Fringe Benefits

by Sandy James

  Three weeks. The perfect amount of time to decide if this infatuation was simply that.

  * * *

  Nate smiled at something Ben Carpenter said. The man had a great sense of humor, as did the other two guys who were clearly taking Nate’s measure.

  He tried to keep all their relationships straight in his mind. Connor Wilson belonged to the redhead, Jules. They were parents to the two dark-haired boys. They sold real estate, and she was taking Nate out to look at houses Monday. Seemed like a nice couple for salespeople. Most were pushy; these two weren’t. Very, very helpful, but definitely not pushy.

  Ben went with Mallory, the thin lady with the great smile. She’d helped him with locker duty, and for a tiny thing, she could use her voice to get a kid’s attention pretty damn quick. Ben was the one who was going to help if Nate got a fixer-upper. Since he couldn’t afford something like the Ashfords’ home, he hoped Ben was as frugal as Nate’s mother had taught him to be.

  The cute brunette with the curly hair—Beth—was married to Robert Ashford. He was the one Dani said used to be a teacher but now built homes, and Beth still taught at Douglas. He’d constructed Dani’s house. Maybe one day she’d let Nate take a tour so he could judge the quality for himself.

  “I should’ve asked for an ID,” Ben quipped as he pointed at Nate’s longneck.

  Connor grinned. “You hear that all the time, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Nate took a pull of the beer. “But it’s my face, so I’m stuck with it.”

  “You’ll be glad in ten years.” Ben raked his fingers through his dark hair, drawing Nate’s attention to the gray at the temples. “Another five, I’ll be entirely gray.”

  Robert shook his head. “Takes longer than that. I had gray at your age. Over forty now, and”—he rubbed his temple—“hasn’t gone beyond my sideburns.”

  “Besides,” Connor added, “he’s a blond. Won’t go gray as fast as guys like us with dark hair.”

  Ben scoffed as he flipped a slab of ribs. “We sound like a bunch of women, bitching about our gray hair. Next thing you know we’ll be talking about gravity making our boobs sag and how bad our hot flashes are.” He inclined his head toward where the four women sat in comfortable chairs at the far end of the deck. “Uh-oh, Nate.”

  The teasing tone of Ben’s voice kept Nate from being concerned. “Uh-oh what?”

  “All four of them are staring at you. There’s mischief afoot.”

  “He’s right.” Robert grabbed a beer from the cooler. “The Ladies can get themselves into a jam eight ways from Sunday, especially if they’re conspiring.”

  “So the Ladies are troublemakers?” Although that had been his original guess, it didn’t jibe with what most of the people at school had to say about them. The women were well respected, as were their husbands.

  When Dani had extended the invitation to come to the cookout at the Ashfords’ house, he’d jumped at the chance to spend more time with her. She might be resisting going on a serious date, but he would wear her down. It had been a long time since he’d felt such a strong attraction to a woman. Only Kat had ever gotten that kind of reaction.

  Kat had been his one and only long-term relationship. He’d only dated sporadically in high school, and he was the polar opposite of a ladies’ man. Plagued with awkwardness his first three years of high school, he’d waited a lot longer than most guys for his growth spurt. Between his junior and senior years, his body had cooperated, adding five inches of height and destroying his knees in the process. He didn’t truly hit his stride until college, and he’d met Kat not long after he’d started classes at IU. She was the only woman he’d ever loved, and at the time, Nate had thought she was “the one.”

  He’d been dead wrong.

  “Did you like IU?” Connor asked.

  “Yeah,” Nate replied. “Liked it enough to stay almost six years.”

  “Change majors?”

  Nate nodded. “Senior year, I had an epiphany when I took a work study as a teaching assistant for one of my professors. I loved being in front of a class. It felt… right. Since I was almost done with the requirements, I went ahead and got my bachelors in English; then I decided to go back for a teaching license and a master’s in education. My mom objected, but I knew what I wanted.”

  “She’s a teacher, isn’t she?” Ben asked with a grin. “Mallory keeps telling Amber to do anything but teach. My daughter’s got a mind of her own, though. Seems like every teacher is steering college kids away from the profession.”

  “Can you blame them?” An acerbic chuckle slipped from Robert’s lips. “I sure as hell don’t miss the bullshit. You know, teaching used to be a great profession. Now it’s just mountains of paperwork, crappy pay, and people thinking a computer can do your job better than you.”

  “Easy, boys,” Connor cautioned. “You’re gonna scare the kid.”

  Kid? Was it a blessing or a curse to always look younger than he was? He was twenty-four, and everyone told him he acted a lot older. But that damn baby face…

  Nate tried to turn the topic. “Amber?”

  “My daughter from my first marriage. She’s a sophomore at Douglas this year. Wants to be a teacher, no matter how much Mallory tells her not to.”

  Nate snapped his fingers. “Amber Carpenter. Fourth period. Didn’t make the connection ’cause I’m still learning names.”

  “Takes a few weeks,” Robert said. “I sure don’t miss having to memorize a hundred-plus new names every year.”

  “Not talking about the students,” Nate teased. “Talking about all of you.”

  At least the men laughed.

  “Why’d you leave teaching?” Nate asked Robert.

  Shooting a grin at Connor, Robert replied, “This cocky bastard breezed into town and turned my life upside down.”

  Connor let out a chuckle. “Now, Robert… you need to blame Tracy as much as you do me. Barrett Foods is what turned your life upside down.”

  It wasn’t hard for Nate to fill in the rest of the story. “Barrett Foods. I’ve got tons of kids whose parents work there. I take it you built most of their houses.”

  Robert replied with a nod.

  “Do you like being a builder?”

  “Love it,” Robert replied. He inclined his head at Ben. “We both thrive on breathing sawdust and sheetrock powder.”

  “I envy that,” Nate said. “My dad isn’t very handy with tools. My stepdad is, but he and Mom travel a lot. If I’m gonna buy a house, I can guaran-damn-tee you it’ll need work, so I’ll have to get my hands dirty. Doubt my stepdad will be able to help much. He and Mom are usually on the road to somewhere new.”

  “I’ll be glad for any help you wanna give, and I’ll teach you anything you want to learn.” Ben slathered a little more barbeque sauce on the ribs and then shut the lid to the stainless steel grill. Then he sat down on the bench and glanced at Robert and Connor before he leveled a hard stare at Nate. “Time for the tougher questions.”

  Bracing himself, Nate took a long swig of his beer. “You want to know about me and Dani.”

  Connor let out another laugh. “Damn, kid. You really cut to the chase.”

  All Nate did was shrug. He’d learned quite a bit from watching his parents’ marriage fall apart. The biggest lesson was to always be honest, something his father had a hard time doing, even with his sons. “There’s nothing to tell. Not really. Dani and I are colleagues. Technically, she’s my boss. Or so she keeps reminding me…”

  “Heard you didn’t worry about that when you got locked in the supply closet,” Robert drawled. “Got quite cozy, didn’t you? And then you took her on a date to Aspen Grill.”

  So the Ladies shared information not only among themselves but also with their husbands. Another shot of envy sliced through Nate. How wonderful would it be to have friends? Especially friends who could be trusted with secrets?

  Nate’s closest friend had always been his brother, Patrick. Come to think of it, Nate had been such a
horribly shy geek and had never made any close friendships. Unless he counted the people he killed daily in online role-playing games. Cyberfriends hardly counted.

  One of the reasons he’d chosen to be a teacher was because he wanted to help kids who were like he’d been. Alone. Feeling like a misfit. Wondering when or if life would really begin.

  “No girlfriends back at IU?” Connor asked.

  Nate shook his head, biting his tongue against the overwhelming need to talk to someone about Kat.

  “You’re holding back,” Ben insisted. “What don’t you want us to know?”

  “Mind you,” Connor added, “keeping secrets has a way of biting a guy in the ass.”

  That was a loaded line if he’d ever heard one. “It’s… embarrassing. Makes my life sound like a soap opera.”

  Robert plopped onto the bench next to where Nate had taken a seat. “We love soap operas. So spill.”

  “Would you believe my ex-fiancée is now my stepsister?”

  The three men stared at him in stunned silence.

  Nate let a wry grin spread over his face. “I know, right? Very Greg and Marcia Brady.” He figured now that he’d opened the can of worms, he might as well tell them the whole story. “Kat and I had no idea our parents had even met when we started dating. My mom hit it off with her dad when we were a world away in Bloomington. I liked a girl in class and worked up the guts to ask her out, and we clicked. Imagine everyone’s surprise when we all got together for Parents’ Day lunch.”

  Ben let out a low whistle. “Oh boy. Fireworks?”

  “Like the Fourth of July.” Funny, but the memories made Nate smile now. It had been almost four years since he and Kat had called it quits. Maybe he’d finally moved on for good.

  “No women since then?” Connor asked.

  “Dates, but nothing serious.” Nate’s gaze was drawn to the Ladies, who were meandering from the gazebo to the deck. He’d wondered if he’d ever get close enough to Dani to tell her everything about his relationship with Kat. Looked like he might have to since he’d shared it with the guys, which made his heart beat just a little faster.

  What would she think?

  The kiss they’d shared haunted him, but that wasn’t the only reason he wanted to know Danielle Bradshaw better. The more chances they had to chat, the more he realized exactly how much they had in common.

  Both were morning runners, enjoyed listening to R & B, and worshiped Mexican food. Then there were books, something he loved sharing with her. They could talk plots and themes and characters in a way he’d never known with anyone else. Nate wanted to learn more about Dani because he’d loved everything he’d seen so far. And he’d only scratched the surface.

  And that kiss…

  “Ladies.” As Ben lifted his beer in a toast to the women, he grinned. “You’re joining us at the perfect time. We were playing Twenty Questions with Nate, and he was just telling us about being engaged to his sister.”

  So much for deciding when to share the story with Dani… “Stepsister,” Nate hurried to explain.

  While the other Ladies’ reactions might have been humorous, all Nate cared about was the stunned expression on Dani’s face.

  “What the heck?” With a cock of her head, Jules gave him a goofy grin. “Are you from Kentucky or something?”

  “Ha-ha, Jules,” Nate said dryly. He explained the situation, hoping Dani wouldn’t think poorly of him.

  “That sounds like a bad Lifetime movie plot,” Beth said. She sat down next to Robert and leaned against him as he draped his arm over her shoulder.

  At least they were teasing, which meant they weren’t condemning him. “Let’s just say we were the butt of quite a few jokes.”

  Mallory tossed her can into a green recycle container in the corner of the deck. Then she nodded at her husband as he held up a can of Diet Coke he’d fished out of the cooler. “I can’t imagine what family holidays are like for all of you.”

  “It’s really not that bad now,” Nate said. “Kat’s off ‘finding herself’ overseas.”

  Robert gathered his brows. “What about your dad? What’s he got to say about all this?”

  “He’s kinda out of the picture,” Nate replied. “He and the trophy wife are busy raising my brothers. They’re only six and three.”

  “And what exactly does one say to that?” Ben said.

  “What did Kate’s—” Connor began.

  “Kat,” Nate corrected.

  “Kat’s mom say?”

  “Hell, what did her dad say?” Robert asked. “I’d think he’d want to skin you alive.”

  Since the Spanish Inquisition had clearly been revived, Nate went with the flow. “Kat’s mom passed away when she was in high school. She had cancer.”

  The color drained from Mallory’s face, and she went to her husband, settling herself in his lap while Ben wrapped his arms around her.

  Nate felt like an idiot. “I said something wrong.”

  “Not at all,” Mallory said, leaning her head against her husband’s shoulder. “I’m a breast cancer survivor. It’s just hard to hear about people who don’t make it.”

  His face flushed hot, and he wished one day he’d actually learn not to insert his foot in his mouth so damn often. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I shouldn’t…”

  “It’s fine, Nate. Really it is. You couldn’t have known.”

  “Tell us about Kat’s dad. Your stepfather,” Ben said, steering the conversation away from the hot-button topic.

  “He wasn’t too keen on Kat and me, but Mark—my stepdad, Mark Brennan—got over it.” While there was more to the story, Nate was quite ready to stop being the center of attention.

  He might have designs on dating Dani, but he didn’t have a clue as to whether she was entirely interested in him. There was that fantastic kiss, but nothing since. No sign that she wanted more from him. Sure, she’d invited him to this cookout, but that might have been because she felt sorry for him. He was all alone in Cloverleaf, living in a fleabag extended-stay hotel.

  Beth smiled sweetly, looking as innocent as a child. From what he’d learned, she was Dani’s best friend and a person who bordered on sainthood. “Since we’re putting poor Nate under the microscope, Dani,” she said, “perhaps now is a great time to ask him to move in with you!”

  Chapter Seven

  The flush started on Dani’s cheeks before spreading out to her ears and down her neck. “Bethany!”

  There was absolutely no doubt that Beth had worded her outburst perfectly to give Nate the wrong impression. The man wasn’t an idiot. He had to know that Dani wasn’t really going to ask him to move in with her, but there was a note of confusion on his handsome face. As well as a subtle hint of a smile.

  “Are you looking for a roommate?” he asked, his tone full of hope.

  “Yes. Um, no. Um…” Dani took a deep breath and tried to tamp down her embarrassment. “I have a basement apartment and—”

  Nate jumped to his feet and held out his hand as though he wanted her to shake it. “Taken! When can I move in?”

  She clasped her hands to keep from immediately taking his and begging him to move in today, to get his stuff right that very moment.

  The implications stopped her.

  Cloverleaf was a typical small town, rife with gossip. If she offered her basement to Nate, everyone at Douglas High would know about the arrangement in three minutes flat. Added to the “closet clinch,” they’d be the center of conversation all the way to Christmas break.

  There were also meals to consider. Dani’s basement had been designed to house exchange students, not a full-time tenant. She’d wanted the students to have privacy, but she’d also wanted them to have the complete experience of being part of an American family. While the “family” would only be her, she planned on her exchange students spending time with her at meals, going to events, even riding to school. So she’d left out the one important thing that would make her basement a true apartment—a full kitc
hen. Although there was a small kitchenette, she’d wanted most meals to be shared in her gourmet kitchen.

  Her feelings about Nate moving in were in direct opposition. Part of her wanted to see his face every day; part of her feared what would happen if she spent that much time with him. She already craved his company almost as much as she did chocolate.

  “What’s the matter?” Nate awkwardly withdrew his hand and knit his brows.

  “Um…” As if she could be honest with him.

  You scare the shit outta me, Nate Ryan.

  He held his hand over his heart. “I promise the following: no wet towels on the floor, no unfolded laundry left in the dryer, no leaving the toilet seat up, no—”

  With a shake of her head, Dani held up a hand. “Stop!”

  “I mean it, though,” he insisted. “Every word of it. I’ll be the perfect tenant.”

  She should turn him down. She should just shake her head and be done with it. She should use a little common sense and let Jules help him find a new place. What fell out of her mouth was as much a surprise to her as it probably was to everyone else at the cookout. “It might work…”

  “You said you needed the money,” Mallory chimed in.

  “Yeah,” Jules added. “You’re supposed to be saving for your grand tour of Europe.”

  They had her there. Although she was paid more than the poor newbies like Nate, the money would come in handy. Seeing places like London and Paris with her own eyes was at the top of her bucket list.

  Nate took her hand, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “I’d be really grateful, Dani. And it will only be temporary.” His eyes shone with humor as the corner of his mouth rose with a lopsided smile. “ ‘The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.’ ”

  The man could fucking quote Homer. How could she ever turn him down?

  “Fine. You can live in my basement.”

  * * *

  “This is the best way for you to get inside for now. I’ll talk to Ben about getting you a private entrance.” Dani tried to control the nervous tremor in her voice. She punched the code into the remote garage door opener and waited while the door rose.