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“So I want you to stuff that food down your throat and then get out of here.”
“This is my lunch break! And it’s not like she’s going anywhere. If you’ve already waited a month, why can’t you wait until I finish eating?”
Yeah...he supposed he could. He didn’t want to, but it made more sense than throwing Jesse out of the restaurant and rushing things. “Fine.” He liberally poured hot sauce on his food. “But don’t linger.”
For an answer, Jesse took an enormous bite of his sandwich.
For the next twenty minutes, Merrily stayed pretty busy. Brick noticed that she chatted with everyone. He wasn’t special in that regard.
Except that she didn’t touch anyone else, so regardless of what Jesse thought, her fleeting touch to his shoulder did mean something.
What, exactly, he didn’t yet know.
By all accounts, she’d turned down dates. Not that it mattered. He wasn’t an insecure schoolboy who quailed in the face of possible rejection.
If she turned him down, he’d just have to figure out a way to change her mind.
Without seeming pushy. Or stalkerish.
Coming out of the kitchen with a loaded tray, she moved around her seating area, dropping off food, refreshing cups of coffee, taking new orders and seeing that everyone had everything they wanted.
Finally, while digging a bill out of her pocket, she approached again.
“You guys need anything else? More to drink? Dessert?”
Jesse said, “I’m good, thanks.”
“Same here.”
She placed respective bills on the booth top before them, clasped her hands together and faced Brick again. “If you’re all done, mind if I ask you something?”
After a stifled grin, Jesse did him a solid by saying, “It’s your turn to pay, Brick, and I’m running late. So if you don’t mind....” He pushed his bill toward Brick and slid out of his seat.
Merrily sent him a smile. “Thank you for stopping by. Come see us again.”
“Will do.” Whistling under his breath, Jesse sauntered out.
In the middle of a busy restaurant, at the tail end of the lunch crowd, Brick relished the moment of relative privacy. “Got a second to sit down?”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.” She untied her apron and took Jesse’s seat opposite him. “I’m actually off early today.”
So now might be a good time to get to know her better.
She wrinkled her pert little upturned nose. “I can’t stay long, though. I have a ton of stuff to get done.”
“Classes?”
“Those are in the morning. But the animals have been closed up since this morning, I have laundry piling up, and I’m hoping to put in a doggy door.”
“You have your own house?” He’d love to find out where she lived.
She shook her head. “I’m renting a duplex, but my landlord is okay with it—for a small fee, of course—and I know my pets would appreciate it. I hate leaving them cooped up while I’m away, so...” She shrugged. “That’s what I wanted to ask you. I know you own the hardware store. Do you sell whatever I’ll need?”
He had what she needed, all right. “Actually, it’s a family business. Mom and Dad retired early, and Evan wasn’t interested in it, so I run it. In a couple more years, I’ll buy them out.”
“That’s nice. You’re close with your family?”
“Real close. You?”
Avoiding his gaze, she moved aside Jesse’s plate. “Dad died in a car wreck when I was seventeen. Mom was disabled. But last year she passed away, too.”
Wow. His heart clenched over such devastating losses. “Siblings?”
She shook her head. “It was just Mom and me.” With a cheerless smile, she added, “And our menagerie.”
So she’d inherited the animals? Drawn to her, needing the contact, he touched her slender fingers, hesitated, and when she didn’t pull away, he held her hand. “You said your mom was disabled?”
“Except for doctor appointments, she preferred not to venture out much. It was too difficult for her, and she felt conspicuous.”
“Did she need full-time care?” He couldn’t imagine that type of responsibility being dumped on someone so young.
Merrily shook her head. “I kept meals ready for her, and we cleared the house enough that she could get around pretty well in her powered wheelchair. When I had to be away, for school and grocery shopping and stuff like that, I kept a cell phone on me for any emergency calls. She loved our animals, and they loved her. They kept her company when I couldn’t be with her.”
Damn. “I’m sorry, Merrily.”
“We managed okay. I mean, until she worsened.” Slowly she freed herself from his touch. “After she passed away, the animals had a hard time adjusting. I figured a change of scenery would be nice, so here I am. With the animals, who, like I said, are family to me.”
“But you need that doggy door.”
“Yes. They’re happier now, but they were used to her being there. Now they’re alone...” She blew out a breath. “I think they’ll enjoy it more if they can get outside and play a little or even just lay in the sun.”
He considered her, wondering how much her mother’s health might have played into her broken engagement. Not many men would sign on for that type of responsibility. “Are you handy around the house?”
She laughed. “Not really, no. But I can read directions.”
Man, she had a nice laugh. Not too girly, not at all fake. Just...nice. “Do you have a good tool set?”
“I have a hammer and a screwdriver.” She bit her bottom lip but ended up shaking her head. “Will I need a lot of other stuff?”
Perfect opening. If it hadn’t been for the heartbreaking story she’d just shared, he’d have grinned in anticipation. But given her reasons for relocating, he managed to hold it together. “Tell you what. Why don’t I put in the doggy door for you?”
He waited for objections, for excuses, or a flat-out no.
She dropped back in her seat. “Seriously? You’d do that? I mean, I’ll pay you, of course, but I—”
“Neighbor to neighbor,” he said, cutting her off. Given what he wanted from her, no way could he let money change hands. “I’m happy to help out.”
Still surprised, she said, “But we’re not neighbors.”
No, but he wanted her bad. “In this town, everyone is a neighbor.”
“You’re sure?”
“It’ll be my pleasure.” He’d find out where she lived, make himself useful and in the end...he’d have her under him, where they’d both have some fun.
Even to him, that sounded like a Grade-A prick move.
But she forestalled any opportunity for him to retrench when she said with heartfelt gratitude, “Thank you. I appreciate it more than I can say.”
CHAPTER TWO
MERRILY LOOKED AROUND the duplex again, saw everything was in order and tried not to listen for Brick’s knock at her front door. The laundry would have to wait for another day. She’d tidied the space as much as she could with five pets underfoot. Like toddlers, they had toys everywhere. And though she’d just vacuumed, fur was a never-ending issue.
Dundee, an Australian shepherd and border collie mix, knew something was happening. He watched her with ears perked up, expression alert. “It’s okay, Dundee. Just be on your best behavior, please.” Because Dundee was always a happy fellow, eager to please, that wasn’t asking too much of him.
Dolly, a smaller bearded collie mix, didn’t really care enough about any visitor to skip her nap. Merrily could hear her low snores and, as always, it made her smile.
The cats kept vigil in different windows, with Union Tom and Stan the Man sticking together against Eloise, who tended to run the show. Ellie was a lovely lady, but as the only female cat, she ruled the dogs and the male cats with little more than a look.
Merrily ran a hand over her loose hair and again wondered if she should contain it in a ponytail. For the longest time, her regimen had included washing, dressing and restraining her hair. She almost felt pretentious for letting it hang loose.
As for her lip gloss, she’d already chewed that off, so it had been a complete waste of time. At least her jeans and yellow T-shirt weren’t much different from what she wore at work.
Chaos erupted with Brick’s first tap on her door. The cats shot off the windows, Dundee started dancing and Dolly awoke with such a barking start she almost fell off the couch. Merrily could barely hear herself as she urged them all to hush, to heel, to try not to appear quite so much like wild animals.
She opened the door and found Brick standing there with a smile.
“I hear them,” he said with amusement. He leaned around her to peek in, and the smile widened to devastating impact.
Oh, God, Merrily thought. If he was an animal lover on top of being so gorgeous and funny and...attentive to her, she’d be a goner in no time.
“Come on in.”
He got one foot in the door and Dundee was on him, his paws on Brick’s chest as he tried to lick his face, pelting him with doggy breath.
Brick laughed outright. He set aside a large toolbox that looked like it weighed a ton and went to one knee.
Big mistake.
Dundee all but took him to the floor. But Brick was stronger than her so he didn’t end up on his tight muscled butt. Instead he seemed to enjoy Dundee’s attention.
With high-pitched maniacal barking, Dolly vied for her own share of notice.
Sitting on the floor, Brick laughed some more and struggled to give both dogs the pets they craved.
“Really,” Merrily told them. “You guys will have him thinking you’re neglected, that I’m a terrible pet owner who leaves you starved for crumbs of attention.”
“Nah,” Brick said around his chuckles. “They’re terrific.”
Terrific? Seriously? Maybe he hadn’t noticed the cats yet. Or how dog hair already clung to his dark T-shirt. Or the...oh, no...doggy drool on his shoulder.
She covered her mouth and asked in a horrified whisper, “Should I call them off?”
“Why? I like the enthusiastic greeting.”
Dolly got into his lap, and he let her. Dundee kept snuffling his neck and chest—which was something Merrily wouldn’t mind trying if given half a chance.
Unsure what else to do, she seated herself on the couch. Eloise immediately joined her to watch the display with disdain.
Tom and Stan strode into the fray and with little more than a meow had the dogs backing off enough to sit beside Brick instead of on him.
“Names?” he asked Merrily, as if being accosted by an animal horde was just fine and dandy.
She cleared her throat. “Dundee is the bigger dog, Dolly the smaller. That yellow fellow with the round face is Tom, better known as Union Tom because he was found by Union Terminal. That’s Stan the Man with the adorable yellow eyes. And here in my lap is Eloise.”
“She has beautiful coloring.”
Merrily wanted to melt. “She’s a dilute tortoiseshell, and yes, very beautiful.”
“You said Tom was found by Union Terminal?”
“They’ve all been adopted from shelters. Dolly was...not treated well.”
Brows coming down, Brick reached out to the little dog again.
“Her shaggy gray fur needs a lot of work and her previous owners just didn’t care. They kept her outside, and she was dirty, matted... I’m sure she was miserable.”
Brick said nothing, but his jaw tightened and he cuddled Dolly a little closer.
Well. A telling move, that. So he was breathtakingly gorgeous and kind.
No wonder he had such an amazing reputation with the ladies.
She swallowed back her sigh of longing. “Dundee is seven years old but still acts like a pup. As you already found out, he loves to give doggy kisses.”
In an absurd voice, he said to Dundee, “Yes he does. Don’t you boy? You do. Lots of doggy kisses.”
Merrily gaped at him. And wanted to melt again.
Returning his attention to her, and his voice now normal, Brick said, “I’ll be stopping by my brother’s later. He and his wife have a dog and cat who’ll think I’ve been out cheating on them when they smell your pets on me.” He laughed. “Doug and Cate can be very possessive.”
“Those are the pets?”
“Yeah. Doug the dog and Cate the cat. Love the names, right? They were shelter pets, too. Evan and Cinder weren’t a couple then, just neighbors.” He smiled. “Though Evan had it for her bad, I don’t mind telling you. Anyway, they went to the shelter together. She got Doug, and he got Cate, and later they got married, and now they’re a happy family.”
Her heart swelled. “That sounds like a lovely fairy tale.”
Brick shot her a puzzled look. “Nah. Just real-life love. Happens all the time.” Putting the animals aside, he came back to his feet.
