The King Next Door (2 page)

Still, knowing the truth explained a lot, she thought. Ever since her best friend Katie had married into the King family, there had been a steady stream of gorgeous, rich, single men in and out of the house next door. And every last one of those men had treated Nicole like a little sister. Heck, they’d done everything but pat her on the head.

She’d begun to believe she’d morphed into some kind of sexless, uninteresting blob. Not that she was looking for a man. Not a permanent one, at any rate. She’d already tried that and had found her ex-husband had the shelf life of an overripe tomato. No, she didn’t want a man, but she didn’t mind being flirted with occasionally, and the lack of interest from the King men had baffled her.

Now at least she knew what had been going on.

Oh, she could understand Katie’s motivations. Her friend was being protective and a part of Nicole appreciated it. But seriously? She was a grown woman with a son, a home, a business all her own. She could take care of herself.

“She didn’t have to do that,” Nicole said at last.

He shrugged. “Looking out for a friend? Understandable. Especially since my cousin Cordell treated Katie herself so badly she almost didn’t give Rafe a chance at all.”

Nicole remembered that all too well. Katie had sworn off all King men because of her experience with one of them. Rafe hadn’t told her his real last name until he and Katie were already involved.

“Your cousin Cordell is a dog.”

“Agreed,” he said amiably. “Always has been, too. Women seem to love him, though, which I can’t figure out. Still, there’s always the hope that he’ll meet some woman who will give him the same treatment he’s been handing out for years.”

“There’s a happy thought,” Nicole said.

“Yeah.” He paused, clearly enjoying the possibilities, which made Nicole smile.

“So anyway,” he continued, “Katie was just looking out for you, I guess. And when she used the threat of a cookie cutoff, she got our attention. We do like our cookies.”

As annoying as it might be to know that her best friend was running interference for her, Nicole couldn’t really be angry at Katie for having good intentions.

“They are good cookies,” she admitted.

“Exactly,” Griffin agreed and gave her a smile that made something inside her sizzle and spark like a short fuse on a skyrocket. Honestly, every last one of the King men was a temptation to women everywhere.

But Griffin…he was danger, temptation and seduction on a whole new level. There was something about him—the smile, maybe, or the casual air he had—that made her feel things she hadn’t experienced in, oh…forever. Okay, not that long, but long enough.

Nicole had spent the last few days surreptitiously watching him. After all, he was hard to miss, since he spent nearly every waking moment—practically naked—in that damn hot tub she could see from her backyard. Besides, she would have dared any living, breathing woman to
avoid
watching him—impossible really, since he looked amazing, with all that black hair and the blue eyes and a dimple—not to mention the sharply defined abs that practically
begged
a woman to stroke and caress his skin and…

Okay, she was clearly getting off track here. But who wouldn’t be, she asked herself. With Griffin King standing not two feet from her, dripping wet, his board shorts dipping low enough on his hips to make her wonder what it might be like to give them a little tug and…

God.

“Are you going into a fugue state or something?” Griffin asked.

“Huh? What?”
Oh, perfect, Nicole. Get caught mentally slavering over him. Nice.
“No, I’m fine. Just busy.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” He rubbed one palm across his chest and her gaze followed the motion.

Damn it. It was like being hypnotized by testosterone.

“Don’t you ever just sit down in the shade?” he asked, then stretched lazily. His chest muscles shifted; his board shorts dipped a little lower.

Nicole swallowed hard, closed her eyes briefly, then said, “No time.” Just saying it reminded her how busy she really was.

Running her own business meant she could work most mornings and spend afternoons doing the million and one things that constantly needed doing around the house. But somehow weekends were still jam-packed. Amazing how chores stacked up. Plus, there was Connor. She glanced at her beautiful boy and smiled. It wasn’t just the house she had to concentrate on. It was spending time with Connor. Making sure her son knew that he was the most important person in the world to her.

So yeah, her days were really crowded, unlike some Kings-who-reclined-in-hot-tubs.

“Connor’s digging.”

She didn’t even look. “Of course he is. A little boy. A shovel. Dirt.”

“You’re a good mom.”

Surprised, she looked up into Griffin’s eyes. “Thanks. I try.”

“It shows.”

Gazes locked, a couple of humming seconds passed as they stared at each other. Nicole broke first.

“Well, I’d better get back to it.”

“Planting,” he said.

“Yes, but first, changing the lightbulb in the kitchen.” She checked on Connor, then looked back at the man standing way too close to her. “Would you mind keeping an eye on him while I get the ladder from the garage?”

“Ladder?” He frowned.

“Kitchen light? Ceiling?”

He nodded. “You watch Connor. I’ll get the ladder.”

He was already headed for the garage when she called out, “You don’t have to do that, I can—”

Lifting one hand to acknowledge her, he shouted back, “We’ve already had that conversation, remember? It’s no problem.”

“No problem,” she muttered. Nicole shot a look at her son, happily digging holes.

It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the help. But Nicole had been on her own for a while now. She wasn’t a delicate blossom. She knew how to fix plugged toilets and dripping sinks, and she took out her own garbage and killed her own spiders.

She didn’t
need
a man’s help.

But, a small voice in her mind whispered, was it really so bad to have it once in a while?

“Fine.” She watched Griffin stride from the garage to the back door. The old wooden ladder was balanced on one shoulder and those darn board shorts of his looked to have dipped another inch or so. “He’ll help, then he’ll go home,” she assured herself.

Then she could go back to watching him. From a safe distance.

“Where’s the new lightbulb?”

“It’s on the counter. Griffin—”

He shot her that fast, amazing grin again. “Be done in a minute.”

No, he wouldn’t. Her kitchen, like the rest of the small house her grandmother had left her, was old and out of date. The fluorescent lightbulb in the ancient fixture was three feet long and almost impossible to coax out of its fasteners, if you didn’t know the little tricks to manage it. She’d have to help.

She glanced at her son. He was busy with his shovel. Just like the pirates in his favorite book, he was probably looking for buried treasure. She’d be able to see him from the kitchen window. “Connor, honey, you stay right there, okay?”

“’Kay!”

Hurrying into the kitchen after Griffin, Nicole saw that he already had the ladder positioned under the burned-out bulb. As he took one step up, the whole thing swayed and he looked down at her in amazement.

“You actually stand on this thing? Got a death wish?”

“It works fine,” Nicole argued, somehow feeling as if she had to defend her late grandfather’s ladder. She was pretty sure it was as old as the house, but it was perfectly serviceable. “You just weigh more than I do.”

“If you say so,” he muttered, and climbed up another couple of steps, still swaying like he was standing on the prow of a boat. “I’ll have the old bulb out in a second.”

“It’s not easy,” she said. “You have to wiggle to the left twice, then back to the right and once more to the left.”

“It’s a lightbulb, not a combination lock.”

“That’s what you think,” Nicole told him, trying to keep from staring at his flat abdomen—which just happened to be at eye level. It had been way too long, Nicole thought, if just being this close to Griffin King was making her feel a little weak in the knees.

Damn it, she knew better. Griffin, like every other King, was a player. A master of flirtation and seduction. And didn’t
that
sound interesting, her mind whispered.

Her mind drifted as she considered tugging at his board shorts just a little. Dragging them down until—

“I’ve got it,” he grumbled, shaking her out of her thoughts, thank heaven.

“Be careful.” She frowned up at him, but he was too busy with the light to notice. “Remember to wiggle to the left first.”

“It’s just. A. Little. Stubborn.” He yanked the bad bulb out and held it one hand triumphantly. “Hah!”

A small, blond torpedo raced through the open back door. Connor was running so fast he never saw the ladder until he crashed into it.

Nicole let go of the ladder to grab her son.

The ladder swayed sharply to the right.

Griffin’s balance dissolved and he reached up with his free hand to grab the light fixture to steady himself.

He pulled it right out of the ceiling.

His eyes went wide.

Nicole gasped.

Chunks of old plaster fell down on them like hail.

Connor wailed.

The ladder tipped farther.

Griffin toppled to one side, then jumped, still clutching the remnants of the light fixture he’d yanked free.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Three little sounds.

Nicole looked up to see a wisp of smoke and the first flames erupt. “Oh, God!”

“Everybody out!” Griffin dropped the lightbulb and grabbed hold of Nicole and Connor, steering them out the back door to safety.

Two

T
he firemen were very nice.

They let Connor wear one of their helmets and sit in the big truck, while an older fireman kept watch.

Nicole was grateful. She needed a minute. Or two. Or maybe thirty. She sighed as she let her gaze slide from her son to the mess that was her house. Fire hoses were stretched across the lawn, now muddy from too much water and too many feet. Neighbors were gathered around watching the excitement—even Mr. Hannity, who had to be a hundred and ten, had pried himself off his front porch to get a better view. And Griffin was talking to one of the firemen like they were old friends.

Standing alone at the end of her driveway, Nicole listened halfheartedly to the conversations and noise around her. There was a buzzing in her ears that she thought might be the personification of the panic beginning to chew at her insides.

Her knees were still a little shaky and her stomach did an occasional slow roll. Probably leftover adrenaline still pumping through her system. Griffin had moved so fast, snatching Connor from her, then grabbing hold of her arm to pull her out of the kitchen. Thank God she kept her cell phone in her pocket. She’d used it to call the fire department the moment they were clear of the house.

Her
house.

She hadn’t been back inside yet. Didn’t even know if she
wanted
to go look at the disaster that was now her kitchen. Nicole could only imagine what she’d find, and her imagination was pretty darn good. And while those dismal thoughts were spinning through her mind, more piled on for the trip.

Insurance.

Of course the house was insured, but there was a huge deductible—to make the payments easier to live with. And now, thinking of trying to meet that deductible was giving Nicole cold chills in spite of the sun beating down on her shoulders.

How was she going to pay for this?

How could she not?

“Jim says it’s not too bad, considering.”

“Huh? What?” Nicole looked up at Griffin, surprised to find him standing right in front of her. Her mind really was tangled up in knots of misery if she hadn’t noticed his approach.

He tipped his head to one side and studied her. “Another fugue state? Or shock? Maybe you should sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down,” she said. In fact, what she
wanted
to do was throw herself onto the grass and kick and scream for a while. But since that wasn’t going to happen, she asked, “I want to find out what shape my house is in and see if it’s safe.”

“Jim says it is.”

“The fireman you were talking to?”

“Yeah.” Griffin shrugged. “Don’t get your feminist temper rolling. I didn’t head him off to get information. I went to school with him, can you believe that coincidence? Jim Murphy. He’s a fire captain now. Married, got a million kids…”

“All very nice for Jim,” Nicole said tightly. “What did he say about my kitchen?”

“Oh.” The smile dropped from his face. “He’ll be over to talk to you in a minute. He’s just checking the place out again before they wrap things up and leave.”

“So the fire’s out.”

“Absolutely,” he assured her, and reached out to lay one hand on her shoulder briefly. “Electrical, but you knew that.”

Yes. She’d probably be hearing that series of pops in her dreams for weeks.

“Apparently your wiring’s shot,” Griffin told her.

“It was working fine until today,” she argued, even though she knew he was right. The wiring was old; the pipes were antiques. But there just never seemed to be enough money to fix everything. She’d made plans, of course. Big plans, for a remodel of the kitchen, for adding a huge bath onto the master bedroom. Maybe a deck off the kitchen…but they were just plans. Pie in the sky, as her grandmother used to say.

“Yeah, and I feel really bad about that,” Griffin said, bringing her back to the conversation. “If I hadn’t tugged on the light fixture…”

A part of her wanted to agree. That angry, desperate voice inside her wanted to shout,
I told you I didn’t need any help!
But sadly, fury wasn’t going to change anything. She shook her head and waved one hand, dismissing his guilt. “Things happen. Nothing to do about it now, anyway.”

In fact, she was lucky Griffin hadn’t fallen off the ladder and cracked his skull, too. Then she’d be dealing not only with fire damage but doctor bills, as well.

“Besides,” she said, turning her gaze to look at Connor, grinning at her from under the huge helmet he was still wearing, “we’re all safe. That’s what counts.”

“Good attitude,” Griffin said, and turned when Jim Murphy walked up to join them.

“Ms. Baxter,” he said and shook her hand. “The house is safe for you to enter again, but I wouldn’t advise staying there until you’ve had all of the wiring checked by an electrician.”

“Right,” she mumbled. “But the fire’s out? It’s not going to spring back into life?”

He smiled and shook his head. “No, it won’t. The power’s been shut off to the kitchen circuits. But because of the age of the house, that circuit also runs through half of the living room, so there’s no power in there, either. Just to be safe, I’d have an electrician and a contractor check everything out before you turn the power back on.”

“Of course.” Professionals. Electricians. Contractors. Then there would be plasterers, painters…visions of dollar bills flying out an open window popped into Nicole’s mind and she again fought the urge to kick and scream. Pushing the worry to the back of her mind, she forced a smile and said, “Thank you. I appreciate you getting here so quickly.”

“Glad we could help,” the man said and looked over his shoulder at the house. “It’s built well. These old houses have good bones. I know it seems like a lot now, but,” he added, turning back to smile at her, “it could have been a lot worse. As it is, once the main problem is fixed, you’ll be good. There’s no structural damage.”

Small favors, Nicole thought.

“Thanks, Jim,” Griffin said, shaking the other man’s hand. “Good to see you. Say hi to Kathy for me, okay?”

“I’ll do it.” He walked toward the fire truck, and Griffin joined him. “Maybe we could do dinner some night, huh?”

Firemen were still moving around her lawn, rolling up hoses, talking, laughing together. The crowd of neighbors was breaking up, with only the nosiest lingering. Jim and Griffin were still catching up and Connor was now “steering” the big fire truck with a wild grin on his face.

Nicole had zoned out. Let the two old buddies make plans for beers and burgers. Let her son revel in little-boy daydreams. Right now, she was more concerned with what she was going to do next. The sad truth was, she had no clue.

“You okay?”

She glanced up, surprised to find that Griffin had joined her again. “Not so much.”

“Yeah, I can understand that,” he said, “but you’ve got insurance, right?”

“Of course I have insurance,” she snapped, then bit her lip. It wasn’t his fault she was in a mess. Well, she supposed technically it
was
his fault since he’d ripped the light fixture out of the ceiling while he was changing a bulb she hadn’t asked him to change. But it wasn’t as if he’d set out to burn down her kitchen.

“Then don’t wind yourself up so tight,” he advised. “You’re safe. Connor’s safe. The house can be fixed.”

“I know,” she said firmly, trying to convince herself more than him. It was true, after all. She’d find a way to get it done. She could maybe take a loan out on the house, though she really hated to do that. It was paid for and not having a mortgage payment every month was a blessing she never took for granted. Still, it wasn’t as if she had a lot of options. She also didn’t want to discuss any of this with Griffin.

“You’re right. We’re all safe. The rest will get handled. Now—” she looked over at the fire truck and her happy son “—I think I’ll go collect Connor before he stows away on the truck and I never see him again.”

“Okay, then, you want to go in and take a look?”

“Not really,” she admitted.

“It’ll be okay,” Griffin said.

She looked up at him. “Have you ever noticed that people say that whenever things are absolutely
not
okay?”

“Good point. But not looking won’t change anything.”

“Also a good point.” She sighed heavily and glanced at her house briefly before walking to the truck. There she retrieved her now-sulky son from the fireman who was his new best friend. When she walked back to Griffin, Connor on her hip, she said, “You don’t have to go in with me.”

He only looked at her for a long second, and in his eyes, she read plainly that he wasn’t going anywhere. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or pissed.

“Yeah, I do.” He waved to the firemen, then followed her around the side of the house to the back.

Funny, just a couple of hours ago, she’d been minding her own business, stealing peeks at a barely dressed Griffin while he lounged in a hot tub. Now they were banded together to inspect what she suspected was complete devastation.

Her stomach jumped with nerves and worry, but there was more than that, too. Thanks to Griffin’s presence, she was even more on edge than she might have been. Nicole actually
felt
him behind her. It was almost like an electrical charge on the air.

Oh, God. Electrical charge.

Electrical wiring.

Fire.

Yeah, this was no time to be indulging in a hormonal surge.

She came around the corner of the house, saw the back door standing open and, for a second, could only think about the flies and bugs that were no doubt racing into the house. Then she realized insects were the least of her problems. She steeled herself for whatever she was going to find, then climbed the three short steps and went inside.

There was no way Nicole could have steeled herself enough.

The kitchen looked as if it had come through a hurricane. Water everywhere. Smoke stains on the ceilings and walls, like black shadows crawling across the paint. The ceiling itself was pretty much torn out. The plaster that had first rained down on them when Griffin pulled the fixture free was nothing compared to what the firemen had done to contain the fire.

Gaping holes stared back at her when she looked up, as if the house itself was glaring at her accusingly. Plaster dust and water, congealed into a heavy paste, littered the worn counters, and the floor was covered in the stuff.

“Oh. My. God.”

She wanted to cry. And scream. And grab a shovel and a broom and start returning her world to normal. But as her gaze studied what was left of her ceiling, she knew it was going to take a lot more than elbow grease to get this job done.

“House is dirty!” Connor shouted, clapping both hands.

Instinctively, she tightened her grip on her son.

“It’s a wreck,” Griffin pointed out unnecessarily.

Nicole stood in one spot and did a slow turn, letting her horrified gaze take in the destruction. For the first time, she understood completely what the phrase
her heart sank
was referring to.

“I don’t even know where to start to clean this up,” she murmured, shifting a look through the open doorway into the living room. That room hadn’t entirely escaped, either. Furniture had been pushed aside and puddles of water had gathered on the hardwood floor.

For one second, she remembered the last time her house had been flooded, when her pipes sprang a leak and Katie had rushed over to help, dragging Rafe King along with her. It was the first time she’d met Rafe. And now, here she was, her house was flooded and yet another King was on hand for the occasion.

“You don’t have to clean it up,” Griffin said from behind her.

“You see anyone else signing up for the job?” It would take her
hours,
she thought miserably.

“We’ll get a cleaning crew in here,” he suggested.

“I can’t afford that,” she argued.

“Well, you can’t do it alone, and I’m not doing it,” he said.

“Who asked for your help?” Nicole’s temper, already frayed by the fire, began bubbling.

“Not you,” Griffin said and folded his arms over his chest. Shaking his head, he blurted, “You wouldn’t ask for help if you were neck-deep in quicksand and sinking fast, would you?”

“If you think that’s insulting, you’re wrong,” she told him. “I can take care of myself. Been doing it for years.”

“And because you
can
do it, you
should?
”

Connor squirmed again and rather than keep trying to hold on to him, she stalked past Griffin and walked out into the backyard. At least here she wasn’t surrounded by what was left of her house. The cloying smell of wet smoke wasn’t choking her. And she wasn’t as tempted to sit down on the ground and cry just for the hell of it.

Setting Connor down, she watched him race off to the flowerbed and his beloved shovel. Sunlight played on his blond hair and his sturdy little legs pumped with his eagerness to get back to playing.

When Griffin walked up behind her, Nicole didn’t even look at him. “I know you’re trying to help, but it’d really be best if you just went home.”

“Right.” He moved to stand in front of her, forcing her to look up at him. Those blue eyes of his were fixed on her, daring her to look away. So of course she didn’t. “You really think I’m just going to walk back to the house and hop back into the hot tub? Adventure over? End of story?”

“Why not?”

He laughed shortly. “I think I was just insulted, but we’ll let that one go for now. What I can’t figure out is if you’re really this stubborn or if it’s an act for my benefit.”

Stunned, she stared at him. “Why would I do anything for your benefit, Griffin?”

“Just what I was asking myself,” he muttered. “But if you’re serious about this, it’s just as crazy. I’m not going to leave you here alone with a two-year-old in the middle of this
wreck.
”

She wasn’t sure why he was upset. It wasn’t
his
house that had caught fire. “You don’t get to decide that.”

“Well, then, you should decide it. How are you going to manage with no power? No kitchen?”