His brow furrowed. “I can’t let you do that,” he shook his head. “This is only your second night here and….”
She cut him off. “That has nothing to do with it,” she insisted. “Leave them here, let them help me finish off these chicken and dumplings, and I’ll drive them the half mile to your house. I promise I won’t speed.”
He grinned at her and she could see that he was considering it. “Are you sure?”
She waved him off. “Of course,” she said. “If there’s enough left over, I’ll send you home a care package. Batman has got to eat, too.”
He laughed softly. “Okay, you win,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to see that young Rose had come downstairs and was standing with her brother as Kyle tried to talk to her. “I’ll let them know. They’ll be good guests, I promise.”
Alix smiled, putting her hand on his arm before she really thought about what she was doing. She was the touchy-feely sort, anyway, always hugging and kissing people, so it was natural for her to touch him. He was warm and firm beneath her fingers.
“If they’re half as polite as their father, I’m sure they will be,” she said, her gaze lingering on him a moment before they joined the kids. “Thank you… well, thank you for all you’ve done today. You’ve come to my rescue twice and I’m very grateful.”
He felt her fingers on his arm like a searing brand; bolts of electricity were pouring out of her hand and through his body, enough so that he started sweating. He wanted nothing more than to reciprocate the touch, but there were five kids behind him in the living room and he didn’t want to do anything to freak any of them out, mostly because he knew he couldn’t stop at a simple touch. He wanted to taste her, too. So he grinned nervously and made a conscious effort to keep his hands off her.
“You’re welcome,” he said, turning to the boys behind him because he couldn’t look at her anymore and not try to do something about it. “Hey, guys, listen up; there’s been a change in plans.”
The Trevor boys weren’t particularly sorry that they had to stay for dinner at their new neighbor’s house, mostly because she made the best chicken and dumplings any of them had ever had. Plus, she made a fruit cobbler that was to die for, slathered with ice cream she had just bought that day because the freezer was out and they needed to eat it before it melted.
All in all, Chris, Kyle and Cole ate until they were sick and enjoyed every minute of it, sitting with Alix, Sean and Rose, and coming to know what seemed to be pretty nice neighbors. Kyle and Sean, in particular, seemed to hit it off, which was both a thrill and a relief to Alix. To make friends the first day in their new home was more than she could have hoped for.
When Cord came home early the next morning, it was to a quiet house, leftover chicken and dumplings, and a big slab of peach cobbler. There was also a business card tucked into the bag with Alix’s cell phone number on it. Cord ate the dumplings as he inspected the card, over and over again, until he had memorized the cell number.
It was the best breakfast he’d ever had.
CHAPTER FOUR
The rain storm from the previous night had blown away, leaving a bright blue morning in its wake. As Alix sat on the steps of her front porch, reading the estimate from the painter, she didn’t feel much like celebrating the beautiful day. In fact, she felt like turning right around and heading back for California. She’d had two painters come out that morning to give her estimates and both of them had told her the walls and plaster work needed extensive repairing before they could paint. One of them even recommended a contractor. So she sat on the stoop with the cell phone in one hand and the contractor’s card in the other for several long minutes, debating, before finally getting up the nerve to call him.
The contractor was more than happy to come out and take a look at the house. He’d restored a few historic homes in the area and apparently knew what he was doing, which made Alix feel better and worse. Better because he seemed very competent and worse because the house was in for a complete overhaul. Although she knew she should have gotten more estimates, she just wanted to get it over with so she engaged the contractor by the time lunch rolled around. He agreed to send a few men over in the morning to get the job started and, with that, she was on her way to spending copious amounts of money on her new home.
Rose, who had been playing contentedly on the porch under her mother’s watchful eye all morning, grew crabby by lunchtime so Alix took the girl inside and fed her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As she worked in the kitchen, she couldn’t help but think about Cord and how he’d been such a fixture in the kitchen yesterday. As Rosie happily finished her grapes and peanut butter, Alix wandered over to the window on the east side of the kitchen that faced out over the grassy, wooded vale. She could just see the roofline of Cord’s house.
She found herself thinking of his old-fashioned sense of chivalry, something she found very sweet and refreshing. She hadn’t met many men that filled that bill and it endeared her to Cord all the more. He was attentive without going overboard, concerned without being nosy. True, he came on strong at first, but she kind of liked a man who took charge. Initial wariness had faded. She was hoping to see more of him.
Alix leaned against the wall, gazing from the window, thinking of her life to this point. It was just a sense of reflection, in a new house starting a new life far from her home state. She didn’t have any huge emotional baggage. She didn’t come from an abusive marriage. If anything, she was the one who had outgrown Pat and just needed to get away from him. But the one thing in her life that she had been lacking, since she could recall, was happiness. True, deep and abiding happiness. She’d never been in love with a man who made her toes curl or her heart race and she very much wanted that. But at this point in her life, she’d pretty much given up ever finding that kind of consuming love. At least she had until yesterday.
But she wasn’t one to give in to unrealistic expectations, so she moved away from the window to wipe off her daughter’s peanut butter hands and take the little girl upstairs for her nap. Once Rose was down, she went back to the porch to lament the ginormous contractor bill she would soon be facing.
With a decorator magazine in hand that she had picked up at the supermarket, she began to walk around the house, comparing it to pictures of painted houses in the magazine. At some point, Sean came outside, bored, and walked around with her, wanting to know if they could build a dirt track for his mountain bike on the side of the house. Alix wasn’t thrilled with that idea but Sean seemed to think it was negotiable. As mother and son gently argued, an older model blue Chevy pickup pulled up in the driveway.
Both Alix and Sean turned to see the truck pull up and park. Curious, they watched a man in jeans climb out of the passenger door and realized it was Cord. Alix tried to keep the smile off her face, holding the open magazine against her chest and watching as four men climbed out. Cord immediately caught sight of her and waved. She waved back.
“Hey there,” Cord said as he made his way towards her with his boys in tow. “Is the power back on for you?”
Alix was so happy to see him that it was a struggle not to grin like an idiot. “Yes, finally,” she said, sounding rather breathless. “But not until about nine o’clock this morning. I’m afraid I lost a lot of the refrigerated food I bought yesterday at the store.”
Cord came to stand next to her and he wasn’t holding back his smile like she was. He was grinning full-on at her.
“That’s too bad,” he said. “Speaking of refrigerated stuff, thanks for the care package. That was the best chicken and dumplings I’ve ever had.”
Alix couldn’t help the flattered grin now. “You’re welcome,” she said. “Glad you liked it.”
“I did.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her and just ended up staring at her a moment before realizing he should probably say something. “Hey, we stopped by because the boys are going to town to see a movie and they wanted to know if Sean wanted to go along.”
Alix turned t
o her son, who lit up like a kid at Christmas. “Cool,” he exclaimed. “What are we seeing?”
Kyle piped up. “Mechano-Monsters 3D.”
Sean was thrilled. “Excellent!”
Alix grinned at her son, so very happy that he’d found someone to hang out with. “Go get your jacket,” she told him, watching him bolt off with Kyle behind him. “And get my wallet!”
The last sentence was shouted to him as the boys raced into the house and slammed the door. Then she turned to smile at Cord, who hadn’t taken his eyes off her since he had climbed out of that truck. She smiled up at him.
“Was work crazy last night?” she asked.
He nodded with a sigh. “Crazy enough,” he said. “We had a lot of medical aide situations for some reason. That always seems to happen during storms; power goes out, the sky opens up, and people freak out.”
She nodded in agreement. “I totally get that,” she said. “Or a full moon. The emergency rooms fill up.”
Cord was glued to her like there was no one else in the world around them, including his other two boys, who were beginning to suspect their dad thought the new neighbor was something pretty special simply by the way he was looking at her. Chris elbowed Cole, who seemed confused by it all.
“I didn’t ask you when you start your new job.” Cord was oblivious to his boys’ expressions. “The hospital was very busy last night.”
“On Friday,” she told him. “I’ve got three days to finish unpacking and get things in-hand. Right now, my biggest worry is finding daycare for Rose when school starts. For now, Sean can watch her while I’m at work but when school starts for him, I’ll need to find somebody.”
“A babysitter?”
“I’d like a live-in if I can find a good one. If you know of anybody, let me know.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
They watched the boys come racing back out of the house. Sean ran for his mother, holding out her wallet, which Alix took from him and dug around until she found a twenty dollar bill. She handed it over to him.
“Don’t spend it all in one place,” she said.
Sean was already heading for the truck. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Be careful!”
Sean acknowledged her with a wave as all four boys climbed back into the dark blue truck and Chris very carefully pulled back down the driveway. Cord waved at them as they drove off, turning to Alix to see an oddly wistful expression on her face. She was still watching the truck drive away.
“Chris is a good driver,” he assured her, thinking she was worried about a truck full of teenagers. “I wouldn’t let the others ride with him if he wasn’t.”
She tore her eyes away from the fading truck and looked at him. “No worries,” she said. “I trust your judgment. Plus, Chris didn’t seem like the crazy type.”
“You can tell?”
He was joking with her and she gave him a very knowing, very flirtatious expression. “I can tell many things, my friend. Many things.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Is that right? What can you tell about me?”
She broke down into a grin. “I’m not sure yet.” She looked away coyly. “But I’m sure it’s all good.”
He was encouraged. “Really?” he said. “Good enough that you’ll let me take you out to lunch?”
She laughed softly. “I’d love to, but Rosie is asleep upstairs. I can’t leave her.”
He looked up at the house as if he’d completely forgotten about the four year old. “How about if I bring us something back? You said yourself that you lost a lot of food when the power went out. I’ll go get us some lunch and bring it back.”
Her gray eyes glimmered at him, delighted that he had taken the next step to basically ask her out. It was difficult to keep her excitement at bay.
“I’d love it,” she said softly.
His grin returned. “You would?”
“Yes.”
“Enough to maybe let me take you out to dinner sometime, too?”
“Sure.”
He didn’t have much more to say to that. He’d asked the question and she’d answered without hesitation. As they gazed at each other, very sweetly, the moment became warmly awkward and he snorted nervously, watching her giggle. His heart was so light and, at the moment, so unguarded that he couldn’t stop himself.
“I’ve wanted to ask you out since nearly the moment we met,” he broke down and admitted it. “I thought I was being pretty clever about the way I pretended I wasn’t interested in you.”
He was teasing her openly and she succumbed to it. “Clever my foot,” she giggled. “You did everything but move in with us.”
He laughed, enjoying her sense of humor. “Don’t discount that. I still might try.”
Alix gazed up at him, thinking she really wouldn’t mind if he did but she didn’t say anything. All she knew was that she was happier than she had been in ages. In fact, she couldn’t ever remember feeling so giddy about someone in her life. The big, blond, handsome fire captain had her heart racing.
“Well,” she said, “Let’s get to know each other a little first before we decide to get married only two days after meeting.”
“We have to wait that long?” he joked.
She laughed again. “I’m old-fashioned that way.”
His eyes were twinkling as he looked at her, feeling the resurgence of his desire to kiss her. This time, there were no kids around and nothing to stop him. Stopping short of pulling her into his arms and planting a big one on her mouth, he grasped her hand and brought it gently to his lips. Kissing the flesh softly, he winked at her.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
Alix watched him walk back down the driveway, her heart racing a mile a minute. She’d never had that reaction to anyone, ever. In fact, she realized that she was having difficulty breathing and it made her feel a little lightheaded. With a grin, she took a deep breath and turned for the house, but not before she turned around at least twice to watch him as he made his way down the road and disappeared in the trees.
As Alix went back in the house, she couldn’t help the little victory dance she did just inside the kitchen door. Maybe she was destined to have that attraction that most people only dream about.
* * *
When Cord returned a short time later with a picnic lunch he’d purchased at the local gourmet grocery, the kitchen door was open. He called out quietly to Alix, knowing the little girl was sleeping, when she suddenly stuck her head into the kitchen from the direction of the front entry. As she raced over to the door, she motioned him inside quickly.
“Hurry up,” she hissed as she grabbed his hand. “I need you to come with me.”
That was the best offer Cord had had in years, so he quickly set the bags down on the kitchen counter and gladly went with her. They ended up holding hands as she pulled him from the kitchen and into the entry, where it was still relatively dark and dank. In fact, the entire house was dark and dank. It had an odd, eerie feel.
Alix pulled him halfway up the front stairs and then froze. He plowed into the back of her, grabbing on to her so she wouldn’t fall over. Once he was sure she wasn’t going to topple, he thought it would probably be best if he took his hands off her, but she put an arm around his shoulders, standing a couple of stairs above him, and held him fast. Looking at her, he could see that she was gazing up to the upper floor, staring. His curiosity grew.
“What’s going on?” he whispered.
She shushed him, going so far as to put her warm fingers over his lips. Cord was in such a beautifully intimate position with her that it was difficult for him to control himself. He could smell her, that sweet clean smell, and he found himself dipping his head lower so his nose was nearly in her neck. All of that feminine warmth had his heart racing and he wrapped his big arms around her to pull her closer. But she didn’t seem to notice.
“There it is again,” she hissed. “Did you hear that?”
He looked at her. He hadn’t heard
a goddamn thing other than his heart beating in his ears. He struggled to pull out of the wild sense of attraction that was overwhelming him.
“Hear what?”
Alix was intently focused on something else. She didn’t seem to realize his face was nearly in her neck. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she pointed to the second floor.
“I hear it again,” she whispered. “Did you hear that?”
In fact, he had heard something, so he forced himself to cool, looking to the upper floor when what he really wanted to do was kiss the woman and drown himself doing it. The noise came again and he cocked his head.
“It sounds like whispering,” he said. “Is your daughter awake?”
Alix looked at him, a mixture of apprehension and curiosity in her expression. “She’s asleep,” she murmured. “I’ve been hearing this whispering for the past fifteen minutes. I thought it was Rose but when I went to check on her, she was asleep. What in the hell is that?”
He shook his head, seemingly unconcerned. “I have no idea,” he muttered. “Did you check all of the rooms?”
She nodded firmly. “All of them. There’s no one upstairs.”
“What about the windows? Are they open? It could be a neighbor’s television volume turned up too high.”
She blinked thoughtfully. “Maybe,” she said. “I hadn’t thought of that. It just sounds so close, like it’s inside the house.”
He stood up and pulled her up with him. “I’m sure it’s just someone’s television up too high,” he said. “Come on downstairs. I brought….”
They were interrupted by Rose’s voice. She sounded as if she was arguing with someone, telling them to give back her kitty. There was a big thump and then Rose started howling. Alix and Cord bolted up the stairs and into Rose’s room.
The little girl was sitting on the floor, weeping angrily. Alix swooped down and picked the child up, comforting her.
“What happened?” she asked. “Did you fall out of bed?”
Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 228
