Time to Pretend (5 page)

She wasn’t surprised. Sophia had said more than one time that Daniel’s social life was quite active. She hadn’t said it to warn Alaina.

She had meant to be helpful, to explain why it was best that the women in the support group should avoid serious thoughts about Daniel. Alaina hadn’t heeded the warning until it was too late.

“Oh, well, that’s fortunate.”

He snagged keys from his tool belt and opened the door. She hadn’t used this door before, but she knew it was the one he typically used to enter and exit the building. It led directly to the stairs to his apartment.

“The phone company was out this morning, but they said it’ll be a few days before they get things working.” As she wondered why he was sharing so much information, an incongruity occurred to her. “I got your answering machine when I called.”

“It’s voicemail,” he said. “It’s tied into my Internet, but I haven’t had a chance to check messages.” He followed her to the back room.

Pausing in the doorway, he leaned a shoulder against the jamb. “I would have called you back.”

Alaina wasn’t so sure about that. She had more faith in the high school kids who worked at his studio in the evenings and on the weekends. Her eyes went directly to the spot on the counter where she remembered putting Tamara’s information. The paper was still there.

She looked at it to make sure then shoved it into her purse.

“Thanks,” she said. With her eyes, she indicated he should move to let her pass. He didn’t move. His gaze dropped to the floor, and he wiped his palms on his jeans. He looked nervous.

“About what happened Wednesday…”

She waved her hand, dismissing the entire day. “Let’s not talk about that.”

His low chuckle found a response deep inside her. She buried the reaction. Reaching out, he rested his fingers lightly on her arm.

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Gooseflesh broke out where he touched her. That reaction was much more difficult to bury. And why couldn’t he be wearing a shirt?

“I never thought I’d hear a shrink suggest avoidance.” Without batting an eye, she said, “Sometimes we need avoidance.

It’s a coping mechanism.”

He removed his fingers from her arm, but he shifted his body to block her escape. “I don’t want to play those kinds of games, Alaina.

Not with you.”

That sounded too intimate by half. With a sigh, Alaina stepped back. He wasn’t going to move without a direct request. “Look, Daniel—”

“I wanted to apologize.” He was intelligent enough to know she was seconds from ending their conversation. He shoved one hand deep into his pocket, and the other worried at the stubble on his jaw.

“The way I treated you Wednesday was inexcusable. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.”

Given that one of his former friends had date-raped Sophia and their family had spent years trying to come to terms with that violent act, Daniel would be more sensitive to how Alaina perceived their interaction. This was a dynamic she understood. “I wasn’t afraid of you, Daniel. I never thought you would hurt me.” His nod was brief, and he bit his lip. “But you didn’t invite that kind of attention.” Now he looked at her lips, his eyes tracing their shape and his expression revealing a longing she didn’t want to analyze. “I don’t want you to think I think of you as a piece of meat or that I don’t respect you.”

Alaina had no idea how to respond to that admission. He was sincere in his apology, and he actually believed he respected her. Yet, he looked at her as if he wanted nothing more than to devour her.

Meat, indeed. Unfortunately, her body responded to both his look and his voice. And his bare chest.

“It is possible for a man to both respect you and find you attractive,” he said as he stepped back out of the doorway.

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“I’m aware.” She scooted past him, exiting the building as fast as she could without actually breaking into a run.

Outside, the warm, breezy air did nothing to still the rapid beat of her heart. She kept waiting for the time when she could be around Daniel without her hormones going haywire, but that didn’t seem to be on the horizon. In a little over a week, she wouldn’t see him in a professional context again. She considered taking a class from him.

That was such an obvious, pathetic attempt to keep seeing him. She shook her head, disgusted.

A shout and the sound of something scraping pulled her from her reverie.

She stopped short as a large piece of something fell to the ground, crashing right in front of her. Suddenly divorced from her body, she stared at it, not comprehending what it was or where it had come from.

Daniel jerked her backward against his chest, moving her away from the building as a sheet of plywood thudded to the pavement where she’d been standing.

“Watch where the hell you’re throwing that shit!” His bellow was directed at a shirtless man whose build equaled Daniel’s.

“Sorry, buddy. Didn’t see you there. You okay, little lady?” Alaina’s eyes had followed the direction of Daniel’s shouted reprimand. She smiled serenely. “I’m fine. Thank you for asking.” Daniel’s arms were around her. She leaned back against his chest and enjoyed the safety and protection of his embrace.

He turned her to face him, gripping her shoulders firmly.

Something about his face seemed unreal. Alaina recognized the signs of shock. The sheet of black plywood on the ground had missed her by inches. She breathed deeply and fought her way back to reality.

“I’m fine,” she repeated. “Nothing happened.”

“You’re green,” he said. “You’re not fine.”

“I lost shingles, too.” She was aware that she wasn’t entirely making sense, but she knew a response was required, and that was all
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that popped into her head. “In the storm. I lost some shingles. But my roof doesn’t have the black stuff on it. Where are you staying while all this construction is going on?”

It finally dawned on her that those things she picked up from her driveway and her lawn Friday morning came from her roof. It was so high up there, and she really couldn’t see it all that well. She should probably call the insurance company.

“Come back inside. You can sit down, and I’ll get you some water.” Daniel’s voice was quiet and soothing. He spoke to her as if she was a child. That, more than anything, jerked her wits from the edge of oblivion.

“I’m fine,” she said again. This time, she meant it. She could feel blood returning to her extremities. “I have to give Tamara’s information to a friend, a doctoral candidate who can get her into a study.”

Daniel stiffened, and she didn’t understand why. For the first time since before their acquaintanceship had gone south, she thought they had been getting along. Of course, the peace never lasted.

Still, she attempted to salvage their détente. “I told her she would hear something this weekend.”

With a terse nod, Daniel let Alaina go.

She drove away thinking three things. First, there was no way Tamara would hear about the study that weekend. She would have to call and explain the situation. It was another way in which someone was letting Tamara down. She hated the thought of what this might do to the trust she had worked so hard to establish with the emotionally scarred woman.

Second, Daniel actually apologized. She really craved an apology for the way he treated her on their date, but this was a start.

Third, Daniel’s friend had called her “‘little lady.” Given the way his father also treated her, it didn’t look like that apology would be forthcoming any time soon. Daniel, his father, and his friends were all stuck in the alpha male mentality. Women were objects. They might
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treat them well, as they would a prized possession, but they weren’t people.
Little lady, indeed.

She called Tamara after her lunch. Midway through her effusive apology, Alaina realized she never accepted Daniel’s apology.

That was definitely something that could wait until Wednesday.

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Chapter 4

Daniel headed back up onto the roof. The crew of friends working with him required food and beverages as payment. He would do the same thing for every single one of them, and he had helped a few of them with remodeling, landscaping, or roofing jobs before. He was fortunate to have such good friends.

Evan caught him the moment he stepped onto the flat part of the roof. “Look, man, I’m really sorry about that. I lost my balance. It was either the plywood or me, but one of us was going over the edge.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Daniel said. He adjusted his tool belt and snagged a bundle of shingles, lifting the hundred-pound pack easily.

“She’s fine.”

Evan stared for a second, then snagged his own bundle and joined Daniel. “Was that her?”

Daniel’s nod was brief. “Yeah. That was her.” A smirk settled on Evan’s mouth, but it didn’t ruin anything. No matter what expression was on Evan’s face, he was exceptionally handsome. He was tan, and bleached highlights streaked his brown hair from working long hours in the sun. “You’re welcome, then.”

“For scaring the hell out of her?” Daniel frowned. She had settled in his arms nicely, not even realizing she clung to him, but he would rather have had her there for other reasons.

Evan shrugged. “Whatever works. It’s a start, Danny. She snuggled right up to you, and she seemed to be enjoying it.”
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Daniel didn’t comment. He didn’t want her afraid. He liked that she was spunky and strongly opinionated and she wasn’t afraid to express those opinions.

And what had she meant when she said her roof didn’t have the black stuff on it? How could she have a roof without tar paper? What was she planning to do about it? She likely didn’t even know what the black stuff was called. He wouldn’t put it past her to have memorized a neurological map of the human mind and still be completely ignorant as to the minimum code requirements for a roof.

“She’s hot.” Evan’s observation interrupted Danny’s musings.

“Are you sure she’s thirty-six? She doesn’t look like she’s that old.” Daniel already knew all of this, but he smiled indulgently at Evan as he remembered the first time he had seen Alaina. She had bowled him over, and he knew she had done the same thing to Evan.

“She needs a new roof.”

Evan grunted. “And you’re going to volunteer us to put it on? I think I need to remind you that this is my job, Danny. I actually need projects that generate income.”

“If you’re putting a new roof on her house, that puts you in close proximity to her.” Daniel secured a safety line to his belt and headed up the ladder to the part of the roof that sloped.

Evan did the same. Daniel set out shingles, and Evan pounded nails into place with one well-placed blow to each. “I don’t think she’s the kind of shrink who pitches in to help reshingle her roof.

Besides, I don’t need to nail her roof in order to get into her pants.” No, Evan didn’t, Danny silently agreed. He had witnessed the phenomenon of women flocking to Evan on more than one occasion.

Daniel tamped down a rising tide of jealousy. Having Alaina in their lives would solve that problem once and for all.

This time, Daniel grunted. “She still needs a new roof. She said her shingles blew off. That’s never a good sign.”

* * * *

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Work on his roof finished late Sunday afternoon. After the requisite consumption of beer and pizza, he dropped off to sleep with every intention of heading to Alaina’s house to check her roof in the morning. Alaina would be at work. It was safer to visit when she wasn’t there.

Of course, one thing led to another, especially after being unexpectedly closed for three days, and by the time he arrived at Alaina’s house, it was early evening.

She wasn’t home.

However, there was a tarp on her roof. From where he stood, he could see it flapping at one corner. Frowning, he returned to his truck and took out the extension ladder he had the foresight to bring.

Once on the roof, he found problems that were more serious than what prompted him to replace his entire roof. The storm had blown off a relatively small section of shingles. Elsewhere, scattered gaps showed where a shingle or two had come loose.

The tarp hadn’t been nailed down. Heavy bricks were left, unsecured, to keep it from flying away in the wind. The wind had already used the tarp as leverage to move one of the bricks to the edge of the roof. One more good gust, and it would fall on whomever happened to be standing in the driveway.

Of course, all of that was nothing compared to the complete absence of tar paper, or “black stuff,” as Alaina had phrased it. The plywood beneath the shingles was soaked. In some places where Daniel picked up shingles, he found it completely rotted through. He needed to get inside. At the very least, he needed to see the attic. She probably had damage down the inside of her walls all the way to the basement. He would need to check that as well.

He nailed down the edges of the tarp and swore liberally. He would need at least four more tarps. As creative and impossible expletives fell from his lips, he glanced over at the garage. Was it locked?

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At that moment, it turned out to not matter. As he watched, the door lifted, and Alaina’s car pulled into the driveway. A minute later, the door closed. Daniel watched the side door of the detached garage with an urgency that couldn’t be denied. There was no doubt in his mind she was going to be upset when she saw him on her roof. Lainie didn’t like to be taken by surprise.

Of course, he loved taking her by surprise. It was the only time he felt her reaction wasn’t weighted and measured. It was truth. Alaina dealt in reality, but it was the kind of her own making. He badly wanted to bring her into his world.

After an eternity, that door opened. Sunlight glinted from her hair, highlighting the spectrum of reds and browns she sported. She had pulled it back, as she always did, pressed tight to her head. He wanted to see it free, to watch it burst into dark flames.