Stony Creek Hero [Stony Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (24 page)

“They all will. We should do this every year!” Florence crowed out.

Lizzie thought she was going to faint. She looked to Billie for support and found none since her friend practically had saliva running from the corner of her mouth eating up the vision of Jackson standing up there as well, half-naked, hotter than hell, and sweaty.

“Ladies, focus please! We can’t just charge people to watch them put up my roof. Isn’t there something immoral about that? Mabel? Millie?” Lizzie pleaded.

Julia again had one of her brilliant smiles plastered on her scheming but well-meaning beautiful face. “Oh sweetie, we won’t actually charge admission, no. That would be wrong on the Lord’s Day. Nope, we are accepting donations! It is, after all, for the church.”

Lizzie slapped her hand to her forehead and tried to just walk away to set up the refreshment table. She was up a good portion of last night cooking and baking all manner of treats for the men who were being such darlings by volunteering their time to help her. There were sausage breads with fresh marinara sauce, roast beef and cured ham sandwiches on homemade sweet bread, gooey cinnamon rolls with sweet icing, and tons of small pastries to grab and go. She noticed that someone, not hard to guess who, had brought a keg. It sat next to the giant coolers of lemonade and sweet tea that the ladies had so thoughtfully prepared.

The whole roof repair and now church scheme was so absurd to Lizzie that she just decided to not get aggravated anymore and just go with the flow. She saw a huge pickup pull up and watched as Beth and Mimi jumped out. She was rather glad to see them until she noticed the cameras and the huge wad of singles that they were waving in the matron’s direction. Hysterical peals of laughter drifted over from the women’s direction. This was going to be a very memorable day. Multitudes of cars and pickups began parking near her home on the grass, revealing townspeople of all ages coming out to see the spectacle. Even their church’s pastor pulled up and offered her a kiss on the cheek, deeming this an inspired idea for everyone to help one another. She was back to killing that crazy Julia Morgan again, Lizzie though to herself. Stopping to pause as she was about to march herself back over to the matrons, she overheard Florence talking excitedly to Beth.

“Hey, you girls! I just got hit with another brilliant idea. Do you think we could make a cocktail table book out of these boys? I wonder how much we could sell it for.”

Lizzie just sat down, pulled out a ten dollar bill, and waved it in Mabel’s direction. Julia took it from her and shoved it in the donation box.

Lizzie couldn’t even look in their direction, she was so transfixed by the display of sizzling hunks of male flesh that were all over her roof. All she heard was Julia chirping, “Thank you for your donation, Ms. Carmichael!”

* * * *

In spite of the lunacy that was her roof raising, the day ran pretty smoothly with no significant injuries for the pregnant Dr. Billie Rothman to oversee. Well, none unless you counted a very sheepish-looking Jackson whispering to his doctor and fiancée that he had a very personal injury that he needed her to attend to. They were in Lizzie’s house for a good twenty minutes before they both exited, hand in hand, with Jackson wearing a very satisfied, arrogant expression and Billie appearing, well, pleasantly rumpled. Now both of them were sweaty, she observed as Billie rejoined her looking rather flushed. Jackson returned to the roof where catcalls and bawdy remarks were being thrown in his direction.

Lizzie looked at Billie with a raised eyebrow, silently questioning her for some information. Billie just smiled and declared Jackson to be quite fit with no permanent injuries.

Florence took one look at Billie and started laughing herself silly. “Yes, dear. I am sure it was his ‘fitness’ that got you in current state of affairs.”

All the women looked down at Billie’s still-flat stomach and followed Florence in her laughter. Billie looked relieved when Maddy finally showed up to distract the elder gossip mongers. Maddy appeared somewhat nervous and ill at ease, but for what reason, Lizzie couldn’t figure out.

“Hey, Maddy, are you okay? You look funny,” Lizzie whispered in Maddy’s ear.

Maddy just shook her head, indicating that nothing was wrong but kept sneaking surreptitious peeks up in the direction of the roof. Lizzie followed her gaze to spy a very hunky Powell hanging over the edge while securing a piece of flashing to her gutter. Troy was in the required uniform of a hot, sweaty, half-naked male with six-pack presentation. Maddy looked like she was going to swoon as she kept returning her gaze again and again to sneak a peek. Just at that moment, Troy looked over at Maddy, upside-down and all, and shot her a naughty grin as though he had read her mind. Shocked out of her stupor by his attention, she realized that she was being observed. So, instead of blushing like she normally did, Maddy just dug into her purse and pulled out a twenty with great enthusiasm.

“Oh, Julia! I think the men earned some of this for their fine display, I mean workmanship, today,” Maddy finished with a smile, allowing her voice to carry to a very specific someone hanging off the roof.

All eyes were suddenly drawn to a very large and unusually hostile male standing on the peak of Lizzie’s roof. Brody looked furious as he took in the scene below him and appeared like he was in shock. Normally he was the even-tempered diplomat of the Powell clan, but apparently someone had forgotten to remind him of that today.

His face scanned the very large number of ladies that were in attendance below him, all ages and all walks of life. Very few of the audience were even trying to conceal their obvious enjoyment of the “show” being performed in front of them and didn’t hesitate in taking pictures with cameras, video, and even their cell phones. Lizzie had to laugh herself as she realized that he just figured out the very reason that there were so many women down on her front lawn in chairs.

A huge bellow followed his now-furious expression. He crossed his thick arms across his sweaty muscular chest, causing a chorus of “ooohs” and “aaahs” from the audience.

Rolling his eyes, Brody yelled down to Florence, “Mom! What the heck do you think you are doing down there?”

Florence walked over the edge of lawn right below her eldest child and looked nonplussed. “What does it look like we are doing, Brody?”

“It looks like you are pimping us out for Pete’s sake, Mom!” Brody hollered, causing all the men now to stop what they were doing and take in the situation.

“Well look who finally caught on? Excuse me, darling boy, but you all have been doing this for years with the lovely young ladies of Stony Creek. The Ladies Guild simply is ensuring that we get the funds we need to repair the stained-glass windows in the church. You should see all the money, I mean, donations that we have made from these ladies just by watching the show! Pretty ingenious, no?” Florence smiled up at him sweetly.

“How can you do this, Mom? It’s embarrassing,” Cole piped up to join his brother. He looked just as mouthwatering as his brother and there were several ladies being ushered closer by Thea Carson with their dollars so that they could take a better photo.

Florence let out a laugh. “What is so embarrassing, really? I made you both and I am proud. I am not allowing you to do anything naughty to any of these ladies, nope, not at all. I am simply allowing them to observe all your fine skills as you work. It is like an art show really. You boys are just adorable.”

Several of the men now stood with their mouths hanging open, in shock at Florence who now had several of the other matrons at her side, nodding in their agreement. Only Hunter kept right on working, ignoring what he probably thought was just silliness. Hunter was very comfortable with his fitness.

“Mom, this is just… It’s wrong!” Brody yelled back.

Lizzie watched the scene unbelievably play out as Lillian came forward and linked her arms with her sister-in-law. She added her semi-evil smile to Florence’s, making the men on the roof look almost unsure of themselves now.

“Boys, we have watched you go through the young women of Stony Creek like toilet paper for years. Payback stinks, doesn’t it, my darlings? Now get back to work!” Florence finished with a devilish smile that matched Lillian’s as they sauntered away together.

Lizzie stood there with Billie, trying very hard not to laugh at the cowed expressions and physical stance that the men now displayed.

Lizzie turned to Billie and chuckled. “Remind me never, ever to tick Florence or Lillian off, okay.”

Billie let out a shudder. “Me, too, sister, me, too!”

Ben could almost scent the sweat that was running down between Lizzie’s breasts as he heard her gasp of pain. She was delectable. There was no other description for her in his mind.

“Harder, baby, just do it a little harder, right there,” Ben moaned out in his pleasure. He shifted his hips into a better position, trying to aid her in her efforts. Lizzie sure was giving it her all, not resting for one moment in the last half hour, trying to give him what he needed.

“Ben, honey, I am trying. I promise I won’t stop until you tell me to,” Lizzie struggled to get out as her strokes continued.

Ben had to laugh at their current position. It sure sounded like she was doing more than giving him the massage of his life but, in the end that was all it was, no matter how amazing her soft little hands felt as they skimmed over his tanned flesh.

They had finished the roof by midafternoon and all the men were pretty damn sore from being hunched over while nailing in shingles in the August heat. The mood of the men had gone from cocky to embarrassed as they realized that their mothers and former babysitters were sitting down there amongst the younger female generation, trying to decide who had the best abs, whose chest was the most chiseled, whose ass looked as hard as rock. It was humbling, but few had protested after Florence had put Brody right back in his place. It was true, they did the same to the women, but geez, they were men and it was what men did.

He had felt a surge of jealousy when some of the guys, the Taggarts, Sean in particular as well as deputy Nat Winston, thought that his Lizzie was looking pretty darned hot in her little blue skirt and white halter top. Assholes, what the hell were they doing checking her ass out when they knew she was his? Sean Taggart particularly was pulling his hugging crap up there today. It had been too damn hot and he had been too damned pissed, after Sean’s comment on wanting to climb on down to give Lizzie a personal measure of support. Ben couldn’t think of anything except how much pleasure he would get by shoving him off the roof. He knew that Sean was just messing around with him as he was being very obvious in his feelings for Lizzie. Fuck, the woman had him tied up in so many knots that he was considering murdering his friends. He had suggested that she wear a sweatshirt and jeans this morning but she was right when she looked at him like he was nuts, considering the forecast for the day. Damn woman, she probably wore that outfit just to teach him a lesson. Okay, maybe he deserved it but she was his Lizzie. Maybe it was time to tell her how he felt about her?

He rolled over onto his back, trying to shift her so she stayed on him but now was positioned directly over his groin. Yep, this was nice, too, he thought to himself. It was well worth the humiliation at being the beefcake special today and well worth the expense to see the unshed tears of happiness in Lizzie’s eyes as he climbed down and told her that the roof was never going to leak again, not in this lifetime. She had burrowed into his sweaty tanned hulk, hanging on to him for dear life and Lord, it had felt so good. Making this woman feel that relieved, making her so overwhelmed that she was speechless, made him want to do anything if it would keep her feeling this good. Shit, now he was starting to sound like Jackson, just gushing and disgustingly in love. Oh well, he had never been and if this was what it felt like, this was how he was going to stay.

He looked at her tenderly while his hands rested gently on her hips.

“You are happy, baby?” Ben questioned softly.

Lizzie didn’t answer him but rather leaned down to brush her soft lips against his, allowing him to bask in their texture. Everything about her was feminine, from her diminutive size, five foot six compared to his six-foot-five height, to her little feet. He lowered one hand to caress her bare arch, marveling that even there, her skin was smooth and soft.

She nuzzled her face into his neck and breathed deeply, sighing in what sounded like a content whisper.

“How could I be anything else but happy, Ben? You had the whole darned town out here today, half of which was on my roof and the other half sitting on the observation deck. You did all that for me, the time, expense, and the effort. Ben, no one has ever done that for me and I am just overwhelmed. Thank you so much. Now I don’t have to be frightened anymore when the rains come,” Lizzie confessed quietly.

Ben ran his hands up and down her spine, enjoying the feeling of her trustingly mashed up against his body. It almost shocked him how good it felt and there was nothing remotely sexual about it. He lifted his head slightly so he could look at her.

“Lizzie, baby, look at me,” Ben asked.

“No, I can’t. I just am going to live right here on the side of your heavenly smelling neck. You smell just like a man ought to, like spicy cologne. We should bottle this.” She tried to distract him.

Ben, as usual, took charge and rolled them both to the side with him looming over her slightly. He used one of his powerful thighs to hold her legs down on the bed as he smiled at her, trying to formulate how he was going to say what he needed to confess. They were words that he had never spoken, until now.