Always Be True (8 page)

Her dad cleared his throat. “I have to admit that we were all shocked when you gave the ring back, sweetheart. You two seemed like such a perfect match. From what we've heard, it wasn't as if you were fighting or anything. His parents both say that you really blindsided him when you announced you wanted to break up.”

“Dad, this is neither the time nor the place for this.” She blinked back the sudden burn of tears. “It's been a long, hard day, and I'm tired. I'm long past ready to go home, but before I leave, I'll say one more thing on the subject. When I do get married, I want the kind of relationship you and Mom have. I'm sorry, but I'll never have that with Benton. The sooner everyone accepts that, the better. Tell Mom she was right about Julie's art.”

Then she walked away, wishing she didn't feel so damn alone in the crowded room.

Quitting time had come and gone an hour ago, and Jack was not happy about still being on the job. He clearly would rather be home with his wife than painting this wall. “So, tell me again why we have to finish the job today?”

Tino took a swig out of his water bottle and glared at Jack through sandpaper eyes. It wasn't as if he hadn't put in a long day himself. “For the umpteenth time, we need to finish because I'm not available to help you tomorrow. Drag it out another day if you want to, but you'll be on your own.”

They had only half of one wall left to paint before they could clean up the last of their mess and go home. Tino kept methodically wielding the paint roller while Jack watched him do it.

Jack crowded closer. “Did it occur to you that Caitlyn and I might have had plans for tonight?”

No, it hadn't. Regardless, if the idiot would shut up and work, they could be done in less than an hour. “Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you.”

“But—”

Tino rounded on his brother. “Look, leave if you want to. I told you I'd help this week, and I have. If you need to get home to the wife and kid, go. Maybe Ricky wouldn't mind coming back with you in the morning to do the final cleanup and walk-through with the owner. Hell, I'll even pay him out of my own pocket. Regardless of what you decide, I won't be here tomorrow.”

Jack muttered a few curses, but at least he grimly set about cutting in the last few edges with a brush. “So tell me about this Natalie.”

How much did he really want to share? Enough to make his brother understand he wasn't being an asshole for no reason.

“She's barely over five feet tall, blue eyes, and this wild, curly blond hair that probably has driven her crazy her whole life.” He paused to refill his roller and decide what else he could say. “I like her attitude.”

His brother snorted. “I'm guessing you like a whole lot more than her attitude.”

“Yeah, well.”

Jack dragged the ladder over to where he needed it. When he had himself situated again, he asked, “I take it dinner was a success. Did she like the restaurant?”

“Yeah, she did.” He might as well admit the rest. “And wouldn't you know it? Of all the bazillion restaurants in the Greater Seattle area, I had to pick the one that her parents consider to be ‘their place.' Seems that's where her father proposed to her mom, and they still have a special table there.”

He didn't mind his brother laughing. Much.

“So on your first date, you actually ate dinner at her parents' special table? I'm not sure if that's romantic or kind of creepy.”

Tino would vote for creepy. “The maître d' actually gave us a nice table in a completely different room right next to the window looking out over the Sound. The view was great and the food even better.”

“How about the movie? Did you tell her you hate subtitles?”

“We ended up going for a walk along the waterfront instead, and then I took her home.” There, that should be enough detail to make Jack happy. It would have to be. No way he'd mention the kiss.

“Did you ask her out for a second date?”

“No, but I told her I'd be back to help at the center tomorrow. She seemed really pleased about that.”

He refilled his paint pan. “Now can we change the subject? This conversation feels a little too gossipy teenage girl for my comfort.”

“Fine, be that way.” Jack pulled out his phone and started texting. “I promised Mikhail that I'd keep him up to date on things and wanted to make sure I had all the juicy details before I texted him.”

Tino held up one finger. “Text him this from me.”

Jack snapped a picture. “Done!”

A few seconds later, Jack's phone pinged. He started laughing as soon as he read their brother's response. “He says right back at you and wants to know if you're going to call her dad to see what other special places you should take her.”

The phone pinged again. “Better yet, he thinks you should see if her folks want to go on a double date. I think that's a great idea. Maybe you and her dad could wear matching outfits or something.”

God, there was no winning with those two. Knowing any kind of response at all would only encourage them, Tino kept painting, which only made Jack laugh harder. At least the idiot was back to swinging that paintbrush.

By the time they were finished, every bone in Tino's body ached, but at least they'd crossed the finish line. He'd go home, grab some dinner, and crash early.

When they were both in the truck, Tino leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Thanks again for staying late. Tell Caitlyn I'm sorry if I screwed up any plans you may have had for tonight.”

“Actually, she called while I was inside. We decided to go to the movie tomorrow night instead. Ricky somehow convinced her that he was suffering from severe pizza withdrawal, so I'm meeting them at the restaurant. Mom is picking them up, so they can ride back home with me. I can either drop you off at the annex on my way, or you can come with us and ride home with Mom. Your choice.”

Tino opened his eyes just a slit. “Who's buying?”

Not that he didn't trust his brother or anything. Jack laughed again. “How about you and I split the tab fifty-fifty?”

Maybe it was time for a counteroffer. “Sixty-forty, with the sixty being my part if you promise to quit feeding Mikhail information about my love life.”

“Sorry, bro, no can do. I can't leave our baby brother out of the loop like that. It wouldn't be fair. Besides, he'd sulk.”

“Like I said, gossipy teenage girls.” He sat up straighter. “But that makes dinner your treat, including the beer.”

“Fine, but the first round only. That's my best offer.”

“It's a deal.”

They'd reached the pizza restaurant they all liked best. Jack parked the truck but made no move to get out. What now? Tino waited patiently for the man to have his say. It didn't take long.

“I don't know where this is going between you and Natalie, but it's nice to see you really interested in something again.”

Before Tino could think of a response, Jack was out of the truck and heading for the restaurant door.

“You can relax now. Your man with the special skill set came back.”

Natalie glanced out the window to see Tino walking in the front door of the building. She would never admit that she'd been watching for him, but obviously, Rosalie had noticed. “He told me on Thursday that he'd be here today.”

As soon as the words slipped out, she winced. It was too late to take it back, and her friend pounced on the admission. “On Thursday? He called to tell you that?”

Rosalie wouldn't let up until she got all the details, but Natalie would make her work for it. “Not exactly.”

“And what is that supposed to mean? Did he text you, email you, or what?”

“Or what.” Natalie hid a smile as she bent down to cut open another one of the computer boxes they were unpacking. As she lifted the all-in-one computer up onto the counter, she counted the seconds to see how long it would take Rosalie to figure things out for herself. It didn't take long.

Rosalie crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at her from her superior height. “Natalie Kennigan, you went out with him, didn't you?”

“Yes, ma'am, I did indeed.”

She went back to opening boxes. Rosalie huffed in disgust. “You've been holding out on me. Considering this is the first good news I've heard from you on the dating front, you will tell me more than that.”

Natalie pulled out the next computer and put it with the others. “He asked me out to dinner while we were here last Saturday. The funny thing was that he took me to the same restaurant my folks always go to for special occasions. I figured him to be more of a steakhouse kind of guy.”

Rosalie looked pleased by that information. “Obviously, he was trying to impress you.”

That was Natalie's biggest fear. Too many men had tried that in the past and the relationships had gone nowhere. “I don't need to be impressed. Regardless, we had a great time.”

Rosalie shoved the next box over to Natalie. “Going to see him again?”

“If he asks.” She cut through the packing tape before continuing. “Or if I do. I don't see why I should have to wait to see if he makes another move.”

“Good for you, girl.”

She gave her friend a sly look. “If you think it's such a great idea, why haven't you ever asked Clarence out? We both know you want to.”

The older woman jerked upright and looked around to make sure that the man in question was not within hearing range. “Natalie, I've told you before I have no interest in him.”

Natalie started to tease Rosalie a bit more, but then she got a look at her friend's face. Obviously, this wasn't a joking matter. “I'm sorry if I've upset you. I'll shut up now.”

Rosalie patted her on the shoulder. “No apologies necessary. Even if I were interested in Clarence, he's never gotten over the death of his wife. Can't get close to a man who loved so hard that he can't let it go.”

“I bet he'll come around eventually. He's a smart man.”

“Enough about that. Your fella is headed this way. It's time I start getting the food organized for lunch, and you're going to need someone else to help unpack the rest of these computers before your tech crew arrives. I'll grab Tino and send him your way.”

Rosalie disappeared out the door before Natalie could stop her. Not that she made much of an effort. After all, she did need help. Really, she did.

Tino appeared in the doorway a few seconds later. “Hi, there.”

Natalie brushed her hair back from her face as she stood up. “Hi, there yourself. Thanks for coming again today.”

“I said I would, didn't I?” Tino glanced around at the chaos in the room. “Rosalie said you needed help unpacking computers.”

“I do.” She gestured toward the few she'd already set on the counter. “Some local IT people are coming this afternoon to get them all up and running. I want to have everything unpacked and set in place before they get here.”

He glanced at the boxes she'd been tossing in the corner. “How about I flatten the empties to give you more room?”

Without waiting for her to respond, Tino pulled a box cutter out of his toolbox and set to work. She needed to get busy herself, but she couldn't resist stealing a few seconds to admire the play of well-defined muscles under the thin cotton of his T-shirt. Then there was the way that denim drew the eye and showed off his other, um, really fine assets. Tino had looked handsome the other night in his sports coat and dress slacks, but she actually preferred him like this.

And once again she'd gotten caught staring. He'd had his back toward her, but now he faced her with a big grin on his face.

“See something you like?”

Denial was not an option. That didn't mean she had to admit that he'd caught her drooling over the fit of his jeans. “Yes, actually, I do. Well, at least I did.”

He frowned. “What changed?”

She offered him an impudent grin. “I was admiring a volunteer who clearly doesn't mind hard work, but now you're just standing there.”

“So are you.” He prowled toward her. “In fact, you stopped working long before I did. I have to wonder why.”

A wiser woman might have gone right back to opening boxes or else into full retreat. Instead, Natalie stood her ground and let Tino come to her, held in place by the heat in his dark-chocolate eyes and that sexy smile. She'd been right about him being temptation personified.

He slowly enfolded her in his arms. “Tell me to stop if you don't want this.”

She wanted it—wanted him—all right. There was only one reason to hesitate. “You might have noticed that this room is nothing but windows. People might see.”

He looked around them, scoping out both the front view of the parking lot as well as the windows that faced the hallway on the other side. “Good news. There's no one in sight, at least not right now.”

With the warmth of Tino's arms brushing against her skin and her own pulse pounding in her ears, she didn't really care if there was an entire gallery of spectators staring at them.

When his mouth came down on hers, hard and demanding, she immediately parted her lips in invitation. Always a man of action, Tino didn't hesitate to stake his claim on her. God, had anyone ever packed so much into a simple kiss? Not that she could remember.

She was dimly aware of him lifting her up and carrying her over to the nearest corner, the one spot in the room that wasn't visible from the outside. She should've protested but couldn't figure out why. Had his kiss somehow short-circuited her thought processes? If that wasn't the reason, maybe it was the way his hands felt as they skimmed across her skin, leaving a trail of heat in their wake.

As least Tino's brain functioned better than hers. He abruptly broke off the kiss as he planted his hands on the wall on each side of her. Looking a bit rueful and breathing hard, he smiled down at her. “I'd apologize, but I can honestly say I'm not all that sorry.”

She also had no regrets, but this was neither the time nor the place. Her lungs struggled to draw in some much-needed oxygen, but she managed to speak. “No apologies necessary, but we should get back to work.”

“Yes, we should.” He took a half step back. “But one of these days we'll be somewhere a lot more private, and we'll have to see where the moment takes us.”

Then he leaned in close enough to brush his lips across hers again. “I don't know about you, but I can't wait.”

Her, either, but they really did need to get back with the program. Thank goodness he went into full retreat until he reached the other side of the room. Within seconds, he was back to flattening the boxes. It took her longer to gather her scattered wits, but the clock was ticking. She tugged on the hem of her shirt to make sure it was straight and made a half-hearted attempt to tame her hair.

Where had she left her own box cutter? She patted her pockets. No luck. Had she dropped it? Nope. Sighing, she was about to do a slow three-sixty when Tino pointed toward the box she'd been opening before they'd gotten, um, distracted.

“Is that what you're looking for?”

There it was, lying right out in plain sight. At least she'd had the presence of mind to close the blade before setting it down. “Yes, thanks.”

She positioned herself with her back toward Tino to avoid getting distracted again. It didn't work, not completely anyway. Apparently she couldn't be in the same room with the man without being aware of him on some visceral level. The sensation was equal parts scary and exciting.

It was one more sign that she'd done the right thing by walking away from her engagement. Looking back, she realized that Benton had never stirred her emotions the way Tino did despite having met only a week ago. But were they rushing things?

For now, she needed to concentrate on the job at hand. Tonight, tomorrow at the latest, she'd sit down and think things out.

She'd opened only two computers when Tino rejoined her. “Do you want me to start setting one of these at each of the individual workstations?”

“Yes, that would be a big help.”

When she'd unpacked the last box, she flattened the rest of the empties and added them to the pile that Tino had started. All that was left was organizing the paperwork that had come with each computer and recording the serial numbers.

“These are really nice computers.” Tino started down one row while she did the other one. “Were they donated or did you have to buy them?”

“A little bit of both. I wanted to make sure that we were starting off with state-of-the-art machines. There's no use in teaching classes on outdated equipment with equally outdated software. Having decent computer skills can make a huge difference in the kind of jobs people can get these days.”

“Who will be teaching the classes?”

“A retired software engineer will teach the morning classes, and I'll be teaching the evening sessions two nights a week.”

Tino stopped to look at her. “Don't you already have enough to do?”

Before she could respond, he frowned. “Sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant to say is that I would think running the foundation would be a full-time job.”

“I have a good staff that handles a lot of the day-to-day details for me. I really love the hands-on part of the job. Eventually, I will need to find someone to take over the classes, but I see teaching as the payoff for all the hard work I've put in on getting this computer lab up and running.”

“That makes sense. I'm guessing working side by side with the people you're hoping to help makes it easier to get the job done right.” He went back to writing down the numbers. “Too many people throw money at a problem from a distance without ever bothering to find out how it's spent or what really works.”

“That sounds like the voice of experience.”

He shrugged. “You can't serve in hot spots around the world and not learn a little about the subject.”

She didn't press for details. The grim set to his mouth made it clear that the memories associated with the subject weren't happy ones. “The good news is that lunch should be about ready.”

“Do you want me to haul the boxes out to the recycling bin?”

“Not yet. There's always a chance one of the computers is faulty and will need to go back. Until the IT group has a chance to test them, we'll need to keep the boxes handy.”

She checked the last number she'd recorded to make sure it was right. Tino had one more machine to go, so she leaned against the counter and waited for him to finish. When he handed her his clipboard, she set it aside with hers.

“Let's lock up and then head into the cafeteria for lunch.”

While he waited for her, Tino cleared his throat and then asked, “Should I save you a seat?”

Did he doubt that she'd want to have lunch with him? She fell into step beside him as they started down the hall. “Actually, no, you won't have to. I told Rosalie I couldn't serve today, because I have to be available to help in here if they need me. So unless you have other plans, we can go through the line together and then stake out a corner of our own to eat.”

“Sounds good. What do you want me to do this afternoon?”

All kinds of ideas flooded into her mind, none of which were appropriate under the circumstances. “There's a chart of what needs to be done today posted in the gym with the names of the team captains listed at the top. I'm sure any of them would be glad to have your help.”

“I'll check it out.” He sniffed the air. “Something smells good.”

“I think an Italian restaurant did lunch today, and an organic bakery provided the desserts. Rosalie has a real talent for getting local businesses involved with the project. They often either donate the food or provide it at cost. In return, they get free advertising on the foundation's website and in any publications we produce.”

“You guys do an impressive job.”

His comment pleased her. “We try. It's important to stretch the foundation's budget as far as it can go. We do get grants that really help, but my grandfather funds most of our projects.”

“He sounds like a nice man.”

She laughed. “Hardly. He's a grouchy old coot, something he takes great pride in.”

Tino glanced down at her. “You adore him.”

“That I do. My parents both love me, but he's the one member of the family who really understands me.”

They'd reached the cafeteria. Tino handed her a tray and took one for himself. “Do you get to see him very often?”

“I try to go over to his house every Tuesday morning. Updating him on the current projects and any we're thinking about taking on is supposed to be the real purpose of the visits. He likes to keep his hand in as much as his health allows, and I value his advice. Mostly, I just like spending time with him.”

As they moved along in the line, she wondered if Tino and Cyrus would hit it off. Somehow she thought they would, but it was too early in their relationship for the whole meet-the-family thing to start. After all, they'd only gone on one date and spent two days working here at the center. Well, and then there were those amazing kisses.