Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) (24 page)

“We’re not?”

He slowly shook his head. “We haven’t even made it to the bedroom yet.”

Luke

I
straightened up from the floor and faced where Mr. Cooper sat in his wheelchair.

“Four outlets,” I announced. “Will that be enough?”

Mr. Cooper chuckled. “What are you going to do if it’s not? Demand that the staff install a fifth one?”

I shrugged sheepishly. “If this place isn’t right, we can find another one. All you have to do is tell me.”

“Luke,” he sternly said in his deep baritone. “You know I won’t ask you to do that.”

I crossed my arms. “And you should know that it’s no trouble.”

The worry lines on his face softened, leaving nothing but the deep set wrinkles. “I don’t want you spending any more than you already have on me.”

“That’s another thing you should know isn’t a problem,” I pointed out, going to make sure he would be able to easily work the curtains from a sitting position. “One thing I have more than enough of is money.”

Mark appeared in the doorway, looking breathless. “Did you see that blonde nurse down the hall? Holy…”

“Mark,” I reprimanded him.

Mr. Cooper turned as much as he could manage in the wheelchair. “Which blonde?”

“The one with the big blue eyes and tight pants.”

“Oh yes,” Mr. Cooper rumbled. “I saw
her.”

“All right, horn dogs,” I said. “If the staff hears you talking about them like that, they’ll kick Mr. Cooper out for misbehaving.”

“Oh bullshit,” Mr. Cooper said. “Let me have a little fun, Luke.”

“Yeah, Luke,” Mark grinned. “Don’t be a cock block.”

I flipped Mark off, and he winked back, his eyes mischievously dancing.

“This place is swanky, huh, Mr. Cooper?” Mark asked, coming further into the room.

“It probably costs more each week than my apartment did each month,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter,” I told him yet again.

“That’s Saint Luke for you.” Mark threw himself onto the bed and began testing its bounce. He sat up and stretched his arms over his head. “Did Luke tell you about his new girlfriend?”

Mr. Cooper looked at me in admonishment. “No, he didn’t.”

“We’ve been a little distracted with other things,” I said. “Finding Mr. Cooper a nice place to live kind of took the front seat.” I turned to the older man. “I can go to your apartment this weekend and start packing up your things, if you like. The front desk said there’s a spot available here right away.”

“Don’t change the subject, Luke. Who’s this new girlfriend?”

Mark spoke up before I had the chance to. “She helped break into your apartment.”

Mr. Cooper guffawed. “That hot dish, huh?”

I snorted. “Do you even remember much from that day?”

“I remember her pretty face. She’s your girlfriend, huh?”

“I guess,” I said, feeling the hesitation in the words.

“What do you mean you guess? Did you ask her to go steady or not?”

Mark laughed. “People don’t usually do that anymore, Mr. Cooper.”

“Right,” he answered. “I forgot. Now they just jump in the sack and don’t talk about it.”

His comment made me a little self-conscious. “It’s not quite like that,” I said in my defense. “I like Grace. A lot. It’s way more than physical.”

“So are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?”

I folded my arms and leaned against the wall. Mr. Cooper’s suggestion was actually starting to sound like a good idea. After all, what was wrong with getting a little clarity in a relationship? Grace and I had been spending each available minute together the whole week — which had been kind of tricky since I was busy helping Mr. Cooper and she was involved in creating a list of dog walking clients. Now that it was Friday, I looked forward to the weekend and spending more time together. Her aunt and uncle were having a little family barbecue the next day and had invited me. My hands itched at the very thought of getting to spend the whole weekend touching Grace.

I had thought it was still kind of early to put labels on our relationship, but for the first time that week, I found myself wanting to call it
something.
I wanted to find some way to declare my feelings for Grace, to show her just how deeply they ran.

“You in love with her?” Mr. Cooper asked.

I licked my lips and gazed at him. Over his shoulder, Mark grinned.

“Well, Luke?” Mark pressed, his smile growing even bigger. Clearly he enjoyed everything about the conversation.

I cleared my throat. “We only just started seeing each other.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mr. Cooper said. “When you know you know. You ever been in love, Mark?”

The smile on my friend’s face dampened slightly. “I, uh, I don’t know.”

“It’s not much fun being put on the spot is it?” I asked Mark, making him scowl at me.

“How about this then,” Mr. Cooper began.
“Could
you be in love with her?”

I thought of Grace’s face, of how her dark eyes seemed endless. Looking into them was like looking into a tunnel leading into a whole new world — one extraordinarily more magical and vast than the one I knew. Even after I’d learned about her attitudes towards life — the ones stemming from her entitled upbringing — I hadn’t been able to deny my feelings.

Since the day we’d found Mr. Cooper on the floor of his apartment, those feelings had only grown. It had partly been because of the help she’d extended to the people around her. Me. Mr. Cooper. Tracey.

It was more than that though. It was a magnetic pull I couldn’t really describe. Grace could have done nothing and said not a word since the day we met, and I still would have been drawn to her.

“Yes,” I slowly said. “But it’s complicated. She has these… ideas… ones that are twisted.”

Mr. Cooper harrumphed. “She schizophrenic?”

I laughed. “No. At least I don’t think so.” I scratched my head and chose my words carefully, not wanting to make Grace sound awful. “She comes from a pretty privileged upbringing—”

Mr. Cooper interrupted. “So do you.”

“I expected you to say that.”

“So she’s too much like you? Is that the problem?”

“No,”
I stressed. “It’s that she doesn’t know much about what real life is like. She thinks everything should be handed to her on a silver platter.”

Mark watched me with interest but didn’t say anything.

“What makes you say that?” Mr. Cooper asked.

“When she told me she needed to get a job and go back to school, she went on and on about how she was incapable of those things.”

“Hold on,” Mark said. “She has a job. Right? You told me she’s starting her own dog walking business?”

“Yes,” I agreed. “But only because she has to.”

Mark shook his head. “And what about volunteering at Community First? Did she
have
to do that?”

“No…”

“Then what’s the problem, man?”

“She’s changing,” I answered. “I can see that. She’s waking up and seeing things for what they really are. She’s becoming more helpful. It’s amazing, actually. It’s just…” I struggled for what I was trying to get at. “It’s too good to be true.”

“Then maybe it is,” Mr. Cooper said.

My shoulders fell. “I was hoping you’d convince me otherwise.”

He peered at me. “If you want to be convinced otherwise, then convince yourself otherwise.”

“You’re afraid,” Mark said.

I snapped my eyes at him, wanting to deny it but knowing he was spot on.

Mark shrugged. “Hey, it makes sense. Imagine if you let her go, though, and it turned out she really has become the great person you think she is. That would suck. It would suck
balls.”

Mr. Cooper made a disgusted face.

“You’re in love,” Mark stated simply. “I’ve known you long enough to see that. This girl is something special. Don’t shoot her down just because she’s on the same path as you, but hasn’t gotten as far down the road as you have.”

Mark’s words echoed in the silent room while I stared at him. Mr. Cooper craned his neck to do the same.

“Damn,” I breathed. “That was deep.”

“Hell yeah it was,” Mr. Cooper agreed.

Hearing the curse come from his mouth made me laugh. “All right. You’ve got me.”

“So tell her you love her,” Mark said. “Before it’s too late.” He stood up and smoothed the top of his hair. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hot blonde to ask out.”

Grace

L
eaving the grocery store, I slowed my stride. The sun beat deliciously down on my back, and I turned my face up, eager to soak in the rays.

Remembering I still had to watch for traffic, I opened my eyes and peered through my sunglasses at the parking lot. It was close to empty, so I kept up my lackadaisical walk, going to Aunt Ginger’s car and unlocking it before setting my one plastic bag in the passenger seat.

Once in the car, I took a moment to adjust the air conditioning and turn the radio to a station I liked. Borrowing my aunt’s car to run to the grocery store for twenty minutes felt like a field trip. I’d practically leapt at the opportunity to helm something other than a set of handlebars.

It was late Saturday morning. Aunt Ginger and Uncle Joe were at home getting the backyard ready for our barbecue. Luke would arrive in an hour. Tracey and I had gotten four dogs signed on for walks in just the last few days. Everything was perfect.

Except I still hadn’t revealed my big secret to Luke.

I stared at myself in the sun visor’s mirror, watching the air conditioning lift the strands of hair around my face.

I wished the whole thing didn’t bother me so much. The plan to marry for money was in the past, after all. Suppose Luke had been poor. Wouldn’t I have still fallen for him? I looked away from the mirror and out at the Crystal Brook Grocery’s parking lot.
I hoped so.

I needed to stop stressing out about it. I needed to chill, to just let things be. Everything was good as it was. Stirring the pot was stupid.

I backed out of the parking lot and took the longest way I knew back, singing to the radio along the way. The trip took me around downtown, through a cute little neighborhood about half a mile from Luke’s house. The car slid by a few apartment buildings and then past a collection of houses. A red and white sign stuck in the front yard of one house caught my eye.

Checking to make sure no other cars were behind me, I stopped the car and took a second glance. The sign said
For Rent,
and the house in mention was a small purple one with green trim and a little porch just big enough for a few rocking chairs.

My heart swelled, much in the way it does when there’s a cute puppy in front of me. The gravel driveway next to the house was empty, so I pulled the car into it and clambered out, nearly tripping over myself in excitement.

Already fantasies of having my own place swept through my brain. I’d never lived alone before. The concept seemed equal parts terrifying and thrilling.

It couldn’t be too difficult though, right? Not with my aunt and uncle just a few minutes away. Not with Luke a quick bike ride down the street…

I hopped onto the porch and peered through the front windows at a living room painted in white. It was small, but it had a fireplace and wooden floors. I swallowed hard, imagining myself living in there.

It would be like my loft back home in L.A., only better. There would be no sneaking men in past my father or any other parental units. Or, rather, no sneaking Luke in.

I jumped down from the porch and went along the side of the house, to the little backyard and door. I peeked in every window along the way, taking note of a kitchen with a small chandelier hanging in the middle of it, a bedroom with a slanted ceiling, and a bathroom — one with a claw footed bathtub. Yay!

The place was small, no doubt, but perfect for one person. Someone had obviously loved the place enough to give it some tender loving care.

I wandered back to the car, finishing the circle I’d started around the house. Before I opened the car door, I turned to take one last look at the place.

Me. In Crystal Brook.
Not
in a billionaire’s mansion.

An odd thought, truly… and yet not.

I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the
For Rent
sign so I could call the number on it later.

Smiling to myself, I climbed into Aunt Ginger’s car and continued on my merry way.

The backyard had been transformed. The long picnic table that had been sitting near the overgrown bushes in the back had been pulled forward to rest near the garden. Multicolored paper lanterns hung from the tree near it, bouncing slightly when a breeze moved across the yard. Uncle Joe stood at the grill, watching it heat up. Music played through the open kitchen window, the DJ spinning tunes that made my hips sway.

Aunt Ginger spread a red plastic tablecloth across the table then smoothed its edgings with her palms.

“Wow,” I said, stopping short and staring at the scene. “This looks amazing.”

Aunt Ginger smiled at me. “Did they have the right brand of pickles?”

“Yeah.” I went over to the table and pulled the pickle jar out of the plastic bag and set it on the tablecloth. “How did you decorate so fast?”

Her smile grew broader. “Oh, it was nothing.”

“When’s the lover boy get here?” Uncle Joe asked.

Aunt Ginger rolled her eyes. “I think he’s crushing on Luke,” she whispered.

I nodded fervently and tried not to laugh out loud. “We’ve already determined that’s the case,” I whispered back.

“What are you two talking about?” Uncle Joe demanded.

“Uh, about how I need to go and see if the oven is preheated yet,” I lied. “Okay. Bye.”

I went into the house, trying to remember where I’d dropped my purse upon coming in through the front door. After stashing the grocery store bag in the cabinet Aunt Ginger collected plastic bags for re-using, I walked down the hallway and found my purse in the living room.

Grabbing my cell phone, I pulled up the picture I’d taken of the
For Rent
sign and debated whether or not to go ahead and call the number. It was a big decision, moving into a house of my own. I would probably have to sign a lease, which meant I would be stuck in Crystal Brook for another year no matter what else happened in my life.