Infatuation - A Club Destiny Novel (44 page)

“
We don’t have any plans
for your house, Mr. Stranford. We aren’t looking to buy the land
that your house sits on. We’re only looking to acquire the one
hundred acres that sit adjacent to my father’s land.”

“
One hundred acres,
huh?”

Oh, brother.

“
Yes, sir.”

The amount that Kaleb and his brothers were
looking to purchase was about half of what Carl owned in total.
Even though he was certain Carl didn’t have any intentions of using
the land in the future, they didn’t want to go overboard. In
Kaleb’s opinion, Travis was riding a fine line as it was.

Since Travis was insistent that the entrance
face the south, for a number of reasons he’d been told, this had
been their only option.

“
And how much are you
offering me?”

Kaleb was pretty sure he saw a twinkle in
Carl’s eye, and if he wasn’t mistaken, the man was trying to catch
him in a lie. Well, that was one thing the Walker’s didn’t do. They
didn’t lie, and they didn’t try and cheat someone out of what was
rightfully theirs.

Taking a deep breath,
Kaleb settled in for the long haul. For the next half hour, he
repeated the same conversation he’d had with Mr. Stranford for the
umpteenth time.

♀♂

To say Zoey was tired was an
understatement.

She and V were going on
hour number three of their weekly visit to the Wilson’s
gi-freaking-normous house in which they scoured the five thousand
square foot monstrosity from top to bottom. Sometimes she wished
she wasn’t quite so gullible because when Victoria Wilson had
bragged about how well kept her house was, Zoey had actually
believed her.

Ummm... That was
so
not the
case.

“
V?” Zoey called out, her
voice echoing off of the Travertine floors and twenty feet tall
ceilings. “Where are you?”

Making her way to the master bedroom
downstairs, Zoey had a good idea where V was, and she smiled at the
thought.

Noticing that the master bedroom was in tip
top shape, Zoey continued toward the master bathroom and the sound
of V sighing. Loudly.

“
Are you almost done?”
Zoey asked when she found V on her hands and knees near the toilet
– the one thing V absolutely detested about cleaning houses. For a
while, she had tried to convince Zoey that she was allergic to
toilets, and some of her excuses had bordered on insane, but
knowing V, Zoey had never given in.

“
Does it
look like I’m almost done?” V snarled. “If someone,”
cough, cough
,
“understood how much I truly hate this part of the job,”
cough, cough
, “they
might’ve agreed to handle the bathrooms all by
herself.”

“
Ummm... In case you
didn’t know, I’ve already cleaned the other four. And you’re just
lucky I volunteered to clean the kid’s bathroom,” Zoey snarled
back, remembering all too vividly what the Wilson’s son’s bathroom
had looked like before she went in there.

Unfortunately, the bathroom hadn’t been the
worst of it this time. She wasn’t sure what it was the Wilson’s did
to make this much of a mess in a seven day period, yet each week it
seemed to get worse. With six children – Zoey had no idea how they
kept up with six kids – it was a wonder the house was even still
standing.

“
Well, what’s one more?” V
asked, still scrubbing away before flushing the toilet and
standing. With a little wiggle of her hips, V managed to straighten
her skirt before tossing her hair back over her shoulder.
 

How the woman could come to work – cleaning
houses, mind you – looking impeccable day in and day out was beyond
her. If she didn’t know better, Zoey would’ve thought V worked in
the corporate world for all of the trouble she went through to get
dressed up each day.

Not Zoey. No way. Her outfit for the day
consisted of her soft, faded jeans and an oversized t-shirt that
had clearly seen better days. But, neither her shirt nor her jeans
had holes in them, and that was about as good as it got for
her.

Staring back at her friend, Zoey realized
they looked like polar opposites, what with V wearing wedge heels
and a flouncy skirt. V was also tall and curvy in all the right
places while Zoey was on the short side. Like day and night, Zoey
smiled to herself.

After V stripped the latex gloves off,
tossing them into the sink, she turned her attention to Zoey.
“What’s left?”

“
I think we’re done.” Zoey
smiled. “As long as you’re done in here, that is.”

“
Oh, I’m done,” V said
feigning exasperation.

“
What do you say I buy you
a drink then?” Zoey asked, turning toward the kitchen to pack up
the rest of their things.

“
Throw in dinner, and
you’ve got a date.” V stated, tossing the last of her supplies into
the bucket they used to haul them back and forth from the
truck.

“
Can’t do dinner tonight.”
Zoey grinned. “I’m meeting Kaleb.”

“
Ohhhh... That’s right. I
almost forgot. You’re weekly date.” V pretended to be offended, but
Zoey knew better. “I’m being shunned for that sexy, hot neighbor of
yours.”

“
It’s not a date.” Zoey
realized how defensive she sounded as soon as the words were out of
her mouth.

“
When are you going to
give in and sleep with him?”

Hefting her bucket of cleaners, Zoey managed
to lock the front door and roll her eyes at her friend while
pretending not to have heard the question.

It wasn’t the first time V had asked that
particular question, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last, so Zoey
wasn’t even going to dignify it with a response. Best friend or
not, V had an uncanny ability to get on Zoey’s last nerve with her
constant pestering when it came to her friendship with Kaleb
Walker.

It seemed as though once a week V would go
off on a tangent about how Zoey and Kaleb were dancing around one
another and should just give in and admit they wanted to sleep
together. For the most part, Zoey managed to ignore her. The rest
of the time she just made it worse by arguing.

There was possibly a smidgeon of truth to
V’s assessment of the situation, but Zoey wouldn’t admit it. Ever
since Zoey’s marriage came crashing down around her, she and Kaleb
had managed to rekindle the friendship they’d shared since middle
school. Only this time, her best buddy managed to spark an
irritating amount of lust that Zoey refused to acknowledge.

Considering there weren’t many days that
passed in which they didn’t meet up for dinner or drinks, or just
to hang out with a group of friends, Zoey was having a hard time
ignoring this little infatuation she’d apparently developed for
him.

As far as she could tell, there wasn’t an
ounce of reciprocation from Kaleb’s side, so it made it a little
easier to pretend he was just her friend. And she could’ve lived
with that if her warped and twisted mind hadn’t gone and conjured
up a plethora of images that consisted of all of the things Zoey
wanted to do to the man.

She had a feeling V’s comments were to blame
for that carnal slide show playing over and over again in her
mind.

Ten minutes later, Zoey was pulling her
truck into the gravel parking lot of Moonshiner’s – the one and
only bar in their very small town. For a Thursday afternoon, it was
packed, but the more the merrier, Zoey thought to herself.

It took a little persuading – or flirting,
whatever you wanted to call it – to commandeer two bar stools, but
they finally managed. Ordering their usual – mango margaritas –
Zoey glanced around the dimly lit room, scoping out the familiar
faces.

Most of the Thursday crowd was younger,
getting a jump start on the weekend and choosing to battle it out
at the pool tables. The dance floor was empty, but that wasn’t
unusual for this time of day. It usually livened up quite a bit
after dark, but they were still a few hours off from that.

Feeling a tad surly after V’s pestering from
earlier, Zoey turned to her friend and threw out the one question
she knew would get V riled up. “So, when are you going to focus on
your own Walker man and lay off my nonexistent sex life?”

“
My
 Walker
man?” V almost sounded as though she had no idea what Zoey was
talking about. Almost. “Who the hell are you talking
about?”

Remembering the way V had all but jumped on
Zane Walker the last time they’d all gotten together, Zoey arched
an eyebrow in challenge. “Don’t deny it. I saw the way you were eye
fucking Zane the last time we were here.”

“
Zane? 
Zane
Walker
 – Zane?” Vanessa laughed, and
the sultry sound had half the bar turning to look at
them.

“
Do you know another
one?”

The best defense is a good
offense
 – the phrase suddenly rang
through Zoey’s mind when she saw the look in Vanessa’s eyes. It was
about to be a free for all.

“
Wait.” V held up a hand,
taking a sip of her drink. “You first.”

“
Me first, what?” Zoey was
confused.

“
You admit to crushing on
Kaleb, and then I’ll tell you my story.”

“
Oh, whatever,” Zoey
laughed. “I am not crushing on Kaleb or anyone else for that
matter. But you, my beautiful friend have a bad case of the hots
for one Zane Walker.”

V blushed immediately, but turned her head
and avoided Zoey’s knowing stare. It was obvious the woman had been
lusting after Kaleb's younger brother, but Zoey had no idea for how
long. Not that age mattered, but there was a six year age gap
between V and Zane, which was surprising because her friend had
never been the type to go for younger men.

“
You can’t deny it,
V.”

When Vanessa’s ears flamed red, Zoey knew
she’d hit her mark. But, they both knew it was all in good fun
because yes if either of them were to own up to it, both of them
had the hots for one of the Walker brothers.

“
Maybe not, but what about
you and Kaleb?”

“
What about me and Kaleb?”
Zoey asked, forcing a smile. She did not like where this
conversation was going, regardless of whether this was her best
friend or not. She was not willing to admit whatever these strange
feelings were that she’d developed for Kaleb.

“
You have to admit he’s
hot.” V grinned.

“
Well, of course, he’s
hot.” That wasn't a secret.

“
Have you ever fantasized
about what it would be like to kiss him?” V asked, getting pushy as
always.

What was this? Eighth grade? 

Hoping like hell the heat that suddenly
infused her face wasn't visible, Zoey smarted off.
“Hasn't everyone?”

The smile that beamed on V’s face had Zoey
stilling in her chair.

Oh God.

She was suddenly enveloped in strong,
muscled arms and overwhelmed by the all too familiar, highly
intoxicating scent of the one man she wished hadn't just
heard that comment.

“
So, what would it be
like?” Kaleb’s sexy voice whispered in her ear, his warm breath
tickling her cheek seconds before his lips landed in a chaste,
friendly kiss.

Shoving him off of her,
Zoey laughed because if she didn't, she might just cry. “Oooh,
gross! Boy cooties.” 
Yep, definitely
eighth grade
.

“
Boy cooties?” V asked,
laughing. “That’s what you scream when Kaleb Walker plants a kiss
on you? Mercy, woman. I’m beginning to seriously worry about
you.”

Zoey felt the heat flood her face as she
purposely ignored Vanessa, all the while trying to pretend
Kaleb hadn't actually heard their conversation.

“
You’re early.” She told
him when she finally managed to compose herself.

“
I’m starving.” He waved
off the bartender when he strolled over. “Take me to
dinner.”

“
Nuh uh, buddy. It’s your
turn to pick up the tab,” Zoey reminded him.

Before Kaleb could argue, Zane walked up and
Zoey watched as V’s entire demeanor changed. If
she wasn't mistaken, it just got a lot warmer in the bar,
despite the blast of cold air from the air conditioner.

Zoey smiled. Right. Nothing there.

“
Ok, I’ll take you to
dinner.” Zoey stood abruptly. “Here, Zane. Take my seat.” Throwing
a knowing grin at Vanessa and watching as her friend tried to shoot
daggers from her eyeballs, Zoey laughed.

“
You are so dead,” V
mouthed before Zoey turned away.

Truer words had never been spoken because as
Zoey turned to walk out of the bar with Kaleb, she was hammered
with a sudden, overwhelming urge to... kiss him.