending disaster when she showed up at the cabin tomorrow with no handsome, art-dealer boyfriend in tow. Of course, no matter what story she concocted, her family would triple their assault on her personal space when they found out her “romantic getaway” had fallen apart. So much for a relaxing vacation.
She’d only collected a handful of scattered, crumpled documents from her filing cabinet now strewn across the living room floor when someone knocked at her front door. She peered through the window, gasped, and unlatched the deadbolt. “What are you doing here?”
Jake stood in her doorframe, giving her a smile that made her feel like she was being wrapped in a warm blanket. “We came to see if you needed help with the cleanup. No one should have to do this on their own.”
Her brain struggled to accept the idea that Jake Donovan of all people was standing on her front porch like a white knight with a mop and a pair of yellow rubber gloves. The backdrop of the cloudless, navy sky brought his light brown hair and tanned skin into greater focus. She’d always known on an intellectual level that he was good-looking, but it wasn’t until today that her body took notice of how devastatingly sexy he was.
She also hadn’t realized he was engaged until this afternoon, which made her newly amplified lust completely inappropriate.
“Gonna let me in?” His voice was gruff and deep, reaching her lady bits long before it got to her ears.
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” She swung the door open, feeling like she’d just let the big bad wolf past her door. It wasn’t until he stepped past the threshold that she realized Eli and Julia had come along, too.
She was a private person and rarely had people over, but having some company right now was exactly what she needed.
“Hey, the guys told me what happened. That really sucks, so I brought a serving of our triple chocolate brownie with salted caramel sauce,” Julia said, handing over the black plastic container. “There’s a scoop of ice cream, too, so you better eat it now while we work or else stick it in the freezer.”
A lump settled into her throat. Julia had brought her chocolate. She could’ve cried at that moment. Instead, she stowed it in her freezer until later when she could feed her emotions in private without shame.
“How did you even know where I live?” She asked when she came back out from the kitchen.
“I still have your employee record on file,” Jake said as he righted one of her overturned dining chairs.
“And he watches you walk home every night to make sure you get here safe,” Eli added with a wink.
He’s just joking, she told herself as Jake glared at his friend like he was about to add his lifeless body to the trash bag in the corner. Whatever weird feelings Jake was suddenly giving her had everything to do with the fact her nerves and emotions had been going haywire since the break-in, and nothing to do with reality. Jake Donovan was engaged to an equally gorgeous woman, and Clem would be a fool to pretend otherwise.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about the mess. It looks like a tornado came through here,” Eli said, shifting gears. “Let’s get to work.”
It was a little surreal to watch the three of them cleaning her house, but it made the process a lot easier. She tackled her bedroom while Julia made headway in the kitchen and Eli and Jake worked on the living room.
The damage in her bedroom was pretty minimal compared to the rest of the house. Her lamp hadn’t survived and she wouldn’t be happy until every last item of clothing was thoroughly laundered and bleached, but she got through the mess pretty quickly. She came out to the living room next where Jake was collecting the remains of her book collection in a cardboard box.
She picked up the torn cover of her favorite Nora Roberts novel, feeling the sting of tears prickle her eyes. Most of her books were stored on her tablet, but she’d collected paperback copies of her most cherished reads throughout the years. The ones whose spines were cracked and worn from the hundreds of times she’d reread each and every one. What kind of sick bastards destroyed books for fun?
Jake set his hand on her shoulder, reading her distress. “You want me to take these out to the garbage for you?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I don’t think I’m ready to let them go yet.”
“No problem. I’ll put them on your back porch until you can decide what to do with them.”
She nodded, grateful that Jake seemed to understand. Even if he did think it was silly of her to want to keep them when they were all way beyond repair, he didn’t show it. She picked up the broom and distracted herself by sweeping the hardwood floors while he carried the box out back.
Within an hour, they’d gotten through the worst of it—something that would have taken her hours on her own. Her coffee table, couch, TV, and two dining chairs were destroyed beyond repair. The stuff she’d gotten from Ikea would be easy to replace, but a few of the pieces had come from an antique shopping trip she’d gone on with her mom a few years ago. They weren’t particularly valuable, but they were unique and completely irreplaceable.
Eli cracked open the six-pack of her favorite lager he’d brought with him and handed one to her after they’d settled into the remaining chairs at her dining room table.
“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure I’m the one who’s supposed to be supplying you the drinks after all the work you just did,” she said before taking a sip.
Eli shook his head. “Nah, I’d be insulted if you did.”
“Did you put this up yourself?” Jake motioned to the boarded-up window along the sidewall where the robbers had broken in.
Guess we can add “crappy with a hammer” to the list of embarrassing things Jake is learning about me today. “Yeah. The glass guys said they won’t be able to replace it for another couple weeks.”
“They probably have to special order it since these windows are so old,” Jake said, standing up to examine the work. “If you’ve got some tools, I can secure this plywood for you a little better.”
“That would be great. The installers are coming first thing in the morning to set up the new alarm system, but I’d feel better with a few extra nails in there tonight.” She stood up to fetch the small stash of tools in her garage, but another knock sounded at her front door before she had the chance to get them.
It was strange to get a unexpected visit, much less twice in one night, but by the way her stomach churned with dread, she was pretty sure she knew who it was this time.
“We know you’re in there, Clemmy,” Chastity stuck her face against the frosted glass window next to the door and banged against the narrow pane.
“Open up!” Clover yelled.
Shit, shit, shit. If she let her sisters in, they would see the boarded up window, freak out over her safety, and pester her to move back in with her parents until they married her off like a breed horse. No matter how many times she explained that she liked living alone, they couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea. She opened the door halfway, blocking their view inside with her body. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
Clover crossed her arms. “Really? You announce to the family you have a boyfriend that your sisters know nothing about and then you ask why we’re here?”
“You tell us everything,” Chastity admonished. “How are we just learning about this guy today? We need details, so let us in.”
“It’s really not a good time,” she said weakly.
“Why?” Clover’s face lit up like a kid discovering her mom’s secret chocolate stash. “Oh my god. Is he here? Can we meet him?”
“Everything alright over there?”
A jolt of panic hurled through her body as Jake stepped behind her. He set his hand on her shoulder, putting himself in full view. She curled her fingers around the old brass knob, wishing she could sink into the floor and disappear forever. “Everything’s fine. Jake, these are my sisters Chastity and Clover.”
“Well, hello, Jake. So you’re the guy who’s secretly dating our sister, huh?”
Maybe Clem didn’t need to worry about lying to her family because she was pretty sure she was about to die of embarrassment just from the quizzical look Jake gave her. “You’ve been telling stories about me?”
“Not enough to keep my nosy sisters satisfied,” she said as brightly as she could muster, sliding her arm around his waist and silently begging him to play along. By some miracle, he actually did. Her pulled her body into his, tucking her into his shoulder.
“You should know we’re very protective of our baby sister so you better be treating her right,” Chastity said. “If not, don’t be surprised to find your clothes tossed into the lake this week.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Jake answered smoothly before kissing Clem’s forehead, stunning her to the point of losing her breath. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got some important stuff to take care of. It was nice to meet you both.”
“Okay, okay. We’ll leave you alone for tonight, but you can expect a full inquisition tomorrow,” Clover said with a quick wave. “And don’t forget to pack your sunscreen.”
Chastity and Clover smiled like a pair of Cheshire Cats as Jake gently closed the door on them. Clem squeezed her eyes shut, waiting to hear the creaking footsteps on the old wooden porch steps, confirming they were actually gone.
With a deep breath, she opened her eyes to see Jake standing in front of her with his arms crossed. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat, reminding herself that if mortification could actually kill, she’d have been a pile of ashes by now.
“Tomorrow?”
“Thanks for playing along. For the record, you die of smallpox tonight. Or
dysentery. Whichever one works faster.”
“Clem.” He tilted his head toward her, voice deepening to a low growl. “Why do your sisters think we’re dating?”
“I kind of told them I was going on a romantic getaway this week so they wouldn’t tag along on my vacation. Except instead of giving me space, they booked the cabin right next door and now I need to get you that hammer so you can use it to build me a tiny little coffin while I curl up and die.”
“Wait a second,” Julia said from the dining room doorway with Eli standing next to her, grinning. “You lied to your family about having a boyfriend and now they think Jake is coming with you on vacation tomorrow?”
“Of course you and Eli overheard,” she mumbled. “I know it was a terrible idea but—”
“It’s a great idea!”
Clem wiped her clammy palms against her jeans and tried to fathom the reason for Julia’s wide grin. “Sure, if you think watching me dig myself into a deep hole with no escape is fun.”
“You don’t need an escape. You need Jake.”
“What?” Her and Jake’s gazes met like a head-on collision.
Eli rubbed his palms together. “I don’t know what devious idea is churning in your brain, Sis, but I have a feeling it’s going to be good.”
“It’s simple. I need Jake to get out of my hair for the next week before he micromanages the wedding I’ve been planning to death, and you need a fake boyfriend. It’s perfect.”
It would be perfect, the devil on Clem’s shoulder whispered. Her family was so desperate to see her in a relationship, they’d probably actually give her some space this week. Maybe even enough that she could focus on the recording she needed to turn over to the publisher two weeks from now.
But it was a ridiculous idea. There was no way Jake would go for it. He had a business. A life. A fiancée. Crap. “You can’t be serious?”
