Chapter 6
Sophie woke up slowly the next morning. Nick and Marc had already watered the nursery and done some cleanup, then had breakfast. She said she wasn’t hungry for anything but coffee, and told them she’d be spending most of the day in bed. Nick had heard her throwing up several times during the night throwing up. He planned to ask her if he could stay in her room to help out at these times.
The house behind the office was decorated with the same recycled junk that was in the front. But the deep earth colors and a variety of metals, woods and granite provided some warmth and made it attractive. Nick thought perhaps she’d missed her calling and should have become an interior designer.
He especially liked the airplane propeller hanging from the ceiling with twinkle lights threaded around it that Sophie had hung over the only table in the place. The plank table was also made of found objects, nearly twelve feet long, and made from rough hewn beams that had at one time been stained turquoise and red. It was big enough that there was plenty of room for one end of the table to serve as a catchall for magazines and a pile of bills.
Several of them caught his eye. Final notices. Even a threatening letter from a mortgage company. He was sure she hadn’t mentioned anything about foreclosure, but wondered if she was indeed on the verge of losing the property as well as the business.
He also fished around and found a delinquent gas and electric bill for nearly one thousand dollars. He folded it quickly and slipped it into his pants pocket.
“Don’t go through my mail.” Sophie had been sitting slumped over the table, finishing her coffee.
“Sorry, sis. Thought I saw something important there.”
Marc dried his hands and walked over to Nick to take a look.
Sophie was on her feet faster than he thought she could move these days. “Dammit, Nick.”
She elbowed him out of the way, her robe nearly falling off her shoulders. Nick let her push him aside but he grabbed her robe by the collar to make sure her bony flesh remained covered.
Sophie jerked out of the way and glared at him. “My mail’s private.”
“Gotta ask you, though. Some of those bills look like they’re late. You okay with the mortgage?”
“They’ll get paid when the place sells. That’s Devon’s job, so don’t fret about it.”
“What if it doesn’t sell fast enough?”
“It will,” she said over her shoulder as she hugged the pile of bills to her chest and took off to her bedroom, slamming the door.
Marc shook his head. “Damn shame, Nick. You think she waited too long?”
He pulled out the orange electric bill notice. “I’m going to at least keep the power and lights on. Wish I could do more.”
“We should organize a work party. Get all this shit sold.”
“I agree.” Nick asked.
“Have a big fire sale like that rug place in San Diego that goes out of business every year? That kind of thing. Get all of it cleared out.”
“I think we’re gonna need more help.”
“I’m going to go call Kyle and some others. They’d love a road trip up here. Doing your sister a good turn. Word gets out a bunch of Navy SEALs are working the nursery without their shirts and it’s bound to bring a crowd.”
“Not that high profile shit, Marc. You know Timmons would bust us for that.”
“Not that he’d ever know. Come on, give the guys a way to blow off some steam and prance around half naked. And they won’t know anyone here.”
“But I do, or did.”
“You mean Devon? That nice piece that’s got you dreamin’ in the shower? I fully understand you not wanting a bunch of horny frogs hanging around her. Probably too much for her. Make her go off and do something unladylike and all.” Marc punched Nick in the arm and winked. “Be good for the little lady, who I think needs a little man-scent in her life. Get my drift?”
Nick had to admit Marc might be onto something. Maybe they could earn enough money to at least make one payment. If they were close, maybe he could make up the shortfall. Maybe this was a team bonding project was just what they needed so soon after they got back. Better to schedule it now than wait until everyone had made other plans.
Why not?
“Go call ‘em.”
“When do you want them here?”
“Yesterday.”
Marc announced several of the men on SEAL Team 3 would be coming up, including their LPO, Kyle Lansdowne. Nick was glad Cooper had also said he’d come, since he knew how to fix anything. Practically born under a tractor in Nebraska, Coop should be able to fix several rototillers and mowers Sophie had rented out and no longer started. At this point they’d been sitting around so long they were rusty as hell.
She also had a vintage vegetable truck in the back with four flat tires. Coop would be in hog heaven, Nick thought.
He reviewed the disclosure statements Devon had left and had some questions, so he gave her a call.
“Hey Dev.”
“Devon.”
“Miss Brandeburg. How’s that?”
“Nick, can we just stop this. Just call me Devon, okay?”
“Fine. So, I have questions on these papers and was wondering if I could go over them with you.”
“Sophie has to fill them out.”
“Well, she’s not getting out of bed today. I think, under the circumstances, I should fill them out and she can sign.”
“You have to know about the property.”
“I’ll leave blank the things I don’t know. I can ask her about those.”
“That would work. So, what questions do you have?”
“Well, I thought we could kill two birds, sort of do it over lunch, like a date? I think it would make her happy if we did that.”
“Our first date?”
“Our very first.”
“Okay. So why don’t we meet at the Italian place on Fourth Street next to the bookstore. Mama’s.”
“Perfect. Say in an hour?”
Mama’s was packed with a lunch crowd. The quaint restaurant was “noisy intimate” like some of his favorite places in San Diego. The food was to die for with free bread sticks and the best pizza north of San Francisco. He was watching the mostly young crowd around him, waiting in a booth for Devon to show up.
When she walked in, his heart thumped so hard it made his ears ring. She wore her hair up in a clip but loose so that silky strands fell about her shoulders and neck. She studied the room, starting on the right at the bar, and moving across the dining room until their eyes met. He tried to suppress a smile, but it was hard. He acknowledged her with a lift of his hand while trying not to grin line an idiot. His mouth was dry even though he’d tried to swallow several times. He ground his teeth and locked his jaw. Something about her was all the right kind of haughty and sweet. Her sexual energy was bigger than the room. She turned every male head as she made her way with long strides on a straight trajectory to him. Best thing of all, she never took her eyes off his. For a second, he thought perhaps he’d been wrong about her experience with men. She was f*cking killing him.
He almost forgot himself, but at the last minute stood as she slipped into the booth. Nick had no idea what to say. His tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said as she picked up the menu without checking his reaction.
“I’m always early,” he said and noted the croak in his voice like he was a boy of fifteen again.
“And I’m usually late.” She was looking over the cream and red plastic menu, her dark eyes made up more heavily than yesterday. He would have to say sultry. Siren. She had on her work demeanor too, another nice suit of dark blue with a sheer white blouse with a virginal schoolgirl bow under her chin. Oh the things he thought about doing with her and that bow. The places he could tie her up. The body parts he could restrain. If she was aware he was staring at her with his tongue hanging out, she didn’t show it.
Nick did not like feeling he was not in control. Usually after he’d spent this much time with a woman she’d be drooling all over him, hinting about going for a drive or a picnic in the woods. Sliding up to him, giving him little hints of the feel of her body. But Devon was strictly hands off. He was going to have to play it that way, for now. He just couldn’t stop his dirty mind from getting creative, conspiring with that certain body part that always gave him a hard time.
She finally looked at him and dished out a generous smile. White teeth, plump lips, red again, with a sparkle in the eyes and tiny laugh lines that broke the intensity of her presence.
God almighty. You toying with me, kitten? Just looking at her sent his libido into high gear. In a half state of half panic, he realized he was nervous.
Nervous? WTF?
This had never happened to him before.
“So, what are you having?” she asked.
He noted she took a quick glance from one side of his shoulder to the other. He very carefully sat up straighter and took a deep breath, enlarging his ribcage. He rubbed the back of his head, exposing his right bicep.
She watched every minute of it and then tore her eyes away.
“Was sort of thinking about a pizza. What one do you recommend?”
“I don’t eat pizza.”
“Interesting.” He found himself smiling with half-lidded eyes, in spite of trying to reel in his reflex to pounce and possess. “What do you eat?”
That got a reaction. Her brown eyes flared and the frown lines between her brows made a brief appearance, and then disappeared.
“Green things mostly.”
There, she’d done it. Taken it out of the sexual realm and made it about neutral things like spinach salads and healthy food. He was definitely thinking about unhealthy things.
“No protein?” he said as he smiled at a young waitress passing by. The girl blushed and half giggled.
Devon noticed his pass and the girl’s blush. She arched her eyebrow and scanned the room. Nick knew there were more than a few women looking his way, but he kept his eyes on Devon. He watched the arch of her neck, the way the tiny hairs behind her ears were slightly darker and curlier than the floppy loose curls at the top of her head. Her scent was the same as yesterday, some perfume he’d not experienced before. He wondered how it would taste on her skin.
Turning back to him, she said, “Are we ready?”
He didn’t answer except to nod without words. Oh yea. He was ready all right. This one was special. He was going to have to work very hard to win her trust.
He loved a good challenge.
Their lunch was served and they began the obligatory small talk. Devon knew about Nick’s parents, of course, but Nick learned she had also lost her parents in high school, in a private plane crash. She’d known his sister since grade school, but they’d lost touch after high school, then gotten reacquainted at a Pilates class. Devon came to Sophie and asked to be mentored in real estate when she couldn’t get a job after graduating from college.
“So what’s the deal with my sister. Why hasn’t she settled down?”
“I think all the economic uncertainty of your parent’s passing made her feel like she wanted to get her career in order first, get stable. I completely understand. I’m the same way,” she said.
“I guess I missed all that. I was just a kid finishing up high school. There was no college fund, so I got the Navy. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Would you have gone?”
“To college? I don’t think about that at all, Dev—Devon.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
“Does that mean I get a treat?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
That spark of connection between them was brief, but very intimate. He very much felt like pushing his luck with her right here on the café table. He cleared his throat and tried to clear his mind.
“Is this so difficult now, being with me?” he asked.
She smiled. “No. Not what I expected.”
“I’ll take that as a good sign, then.” He sat back and hoped he wouldn’t get a smart-ass comment.
“I think you’re a nicer person than I realized. Sophie said to give you time to show your better side.”
He had to look away. Why was it so important that he make a good impression on her? What did he really want? A hookup? That brought on all sorts of visions. A portion of his brain was working overtime like a Bollywood movie.
She waved her hand in front of his face. “Hello? We have some work to do, remember?”
The plates were cleared and he brought out the disclosures. But he quickly tired of trying to explain things upside down.
“Can I sit there next to you? It would be easier,” he asked.
She tilted her head and gave a smirk, and then she scooted over and made room for him on the burgundy vinyl bench seat.
Her intense scent was making his nose itch but every other part of his body was cheering with more intensity than a Stanford vs. Cal game. His thigh was close enough to hers that through the fabric of his canvas cargoes he could feel the hairs on his legs stiffen and rise to attention, even with the fabric of his canvas cargoes between them. And they weren’t the only things rising either.
“Here,” he said as he pointed out a couple of questions and boxes he was supposed to check off. “I’m not sure what they are asking. The place is old. How would she know if any of these things work or not?”
She leaned in and her shoulder brushed his. He let the feeling warm him for a moment, then backed away to give her space. She angled her head to look at the question and that beautiful swan’s neck came so close to him he could have leaned forward only inches to give her a kiss there. And he really wanted to.
“She just has to say what she knows. She can’t be responsible for what she doesn’t know. Fill it out with what she thinks is correct. Find out if she has any old reports, and I’ll go back and check the old file. When she bought the property I don’t think there were any reports given. She bought it in foreclosure.”
“Speaking of that. Have you asked Sophie if she’s current on her payments?”
“Well, it’s a question on this statement. You’ll have to ask her.”
“But do you know if she is?”
“No. You think she is?” Her brown doe eyes pulled at his heart and made it ache. Their lips were close. He wanted to put his arm up on the top of the booth, but then he’d be looming all over her and he knew it would scare her again. Besides, he’d been sweating and that was always a turnoff to women. Suddenly, his arms, hands and legs were awkward appendages and he couldn’t find a comfortable place to put them.
“She’s gotten some nasty notices. She was trying to hide them from me.”
Devon sighed. He felt a shudder run through her body though they were barely touching. “I was afraid of that. I’ll have title check to see if any notices were filed. This is something, unfortunately, we have to disclose to a potential buyer.”
“Dev—on,” he stumbled and noticed her smile again. It was getting easier to get her to do that. “There are some things I can discuss with my sister, but her financial status is not one of them. She’s pretty much shut me out for years. And I’ve been telling her she’s killing herself with all this folly about the nursery. She practically forbids me to ask about any of that stuff.”
She nodded.
He pulled out the delinquent power bill. “I’m going to go by this office and pay this bill today.”
Devon looked from the statement to Nick’s face. “That’s nearly a thousand dollars.”
“I’ve got savings.”
She grinned again.
“What’s so funny?”
“She thinks you buy toys all the time. Guns and trucks and equipment.”
“I do. But I don’t spend it all.” He paused and focused on her mouth. “Besides, I have nothing else to spend it on.”
She had focused on his mouth too, and for just a second, there was the possibility of a kiss.
“Anything else I can do for you guys?” the cheerful high school-aged waitress chirped.
Nick reached for his wallet and gave her his credit card. “No, thanks.”
I think you’ve done enough.