Bed, Breakfast, and You (Brookfield) (8 page)

“I like you’re thinking.” Jace pulled away.

Claire set her coffee down and as she turned back toward Jace, she saw Tonya on the other side of the glass door.

“Lock the door,” she said.

Before he could, Tonya opened it with a jerk. “Don’t you two look rather cozy.”

“I thought you quit,” Jace said.

Claire picked the phone up off her desk and dialed 9-1-1. Into the phone she said, “Send Seth Hampton to Brown’s Law Agency. His suspect is here.”

“Suspect?” Jace stared at her.

“Yes, she’s the one who broke into my house. She’s also Mrs. Moore’s granddaughter. Mrs. Moore is behind this property scandal.”

Chapter Eight

“Let me explain,” Tonya said.

“What could you possibly have to explain?” Claire placed her hands on her hips. “You broke into my place. Your prints were everywhere. Don’t tell me you’re trying to deny it now.”

“I’m not, it’s just—”

“Save it for the
sheriff.” Claire held her hand up.

T
onya slumped against the wall. “I don’t have to stay here. I can walk out this door.”

“Go ahead. I’m not going to stop you.”

Jace took Claire’s hand. “You’re welcome to go.”

Tonya huffed and then stood straight. She turned quickly and began to push the door open, but several officers stood on the other side. “Crap.”

Claire smiled, not being able to help it. A few seconds later, the police were inside and Tonya started to cry. In some ways, Claire felt bad for the girl. She was young and she wondered if she really knew what she’d done, or if the grandmother had put her up to it. In all honestly, she might have suspected the girl to trash her house out of jealousy, but chances were Tonya could care less about Honeycreek.

The officers were talking to her and Tonya kept telling them she didn’t know where Mrs. Moore was. Seth walked over to Claire and Jace.

“We’re going to go ahead and take Tonya into the station. I assume you still want to press charges?”

Claire nodded. “Of course.”

“As soon as I have information, I’ll call.”

“Sounds
good,” Claire said, relieved that this was all finally starting to piece together.

After the police left, Jace wrapped his arms around Claire. She placed her cheek across his chest and savored the smell of his musky aftershave.

“Now that this is all over, guess I need to start the hiring process again.”

Claire pulled back and stared up at him. “It was only temporary. You already knew that.”

Jace took her hands in his. “I can handle you working here being temporary, as long as you and I aren’t.”

She smiled. “It’s not. You’re stuck with me.”

He captured her lips and Claire remembered the desk scene she’d been playing out in her head earlier. Breaking the kiss, she went to the front door and locked it.

“It
’s time to begin what we were going to start earlier.”

With a giggle, she took his hand
and led him to his office. His desk was neat and tidy. Peeking at him over her shoulder, she winked, and then turned her attention back to his desk. She took pleasure in pushing a stack of papers off the floor.

“Wait, you’re going to make a mess.”

“Ssh.” She placed a finger to her lips and with the other hand removed her shoes.

Claire then
proceeded to push the pencil holder off. With a sultry smile spread across her gorgeous face, she removed her shirt. Jace watched quietly because with each object that landed on the floor, so did an article of her clothing. Once she was down to only her panties, she walked around his desk, closed the laptop, and gently laid it on the floor. Reaching behind herself, she unclasped her bra. She climbed on top of the desk on all fours and motioned him her way.

“I’ve never had a hotter strip tease before,” he said, his tone husky.

Claire sat on her knees as she began to work the buttons on his shirt. Not being able to resist herself, she explored his neck with her tongue. Once his shirt was unbuttoned, she sat back to admire his toned chest. She tugged at his shirt until it fell to the ground. God, this man was hot and all hers.

Claiming his lips, she let one hand wander down until she wrapped
it around the bulge in his pants.

“Oh God, I think you’re torturing me,” he
groaned.

“It’s the good kind
, at least.”

She took no time after that stripping him of his pants and boxers. His hands explored her and when his fingers dipped into her center, her eyes closed and she moaned. He entered her, bringing her pleasure to a new level. She needed him now, good and hard.

“I hope you’ve got a condom.”

“I do.” He removed his fingers from her, and bent down to get his wallet from his pants.

A moment later, he was protected, had her ass on the edge of the desk, her legs wrapped around his waist, and her back arched as he slid into home plate.

Chapter Nine

“Jace.” Claire poked her head into the spare bedroom he was currently using as a second office at Honeycreek. “I just got a text from Seth. They need me down at the station. You okay to stay here? I think Mark is supposed to be coming by to do measurements.”

“I’m fine.”
His eyes never left the computer screen.

“By the way, where
is he living? I always see him going toward the outskirts of town.”

“He’s staying in the Miller residen
ce.”

“Ah. Makes sense with Mrs. Miller out traveling the country. Which reminds me, I need to give Julie a call and see how life is treating her in New York City.” She planted a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you soon.”
And she headed for her car.

Over the
last few days, Claire and Jace had fallen into an easy groove with one another. At first she worried the relationship wouldn’t work well with her dedicating her life to getting the inn back up and running, but then Jace had a great idea. He was going to set up a second office for now in one of the spare bedrooms. She could work on the things she needed and help him all at the same time, until he was able to hire just the right person.

She’d even convinced h
im to bring spare clothes. Most of the time they ended up back at her cabin for the night.

She knew though that she needed to begin moving into
a room in the inn. When it opened, she needed to be in the main building. For now she’d be doing the cooking and possibly the cleaning until she could hire an onsite housekeeper.

Claire parked her car outside the Brookfield police station. As she entered the small station, she saw Seth wave his hands in her direction. She made her way to his office and had a seat.

“So, you got news?”

“I do.”

“Tell me you tracked down Mrs. Moore.”

Seth smiled. “Of course. I’ve got statements from her and Tonya as well.” He leaned back in his chair. “Thankfully it isn’t too complicated of a story. Mrs. Moore went to your parents to buy it
and they turned her down. But from what I gather, they’d been feuding for several years. A few times your parents led to her to believe that they were going to sell it to her. Obviously it’s a shame we can’t get their side of the story. But what Mrs. Moore didn’t know was that you had taken over the accounting for the place. Tonya had broken into your cabin to find your proof it had been paid.”

Claire shook her head. “I kept it with me. Even if I hadn’t, you had copies.”

“Who knows. Mrs. Moore figured it would be easy to acquire the land after your parents passed.”

“Then she never met me.” Claire grinned. “
Anyway, what about the money? She stole it. So the taxes actually haven’t been paid. What’s going to happen?”

“This is going to have to go to court. Know a good lawyer?”

“Yeah, but he represents them.”

“As far as I know, he work
s with the tax assessor office, not Mrs. Moore and Tonya.”

“I hope I can afford his fees,” Claire said jokingly.

“I’m sure you’ll get a discount.” Seth rubbed his temple. “I’m glad to see things working out for you, Claire. I’m happy for you.”

“Me too. And I’m sure you’ll find your perfect match before long.”

“There isn’t anyone in Brookfield for me.”

“Then perhaps someone new will move in and steal your heart.”

He raised an eyebrow. “No one wants to move here.”

“Hey. Do
n’t be so down about this place,” Claire said.

“I’m not. I love it here.”

“All right. If you don’t need anything else from me, then I have an attorney I need to speak too.”

“I bet you do. But the good news is you can get the
ball rolling on getting Honeycreek open. I know Mr. Jenkins, and I’m sure your tax issues have been cleared up.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“Not a problem.”

Claire stood and gave a little wave to Seth before leaving the station.

* * *

Jace stood in the bedroom that would be Claire’s when she moved into the main building. He walked around, taking in all of the Stevens’ things, and realized how emotional this would be for Claire. It would mean she’d have to pack everything up and decided what to do with it from there.

He wanted to help her in some
way. If he got the ball rolling, maybe she could begin the process. The first thing that would have to go was obvious—the bed. Maybe once Mark finished up in the other room; he could give Jace some ideas. They could keep her parents’ bedroom furniture, just new bed mattress and frame. Perhaps a fresh coat of paint.

On her mother’s dresser he noti
ced a photo of Claire. It was from senior prom. She was decked out in a bright purple dress with sequins galore. He chuckled. Why was it years after these events, one realizes how crazy they were dressed, yet at the time, they looked hot? He set the frame back down.

“I’m done. Where you want me to leave these quotes?” Mark asked from the doorway.

“I’ll take them. Before you go. Any ideas for a fresh look in this room?”

“This her parents
’ room?”

Jace nodded. “I want to help her move forward and thought you might be able to help.”

Mark raked his hands through his hair. “You want the truth? Leave it alone. Everyone grieves differently and moves on when they’re ready. You can’t force it.”

“I understand. But I thought I could help her.”

Mark cleared his throat. “What were you thinking?”

“Keep
the furniture. But a new bed frame at least. One that will match the furniture.”

“I can do that. But I won’t do anything until Claire wants it.”

Jace felt irritated. What right did this man have to tell him to wait until Claire was ready? He just wanted his opinion. “All right. I’ll give these to Claire.” He held the papers up. “I’m sure she’ll be in touch soon.”

Mark nodded and left. Jace stayed in the room, wondering how Claire would feel about the changes he was
considering.  Surely she didn’t want to stay in the cabin when the place opened.

He sat down on the bed. He’d been getting to know Claire more and more each day. And each day he was falling even more hopelessly in love with her. They hadn’t yet said the words to one another, but he was dying to tell her. Some might think he was crazy for knowing so soon that this was the woman he wanted to spend his life with. A part of him was still scared that Claire was just having fun with him.

Jace stood up and began to walk out of the bedroom when Claire appeared in the doorway.

“What are you doing in here?”

“I asked Mark to look around and give me some ideas.”

“For?” Her tone held a slight irritation to it.

“I wanted to see if he could make something to match up with the furniture already in there.”

Claire didn’t say anything. Instead
, she brushed past him and stood in the room. She was still at first, but then began to tiptoe around, picking up random things and setting them down. Her hands ran along the mattress and when she turned back to him, tears trickled down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry I overstepped,” he
immediately said.

“No. I was thinking earlier actually about moving into the inn. Sleeping in here…”

“Maybe you could move into another room.”

She grinned and shook her head. “I could never use this as a guest room. It wouldn’t feel right.” She sat down on the bed and patted
the spot next to her. “Sit. Tell me what your thoughts were.”

Jace sat and she took his hand. “I thought we…I mean you could keep the main furniture. A fresh coat of pain
t. New decorations, of course. Bed and mattresses. I asked Mark if he could make a new headboard and footboard to go with the furniture already in here. Since it was my idea, I’ll handle the expense.”