We get to our feet and walk toward the sound. Three steps into the family room, we’re met with water under our feet. It’s coming from the hallway. “Holy shit!” Gabby says, surveying the scene from beside me. There’s at least an inch of water.
“A pipe must have burst in the bathroom.”
“What do we do?” Gabby shrieks.
“I don’t know! Turn off the water?” After our grandparents passed away, the house was left to me, Gabby and Diego. A small mortgage remains that we’ve been able to cover without help from Diego since he lives an hour away, but something like this could set us way back.
I run toward the bathroom in my bare feet, sloshing water on the walls as I go. This is bad. This is really bad.
“I’m going to go get Mr. Hernandez,” Gabby shouts from behind me. He’s our neighbor and the resident handyman, bless his heart.
Sure enough, the leak is coming from somewhere behind the toilet, I think. It’s hard to tell for sure with gallons of water pouring onto the floor. The entire house is flooding and I don’t know how to stop it.
Mr. Hernandez does. He knows how to turn off the water main but the damage is done. Water is everywhere. The next hour, or maybe it’s two, goes by in a blur as more neighbors come to our rescue with instructions, guidance, and support. I find our insurance information and make a phone call. As I hang up, my cell rings. I answer it without looking at the screen, thinking the adjuster forgot to tell me something.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Alejandra.”
Tears prick the backs of my eyelids at the sound of Drew’s solid and friendly voice. Which is silly. And confusing. “Hey, Drew.” My voice is shaky.
From my spot at the living room window, I look around. Landon is here, at Gabby’s side, helping her salvage whatever she can from her room. A van has arrived, and several people in matching monogrammed shirts pull large fans from the back of the vehicle. There’s a bird in the tree outside the window, sitting on a small nest I hadn’t noticed before. Keeping her eggs warm while my bare feet are freezing cold.
“I called to see if you’re okay. I saw the photo of us with my grandmother got some media attention. I’m sorry about that. Usually, I fly under the radar.”
I sniffle.
“Shit. I’m really sorry. Please don’t—”
“It’s not the picture,” I say. “A pipe burst and our house just flooded.”
He lets out a disheartened breath and curses. “You and your sister are okay, though?”
“Yes.”
“What’s your address? I’m coming over.”
I wipe at the corner of my eye. “You don’t need to come over.”
“Yes, I do. The address?” His tone leaves no room for argument so I give him the address.
A few minutes later I’m still standing at the window when Gabby wraps her arms around my shoulders from behind. I reach up and hold on to her forearm. “We can’t stay in the house while all the cleanup and repairs happen,” she says.
“I know.”
“I’m going to go stay with Landon. You’re welcome to stay there, too.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll call Jane or Sutton.” If Diego lived closer I’d stay with him.
“I understand.” She sounds disappointed.
“It’s only temporary,” I say to make her feel better. To make me feel better, too. This has been our home for twenty years. The only one to hold all my memories. I don’t remember Puerto Rico.
“I know. Will you call now? Landon needs to get going as soon as I’m done packing a few more things and I don’t want to leave until I know where you’ll be.”
“Sure.”
She kisses my cheek, says, “Thanks,” and walks away.
I call Jane first. Her cousin is flying into town from Florida tomorrow—a surprise visit with no end date. Jane’s apartment is really small so cramming three of us into her one-bedroom place is not going to work. She tells me I’m still welcome, but I tell her I’m going to call Sutton, so no worries. Jane would no doubt want me to share her room and give her cousin the couch, which would mean listening to her snore and getting no sleep and I need uninterrupted Zs or I’m very grouchy. (FYI, she gets very touchy when we tell her she snores and argues she does not.)
Sutton answers her phone on the second ring. “Hey, chica!” she says.
“Hey,” I say in return and then tell her about the flood.
“I’m so sorry, Allie.”
“Thanks. So, Gabby and I have to move out of the house for a little while and I was wondering if I could come stay with you?”
She sighs. “You know I’d have you stay with me in a heartbeat, but…”
“But?” My stomach drops. I thought for sure it wouldn’t be a problem. I have nowhere else to go. The last thing I want is to stay with Landon.
“I got a kitten!” Sutton shouts. “She is the cutest thing ever and just sort of fell in my lap. I wasn’t planning on getting a pet, but I walked by one of those adoption setups yesterday afternoon and she was the last one left and I couldn’t resist.”
“What’s her name?” I ask.
“Fluffy,” she says, and even though I can’t see Sutton, I know she’s making an apologetic face. Because Fluffy implies the kitten has lots of fur and I’m very allergic to cats.
“Well, I look forward to meeting her.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ll figure something out.”
Sutton tells me a little more about Fluffy and then we hang up.
The hardwood floor is already buckling in several places as I walk through puddles to my bedroom. The cleanup and restoration crew the insurance company sent over is sweeping water out the front door, placing the large fans around the house, and taking assessment of structural damage.
Fortunately, the water barely reached inside my room so I pull my dry suitcase out of the closet, put it on the bed, and start filling it with clothes. My back is to the doorway when I feel a presence behind me. I can’t explain how I know it’s Drew and not any of the other half-dozen people in the house, but I do.
“Alejandra,” he says.
I turn. “Hi.” With all the wet ugly in the house, he is a gorgeous and welcome sight dressed in a charcoal button-down and black dress pants that he’s rolled up to his knees. No socks. No shoes. I can’t help it. I smile in appreciation at him. “Welcome to Flood Central.”
His eyes drift over me, head to toe. I’m not sure if he’s checking me out to check me out, or scanning my body for signs of injury. Maybe both. “One of the guys outside told me what happened.”
“It’s an old house. Some things are bound to break.”
He moves closer, looking around the room. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing, but it was nice of you to stop by.”
“Oh, hey,” Gabby says, coming to a halt inside my room, Landon beside her.
“Hi, Gabriela,” Drew says before putting his hand out to Landon. “Hey, I’m Drew.”
“Landon, Gabby’s boyfriend.”
Gabby looks up at Landon. “Would you mind running out to pick up the two plastic bins without me?”
Landon looks a little put out, but when Gabby adds, “Pleeease,” he says he’ll be right back. “Make it four,” she calls after him. “In case you need one or two,” she says to me.
“Thanks.” I know why she sent her boyfriend away—she wants to find out why Drew is here and most likely meddle. She loves the idea of me finally dating again. She hasn’t been Team Matthew for a while.
“Of course. So, Drew, what brings you by? I don’t think you just happened to be in the neighborhood.”
“No. I called to check in with Alejandra and she told me what had happened.”
“And you immediately came over?” She moves her attention to me and her dark eyes say, See, I told you he likes you.
“I did.”
“So what happened with Jane and Sutton?” she asks, clearly fighting an I’m-always-right gr
in.
“Jane’s cousin is coming to visit for an unknown amount of time so that’s not an option, and Sutton got a kitten yesterday.”
“She did?” Gabby says excitedly then, “Shit. She did?” she repeats much more downbeat.
“What’s going on?” Drew asks.
“We need to move out of the house for a little while,” Gabby says. “I’m going to Landon’s, obviously, but Allie doesn’t want to go there so she was hoping to stay with a friend.”
“You could stay with me,” he says without hesitation.
I laugh. Yeah, right.
Gabby bounces on her feet and says, “That’s a great idea.”
“No, it isn’t,” I say in all seriousness.
“Would you mind if I spoke to your sister alone?” Drew asks Gabby.
“Not at all.” She spins around and disappears faster than I can blink, leaving me to fend for myself with Mr. Hotshot Hotelier. Traitor.
I sit on the side of my bed, next to my suitcase.
“I think I’ve proven to you I’m not a serial killer who chops up his victims and feeds them to the fish as bait,” he says, drawing a tiny smile from me. “But this is a big deal, so…” He holds up a finger in the universal sign of one minute, and with his other hand pulls his phone from his pocket to make a call.
What is he doing?
He holds the phone in his palm so I can see the screen and puts the call on speaker. The name in the top left corner is G-ma.
“Hello, Drew,” his grandma says.
“Hello, Grandmother. Quick question for you.”
“I have a quick answer.”
“I need a character reference. Can you give me one in, say, ten words or less?” He winks at me. Winks! And apparently winking does it for me because I have to press my lips together to keep a bigger smile from taking over my face.
“Of course I can.” She clears her throat. “Drew is honorable, trustworthy, considerate, and he only wet the bed until he was seven.”
I suck in my bottom lip while Drew closes his eyes and shakes his head.
“That was a little more than ten,” Rosemary says.
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Drew says amicably. Mostly. “Hanging up now. Goodbye.”
“Bye, darling,” she gets in before the line goes silent.
“That was—”
“We can’t conclude on that note,” Drew interrupts before I get a chance to comment on the glowing reference. He locates another number on his phone, presses the call button, and puts it on speaker as he takes a seat beside me on the bed.
“Hi, Drew,” Chloe says. I know it’s ‘Chloe’ because that was the name at the top of the screen while the phone rang.
“Hey, Chlo, how are you?”
“I’m great. Hey, did you see the picture Grandma Rosemary posted got picked up by People?”
“I did. Think you can post something else to take some of the heat off?”
“Only if you tell me who the mystery girl is and why I had to find out on social media that my brother-in-law is apparently off the market.”
“Her name is Alejandra and it’s an interesting story I promise to tell you when I see you next.” Drew’s gorgeous eyes, more blue than green at the moment, are steady on my dark brown ones.
“Okay. Consider the heat cooling.”
“Thanks. You’re the best. Think you can do me one more solid and while I’ve got you on speaker, sing some of my praises so my friend Alejandra knows what an upstanding guy I am?”
“Hi, Chloe,” I say.
“Hi, Alejandra. Drew, you have a lot of explaining to do.”
“I know, but we’re in a bit of a hurry so…”
“Drew’s intelligent, helpful, and unselfish,” Chloe says with affection. “Dependable. He likes to tease, but deep down he’s serious about most things. He loves his family and his work and he will never eat your last cookie. How’s that?”
Drew raises his brows at me.
I nod. How can I argue? That he’d go to all this cute trouble to convince me to stay with him makes it hard to say no, but…
“Thanks, Chloe. I think that did the trick. Talk soon.” He hangs up, happy lines creasing the corners of his eyes and mouth.
This is still a crazy idea. And very unsettling. It was one thing to look forward to a date with him. Quite another to live together, even temporarily.
My stomach tightens. I hadn’t realized how much I was looking forward to being with him until I said it to myself.
“I think I’ve more than proven myself now.”
“Agreed, but staying with you is—”
“A great idea. I’ve got plenty of room. And besides that, it’s the least I can do to say thanks for helping me out with my grandmother.”
I’m about to ask if he’s told her the truth, but then I realize it doesn’t really matter because what started as a fib is the truth now. At least most of it.
I take a minute to think about his offer. He probably has a house so big we’ll be lucky if we run into each other. And just like that, my apprehension disappears. We won’t be in close proximity, just under the same roof. That’s doable. And selfishly, it means I don’t have to stay at Landon’s.
“You saved me from my grandmother’s matchmaking and that’s a huge deal,” he adds. “One day I’ll tell you about the woman she wanted me to bring to her party.” He shudders. “And you’re saving me from women who see me as a meal ticket rather than a guy to share a meal with.”
“That’s awful.”
“Believe it or not, I was about to take a break from dating before running into you again.”
“Really?” My stomach flutters at the idea he broke his pledge because of me. Because I mean more than just a quick hookup.
He shifts at the foot of the bed and our knees brush. “Yep. So, you see, you’re doing me some serious goodwill agreeing to go to my grandmother’s party with me. Not to mention agreeing to a date before then, and giving you a place to stay would make me really happy.”
I want Drew to be happy. And sharing meals with him beyond our two planned dates would be no hardship. “Okay. I’ll stay with you. Thank you. Wait. You don’t have a cat do you? I’m super allergic.”
“No cat.” He stands. “Now let’s get you packed.”
Chapter Six
Close Quarters
Drew
I wave my arm out the car window, motioning to Alejandra to park her car in the spot beside mine before I hop out of my BMW while she pulls her MINI Cooper in, turns off the engine, and exits the vehicle with confusion on her face. We’re in the small underground parking lot of the hotel that’s reserved for upper management, so her uncertainty is justified. I probably should have told her I’m living here while my house is being remodeled, but I didn’t want her to say no to staying with me. A house speaks friend helping out another friend. A hotel room speaks let’s get into some sexy mischief together.
For the record, I’m all for the latter.
Not that I’ll tell her that.
She stressed taking it slow and it’s finally penetrated my thick skull. On the drive here I told myself to chill with any romantic ideas. I’m just so unused to the slow lane that I feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to this gorgeous woman.
“What are we doing here?” she asks, surprised.
“This is where I live—at least temporarily. My house is under renovation for the foreseeable future.”
“Drew.”
“Alejandra.”
“I can’t stay in a hotel room with you.”
“It’s a suite. So you can. And you will.” I open her passenger-side door to grab one of her bags.
She hip-checks me, knocking me off-balance, and almost catches my arm in the door when she slams it shut. For someone several inches shorter and dozens of pounds lighter, she packs some serious power.
“Hang on just a second,” she asserts. “You have to admit, this was a sneaky thing to do.”
&
nbsp; “I don’t know if I’d go that far. You didn’t ask where I lived, and I just kept my current address to myself.”
She grumbles something under her breath in Spanish and starts to round the back of her car. I gently grab her wrist to stop her.
“Wait,” I say. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like a jerk. I honestly didn’t think this was that big of a deal.”
“Well, it is. This is your hotel, Drew. Not your home. People are going to see me coming and going all the time.”
“Only if you want them to.”
“What does that mean?”
“Private elevator.” I nod toward the steel doors that leads straight to the penthouse. On the other side of the small parking garage is the communal lift.
Some of her anger visibly deflates. “This is too much.”
“It’s not. Not for you. And I’d offer you your own room if it made you more comfortable, but we’re currently sold out.”
“Are you like this with everyone?” She crosses her arms over her chest.
No. Yes. I don’t bloody know. What I do know is I like being around her and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her close. My watch beeps with a reminder that I’ve got a meeting in—I glance at the time—thirty minutes. Alejandra raises her eyebrows. “I’m meeting with my marketing team in half an hour. How about you come upstairs and if you hate it, you can come right back down and make other arrangements?”
She thinks about it before finally saying, “Okay.”
We walk to the elevator and I press in the key code. “Zero-seven-one-two,” I tell her. The doors immediately slide open, and I follow her fruity vanilla scent—I think it’s her shampoo—inside. “Very few people know that code, by the way, so if you’re making a mental list of pros and cons, count safety in the pro column.”
“Noted.”
I press the button labeled PH, and up we go. The hotel is only six stories so it takes but a second for us to reach our destination. “That elevator,” I say nodding to our left as we step into a small foyer, “leads downstairs to the lobby. It’s the same code we just used to come up. No codes are required to go down. And this door here—” I nod to our right “—leads to our temporary home.”
Hot Shot (American Royalty Book 3) Page 6
