Flirting with Destiny

by Christyne Butler

  Dev was surprised he’d actually said those words aloud. His brother Nolan had said the being selfish part when he’d stopped by Dev’s office last week to talk about the ongoing situation with the helicopter, which was due to be delivered any day now.

  “Have you ever heard that song ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’?”

  “Sure, but it isn’t a question of what I want, it’s what I need,” he shot back. Deciding to back off for the moment, Dev put a bit of space between them. The last thing he wanted was to scare her off, especially now that he knew how much he did need her.

  In more ways than one.

  “Right now I need to work on getting better. I told you about my PT sessions, but I want to include your idea of aquatic therapy in my recovery. That class with the grandmas was tough, but not taxing. I want to do more of it.”

  “But you told your mother you weren’t going back to the fitness center.”

  “No, what I have in mind is working out in my family’s pool. It’s in ground, heated and best of all, private. Or as private as it can be considering the size of my family and the fact that someone is always around. I’ve talked this over with my physical therapist, who agrees it’s a good idea. I’ve also done some research online about the variety of workouts that can be done in a pool and—”

  “Dev, aquatic therapy isn’t something you should try on your own. One wrong move and you could do some serious damage.”

  “So come over and help me out. Just as friends.”

  “Friends?”

  Dev’s mouth rose in a smile. “For now.”

  Chapter Ten

  She wasn’t coming. She wasn’t coming. She wasn’t coming.

  The mantra played over and over inside Dev’s head as his body cut through the warm water of the family pool. He’d finished loosening up and was now on lap number twelve, which wasn’t saying much as he was only going from side to side in the shallow end.

  Even after a week of intensive pool work he didn’t trust himself not to get into trouble in the deep end if he swam the entire length of the pool.

  Still, it felt good to do the standard crawl stroke instead of that paltry breaststroke Tanya had insisted he start with.

  He stretched one arm overhead before slicing back into the water in a rhythmic motion, then switched to the other arm, back and forth, back and forth.

  Any discomfort through his shoulders was barely noticeable, as long as he didn’t stay at this for very long. Due to the width of the pool, he only completed about three complete arm cycles before his fingertips touched the opposite wall and he headed back the other way, but it was enough.

  For now.

  She wasn’t coming. She wasn’t coming. She wasn’t coming.

  Deep down, he knew that wasn’t true.

  Tanya was dedicated to helping him. They’d been working together for the past ten days, except for Tuesday when they were rained out and yesterday when he’d been at the hospital all day getting scheduled tests to track his progress.

  So why did he think she wouldn’t show up?

  Because the chant was a superstitious ritual he’d gotten used to practicing daily to ensure that she would.

  Yeah, he didn’t quite understand the logic, either.

  “Hey, I thought the object of you being in there was to work.”

  Dev turned around.

  Liam stood next to the pool, dressed casually in jeans and a ratty T-shirt, a tool belt hung low on his hips and dark sunglasses shading his eyes from the sun. Unlike Dev, the man hadn’t bothered to shave, seeing how it was Saturday, and was looking a little scruffy.

  Then again, Liam wasn’t hoping to have a beautiful woman show up any minute.

  “I am working,” Dev shot back, even though he’d been standing on the far side of the pool, lost in thought. “You playing handyman today?”

  Liam nodded, jerking his head toward his place down by the lake. “The exterior is finally done and the inside walls are up, but I want to do most of the electrical work myself.”

  “Company president, certified electrician and a former rodeo star. Geez, bro, you do it all. I’d like to help,” he said, offering a simple shrug. A pain-free shrug. Maybe Tanya’s suggestions really were paying off. “But you know how it is.”

  “Yeah, I know. You’ve got a sexy Baywatch babe on the way.”

  Dev smiled, thinking about the red one-piece swimsuit Tanya wore when they worked in the pool. It was modest by most standards, but with her toned body, long legs and tiny waist, she looked just like a character from that beachy lifeguard show from his youth.

  “If she shows up,” he said, his grin slipping a bit as he kept his tone light. She’d never been this late before. “So am I going to have an audience again today? Katie and Laurie actually took their lunch break out on the deck yesterday.”

  “Yeah, I saw them sitting out here. I planned to join them but got caught on a conference call,” Liam said. “Nolan just left with the kids. Abby is heading to the library and the twins have a ball game. The folks are around, but Dad said he’s going to give me a hand. I’m sure Mom will be taking a seat on the deck to watch.”

  What else was new? It made it tough, but not impossible, to lay on the charm while being chaperoned. “Great.”

  His brother moved to the edge of the pool and crouched, making a motion with his hand that he wanted Dev to move closer.

  Dev complied, heading across the pool, enjoying the heat of the sun on his bare back.

  Thanks to regaining some of his muscle tone, he’d decided to lose the wet shirt a couple of days ago. Not that enjoying the feel of Tanya’s hands on his bare skin had anything to do with his decision.

  Or the appreciative look in her eyes when he caught her staring.

  The first time, he’d started to explain away the scars, but Tanya waved off his words, telling him they were hardly noticeable.

  That was a lie, but he’d liked hearing it.

  “So what’s up?” he asked, noticing how his brother’s good-natured smile had disappeared. “You got serious all of a sudden.”

  Liam yanked his glasses off and tucked them on top of his head. “The new helo arrived yesterday. The mechanics at the airstrip have given the all clear. Bryant and Laurie are taking it for an inaugural flight today.”

  Trying to ignore the hard lump that formed in his stomach, Dev pulled in a deep breath through his nose and nodded. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  He and the rest of family had declared a truce about the new helicopter since he’d stormed out of Liam’s office a couple of weeks ago. But he still wasn’t happy about his brothers flying, even if he’d accepted there was nothing he could do about it.

  Just like they’d accepted that nothing they said was going to get him behind the controls again.

  “Bry said they’d probably fly over the house. We didn’t want you to be surprised by that.”

  Dev nodded again, pushing off from the side of the pool to float backward toward the center. “Yeah, okay.”

  Liam stared at him for a moment and Dev thought he was going to say something more, but then he rose to his full height, putting his glasses back in place. “Hey, make sure you tell Tanya if she decides to give another yoga class, I might join in.”

  His brother’s words surprised Dev and he stopped his underwater hand motions. Sinking quickly, he put his feet down, but not before catching a mouthful of water. He choked, spitting it out as Liam laughed.

  “Careful, bro. You’re supposed to swim in that stuff, not drink it.”

  Dev shot his brother a look as he remembered the unplanned yoga class Tanya had given when their aquatic therapy was rained out last Tuesday.

  There were six women, including his mother and two women who were clients of the company, in
town to discuss vacation homes, who couldn’t find a yoga class scheduled at the fitness center. Tanya’s impromptu session had quickly become the talk of the office.

  “Maybe I should put off my plans, change into my swim trunks and join you two,” Liam continued. “Not that I need any therapy, but that girl can certainly rock a bathing suit—”

  “Hey!” Dev angled his hand into the water with a sharp whack, sending a generous splash of water in his brother’s direction. “Murphy rule number 9! You’re not allowed to think about Tanya with her clothes off. You’re not even allowed to think about her when she’s fully clothed.”

  “I guess it’s too late to say the same thing to you.”

  The deep voice behind him had Dev spinning around, the move causing a familiar twinge across his back.

  Mac stood at the pool’s edge, wearing cargo shorts and a Hawaiian print shirt so bright Dev wished he’d grabbed his shades before getting into the water.

  A quick look around told him Tanya was nowhere to be seen.

  “Hey, Mac. What are you doing here?”

  “Playing lifeguard?” Mac kicked off his shoes, sat on the pool’s edge and dropped his legs into the water. “Geez, this is supposed to be cool and refreshing. The water is hotter than my morning java.”

  “It’s that way on purpose,” Dev said.

  “Hey, Mac,” Liam called from his side of the pool.

  Mac offered a wave in return and Dev glanced over his shoulder, but his brother was already heading across the yard toward his log home.

  Glad when the painful twinges of a minute ago didn’t reappear, Dev made his way over to his friend and propped his arms on the side of the pool. “So, did you come by for a reason?”

  “That piece of junk Tanya drives is giving her trouble again, so I offered to bring her over.”

  She’s here.

  Heat radiated through Dev’s chest that had nothing to do with the water’s temperature. He straightened and braced his hands on his hips, trying to appear casual. “Ah, then where is she?”

  “Inside,” Mac said, jerking his thumb at the house, “dropping off a couple of her fruit smoothies to your mother.”

  Milkshakes laced with a bunch of Chinese herbs. No, thanks.

  Dev had to admit the first time she’d offered him one overloaded with pineapple, it had looked good. But once she’d rattled off the list of ingredients, he took a pass no matter how hard she’d tried to persuade him that the herbs didn’t taste bad and weren’t addictive.

  “She says you’re making a lot of progress.” Mac drew his dark sunglasses down to the tip of his nose and peered at Dev over the top edge. “Are you? Making progress?”

  Dev could tell from the older man’s tone that he wasn’t talking about his physical health. “Look, I know you overheard that crack I made to Liam about thinking about Tanya in a certain state of undress—”

  “Yeah, like I said, it’s probably too late to ask you to follow that same rule, huh?”

  “We’re just—”

  “Friends.” Mac cut him off again. “Yeah, she’s shoveling the same load of...er, bull.”

  “What? You don’t believe her?”

  “Her? I guess so. You? No way. I know you too well.”

  Dev frowned. “Yeah, well, other than working with her right here in this pool—with plenty of adult supervision most days—we haven’t spent any time together.”

  “Not for lack of trying on your part,” Mac pointed out, pushing his sunglasses back into place. “Dinner, movies, a drive in the country.”

  Dev wasn’t sure what bothered him more. The fact that Tanya kept turning him down whenever he asked her out on a date or that she was sharing all of this with his buddy.

  Who also happened to be her grandfather.

  Okay, he was bothered more by her negative responses. “All of which she’s turned down with a very polite ‘no, thanks.’”

  “She went to bingo the other night for the second time.”

  “Yeah, just me, her and the rest of Destiny.”

  He and Tanya had sat with his mom and her crew while Zip played master of ceremonies for the evening.

  Granted, the guy had checked with him first.

  Attending training sessions with the fire department’s competition team out at the fairgrounds earlier in the week and finding Zippenella on the team hadn’t surprised him. He’d waited for a comment about Tanya from the guy, but Zip been all business as the team practiced for the various events while Dev offered suggestions to the rookies and controlled the stop watch.

  Not exactly the way he’d wanted to be part of the team, but he had to admit it’d been great to be with the crew again. Even if they were already pushing him to join them at the competition as an honorary member.

  He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t stand there, even without the cane that he hadn’t used once in the past four days, and watch his friends do what he’d excelled at this time last year.

  “Tanya got a package in the mail yesterday. From that fancy school she’s going to next month.”

  Mac’s words brought Dev back to the here and now. “Oh, yeah? Good for her.”

  “Lots of information about classes and stuff. But she also found out the girl she was going to room with has backed out. The school is trying to find someone else, but there are no guarantees.”

  “That’s too bad.” Unable to take the sun’s rays reflecting off the water and the rainbow of colors on Mac’s shirt any longer, Dev motioned for his sunglasses on a nearby table. “I’m sure she’ll get it figured out between now and the end of June.”

  His buddy leaned back, grabbed the glasses and tossed them in his direction. “You’re okay with her going?”

  Dev had to backpedal a few steps to catch them, but he still paused for a moment before answering and then sliding them on. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You tell me.”

  Folding his arms across his chest, Dev pulled in a deep breath and slowly released it, despite his clenched jaw. He should’ve figured this was coming. He and Mac had run into each other a few times, but they hadn’t spoken about Tanya since that first day.

  Why Mac felt it necessary to issue his warning again, Dev didn’t know. He thought they’d both said their piece the first time around. “Just because we’re friends—”

  “And you’re trying to be friendlier—”

  “Look, I know how important that school is to her. I know she’s wanted to go there ever since she became a licensed acupuncturist.” Dev made his way back through the water until he stood next to his buddy, his fingers biting into the heated flagstone that rimmed the sides of the pool. “I know firsthand how great she is at everything she does, except the needle stuff of course, but don’t think I haven’t noticed how much better your hands have looked since she’s been sticking you on a daily basis.”

  “That’s true,” Mac said, curling his fingers into easy fists.

  “I also know she got into this business thanks to falling off the stage and injuring her back during her showgirl days, how her last boyfriend treated her like crap after she lost her job, on Christmas Eve no less, that she wants to own an orange calico cat someday just because she thinks they’re pretty and her obsession with Justin Timber-whoever started back when he was part of...In Tune or whatever they were called.”

  Dev paused to catch his breath, letting the silence build. There was a ton of other things about Tanya that he could share, both important and insignificant, thanks to her natural ability to distract him from the pain during the first couple of sessions with senseless chatter.

  But soon their talks had changed from discussing the weather and her favorite music to sharing memories of their childhood to their plans for the future.

  “Your point is?”

  “We ar
e friends, Mac. I like her and I think she likes me. If we become anything else during the rest of her stay in Destiny, it’s no one’s business but ours.”

  Dev held out his hand. “I need you to be okay with that because you and I are still going to be friends once she heads across the pond.” The thought of her going anywhere, though, twisted his gut. “Right?”

  Mac stared at Dev’s outstretched hand for a moment, then took it in a strong handshake that showed just how much Tanya’s treatments had helped his arthritis. “Okay, we’re good. I just got worried because of some of the things she was saying last night.”

  About him? About them? Intrigued, Dev couldn’t help but ask, “What was that?”

  “I don’t know, it wasn’t anything specific. This roommate snafu is bugging her, especially if she’s going to have to pay for the flat, I think she called it, by herself. I’m planning to send her off with a sizable check if I can get away with it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “When I told how much I was giving her, she got upset and insisted I only pay her the regular hourly rate.” Mac paused, then peered at him again over the top of his sunglasses. “She did mention she’s been helping you out as a friend, not an employee, so I’m guessing you aren’t paying her.”

  “That’s right. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help out, as well. As a friend.” An idea started to form and Dev couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it until now. “The business has some contracts in the UK, especially now that Ian Somersby, that Scottish actor Liam met last month, is definitely interested in us building his log mansion on land outside of Castle Douglas in the south of Scotland.”

  “So?”

  “Maybe I can find her a place in London. Something close to the school, but still affordable. Hell, I could write it off as a business expense and she wouldn’t owe me anything.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Mac said. “But I don’t know. Tanya might not like it.”

  “Why?” The more Dev thought about this, the better it sounded. “I mean, it’s the least I can do. She’s helping me, I can help her. It’s no big deal—”