“Wait…what?”
“Pizza. Out in the car.”
She shook her head and laughed. “It’s probably frozen by now.”
“That’s what an oven’s for. Come on. I’ll share it with you and we can be neighborly and get to know one another.”
Melanie looked at him and frowned. “I appreciate the offer but…”
Josiah moved quickly and was standing right in front of her in the blink of an eye. “You have to say yes. You owe me.”
Her eyes went wide. “Excuse me?” she asked incredulously. “How is it exactly that I owe you anything?”
“Well if it wasn’t for you, I would be enjoying a hot pizza right now,” he said casually. “Now, thanks to you, I had to get back into sheriff mode and nearly ruined my dinner. So, like I said, you owe me.”
He knew the instant he had her because her lips began to twitch with a smile.
“You’re crazy,” she said, shaking her head as her smile grew.
“Yeah, but we’re neighbors now and soon you’ll be selling me the property. Wouldn’t you like to know it’s going to someone decent?”
“You really don’t want an answer to that one,” she replied and took a step back. “I…um…I haven’t finished unpacking or anything and I don’t know if there are dishes here or if they’re even usable.”
“Not to worry. Why don’t I bring the pizza in and you can heat it up and I’ll go next door and grab plates and napkins and all that good stuff? What do you say?”
She was still chuckling. “I still say you’re crazy but I’m starving so how can I say no?”
He smiled at her, deciding instantly that he liked her and couldn’t wait to get to know a little more about her. “I’ll be right back.”
He stepped out the front door, closing it behind him, and let out a deep breath. Carol Harper was dead and a wave of sadness hit him. No matter what her granddaughter thought, Carol was a good woman, a generous woman.
He just wished he knew why she reneged on the deal she promised to make him for the property. She turned him down time and time again whenever he brought up the subject, but she promised she’d let him be the first to put an offer in when the time came. Unfortunately, she never mentioned she was leaving it to her granddaughter.
Hell, she never even mentioned that she had a granddaughter!
With a shake of his head, he walked over to his car and grabbed the pizza. He chuckled when he looked at the box and had a feeling Melanie Harper was going to give him a little hell for it.
He couldn’t wait.
****
Melanie looked at the box in Josiah’s hands and then back at him. “It’s a frozen pizza.”
He nodded.
“But I…you…” She sighed with frustration. “You led me to believe you had an actual pizza out there in the car!”
“Technically, you just assumed I had a hot pizza in the car,” he corrected.
“No, you said I ruined your dinner. That implied you had purchased the pizza hot and now it was cold.”
He shrugged. “I just meant that because of you I missed eating dinner while watching one of my favorite shows.” He placed the pizza down on the counter and turned to leave. “That one cooks at 400 degrees for about twenty minutes. I’m gonna go home and grab a quick shower and the plates and all and I’ll be back before it’s ready.”
“So now I’m making you dinner?” she demanded, annoyance coursing through her. When he didn’t answer and continued to the door, she decided she’d had enough. “You know what, I think I’ll pass on the neighborly thing. You can take your pizza and make it at home. I’ll find something here.”
Josiah stopped at the door and sighed before turning around to face her. “Are you always this difficult or is it just me?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Melanie looked at him defiantly. “Just you.”
He walked back across the room toward her. “Why? I’m just trying to be a nice guy and offer to share my dinner with you. I’m not seeing a problem here.”
“You broke into my house, disturbed my bath and threatened to arrest me! You don’t see a problem with any of that?”
He chuckled and shrugged again. “I thought we’d moved on from that.”
“It just happened!” she cried.
“Like fifteen minutes ago. Sheesh. Do you always hold grudges?” he asked innocently.
Melanie couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. This guy was clearly a little off his rocker but she was starving and nothing she had with her was going to be as good as the pizza—even though it was a frozen one. Dropping her arms and deciding to stop being defensive, she looked at him and smiled. “I can see there’s no winning with you so I’ll tell you what…go do what you have to do, I’ll make the pizza and we’ll start over when you get back. Deal?”
His smile grew as his deep brown eyes met hers and Melanie felt like every heroine she’d ever written about—her knees went a little weak and her tummy fluttered.
“Deal.”
As soon as he was out the door, Melanie turned the oven on to get things going. In a way, she was grateful for Josiah’s offer of dinner. All she had with her were some cans of soup, granola bars and fruit.
Pizza was infinitely better.
As she waited for the oven to preheat, she let herself go over the events of the last thirty minutes. She honestly thought she was going to have a heart attack when Josiah had burst into the bathroom on her. Here she was in a town she didn’t know and all by herself—and let’s not forget the whole naked-in-the-tub thing—and she was certain she was a goner. Shock was quickly overridden by anger when she realized who he was and what he thought! But looking back, she could now see why he did what he did and was kind of thankful that she now had someone looking out for her while she was here.
Plus, the bonus to it all is that she didn’t have to look for a buyer for the place. All she had to do was get through the damn three months her grandmother had insisted on and then she would be rid of it. Hell, they could probably start drawing up the papers now! Making a mental note to call her grandmother’s lawyer tomorrow, Melanie went and began to unwrap the pizza.
****
The hot water stung for a second before Josiah let himself relax in the small shower. As much as he liked his current home, he couldn’t wait to build something more traditional in size and have a shower big enough for him to stretch out.
And possibly have someone to share it with.
Melanie’s face instantly came to mind. Well, not just her face but the image of her in the bathtub. Yeah, that wasn’t going to go away any time soon. She was beautiful and if he wasn’t careful, he was going to find himself spending the night flirting with her rather than just trying to get to know her.
It was too soon to start thinking of her as anything but his new neighbor, but damn if he could forget everything he had already seen.
Quickly washing up, he wondered about her relationship with her grandmother. There was clearly a backstory there—and not a good one. He couldn’t imagine the woman he had known for so many years doing anything that would make people dislike her, but apparently something had happened to cause a rift between the two of them. He could only hope Melanie would share the story with him.
Turning off the water, he stepped out, dried off and got dressed. In the kitchen, he scooped up some paper plates and napkins along with a couple of cans of soda. Normally he preferred beer with his pizza, but he didn’t want to assume Melanie did too.
Checking the clock he saw twenty minutes had gone by so he made fast work of getting his boots on, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door. It took less than a minute to reach her front door. Rather than letting himself in, he knocked and waited for Melanie to answer.
“So you are familiar with the concept,” she teased when she opened the door and Josiah knew exactly what she meant. Crazy how they seemed in sync like that already.
“I figured I’d try something new this time,” he s
aid with a lopsided grin. When she stepped aside, he walked in and could smell the pizza cooking. He held up the paper goods and drinks. “As promised.”
“Thanks.” She walked ahead of him back to the kitchen. “I have to admit, it wasn’t until after you left that I worried about the oven. I mean, I have no idea the last time it was used or how the electric is in this place.”
Josiah pulled up the stool he’d used earlier. “The place is in decent shape. Carol did a fairly good rehab job on the electric, heating and plumbing about five years ago.”
Melanie looked around the place. “The whole place needs a good rehab.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, most of the stuff in here is pretty outdated but the house itself is structurally sound. The rest is just cosmetic.”
“I suppose. I really didn’t want to invest any money in the place but if I’m going to be stuck here for three months, I want to be able to walk around without cringing.”
“It’s not that bad,” he said lightly.
“Dark paneling on the walls, shag carpet…” Melanie shuttered. “It’s not appealing at all.”
“So do a little work on it and make it livable. It doesn’t have to cost a whole lot,” he suggested.
“Oh, sure. I do all the work and make this place nice and then you reap all the benefits of it,” she said with a laugh. “No thanks. Maybe you should start working on it now since it’s going to be yours in a few months.”
“And let you reap all the benefits of my hard work while I’m living in the tiny house? No thanks.”
They both laughed and when the timer on the oven buzzed, they worked together to get the pizza sliced and set up a place to eat.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I thought maybe we could eat in the living room – you know, on the sofa,” Melanie said. “It’s more comfortable than this old kitchen set.”
Josiah readily agreed. “Not to mention those chairs are really small. I was always afraid to sit in them.”
They moved to the sofa and situated themselves and spent several moments in companionable silence while they ate. After the first slice, Melanie sighed. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“This is so much better than soup. In my mind I had resigned myself to it, but my stomach was begging for something more.”
He laughed. “I’m sure you’ll go shopping tomorrow and start stocking up the place. There’s a grocery store not far from here but if you wanted to go into the city, you’re looking at about an hour’s drive.”
“Yikes,” she said, reaching for her second slice. “I’m not used to being so isolated. Back home, everything is just minutes away from my house. I’m not sure I’ll survive this.”
Shrugging, Josiah reached for another slice. “You get used to it. It’s kind of nice to have the peace and quiet surround you. No noise, no traffic…and in a town this size, everyone knows each other.”
“That just seems weird.”
“But true.” He finished his slice and reached for another. “So what did your grandmother tell you about Silver Bell?”
Melanie finished chewing, grabbed a napkin and wiped her hands before answering. “She never told me anything. I haven’t seen her since I was five.”
Josiah froze and stared at her. “Excuse me?”
She nodded. “It’s true. She and my dad had a falling out and they never saw each other again.” She shrugged and took another slice. “Every couple of years, something would happen and they would try to talk but they’d end up arguing and then eventually they both just stopped.”
“And she didn’t try to have any contact with you?”
Melanie shook her head. “Nope. She cut us both out of her life. I hadn’t really thought about her in years until my dad showed up a week ago to tell me she’d died and then about her will and this place.”
“That is so weird,” he murmured. “And very unlike the woman I knew.”
“Just goes to show how you never really know with some people.”
“I suppose…”
“Anyway, now I have to stay here for three months and then I can sell it according to the will. Kind of lucky that I ran into you, huh?”
“Oh, sure. Now you think it’s luck. A little while ago, you were looking at it completely differently,” he teased.
She laughed. “You barged in while I was naked in the tub! That one’s gonna take a little while to get over!”
He leaned a little closer and waggled his eyebrows at her. “If you’re hinting that you want to even the score and see me naked in the shower, all you have to do is ask!”
Playfully swatting him away, Melanie took a drink of her soda and quickly changed the subject. “So you’re the sheriff of this place, huh?”
He nodded. “Sure am. I take care of the three thousand residents who call Silver Bell home.” He took a drink and looked at her. “It’s not a big city like you’re obviously from, but it’s a good place to live. I hope while you’re here, you actually take some time to look around and meet some people.”
Melanie made a non-committal sound. “How long have you been the sheriff?”
“Five years.”
“Have you lived here your whole life?”
He nodded. “Born and raised. I moved away when I went to college but…the big city life held no appeal to me. Besides, I missed the food, the festivals and the closeness we have here.”
“We are complete opposites,” she said. “Raleigh is perfect for me because it’s a big enough city where there is always something to do, everything is close by and no one has to know me if I don’t want them to. I can blend into the crowd and do my own thing. It’s great.”
“So what is it that you do?”
“I’m a writer,” she replied and looked over and saw he was waiting for more of an explanation—as most people did. “I write contemporary women’s fiction.”
“You mean romance?”
Melanie looked away and reached for her soda and nodded. “Yup. Go ahead and snicker and smirk and get it out of your system.”
Frowning, he asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s what everyone does,” she said mildly. “I say I write romance, people snicker and smirk and automatically assume I write porn or that I’m some sort of hack so…go ahead.”
Putting his beverage down, Josiah turned on the sofa and faced her. “First of all, don’t ever assume I’m like everyone else. I’m not. Secondly, I think it is incredibly cool that you write romance, or that you write anything! Hell, I could barely get through college because I couldn’t write an essay! So the fact that you can sit down and write an entire book? I’m a little in awe of you right now.”
She blushed and Josiah thought it was a good look on her. “Stop, you are not.”
He nodded. “Yes, I am. I’m not a very creative or artistic person. I like dealing with the law because it is what it is —they’re written down and rules are rules and I just follow them.”
“What about hobbies? Do you like to read or paint or build or anything like that?”
He nodded again. “I do enjoy building things – but I follow a plan. I don’t just sit down and come up with something.” He shrugged. “My plan for the property was to buy it and build a house.”
“Really?” she asked, surprise lacing her tone. “You’re going to tear this place down?”
“No,” he said. “I’m going to rehab it a bit and leave it as a guest house.”
“Do you have a big family that you need a guest house?”
He chuckled. “I do, actually. I have two brothers and three sisters.”
Her eyes went wide. “Wow! Seriously?”
“Sure do. What about you? Any siblings?”
She shook her head. “Only child.”
When she didn’t expand, Josiah decided it was a bit of a sore subject. “Anyway, so yes. I have a large family but I’m the only one who stayed here in Silver Bell. That’s why a guest house would be a good thing.”
“Hey, don’t knock the tiny house. It serves a good purpose and it’s more up to date than this place.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Looking down, he saw they had finished the pizza. He took a napkin and wiped his hands, then stood. “Come and see it.”
She looked up at him. “What?”
“Come and see it,” he repeated. “It’s obviously not far and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how it is. You may actually want to change spaces with me,” he said with a wink.
Laughing, Melanie stood. “I doubt it and besides, that would probably go against what my grandmother had in her will. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that and miss out on selling you the place.”
He shrugged. “I’d just have to make an offer to the next owner.”
“Maybe,” she said, tilting her head and studying him. “But they might not be as inclined to sell to you. They may want the place for themselves and tell you and your tiny house to find another place to live.”
Josiah stepped in closer and had to resist the urge to touch her. “I’m beginning to think you have a thing against my tiny house,” he teased. “I’m going to enjoy watching you gush over it.”
“Gush?” she laughed but once her eyes met his, she almost instantly sobered. “I don’t gush.”
“We’ll see,” he said. And then because he simply couldn’t help himself, he reached for her hand and pulled her toward the door. “Come on.”
Neither bothered with a coat and Melanie let out a little shriek at the cold once they were outside.
“Oh stop,” he said, gently pulling her along. “In ten feet you’ll be inside.” And sure enough, they reached the house and he went up the three steps, pulled the door open and motioned for her to go inside.
She paused in the doorway. “Oh.” It was a breathy sigh.
He grinned because even though most people had that exact response when they first walked in, he somehow knew her response was genuine. He nudged her in a little more and closed the door. “Welcome to my home,” he said, his voice low and a bit husky.
Christmas In Silver Bell Falls Page 3
