The Texas Christmas Gift (5 page)

“What about that one?” His mind evidently where it should be, Derek pointed to a cozy English Tudor‒style cottage with a for-sale sign in front.

Grateful for the latest diversion, Eve steered her car to the curb. Up and down the street, homes were lit up with Christmas lights. However, the one in front of them was dark and neglected. Familiar with the original 1960s interior, she warned, “It’s a fixer-upper. Nowhere near move-in ready. And way below your target price.”

Derek continued to stare at the ivy-covered brick. “I’d like to see it, anyway.”

They wouldn’t need an appointment; this property was on lockbox. She could let them in.

“Okay,” Eve said, thinking that if anything were to end his desire to keep looking, this particular property would be it. She cut the ignition and led the way up to the front porch. Inside, it was worse than she remembered from the initial agents tour: chill and dank. Bad carpeting, outdated everything.

“What’s the story on the property?” Derek asked.

She continued switching on overhead lights. “The owner has gone into a nursing home. The family isn’t interested in doing anything to the house.” Hence, it had been cleared of all belongings, but not staged or in any way adequately prepared for sale. “They’re hoping it will go as a teardown.”

He shot her a questioning look.

“Which means that someone will buy it for the lot—which is a premium—demolish this property and start from scratch,” she explained.

Derek ran a hand over a wall in the study. He shook his head admiringly at the built-in bookshelves and ornate trim. “Look at this wood.”

“Paneling’s not really popular these days.”

“I like it.”

The client was always right. And it could be stripped and refinished to give it a more updated look. “It’s very masculine.”

He pivoted and regarded her speculatively, as if wondering if she was playing him.

She wasn’t.

After a moment, he seemed to accept that.

Eve sobered. “I want you to see the kitchen, though.”

They walked down the hall to the rear of the house. Eve hit another switch. Derek blinked at the orange-yellow-and-brown-plaid vinyl wallpaper. “Talk about a blast from the past,” he murmured.

The laminate counters were also bright orange, the floor a speckled linoleum. “I know,” Eve sympathized, looking past the grime-smeared windows and severely outdated appliances. “Really awful, hmm?”

He peered at a cobweb overhead. “It could use a good cleaning, that’s for certain.”

Eve moved her foot away from something sticky on the floor. “No joke.”

Derek came closer. He stood next to her, thoughtfully looking around, his steady presence and the warmth of his tall, strong body a nice counterpoint to the lingering chill inside the home. “But with all new appliances...”

Ignoring the tingling deep inside her, along with the wish the two of them had met some other time, some other way, Eve drew a deep breath and pointed out the rest of the flaws. “It’s going to need brand-new cabinets, counters, flooring and updated lighting, too.” She turned abruptly, her shoulder bumping against his bicep. “The kitchen alone would cost you at least fifty thousand. Then there’s the furnace and air conditioning, and it will also most likely need all new electrical and plumbing.”

“How much are they asking?”

Doing her best to tamp down her continuing awareness, Eve showed him the listing information left on the kitchen counter. “One point five million, but that’s too high for the condition of this house.” She led the way up to the second floor. There were four nice-sized bedrooms and two full baths, one off the hall and one off the master bedroom.

Derek continued to look around with real interest. “What do you think it should be going for?”

Eve studied the worn carpeting and cramped, outdated bathrooms, the dingy walls and lack of adequate closet space. “One point two million, max. And that’s mostly due to the location.” She turned back to Derek, in full business mode, but found herself temporarily blinded by his brilliant blue eyes. “I’d, uh, be tempted to go in at one point one million, and then let them talk you back to one point two, as the most you would pay. Although, with your time frame, wanting to be in before Christmas, I can’t recommend you take this on.”

Derek stood, legs braced apart, hands on his waist, still looking around. “Surely you know contractors who would be willing to do whatever it took, particularly if bonus pay was involved.”

He really was serious. “I do.” Despite herself, Eve began to get excited, too.

Derek walked around some more, as if dreaming about what a good infusion of cash and a little tender loving care could do for this home. He swung back toward her. “Could you get it done in a week?”

Good heavens, the man was demanding! But all of a sudden willing to be ambitious, too, Eve straightened her spine and replied, “Maybe two, if we come to terms with the sellers right away, and you’re willing to pay time and a half for the entire job.”

He shrugged off the problem. “I’m okay with that.”

They finished looking around the bedrooms and went back downstairs. “Why this house?” she asked curiously, turning off another bank of lights.

Derek shook his head. He prowled the first floor, his expression thoughtful. “I don’t know. Something about the way it looks. Feels.” He turned to her with a grin, certain now. “I want to put an offer in tonight.”

Eve studied him. She hated snap decisions when it came to something this important. “You’re sure this is what you want?” she asked finally.

Derek nodded.

The light in his eyes, his sheer enthusiasm, were irresistible.
Okay, then.
They went back to her office again.

Eve called the other Realtor to let her know an offer was coming in, and then wrote up the contract. She had barely faxed it over when her cell phone rang. Derek’s offer, to take the house as is, without inspection, had been accepted.

He grinned. “Looks like I just bought myself a house!” he said, wrapping Eve in a warm, Texas-style hug. It was the kind of embrace people gave each other after the winning goal in a football game. Yet the brief expression of exaltation left her tingling and on edge long after they broke apart.

Eve congratulated Derek again, more formally this time, and then bid him good-night. It was a good thing her business with Derek McCabe was almost over. She was going to have a hard enough time forgetting the powerful attraction she felt for him as it was.

* * *

E
VE WAS STILL
thinking about the congratulatory hug from Derek—and her unprecedented reaction to it—when she went to the hospital the next morning to help with her mother’s transfer.

As expected, even though the facility was bright and cheerful, Marjorie was less than enthusiastic about her upcoming stay in the cardiac rehab unit.

“I’d rather just go home,” she grumbled, accepting the bag of comfortable clothing Eve had brought her.

Aware of the irony in taking on the parental role in their relationship, Eve handed over her mother’s computer tablet and the weekend newspapers. “This is a necessary part of your recovery, Mom.” Although she doubted her mother would change anything about her life without putting up a heck of a fight.

Marjorie made a face and removed the real estate inserts from both papers. “Have you found Derek McCabe a house yet?”

Grateful for the change of subject, Eve gave her the details.

Her mom blinked. “I thought he was in the market for an eight-million-dollar home!”

Eve knew a transaction of that magnitude would have likely given them a solid lead in the annual sales race. Refusing to feel guilty for doing what was right for her client, however, she explained, “He decided he wanted something much smaller in scope and more baby-friendly. The good news is he’s very happy.”

Or at least he had been the night before. Eve still had the feeling it was all happening a little too fast for comfort.

Her sense of foreboding increased the next day.

She had been given permission to get contractors in to look at the property in advance of the closing, and she went to the house to let them in. By the time they’d finished, Derek had arrived. The kitchen and bath designer, plumber, electrician, flooring rep and painters all conferred with him, and promised to have formal estimates for him the following morning.

Bad news relayed, they filed out, one by one.

Leaving Derek and Eve alone.

“So what do you think?” she asked, looking around at the empty house. The heating and ventilation system was out of commission, so the interior was chilly and dank. A light rain was falling, and on this gloomy December day the house seemed even more in need of tender loving care. “Feel overwhelmed yet?”

Derek shook his head. “Excited.”

Glad to see he hadn’t changed his mind about his spur-of-the-moment decision, because deep down she sensed that this was indeed the perfect home for him, she allowed herself to tease, “And here you thought you weren’t the fixer-upper type.”

He gave her a leisurely once-over. “Sometimes it’s necessary to get business out of the way. So you can move on to more important things.”

Puzzled, Eve tilted her head. “Like what?”

The look he gave her was direct, uncompromising, confident. “Asking you out.”

For a second, she was certain she hadn’t heard right. The sparkle in his eyes told her that she had. Her pulse pounding, Eve worked to get air into her lungs. “On a date?” she asked hoarsely.

His sexy smile widening, he inched closer. “That was the general idea,” he said.

Eve pressed her palm to her chest, trying to tamp down the immediate spark of excitement she felt. “I’m flattered.”

Derek sobered. “I don’t want you to be flattered,” he told her huskily. He took her in his arms and pulled her flush against him. “I want you to say yes.”

Chapter Four

Yes was what Eve wanted, too. Even if she would have preferred not to admit it. Before she could stop herself, before she could think of all the reasons why not, she let Derek pull her closer still. His head dipped. Her breath caught, and her eyes closed. And then all was lost in the first luscious feeling of his lips lightly pressed against hers.

It was a cautious kiss. A gentle kiss that didn’t stay gallant for long. At her first quiver of sensation, he flattened his hands over her spine and deepened the kiss, seducing her with the heat of his mouth and the sheer masculinity of his tall, strong body. Yearning swept through her in great enervating waves. Unable to help herself, Eve went up on tiptoe, leaning into his embrace. Throwing caution to the wind, she wreathed her arms about his neck and kissed him back. Not tentatively, not sweetly, but with all the hunger and need she felt. And to her wonder and delight, he kissed her back in kind, again and again and again.

Derek had only meant to show Eve they had chemistry. Amazing chemistry that would convince her to go out with him, at least once. He hadn’t expected to feel tenderness well inside him, even as his body went hard with desire. He hadn’t expected to want to make love to her here and now, in this empty house. But sensing that total surrender would be a mistake, he tamped down his own desire and let the kiss come to a slow, gradual end.

Eve stepped backward, too, a mixture of surprise and pleasure on her face. Her breasts were rising and falling quickly, and her lips were moist. Amazement at the potency of their attraction, and something else a lot more cautious, appeared in her eyes. Eve drew a breath, and then anger flashed. “That was a mistake.”

Derek understood her need to play down what had just happened, even as he saw no reason to pretend they hadn’t enjoyed themselves immensely. “Not in my book,” he murmured, still feeling a little off balance himself. In fact, he was ready for a whole lot more.

She held up a finger and shook it. Composed again, she stalked away from him, her high heels echoing on the wood floor. When she swung around to face him, he could tell her every defense was in place. “What you’re feeling right now is all related to the roller-coaster emotions of buying a new home. One minute you’re up, the next you’re down. The euphoria you just felt is going to be very short-lived.”

Like hell it was! He was adult enough to know the difference between being excited about purchasing a home, and wanting to make a woman his. And so was she. He rocked back on his heels, braced his hands on his waist and sent her an impudent grin. “You’re telling me you’ve been kissed by clients at the end of a deal before?”

“Yes,” Eve said. She looked him in the eye, long and hard. “I have.”

* * *

H
ER MATTER-OF-FACT
confession had served its purpose. First, Derek looked shell-shocked, then skeptical, and finally, as she had hoped, blatantly unhappy. He stepped closer, as if that would change anything. “You’re kidding,” he exclaimed in a low, raspy voice that practically oozed testosterone.

Eve struggled not to get swept up in the moment or the man, as embarrassment warmed her cheeks. “I wish.”

He shifted forward, invading her space. “How many times?”

With effort, she kept her gaze locked with his. Determined to handle a situation that was fast escalating out of control, she replied, “Including you?”

He nodded.

“Twice.”

Derek looked at her as if he already knew what it would be like to make love to her. “There must be more to the story,” he said.

Since the last thing she needed to be doing was thinking about kissing him again, or worse, imagining what it would be like to make love with him, Eve lifted her chin and drew a deep, calming breath. Refusing to fixate on the fact that everywhere he was hard, she would be soft, or that everywhere he was male, she’d be female, she challenged, “Really. What makes you think that?”

Regarding her with a devil-may-care glint in his eyes, he pointed out, “You’re not the kind of woman who lets her guard down easily.”

That was certainly true. Although she wished he had not intuited the fact.

“So what happened, the other time?” Derek continued, a tad impatiently.

Eve shrugged and kept her voice matter-of-fact. “I was fresh out of real estate school. Ryan was a classmate of mine, from Southern Methodist University. He had just come into his trust fund and wanted to buy a bachelor pad in Deep Elum. It wasn’t my area of expertise, but the commission was going to be great if I could find what he wanted. Ryan, of course, had no idea what that was, so we had to do quite a lot of looking together.” Eve paused, recalling how naive and hopelessly romantic she had been at the time.