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“But you’re the best man and Alex is my best friend,” Emily said, as if it was a completely logical deduction. “You have to stand up together.”
“Alex is gay.”
There was a pause then, “So?”
“What do you mean, so? What if people think we’re…together?”
“Alex was right—you are homophobic.”
“I wouldn’t walk down the aisle with any guy: gay, straight or undecided. And what does Mom think about you having a man for a maid of honor?” When she didn’t answer, he laughed. “You haven’t told her yet, have you?”
“It doesn’t matter what Mom thinks. It’s my wedding.”
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”
“Just think about it, okay? Hey, and while I’ve got you on the phone, Matt said there’s a new secretary at the high school. Blond, big breasts, shallow—just the way you like ’em.”
“You’re not winning any points here.”
“I’m just kidding. Matt said she’s very nice. And single. We could double.”
“No, thanks.”
“Are you going through some kind of romantic dry spell or something?”
Her question hit home like a dynamite blast, making him wince. Dry spell didn’t begin to describe it. But things would get better. In time, he would be back to his old virile self.
He hoped.
“You know,” Emily said, “if there’s something wrong, you can talk to me about it.”
“There’s nothing wrong.” Nothing a few years of intense psychotherapy wouldn’t cure. No way in hell he could talk to his sister about that.
“Ty, since middle school you’ve always had a girlfriend. Sometimes two or three at a time.”
The outer office door jingled and he silently thanked whoever it was for the interruption. “Hey, someone’s here. Gotta run. I’ll call you later.”
“Ty—”
“Say hi to Matt for me. Love you.” He hit the disconnect button and set the phone down. That was a close call, and knowing Emily, he hadn’t heard the last of this. Though they weren’t identical, they were still bound by that cosmic connection twins often have. Depending on the circumstances, that could be a good or a bad thing.
“Hello?” a voice called from the lobby.
A female voice. Damn.
“In here,” Ty called back. He really needed to get a new receptionist to screen his visitors. Preferably an ugly receptionist. Or better yet, a man.
The source of the voice, who appeared in his office a second later, was neither ugly nor male. One look at her dark, inquisitive eyes, flawlessly smooth olive skin, and he instinctively took a step to the left, behind the safety of his desk.
Damn, it was really getting out of control when he couldn’t be in the same room with a beautiful woman without running for cover. Three months ago, he would have met her by the door and taken her hand, simply for the pleasure of testing the softness of her skin. There was a time when he’d loved everything about women. The way they smelled, the way they tasted, the silky softness of their hair.
Now he viewed them as the enemy. And he knew with no small measure of certainty, this woman could push all the right buttons if he let her.
“Are you Tyler Douglas?” she asked.
He pasted on a charming smile. “The one and only. What can I do for you?” Please let it be something quick and painless.
She returned the smile times ten. “Mae sent me over. She said you’re looking for a cleaning lady.”
Oh man, was she beautiful. And so young. He felt like a degenerate for the thoughts tumbling through his depraved brain. Things like the fullness of her breasts cupped into his palms, her slender fingers tunneling through his hair as he plundered her lush mouth with passionate kisses. She would taste sweet and tangy and…and oh man, he needed to stop this right now or he would be sorry. He could already feel the shift in his breathing, the familiar tug in his groin.
She stepped closer and his pulse began to accelerate. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead and his head began to spin.
Relax. Breathe, in and out.
“My name is Tina DeLuca,” she said, holding out a hand for him to shake. He dreaded the words he knew were coming next. “I’d like the job.”
Two
Brad Pitt, eat your heart out, Tina thought as she tried her best not to stare. They sure knew how to grow them in Chapel, Michigan. For some reason she’d been expecting someone older. Someone not so strikingly handsome or built to complete physical perfection.
Someone who wouldn’t look at her as if…she was a leper.
He retreated a step and waved away her extended hand. “We don’t stand on formality here,” he said.
Oookay.
She let her arm fall to her side. Not quite sure what to do with her hands, she clasped them behind her back. She’d never gone on a job interview before and wasn’t sure of the proper etiquette. Since the time she was old enough to have a real job, she’d been taking care of Aunt Louise. Her people skills were a tad rusty.
“Is the position still open?” she asked.
“Yes, but uh, the pay is pretty low.”
It couldn’t be any lower than the nothing she was currently earning. “That’s okay.”
“I mean really low, like minimum wage.”
“Minimum wage works for me.”
He frowned, his blond brow dipping low over his eyes. “It’s really lousy work.”
She tried to keep her voice cheerful when inside her heart was plummeting. Mae had made this sound like a sure thing. If she didn’t get this job, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Where she would go. She had no place to stay, no place to sleep. “I like to clean. And I have a lot of experience,” she added.
“A pretty girl like you? Wouldn’t you be happier as a model or something?”
A model? Was he kidding? At five foot two and 111 pounds, she wasn’t exactly runway material. “Mr. Douglas—”
“Ty,” he said, then winced, as though revealing his name had been some sort of fatal error. “Everyone around here calls me Ty.”
“Ty, I’m a hard worker.”
“I’m sure you are, Miss…?”
“Where I’m from, people call me Tina.”
“I don’t doubt that you are, Tina. I’m just not sure it would be a very good idea.”
He wasn’t going to hire her. She could tell by the look on his face. He was going to tell her no.
In the back of her mind she could hear the window again, but this time it was slamming shut. All she could do now was stick her fingers in the way and hope they weren’t lobbed off.
She took a deep breath, gathering all her courage, but still her voice shook when she spoke. “I really need this job. I’m desperate.”
“I understand.” He shrugged sympathetically. “I wish I could help you.”
The last bit of strength she’d been clinging to crumbled away, and the dam on her emotions broke. She was so tired of being lonely and afraid and hungry. She was just plain tired.
And she couldn’t be strong another minute. She crumpled into a chair, dropped her face in her hands and started to cry.
Aw, man, he’d made her cry. Ty looked helplessly around, wondering what he should do now. Seeing her bawling, knowing it was his fault, was even worse than the dizziness and the cold sweats.
Well, maybe not worse, but almost as bad. And it could have been avoided if he wasn’t so selfish. He hated what was happening to him, but he didn’t have a clue how to stop it—to fix it. His original plan—ignore it until it goes away—didn’t seem to be working very well.
And now, not only was he miserable, he was dragging other people down with him.
He grabbed a tissue and leaned over his desk to press it into her hand. “Here.”
She took it, wiped her eyes and nose. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to fall apart. It’s been a really bad week.”
“I can relate,” he said. More than once in the past three months he’d felt like sitting down and bawling, too.
“Just give me a minute to pull myself together and I’ll be out of your hair.” As she wiped away fresh tears, he realized there was no makeup on her face to smear. No mascara running down her cheeks. Hers was a natural beauty. Her face didn’t get all blotchy and red when she cried either like a lot of women he’d known. She might have looked wholesome had her dark features not been so exotic.
But she was just a kid. He was guessing no more than sixteen or seventeen. And she must have needed the job pretty badly to get this upset. She looked so lost. So…helpless.
Aw, hell.
“Can you start tomorrow morning?”
She looked up at him, lower lip still quivering. “You’ll hire me?”
She had trouble written all over her. But could he help that he was a sucker for a woman in distress? He knew it was a huge mistake. But it wouldn’t be his first, or his last.
Ignore it until it goes away.
Yeah, right.
He jotted an address on a slip of paper and located the correct key from the top drawer of his desk. He handed them both to her. “Everything you need is at the house. Cleaning supplies, vacuum, mop. The painters finished up two days ago, so everything should be dry by now.”
“I’m doing the entire house?”
“Top to bottom. Is that a problem?”
She shook her head. “No. No problem at all.”
“I want to start showing the property to renters as soon as possible, so try to get it done tomorrow if you can. When you’re done, I’ll come inspect it, and if everything looks good, I’ll cut you a check. If it works out, I have a small office building one block over I’ll need done later this week.”
She was actually smiling now. A brilliant smile that lit her whole face and warmed him from the outside in. He liked too much that he could make her that happy so easily. It shouldn’t have mattered how she felt.
At least he seemed to be over his initial anxiety. As long as he didn’t get too close to her he should be okay. But man, she was pretty. And vulnerable.
What the hell was he doing?
“Thank you Mr.—I mean, Ty. Thank you so much for giving me a chance. You won’t be sorry.”
He almost laughed. He was sorry already.
Tina gazed up at the brick bungalow that matched the address on the slip of paper Ty had given her. It had taken her a long time to find it in the unfamiliar city. So long it was already growing dark. Icy wind whipped around her, penetrating her denim pants and thin nylon jacket and sending leaves scurrying down the street. She was cold and exhausted and ached for a restful night of sleep. And a hot shower would be heaven. She hadn’t showered in days, only cleaned herself up as best as a person could in a bus station restroom. Which wasn’t all that great. Her skin felt grimy and her hair dirty and her scalp was itching like crazy.
She couldn’t believe what she was considering doing.
It wasn’t exactly breaking and entering, because she had a key. And it would be for only one night. Tomorrow she would have money for a motel. And a meal. And, of course, she would go back to the diner and pay Mae. If it wasn’t for the kind old woman, Tina wouldn’t have a place to sleep tonight. Or food in her belly.
And Tyler, well, she hadn’t quite figured him out yet. If she didn’t know any better, she would think he was afraid of her. Which didn’t make any sense at all. A man so physically beautiful couldn’t possibly be insecure. Everything about him screamed all-American hero.
Lord knows, he was her hero.
And how would he feel if he knew she was seriously thinking about crashing in his rental house? She would be violating his trust.
Well, not exactly, because technically he never said she couldn’t sleep here tonight. And what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Right? This way, she could get an early start on the cleaning and have it done in plenty of time. Then he would be more likely to give her another building to clean.
She had to make up her mind soon, or people would start to notice her standing there and get suspicious.
Sleep on the street in a box somewhere in the freezing cold, or in a warm house? Wow. That was a tough one. She took the key from her pocket and started up the cement walk to the front door.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she’d slipped the key into the lock, turned the knob, opened the door and stepped inside.
The room smelled of latex paint and new carpet and the air was chilly. With the blinds closed, it was dark, so she felt along the wall where she thought the light switches might be until she found one. She blinked against the sudden bright light and looked around. Beige walls, beige carpet. Small, but cute. It was so clean, she wondered what it was she was expected to do. But when she looked more closely she noticed the blinds were coated with a thick layer of greasy dust. She suspected the windows could use a good polishing.
No problem.
An archway to the right led into a tiny kitchen and nook. In the corner sat all the supplies she would need. Cleaning solvents, buckets, rolls of paper towels and scrub brushes.
The floor in here definitely needed a thorough scrubbing and a coat of wax. The stove was crusted with baked-on food and grease. She pulled the fridge open and the rank odor seeping out nearly singed the skin off her face. Eew!
She slammed the door shut. That would need a major disinfecting and some serious airing-out.
Her bladder full to bursting, she decided her next stop would be the bathroom. She found it down the hall, next to two small bedrooms. Thank goodness, someone had left toilet paper on the roll and a bar of soap by the sink. But the room reeked of mildew. She pulled back the shower curtain and immediately realized why. Halfway up the tile wall the grout was black with it. She definitely had her work cut out for her. But she hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d told Ty she liked cleaning. As cooking and caring for her aunt had, it gave her tremendous satisfaction.
