Summer Sizzle (3 page)

“Well, what do you think, Ty-Ling?” She opened the carrier and stroked the cat’s fur. “Do you think you can leave Blake alone if I let you out? I know you don’t like being locked in your cage, but you can’t go around attacking him every time he crosses your path. Do you think you can be a good girl?”

The cat closed its eyes and purred contentedly. She stroked it for a moment longer before shutting it inside the laundry room.

Vicki took a quick look at her watch and wrinkled her brow into a frown. It was after five-thirty, and no one from the rental office had bothered to return her call. Something had to be resolved about exactly who had to leave and who could stay in the house. A touch of pique pulled at her sense of order when she recalled Blake’s audacity in demanding to see her rental agreement. Well, maybe
demanding
wasn’t exactly the right word, but he had definitely made the request in a rather emphatic tone.

****

Blake quickly tended to his injuries, then started toward the stairs. He paused at the top with his hand on the banister as haunting memories from the past, stirred to the surface by Vicki’s unexpected intrusion into his life, filled his mind.

Retracing his steps, he entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him. He stood motionless in front of his closet for several seconds, then carefully took a box from the top shelf. It had been three months since he’d last looked at the contents of the box. He thought about Vicki. About the place inside him her situation had somehow managed to touch. A place he had carefully closed off behind an emotionless wall in hopes of keeping the pain tucked away. A place where a little spark of life and emotion still fought to survive.

Opening the box, he reached a trembling hand inside and withdrew a photograph. His gaze landed on the picture of the little boy waving from the swing. He picked up another photo, this one of himself with the same little boy flying a kite at the beach. Then he withdrew a piece of paper, and a knot of emotion lodged in his throat. He unfolded the crayon drawing of a brightly colored kite flying in the blue sky. The words below it printed in a childish scrawl.

I love you, Daddy.

Another twinge of despair stabbed at Blake’s heart, but he quickly shoved it away. It had been two years since the painful loss of his six year old son. He had easily dealt with the situation of his wife deserting them when Bobby was only a year old. After all, the accidental pregnancy had been the only reason for their marriage, and she had not really wanted the baby.

But losing his son had been almost more than he could handle. Bobby had been run down by a speeding car right in front of his eyes, and at that moment, a gaping hole had been ripped in his heart. His plans for the future—for his son—had been cruelly snatched away, leaving him drifting aimlessly without purpose. On that day, he stopped living. His life became nothing more than a day-to-day existence.

He could not bring himself to look at the other items in the box. Perhaps he would later. He carefully refolded the drawing and placed it back inside along with the photographs, then set the container on the dresser. Taking a steadying breath, he headed back to the living room.

The sound of Vicki’s voice brought him to a halt at the foot of the stairs.

“But I don’t understand. This is the answering service? How can there not be anyone available to help me until Monday? What happened to the person I was speaking with just a little while ago? I explained the situation to her. Someone was supposed to get back to me today. There’s a man living in the house I rented, and he claims to have a lease. This situation must be cleared up immediately. All of my belongings are here. I don’t have a car or any other means of moving my things again, and I have no place else to stay. I paid five months’ rent in advance.”

Desperation filled her voice, touching Blake in ways that shocked him. He went straight to the desk and returned with the copy of his lease. Then he watched and listened as she concluded her conversation.

She seemed so distraught and in need of help. Again, a little flicker of life tried to warm that cold place deep inside him where he had locked away his emotions. The words caught in his throat, but he finally managed to force them out. “Vicki, I—”

She jumped at the sound of his voice. “You startled me. I didn’t hear you come downstairs.”

“I’m sorry you’re having so much trouble.” He offered a sincere smile. “Obviously, the rental agency doesn’t intend to deal with this screw-up until Monday. Gary Sanderson, the owner of the house, is out of town for the weekend. That’s probably what the rental people discovered, so they ducked out without resolving their mistake, leaving you to fend for yourself.”

She didn’t utter a word, but her look of despair said it all.

“Did I hear you say you paid for May through September in advance with a cashier’s check?” His words were a vague, half-formed thought that had somehow managed to escape into the open of its own volition.

Vicki nodded.

“That’s odd. It doesn’t sound like the type of thing Gary would do.” He handed her the piece of paper in his hand. “This is a copy of my lease. As you can see from the date, I do have prior claim on this house.”

She hesitantly reached for the offered document. She stared at the piece of paper, then heaved a sigh of resignation and sank onto the couch. The hopelessness of the situation reflected in her eyes when she returned the paper to him.

“I…I don’t know what to do. I have my business to take care of. I planned to use the dining room as my office. I don’t own a car. This house is conveniently located just a couple of blocks walk from the village and my clients.” She looked around the room, sadness edging into her voice. “It was all so perfect.”

“Business? What do you do?”

“I’m an accountant.”

Blake managed to hide his surprise. She certainly didn’t look like the stereotypical image of an accountant—not with that body, a very tempting mouth, and those eyes.

“I’ve contracted with several of the summer seasonal businesses in the village to have them as my clients. I need someplace large enough to let me work, and yet close enough so not having a car won’t be a problem. I also need something fully furnished.” She again looked around the living room. “This was the only house that fit all those needs. This is where my clients are, so this is where I need to be.” Her voice faltered. “Now I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“You’re doing this just for the summer? What do you do the rest of the year? Where do you normally live and work?”

“Until a week ago, I worked for a large insurance company. I plan to return to the university in the fall. I’ve been saving my money so I can go straight through to get my master’s degree while living on campus without having to hold down a job. That way, I can take a heavier class schedule and finish sooner.”

Vicki firmly believed that would provide her with the means of guaranteeing a secure future without any reliance on anyone else—a sense of security all important to her carefully orchestrated life. “That’s why I don’t have a car. I sold it to pay the rent on this house. I decided it was a good trade off, since I can make more money over the summer here than if I continued for the next few months at my old job.”

“Sounds like a pretty ambitious program.”

“You can’t just sit around and assume things will work out by themselves.” Her indignation made its way into her voice despite her obvious attempts to keep it out. “It takes hard work and planning for the future.”

“Really? Is your entire life already planned out, with every minute accounted for in your schedule? Do you have any time set aside to have fun? To enjoy what life has to offer?”

“I…” Vicki suddenly felt as if she were under a microscope, her entire life and philosophy being dissected, studied in detail, and challenged. She set her jaw in determination and brushed at an imaginary tendril of hair. “There will be plenty of time for
that
later. Right now, it’s important for me to plan for a secure future.”

She rose, crossed the room to the sliding glass door, and stared out at the ocean. The only thing in her life to occur on an unscheduled basis was hot sex when someone special stimulated her desires. She took a calming breath in an attempt to stop the unwanted throbbing in her pussy. Someone exactly like this man—the totally unacceptable, yet physically desirable Blake Callahan.

Anger welled inside her. How dare this stranger challenge and ridicule what she held as so important to her life? He obviously didn’t know a thing about maintaining a proper sense of responsibility. She turned and glared at him.

“I don’t know what you do for a living, assuming you actually
do
some type of work.” She shot a pointed barb at him. “But I intend to make sure my future is properly secured. I have no intention of wasting my time on frivolous nonsense. Besides—”

Tears welled in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away, not sure if they were tears of anger, righteous indignation, or some deeper sense that something very important was missing from her life. “My mother never had a washer and dryer!”

Chapter Two

“Your mother never had a washer and dryer?” A look of total bewilderment covered Blake’s face. “What the hell does that mean?” He tilted his head and stared at her, his eyebrows knitted in a confused frown. “I haven’t the vaguest idea what you’re talking about. Are you trying to save money so you can buy your mother a washer and dryer?”

“It’s nothing.” Vicki clipped her words as she spit out the thought. Her defenses were definitely up. “You obviously wouldn’t understand.”

Maybe others had time to waste their lives on frivolous pursuits like flying kites, but not her. As a child, her father had moved their family from city to city and state to state, always in search of the
big break
just over the hill in the next town. She had grown up in one small rented apartment after another. She needed the sense of security that had been lacking in her childhood, the permanency her mother never had. The washer and dryer had become symbols of the security and permanency she vowed to provide for herself.

She had worked hard to further her education and map out her future. Her bachelor’s degree had been a slow process. From the time she graduated from high school, she had worked full time to support herself in addition to paying her college expenses. After that, she set her goal on the pursuit of a master’s degree. Her goal was finally within sight. She would have time to indulge in
frivolous
things after she had firmly established her own business and secured her future.

Vicki had watched her mother haul loads of laundry for their family of five to the coin operated public laundry during all the years of her childhood and youth. And even though she never heard her mother complain, she surely must have resented the extra burden she shouldered to allow her father to follow his dreams without accepting the responsibilities a family required. Well, that would not be her lot in life. She had her feet firmly planted in reality.

She would have her washer and dryer.

“How do you know I wouldn’t understand? Why don’t you give me a try? You might be surprised.”

“It’s…it’s not important. Forget it.”

“Okay, if you’d rather not talk about it.”

She stared out the window as her last remnant of control over the situation slipped away.

“Uh, I have a suggestion that could help you out of your predicament, at least for the moment. This is a large house. Perhaps we could reach an understanding about sharing it until Monday, when you can work out something with the rental office.”

Her eyes widened as shock traveled through her body. Had she heard him correctly?

He awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other, uncertainty showing on his face. “I know it sounds kind of bizarre, especially since we don’t know anything about each other, but give it some thought. You don’t need to be alarmed. I’m not the type to sneak up on you in the middle of the night while you’re sleeping and jump into your bed.” A teasing grin slowly spread across his face. “At least not without an invitation.”

Wariness replaced her initial shock, and she took a couple of steps backward.

His expression turned serious. “Lighten up a little. I’m just kidding. There’s no reason for you to be worried about your safety. So, what do you think? Can we co-exist for a couple of days?”

“Well…” It took her a few seconds to get over her alarm. She hesitated as she tried to formulate her thoughts and weigh her alternatives. Between the rental agency not calling her back and Blake showing her a copy of a signed lease, she had little doubt about the legitimacy of his claim to the house. She pulled open the sliding glass door to let in the sounds of the ocean and took a deep breath to calm her inner jitters. She tried to put her heated physical desire for this totally inappropriate man to one side so she could make a logical evaluation of the situation. “I can’t make a decision like this without considering all the facets of the problem and carefully weighing the pros and cons.”

“You know what I think, Victoria Templeton?” His soft voice sounded so very sexy as he moved to stand directly behind her, his nearness sending waves of heated desire coursing through her veins. “I think you’ve never done a spontaneous thing in your life.”

“How dare you make such an assumption!” She whirled around to face him and found herself looking up into his mesmerizing blue eyes. She tried to force a confident tone into her voice, something she definitely didn’t feel. “You don’t know a thing about me or my situation.”

“I’ll even go so far as to guess that you don’t know how to be spontaneous.” He stared at her as if trying to reach inside her head and drag out her thoughts. “You’re so busy worrying about tomorrow that you won’t allow yourself any time for today.”

“You think I don’t know how to be spontaneous?” Her words were spoken half in anger and half in disbelief. He had challenged her, something she couldn’t allow to go unanswered. She stepped close to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and plastered her mouth against his. Her breasts pressed against his hard chest. Then, very aware of his rapidly growing erection, she leaned her hips against his body.