One Week with her (Ex) Stepbrother (Eden Manor #2) (2 page)

“You
don’t have to hide. Just stay away from Cassandra.”

“I’ll
do what I want to do. I’m not some pitiful wuss, you know. What do you take me
for?”

Of
course, he wasn’t a wuss. Even back in high school, Zach had been tougher than
he looked. But Missy hated the idea of him dating Cassandra, and not just
because it would make Silas angry.

There
was nothing else she could say, though. She shook her head and turned back to
her computer. “Fine. Whatever. I’ve got work to do, and so do you.”

Zach
stayed leaning against her desk for another minute, staring at her, as if he
were trying to read her mind. Then he finally straightened up and turned away,
walking back outside without another word.

He’d
laughed when she’d teased him about his feelings for Cassandra in the past.
Maybe he wasn’t serious about going after her again.

He
dated a lot. Girls were always interested in him. But he’d never had a serious
relationship—or even a relationship that lasted more than a couple of weeks.

Missy
knew it was wrong, but she didn’t want him to have one. If he ever became
serious about someone, then she would lose him. She knew it was true, and she
didn’t want it to happen.

She
wasn’t sure what that said about her.

***

Missy
usually just worked at the garden shop in the mornings, but her dad needed her
to help with the accounting today, so she stayed through the afternoon.

She
was finishing up her work on the computer at about four when a man she didn’t
recognize walked in.

She
knew the type, though. He was youngish and walked with a swagger. He had a
smirk on his face, like he thought he owned the world.

Missy
couldn’t stand guys like that. Zach might smirk occasionally, but he never
swaggered. He knew his own worth and didn’t have to put on a show.

Since
Missy was the only staff member in sight, the man headed straight for her.

She
put on the polite smile she wore for customers. “Can I help you?”

“Sure
can. I need some sod for my lawn, and they say this is the best place to get it
in the area.”

“Well,
they told you correctly.” She stood up. Since he knew what he wanted, maybe he
wouldn’t hang around very long. “I’ll show you what we have.”

When
she stood up, the guy eyed her from head to toe. She was wearing jeans and a
fitted T-shirt—a perfectly respectable outfit—but she suddenly wished so much
of her body wasn’t on display.

“This
way,” she said, in a slightly cooler tone.

“What’s
a pretty little thing like you doing working in a place like this?”

She’d
heard versions of that question many, many times over the years. She just gave
him an empty smile, hoping he’d be discouraged and wouldn’t try any more
comments like that.

“Have
you worked here long?” he asked, evidently deciding to take another tack.

“Yes.
For many years.” She walked him over to the corner of the back area where they
kept samples of the sod in stock. “Here’s what we have.”

“You
know about this stuff?”

“Yes,
of course, I do. I work here, don’t I?”

“I
thought maybe they kept you around for your pretty face.” He was grinning at
her obnoxiously, not at all discouraged by her cold replies.

“Uh,
no.” She pulled out a sample and slapped it onto the ground. “Would you like to
check out what we have?”

“I’d
like to check out what
you
have.” He reached out to touch her. It didn’t
appear to be a particularly intrusive touch, but any touch was inappropriate.

Missy
jerked away from him, so quickly she stumbled slightly.

“What’s
going on here?” came a rough voice from behind them.

She
couldn’t help but sigh in relief. She could have handled this guy by herself,
of course, but it was still nice that she didn’t have to. She turned to look at
Zach, who was bristling visibly as he stared at the other man. “He wanted to
look at sod.”

“It
doesn’t look like he was paying much attention to sod. It looks like he was
paying attention to you.” Zach wasn’t quite as tall as the other man, but he
seemed to loom over him anyway—his presence cold, unrelenting, intimidating.

“Whoa,”
the other guy said, putting up his hands in a gesture of amused surrendered.
“She’s hot. You can’t blame me. I didn’t know she was spoken for.”

“Well,
she
is
spoken for,” Zach said, telling this blatant lie without even
flinching.

Missy
felt a ridiculous little thrill at the way the customer obviously assumed she
was Zach’s girl and Zach hadn’t tried to contradict it. She pushed the feeling
away, however, since it was absurd.

“So
you can either buy sod or you can leave. You don’t have the option of hanging
around here, leering at her.”

“Zach,”
Missy chided, trying to overcome her instinctive pleasure at his behavior.
“There’s no need to overreact.”

“Hey,
man, don’t worry about it. I’m out of here.”

Zach
didn’t move until the customer had disappeared out the front gates of the yard.

Missy
shook her head. “That was unnecessary.”

“So
you’re saying you wanted that creep’s hands all over you?”

“Of
course not. But he was just flirting. It happens, you know.”

“It
doesn’t happen like that. Not when I’m around. I saw you pulling away from
him.” Zach still appeared to be bristling, and he glared at the gate where the
guy had disappeared.

“I
was okay. I could have handled it. I appreciate the help, but I don’t really
need the big brother act.”

Zach’s
head snapped over toward her. “I’m not your brother.”

“I
know you’re not my brother.” She blinked at his sharp tone. “I’m just saying.
You don’t need to jump to my defense every time someone looks at me sideways.”

“He
was doing more than looking.”

She
sighed. “I know.”

His
shoulders had finally relaxed a little, and he was now studying her face in
that careful way he had, like he was searching for signs of something she
wasn’t allowed to reveal. “You okay?”

“Of
course.”

“You
look kind of shaky.”

She
was shaky, but not because of the jerk who had just left. “I’m fine.”

He
frowned at her for a minute, and then he reached out to pull her toward him by
the shoulder. “Come here.”

He
wrapped his arms around her in a hug, and she couldn’t help but return
it—urgently, tightly. He didn’t hug her very often, and her chest tightened
with feeling now. There was real emotion in his grip, and she wanted it, needed
it.

She
wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, but her former stepbrother was the man she
most wanted to be close to in the world.

In
the
world
.

“You
okay?” he asked again, this time against her ear.

“Yeah,”
she whispered. “I’m good.”

“Good.”

He
didn’t release her right away, and she held onto him for as long as she could,
telling herself it was all right. She was allowed to hug him. She was allowed
to love him.

But
the boundaries of their relationship had been set years ago, so it just could
never turn into anything else.

The
following morning, Missy was heading over to Grounded to meet her best friend,
Vanessa, for breakfast.

She
parked her car in one of the few parking places on Main Street. Brighton was a
very small town, with only a few blocks of a downtown area, and there was
always parking to be found before eight o’clock in the morning. She walked past
the hardware store, the chiropractor, and a secondhand stop whose windows
always displayed a motley collection of junk before she got to the only coffee
shop in a twenty-mile radius.

 Her
phone rang as she was entering, and she felt a familiar little skip of her
heart when she saw it was Zach.

“Hey,”
she said, connecting the call and wondering why he was calling so early. “What’s
up?”

“What
happened to that list I put on your desk last week?”

“What
list?”

“The
stuff for the Eden Manor job.”

“I
don’t remember seeing a list.”

“Well,
I put it on your desk.”

She
tightened her lips. “And it didn’t occur to you to mention it, so I would know
to look for it.”

“How
hard is it to see a list?”

“There
are quite a few other papers on my desk. Maybe it got tucked under one of
those.”

“Well,
it had a bunch of stuff I needed ordered. Now it’s going to be late.”

“Well,
I’m sorry, but if you didn’t tell me to look for it, I’m not sure what I was
supposed to do.” She saw Vanessa sitting at a table near the window, so she
walked toward her.

“Maybe
clean off your desk, occasionally.”

“And
maybe you could learn to email so you don’t always rely on torn scraps of
papers.” She scowled as she sat down across from Vanessa. “You can blame it on
me, if it makes you feel better. I’ve got to go now.”

She
rolled her eyes as Vanessa smiled sympathetically. “Let me guess. That was
Zach, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.
Being annoying as usual. Apparently, I’m to blame for losing a list that I
never knew existed.”

“Is
he really mad?” Vanessa was lovely with brown hair and big brown eyes. She was
about Missy’s height, but was built a lot more delicately. Ever since she’d
moved to town several years ago, she and Missy had been good friends.

“No.
Just grumpy. He always gets like that when he thinks he’s dropped the ball on
something. He’ll feel bad about it this afternoon and apologize.” Missy cleared
her throat and decided it was time to change the subject. “So how’s Joe doing?”

A
secret little smile spread across Vanessa’s face, as if she were thinking of
something really sweet. “He’s fine.”

“Just
fine?”

“What
else is he supposed to be?”

“Well,
to judge by your expression, he’s evidently the best thing that’s ever happened
in the world.”

Vanessa
and Joe had gotten together just the week before, after dancing around each
other for a really long time. Missy was happy for her friend—genuinely
happy—and maybe a little jealous that something so good never happened to her.

Vanessa
laughed as they got up to put in their orders at the counter. “So I’m happy.
I’m doing my best not to gush about it.”

“You
can gush. That’s what I’m here for.”

“Nah.
I know from experience how annoying that can be. What we need to do is find you
a guy.”

“I
don’t need a guy.”

“I
know you don’t need one. But maybe you want one.”

“I
wouldn’t say no to a guy, but I’m perfectly happy as it is.” She ordered her
coffee and breakfast sandwich and waited for Vanessa to put in her order too
before they got their number and went back to their table. Then she added,
“Besides, there aren’t any available guys around here anyway.”

“There
are a few.”

“Yeah,
but I’ve already dated all of those who might be possibilities, and it didn’t
work out.” Missy had dated a lot when she was younger—plenty of guys had been
interested in her—but nothing had worked out, and slowly her prospects were
drying up. She hadn’t had a date now in six months.

Vanessa
frowned, obviously thinking through this situation. “There has got to be
someone.”

“There
isn’t. You know as well as I do that in towns like this, people pair off in
high school or a little after. I’ve made it this far, which means I have to
either move or wait for marriages to start breaking up.” Missy shook her head.
“I don’t want to move.”

“No
one is saying you’ve got to move, but there have got to be a few guys around
your age who aren’t married and who you haven’t already dated. I mean, look at
Zach.”

Missy’s
spine stiffened. “What about Zach?”

Vanessa
was sipping her coffee, staring out the window. “He’s single, good-looking, a
great guy, and he’s never been married. Surely, there are a few other—”

“You
think I should date Zach?” Missy’s cheeks were flushed, and she was trying to
settle her breathing back down to its normal pace.

“No,
I just meant there might be other guys—” Vanessa stopped short, her eyes
shooting back over to Missy’s face. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute!”

Missy
knew then she’d failed to hide her response as much as she should have. “There
aren’t any other guys,” she said, in a futile attempt to keep the conversation
from going in the direction it was already headed.

“Zach?”
Vanessa breathed, her eyes wide, almost thrilled. “
Zach!
Oh, I’ve been
so stupid all this time. Of course, it’s Zach.”

“What
are you talking about?” Missy mumbled, staring down into her mug of coffee.
“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s like my brother.”

“He
is not your brother. He’s not even your stepbrother. He’s just a great guy
whose mom was briefly married to your dad. I can’t believe you’ve fooled me all
this time!”

“I
haven’t fooled you about anything.”

“Yes,
you have! You always act like he’s just this pesky guy hanging around, but
you’re into him. You’re
into
him.”

“I
am not.” Missy waved her hand in an emphatic gesture as she said in a stage
whisper, “And would you keep your voice down?”

“Sorry,”
Vanessa murmured, in a much quieter tone. “I’m just so excited about this.”

“There’s
nothing to be excited about. You’re just trying to fix me up because you’ve got
a man of your own now. Zach is just a brother-type—”

“He
is not. I don’t know how I could have missed it for so long. Of course, it’s
always been him. That’s why nothing worked out with all those other guys you
dated.”

“Seriously,
Vanessa. Stop teasing.” Missy swallowed hard. “Nothing is going to happen.”

Vanessa’s
face sobered as she processed her friend’s expression. “Why not?”

“Because
of obvious reasons. One, he’s my ex-stepbrother. Two, he’s not into me. Three,
it would just be weird.”

“Why
would it be weird?”

“Because
he’s like family.”

“He’s
close to you and your dad, but that’s a good thing. He’s not family. There
would be nothing wrong with it.”

Missy
sighed and looked away. “Maybe not. But it’s still never going to happen
because of number two.”

“Maybe
he
is
into you.”

“Right.”

“Well,
I didn’t know Joe was into me for a really long time.”

“That’s
because you were kind of blind. Everyone else knew it.”

“Maybe
they know the same about Zach.”

“No,
they don’t. You know how much he dates. He’s with a different girl every
weekend.”

“Not
every weekend. That’s an exaggeration. But Joe dated a lot too.”

“A
few years ago, yeah. But Joe hadn’t gone out with anyone in like a year. He was
obviously hung up on you well before you got together. The same thing can’t be
said of Zach.”

“But
Zach isn’t serious about anyone. He probably just likes to have sex.”

Missy
gave an ironic huff. “Right. That’s a lot of comfort. Thanks.”

“Anyway,
it may just be his way of trying to get over you.”

“Don’t
make up fairy tales, Vanessa. This is something that’s never going to happen.”

“You
don’t know for sure. It’s worth exploring, anyway.”

“How
do you suggest I do that?”

Vanessa
visibly tried to suppress a smile. “Maybe just grab him and kiss him, and then
see what happens.”

“Yeah,
right.” Missy couldn’t help but feel a shiver of excitement at the possibility,
although she quickly stamped out the feeling.

“I
guess I wouldn’t be able to do something like that either. Maybe you can just
hedge around the topic. Ask him about relationships, why he’s never been
serious about anyone. See what comes out.”

Missy
shook her head. “It’s hopeless, Vanessa. You know it as well as I do. And I’m
not going to do anything to ruin the relationship we do have. He’s too
important to me. And my dad.”

“I
know. I don’t want you to mess things up either. But that doesn’t mean they
can’t get better.”

Smiling
at her friend, Missy said in a resigned tone that exactly matched her mood. “In
this particular situation, I think there’s only so much better they can get
without blowing apart completely.”

***

Missy
headed over to the garden shop after breakfast. She wanted to work for an hour
or so, clearing out the email and straightening her desk, before she went to
show a new real estate client a couple of houses in the area before lunch.

When
she arrived, the first thing she did was search her desk top for Zach’s list.
She shuffled through the three piles of paperwork, plus the loose papers in the
middle of the desk, but she couldn’t find anything that looked like a list from
him.

She
was still searching when he walked into the building. He was flushed and
sweating—he’d obviously been working hard outside—and she felt a familiar surge
of attraction that was harder to push away because of her conversation with
Vanessa earlier. “I can’t find a list,” she said, turning her eyes back to the
papers so she wouldn’t stare at him too obviously.

“Yeah.”
He came over closer. “I found it on the floor over there. It must have blown
off.” He dug into one of his pockets and offered her a crumpled half-sheet of
paper.

“Oh.”
She accepted the paper and stared down at the list. “Okay.”

“Sorry
about before,” he said, his voice wry, slightly sheepish. “I was mostly mad at
myself.”

“I
know.”

“Are
you pissed at me?”

“Of
course not.”

He
reached out to tilt up her chin, raising her face toward his. His hazel eyes
were searching, slightly concerned. “What’s the matter, kiddo?”

She
swallowed, fighting an overwhelming surge of emotion. “Would you please not
call me that?”

His
brows drew together. “Sorry. What’s the matter, Missy?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re
not mad at me?”

“I
said I wasn’t.”

“You
need to tell me if I did something to upset you.”

“You
didn’t do anything.”

“It
feels like I did. I don’t like it.”

Her
knees were starting to wobble. “I can’t do anything about how you feel. I’ve
said twice now that I’m not mad.”

“I
want to know what’s going on with you. Something is different.”

“Nothing
is different.” She cleared her throat and dropped her eyes, screaming at
herself to pull it together before she revealed something truly mortifying.

He
was about to speak again—she could feel the tension in his body—but the door to
the office opened just then and her dad bellowed out, “Missy!”

She
jumped and jerked away from Zach. “I’m right here.”

Her
dad had salt-and-pepper hair and a grizzled face. He frowned in her direction.
“What’s the matter?”

She
let out a growl of frustration. “Would you all stop asking me that? I’m
fine
.”

Her
father met Zach’s eyes, and she knew they shared a silent, questioning look. “Okay,”
her dad said at last. “I’m glad we’re all fine. Now, someone bring me that
stack of January receipts, or we’ll all be bankrupt when the IRS takes
everything we have. They already take most of it as it is.”

Missy
couldn’t help but laugh at her father’s aggrieved tone, and she was glad of the
distraction when she went over to search her bottom desk drawer for the
requested file of receipts.

She
took the file over to her father, who gave her a quick kiss and disappeared
back into his office. She could feel Zach’s eyes on her as she returned to her
desk.

“What
do you need?” she asked, trying to sound normal.