The Bachelor Next Door

скачать книгу бесплатно


“You’re a real tools expert.” But there was no censure in his tone, only the teasing lilt she’d come to expect.

“You’re treading on thin ice, Santini,” she warned him, playing along with his game.

“I’m scared, Gambrel. Real scared.” He handed her a rubber-handled hammer. “Turn around.”

She did and was engulfed by Rafe. His body warmth and musky scent surrounded her as he wrapped the tool belt around her waist and fastened it. If she leaned back an inch she’d be pressed up against his chest. A shiver passed through her, and temptation warred with good sense as she thought of his naked chest.

“There you go,” he said. His voice sounded different. A deeper, huskier version of his usual tone that made her aware of the difference between them. He stepped away from her and put his hand on her shoulders, turning her to face him.

“Thanks,” she managed to squeeze out of her dry throat. The weight around her was unaccustomed and felt weird.

Cass settled the hammer into one of the loops. Rafe passed her a scraper and a few other tools she couldn’t identify. “Is that all?”

“Distribute the weight of the hammer and the mallet.”

She moved the tools around. Well, she felt downright handy now.

“Do those shoes have good soles?”

“Yes, I think so.”

He knelt down near her knees. “Let me take a look at the bottom of your shoes.”

His breath brushed across her thigh and the muscle quivered. He was so close. Cass’s fingers itched with the urge to bury themselves in his thick black hair.

Cass swayed and her leg scraped against his cheek. The stubbly texture of his skin felt good against the smoothness of her own. Thank heavens she’d shaved her legs yesterday. She leaned away from him in embarrassment. He probably thought she was a love-starved widow.

“Put your hand on my shoulder for balance.”

His words were harsh, almost guttural. Cass knew their brief encounter had affected Rafe as much as it had affected her. She hoped it had. Her heart was beating loud enough to be heard a mile a way.

Oh, damn. She didn’t want this headlong rush into desire. Not now when her life was finally starting to balance out. She was independent and in charge of her own life, but a part of her still longed for someone to hold in the middle of the night. Not just anyone, but a certain man who could fill the emptiness inside of her.

Her hand rested on the tightly corded muscles of his shoulder as he examined the bottom of her shoes. He straightened and gave her the once-over. “Okay, you’re ready to work.”

They labored on the roof for the next two hours. Cass found roofing a hard but interesting task. They’d almost completed the section by mid-afternon, and she was relieved to know that she’d helped Rafe.

The sun was hot and Cass felt her face begin to pinken. “I need a break.”

Rafe glanced over at her. “You sure do. Go sit over there in the shade.”

A large maple tree provided shade on the east side of the roof. Walk across the roof by herself? No way. “I’ll stay right here.”

“Scared, Gambrel?”

Cass wasn’t the type to take a dare. She freely admitted to her faults. And she wasn’t going to pretend to be someone she wasn’t. She doubted that this strong man ever did. “Yes, I am.”

He reached out and brushed a finger across her cheek. “There’s no need to be. I won’t let you fall.”

But she was afraid that he would. Not fall off the roof. Rafe was too good a crew boss to allow any of his workers to get physically injured. But with each minute she spent with this man a part of her trod deeper into dangerous territory. Emotional territory that could spell trouble for her. Territory she hadn’t explored since the early days of her marriage.

He offered her his hand and seated her in the shade before retrieving two cans of fruit punch from an ice chest. He walked with the surety of a cat... no a streetwise warrior. Someone who knew that he could take on any situation. Cass envied him his confidence.

She’d felt weak and shaky most of her life. First with the loss of her father when she was sixteen, then with the loss of Carl when she was twenty-six. Instinctively she was drawn to strong men, yet a part of her resented their strength.

He was watching her, and that made her nervous. She took a long sip of the punch. The sweet liquid left an aftertaste and she set the can aside. “I’d like to invite you to dinner before we leave for the game tonight.”

“It would be easier to grab something at the Orena.”

Cass digested that. “Were you able to purchase tickets for us?”

“I told you I have season tickets.” He stared at her for a full minute before continuing. “Why didn’t you want Andy to go alone with me?”

Cass hedged for a moment. Short of out and out lying, there was no way to avoid the truth. “I don’t like the enthusiasm you have for sports. Andy looks up to you. What you do, he wants to do, and he’s so small for his age, I’m afraid he’ll get hurt.”

“Watching a game?”

“You know that once he gets the bug for any game he’ll be hooked, and then I’ll seem like an ogre if I don’t let him participate.”

“Cass, I’m not trying to influence your son. I thought the game sounded like a good idea, but if you didn’t want him to go, you should have just said no.”

“I know, but Andy wants to get involved in some afterschool activities, and I wanted to ask for your help with something.”

He stared at the top of the aluminum can. “I have no experience with kids, Cass.”

“I know. This is kind of a-man-who-was-once-a-boy question.”

He grinned. “Well, I was a boy once.”

“Somehow I suspected you might have been,” she said before blurting out, “Andy asked me to let him join peewee football.”

“That’s up to you,” Rafe said. Cass knew he didn’t want to be caught up in their lives.

“Rafe, I don’t want Andy to grow up being a little wimp because I never let him try things. But I also don’t want him to get hurt, and football is dangerous. I’ve heard tales from other mothers in the PTA.”

His light eyes were piercing in their intensity. “Injuries happen, Cass. But participating in a sport helps develop discipline.”

Silently Cass heard the censure from their first meeting. Discipline was something Andy lacked. Her son ran wild when he wanted to, and Cass knew she was to blame. “Can you suggest an alternative to football?”

“Let me think about it.” He stood up before tugging her to her feet. “You need to get out of the sun for a while.”

“What’s that mean?”

“You’re turning pink, lady.”

She ran her eyes over his almost bare body. His olive skin had merely deepened in the late-October sun, but if she stayed out much longer she’d look like a lobster. “I’m going.”

She held tightly to Rafe’s fingers as he led her across the steep roof to the ladder. She glanced down before taking her first step onto the aluminum ladder and felt the world tip on its axis. She closed her eyes as dizziness swamped her.

“I think I’ll stay up here for a while longer.” Maybe the rest of her natural life. She could watch Andy grow up from the roof.

“Come on, little coward. I’ll help you down.”

She stiffened and drew away from Rafe, but didn’t release his hand. “I’m not a coward. Anyone with common sense would be wary of falling.”

“I know, Cass,” he said in the gentlest tone of voice she’d ever heard him use. “I’ll go down first.”

Rafe surrounded her completely as they descended. She should have felt only cherished, safe and protected. But she also felt the first dangerous spark of passion. Her nipples tightened against the lace of her bra, and her body ached.

She leaned into Rafe’s chest and stopped climbing down. He paused, too, a harsh groan coming from his throat, and he rubbed his chest against her back.

“Rafe?” she asked, not sure what she wanted or what she was asking for. Only that she would regret that “something” if she never experienced it. Rafe made her feel alive. Like a woman who’d been frozen for a long time and was only now encountering her true self.

His lips brushed the nape of her neck, and electric shivers coursed through her body. He was warm and hard behind her, and she felt as safe as she would have, flat on the ground. She sank back against him, wanting more than this time and place could offer them.

“Cassie,” he murmured as he ran his lips along the length of her neck. His hands were still secured around her waist, but she’d felt his fingers making forays toward the bottom of her breasts.

Tundra barked loudly, breaking the moment as nothing else could have. Cass felt her face heat with a blush of shame. What could she have been thinking to react so shamelessly in a man’s arms? Especially this very experienced man’s. This man who had women at his beck and call and who was more worldly than Cass would ever want to be.

Rafe was moving again. In a moment they were safely on the ground. “Cass, you okay?”

His voice was sincere and kind and, dammit, she hated how weak and vulnerable she felt. “I’m fine. See you tonight.”

Cass left before he asked questions she didn’t want to answer. She was achy and shaking when she entered her air-conditioned house. She had a bad case of lust for a totally inappropriate man. What the heck was she going to do?

Rafe always wore jeans and a Magic shirt to all the games he attended. He figured Cass wouldn’t have thought to buy herself and Andy one, so he brought shirts for them. He looked forward to showing Cass part of his world.

Rafe also anticipated his good-night kiss. There was no question that he was going to claim one. Her mouth was tempting the hell out of him, and tonight he would know the feel of it under his own. He would know the feel of her in his arms.

Introducing Cass to sports had the side benefit of helping little Andy convince his mom that participating in a game was okay. Though Rafe cautioned himself against caring for the little boy, he liked the kid.

Rafe froze as it suddenly hit him that he was involving himself in this family’s life. He’d sworn not to let himself care for anyone after the death of his family, and he’d lived up to that until now. Until Cass Gambrel had tempted him to care. But along with the temptation was a niggling sense of warning. Mama, Papa and Angelica had depended on him, and he’d let them down. Firmly pushing the faces of the past out of his mind’s eye, he knocked on the door and heard running footsteps on the stairs.

“I’ve got it.”

Rafe grinned. Andy was a lovable kid.

“Hi, Mr. Santini. I thought you’d never get here.”

Rafe handed one of the T-shirts to Andy.

“Wow, thanks, Mr. Santini. Mommy, he’s here,” the boy yelled up the stairs.

“I know, sweetie,” Cass said from the top of the stairs.

She looked as he imagined she would. Casual, comfortable and chic. Not that she would think of herself in those terms. She wore a light green polo shirt and khaki pants.

Rafe was counting on Andy’s help to get Cass to change into jeans and the T-shirt he’d brought for her. “You look nice, but I brought you a shirt to wear tonight.”

Cass walked carefully down the stairs, stopping next to Rafe. He held up the shirt, measuring it against her. He’d gotten the smallest size available, but he had a feeling it would still be too big on her.

“I don’t know. I look funny in T-shirts.”

“Please, Mommy,” Andy cajoled without any prompting from Rafe.

“Come on, Cass. Everyone wears them.”

“Okay, I’ll go change.”

Twenty minutes later they were on their way. Rafe drove Cass’s Volvo through the downtown traffic. Andy sat in the backseat and talked about everything under the sun from school to television then back to school again.

Rafe tried to concentrate on the traffic and driving, but the image of Cass as she’d looked coming down the stairs was burned on his brain. Her jeans were time-worn and faded, hugging every feminine curve tightly. He’d had to ball his hands into fists to keep from reaching out and caressing her sweet rear end.

The T-shirt had draped over her curves and clung to her breasts when she’d put on her jacket. For a moment lust had hit him so hard that he couldn’t breath. He’d stood there, rooted to the spot, staring at her.