Beyond Resistance (The Ransom Series)

by A. T. Douglas

  I can’t deny my nerves are on edge the entire drive to her place. Anxiety is rolling through me in waves, hitting its peak by the time I pull into the section of houses where Lily lives. It’s funny, though. The moment I pull up to Lily’s house and see her standing in the open garage waiting for me, the worry pulsing rapidly through my veins seems to lessen. When I’m backing the car into the driveway to make my mobile home improvement store more accessible and I see her beaming a smile in my rear-view mirror, the rest of my anxiety seems to dissipate.

  God, I love the effect this girl has on me.

  After turning off the car, I step out of it to find Lily approaching me looking completely different from how I’ve seen her before. Her shoulder-length brown hair is tied up in a messy bun at the back of her head. Her face is completely void of makeup, though her skin is still smooth and her dark brown eyes are shining as bright as ever. She’s wearing thin gray cotton shorts dotted with paint stains and a light pink tank top that fits snugly to every curve of her chest and stomach. She is absolutely stunning to me just as she is without even trying to make herself up to be beautiful.

  “You look amazing.” My lips can’t help speaking the words. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when she stops in front of me, and I feel compelled to relay this to her.

  Lily glances down her body then returns her attention to me with a goofy look on her face. “That’s clearly what I was going for here.”

  “I’m serious.” Again, my mouth speaks without letting my brain catch up. “Don’t discount your natural beauty.”

  Lily’s eyes dart around me, avoiding what must be an overly penetrating gaze on my face. “You’re very sweet, and though I’d love to stand here and let you compliment me all day, we have some work to get to, don’t we? I’m not letting you inflate the hours I’m paying you for with praising my looks instead of actually working.”

  I shake my head with a defiant grin. “I already told you before that I’m not accepting a dime from you for this work. I’m happy to help.”

  As I’m about to move toward the trunk of the car, Lily grabs me by the arm. “Not so fast.”

  Our eyes instantly meet. While we continue to stare at each other, Lily’s thoughts are unreadable on her face while my thoughts are clearly focused on wishing I could place my lips on hers at this moment, but I know better than to make that kind of move. Spending time with Lily on her home turf will be a huge test of my restraint, and I refuse to fail in that respect.

  She cups the side of my cheek with her hand and brings our faces even closer together. When her lips open, I’m convinced she’s going to lean in and kiss me, but instead she says, “You’re in between jobs. I’m going to pay you for the work you’re doing here.”

  My head tilts to the side as I struggle with how hard to fight her on this and how to respond. “You can pay me by keeping me hydrated while I’m working and maybe feed me every so often. That’s more than enough.” Lily lets go of my face but continues to look at me, indecision and unease at my suggestion written all over her face, so I try to alleviate her concern even more. “Seriously, my expenses are almost non-existent right now. I’ll be fine.”

  After a moment, she nods reluctantly. “Okay. I don’t like it, but you have a deal.”

  Relieved to be past that little battle over compensation, I open the trunk of the car to grab a work bag and a plastic bucket both filled with the most basic tools I’ll need for this endeavor.

  Lily’s eyes widen at the almost completely full trunk. “Wow. We’re not tearing down any walls, you know.”

  I laugh and set the bucket down on the pavement next to me so I can close the trunk. “I just like to be prepared. If I’ve learned anything about home improvement projects in the years I’ve been doing this, it’s that you can never have enough tools, and despite being prepared, you’ll almost always end up needing a tool you don’t have.”

  Lily grabs for the bucket I set down and motions me toward the open garage. I reach out to take the bucket from her, but she dismisses me with a wave of her other hand. “I got this.”

  In my hesitation to help her, she slips in front of me and leads the way into the garage past a small red hatchback car to a door just a little further inside. It opens into a small kitchen with worn wooden cabinets and dated white appliances, their presence completely contrasting the beautiful granite countertops that cover each side of the kitchen. As we move further into the dining room, I note she has the potential for a nice open floor plan but there’s a strange partial dividing wall separating the dining room from the living room on the other side. To the left of us is a small bathroom and stairs leading up to the second floor. Pergo flooring runs the length of the floor, another nice upgrade she already has in place.

  “Not bad at all,” I comment as I set the work bag down on the floor. “I see you already have a few decent upgrades in here.”

  “They were working on some renovations before I started renting here, but I guess the money ran out before they could finish everything. The landlord doesn’t care what I do in here as long as the place looks better in the end.”

  In some ways I wish her place was more of a disaster so I’d have an excuse to spend inordinate amounts of time here working to improve it for her. I could, of course, make a few suggestions to prolong my overall time spent here. “So, where should we begin?”

  Lily’s eyes light up as she motions toward the kitchen. “I’d love to get these cabinets refinished. Maybe stain them white to brighten up the room.” She drifts over to the dining room table and regards the gaudy bright gold chandelier hanging above it with a clear look of disgust on her face. “This thing definitely has to go.”

  I can’t help laughing and nodding in agreement with her as we make our way up the stairs to the second floor. She turns on the light inside the first door in the hallway. The vanity in this bathroom is covered with beautiful granite counters similar to the kitchen but with a different pattern, more greens and purples throughout the rock instead of oranges and browns. The other fixtures are clearly dated but not in horrible condition.

  Lily swings back the translucent shower curtain to reveal a plain white bathtub with simple white tile going up the length of the wall. I immediately notice a small droplet of water dripping down from the showerhead every few seconds. “The showerhead obviously needs to be replaced. I wouldn’t mind getting the temperature knobs and sink faucet done at the same time.”

  As she turns away to walk out of the bathroom, my eyes remain on the empty tub and how easily I can picture myself stepping into it with Lily and letting the water rush down over us as we get lost in each other’s bodies. With extreme difficultly, I push the thoughts from my mind and focus on following Lily down the hall.

  She stops outside two doors directly across from each other and quickly closes the door on our right. “That’s my office. It’s a bit messy and doesn’t really need any work, so we’ll leave that alone for now.” I’m directed instead toward the other door, stepping inside as Lily turns on the light. “This is my bedroom, but that’s all it is: a bed in a room. It’s not much of a retreat.”

  I take in the plain white walls around me, the simple wooden furniture, and the lack of artwork or color or anything interesting on the walls, and I have to agree with her. “Yeah, this room sucks.”

  Lily crosses her arms and glares at me for a moment before I see the concession in her face. “Okay, you’re right. It sucks.” She glances around the room and sighs heavily.

  “It’s strange,” I begin to say, and Lily looks at me curiously. “You are the complete opposite of this room.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Crap. I’ve opened my big mouth and now I’m expected to explain myself. How do I say this without sounding like a total creep? It takes me a moment before I realize that being completely honest is the only way to go. “You’re just so vibrant all the time. You’re color and light in a world that is otherwise bland and gray.”

&nb
sp; Lily looks like she wants to turn her focus away to anything but me, but she continues to hold my gaze. “That may be one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me.”

  I see the change in her expression immediately after she says it. It’s that look from in the car, in the moment before she dipped her lips to meet mine to engage me in that exhilarating kiss.

  Then I remember where we are: in Lily’s bedroom.

  We need to get out of this room.

  “I have an idea,” I scramble to throw out there, failing to hide the awkwardness in my voice at breaking the strange intensity that was building between us. Lily’s stance becomes more relaxed and relief floods her face as I continue. “I know you said we weren’t tearing down walls on this project, but what if we did?”

  “Tear down walls?” Her lips curve up into a slight smirk. “You construction workers are just as bad as the guys at the auto shop. Always looking to fix what isn’t broken.”

  I hold out my hands in front of me, my declaration of innocence. “Hey, I’m just giving you my professional opinion here.”

  Lily ponders my offer for a moment. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

  I can’t help the satisfied grin on my face as I motion toward the hallway. “Let me show you downstairs.”

  Stepping out the door and away from the bedroom brings me instant relief. As we make our way downstairs, I realize that working on her bedroom may not be a good idea–not now and maybe not ever. The risk of us getting carried away like we did in the car the other night is just too great with us both in the same room with her bed only feet away.

  When we reach the first floor, Lily stands aside with her arms crossed as I make my way to the strange partial dividing wall that separates the dining room from the living room.

  “If we took out this wall, you’d have a much more open floor plan,” I explain as I run my hand over its surface. “You’d also get to play with a sledgehammer during the demolition. That right there should make it well worth doing.”

  “Sledgehammer, huh?” She approaches me and stops in front of the wall, observing it and contemplating what I’ve offered. With a final glance from the dining room to the living room, she turns to me and extends her hand. “Damn you and your professional opinions. You have a deal.”

  I take Lily’s hand in mine, beaming a smile at her which she instantly reciprocates. We’re both in no rush to release our grip of each other. I’m on the verge of lifting her hand to my mouth to give it a gentlemanly kiss when a cell phone rings from across the room.

  Lily curses under her breath as she releases my hand. “Sorry, let me check my phone.”

  The little bubble of perfection that surrounded us pops abruptly as she walks away from me to dig through her purse on the counter. She pulls out her cell phone and glances uneasily at it before making her way toward the stairs.

  “I need to get this if that’s okay?” she asks, her voice sounding a bit strained and uncomfortable. “It’s work calling.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  With a brief smile, Lily bolts up the stairs and answers the call. I hear her talking quietly until a door closes upstairs and I’m left in silence.

  I look to the space around me and can’t help thinking how much I’m going to enjoy this project. Talk about a win-win situation. It’s not just a way to spend time with Lily and get to know her better, but it’s something I can apply myself to. I like the idea of being needed, of having a new purpose, at least for the time being.

  I don’t have a clue how long this will last, but I’m going to enjoy it. Every single minute of it.

  13

  I’ve been watching Lily struggle with the pizza dough she’s trying to make from scratch since the moment she opened the packet of yeast. After the two times she declined my offers to help her along the way, I gave up and kept myself tasked with cleaning up the mess in the dining room from our long day of work.

  “How does Pizza Hut sound for dinner?” Lily suddenly asks from the kitchen. She sighs heavily as she stares down in defeat at the solid clump of dough that refuses to flatten into the pizza pan. “This dough may have uses as a paperweight or a dangerous projectile, but I think it’s a lost cause for pizza.”

  I offer a sympathetic look, feeling slightly guilty for not pushing more to help her along the way. She made it clear all day that she had every intention of making something from scratch for us for dinner, so I didn’t want to ruin that for her before, and I have no intention of ruining it now.

  After throwing the last few tools in the work bucket, I stand up and move toward the kitchen. “Let me help.”

  Lily immediately shakes her head. “No way. You’ve been working like a fiend in here all day. The least I can do is get you something edible for dinner.”

  She catches my arm just as I reach the sink to wash my hands, but I don’t stop what I’m doing as I turn on the water and wash away the dust and grime from my skin. “I don’t mind helping. Besides, you’ve been working right along side me all day.”

  Despite the determined look in Lily’s eyes, she lets go of my arm and steps back. “Okay, okay. I give in.” She huffs a frustrated breath. “I may be good at serving food, but I’m not particularly skilled at making it.”

  The small grin on my face at her admission is completely inadequate to show the elation I feel inside at having this opportunity to show off some of my cooking skills. “Don’t worry. We’ll work on that.”

  “Oh come on.” Lily nudges my shoulder in a playful shove. “You’re already fixing up my place. I’m not letting you take on fixing everything else that needs work in my life.”

  Her words cause a strange feeling to stir within me. It’s familiar from the night I saw her walking alone on the dark road and the night I offered her a ride home. This girl in all her brightness and beauty deserves the entire fucking world. If there’s anything I can do to make her life better, even something as insignificant as replacing shower fixtures in her house or giving her some cooking tips, I’m all for it.

  After ignoring Lily’s comment, I place myself in front of the counter that contains the chaotic remnants of the previous attempt at pizza dough. “Do you have a clean bowl?”

  Lily fetches a large mixing bowl from one of the cabinets and sets it on the counter in front of me as I open a new yeast packet. I’m on autopilot as I go through the motions of making the dough, something I’ve done numerous times before at home with my parents over the years. Lily seems in awe as she watches me, acknowledging every step I explain to her along the way.

  By the time I have the dough pressed out in the pizza pan, Lily looks seriously impressed, and I’m beaming internally with pride.

  “That was amazing,” she comments as I spread pizza sauce over the dough. “You didn’t even follow any instructions.”

  “Family recipe,” I explain before reaching for the mozzarella that Lily shredded for me. “I learned a lot from cooking with my parents over the years. I suppose that is one benefit of living with them for so long.” And having absolutely no friends and nowhere else to go each day, I want desperately to say, but I keep those thoughts to myself.

  “You’re lucky. No one ever taught me a damn thing about cooking from scratch.”

  “I guess I am lucky, then. I’ll get to teach you instead.” I finish sprinkling the mozzarella over the sauce and put the pizza in the oven before looking up to meet Lily’s gaze. I love the content expression on her face. She looks genuinely happy, exactly the way I want her to be.

  A flicker of an idea sparks across Lily’s face, and she steps around me to open the fridge. “I know of at least one thing I can do for you in return.” The beautiful sound of glass coming together strikes through the air around us as she pulls out two frosty bottles of Sam Adams Boston Lager.

  “You’ve been holding out on me,” I tease.

  “I didn’t want the man who’s tearing up portions of my house with dangerous tools consuming alcohol on the job.”


  “Fair enough,” I concede as she opens both bottles and offers one to me. I turn the bottle around thoughtfully in my hand as something occurs to me. “You got these just because of me? You don’t strike me as the Sam Adams type.”

  “I’m not sure I’m any type when it comes to alcohol. I don’t drink it much really.”

  I almost choke on my beer at hearing this. “Isn’t it a requirement for people our age to drink in one form or another?”

  Lily narrows her eyes at me, studying me carefully. “How old are you, anyway?”

  “Twenty-one.”

  The urge to ask for her age is almost overpowering enough to make me risk insulting her by asking, but I don’t even get a chance to act upon it as she says, “I got a few extra years on you. I’m twenty-six.”

  I don’t know why this revelation shocks me, but it does. It takes me a moment to respond. “I never would have guessed you were twenty-six.”

  Lily laughs. “You can pick your jaw up off the floor now. I’m not that old.”

  “You’re practically an old lady,” I comment, hoping desperately that sarcasm will overpower my feeling of embarrassment at my reaction to her age. “How could I possibly have grouped myself in the same age category with you?”

  “Okay. You’ve had your fun.” She leans back on the counter and crosses her arms in front of her.

  “In all seriousness, though,” I begin to say, “the way you’ve talked about just getting out of college recently made me think you were closer to my age. That’s why I’m surprised.”

  “I relocated and worked for a few years to save money before I actually started college. Other than some financial aid I received for tuition, I paid my own way through school.”