The Billionaire Next Door (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) (6 page)

Not that she needed to lean very often.  She was a
cheerful woman even at the worst of times.  It was as if nothing could keep her
down.

“So, Ma, what did you say next?”  Solie couldn’t help
chuckling in anticipation of Niurka’s next words.  She never tired of hearing
stories of her mother’s daily adventures in the pastry shops and in the
market.  They were sure to give you a good laugh.

Niurka chuckled back.  “I tell him I can speak Jamaican
just as good as him.  I say, ‘don’t worry about a ting, mon.  Every little ting
goin’ to be all right.”

That made Solie burst out laughing all over again.  “Mama…
mamita
…,”
she said between gasps, “I’m sorry, but just because you know two lines from a
Bob Marley song it doesn’t mean you know how to speak Jamaican. 
Mamita
,
please.”  And she started laughing again.  She couldn’t help it.  

“Well, it’s good enough for me,” Niurka declared,
sounding proud of herself.  “That man, he got nothing over me.”

“If you say so, Mama.  If you say so.”

By the time they got around to talking about what Solie
had really called her mother about they’d been on the phone almost forty
minutes and it was already six o’clock.  This was one of those lucky days when
her shift had ended early and she’d already been home three hours when she’d
picked up the phone to call her mom.  “So are you coming?  Fort Lauderdale
isn’t that far away, you know.”

“And you know that I hate flying,” was her mother’s rejoinder. 
“When they build the bridge to Florida I’ll gladly take the bus across.”

“But, Mom, it’s not like you’ve never flown before.”

“But I don’t like it.  I only fly when it’s really
important, like when I came for your graduation.”

“But this is important,” Solie reminded her.  “It’s a
wedding.”

“But not your wedding,” Niurka said with a sniff. 
“Emilio’s wedding I can miss, but not yours.”

“But he’s your cousin.”

“Second cousin twice removed.  I’ll just send him a nice
gift.”  She clicked her tongue and with that she ended the discussion. 
Everybody in the family knew it was the signal that she was ready to change the
subject.  “And what about you,
mi hija
?  When-”

“Mama, you know that’s off the table for me.  I’m not
looking.”  Solie almost rolled her eyes even though her mother was miles away
and couldn’t see her small act of defiance.  She didn’t know how many times
she’d said it but it was like it went in one ear and out the other.  After Raul
she’d had her fill of men, particularly tall, dark and gorgeous ones.  Why
couldn’t her mother accept the fact that she was happily single?

“You must not stop looking,
nina
.  Always have
one eye open.  Twenty-six is not so young anymore.  Before you know it you’ll
be thirty and then what?”

“So, I’ll be thirty.  It’s not like it’s the end of the
world.  Lots of people get married way past thirty.”  Now she really did roll
her eyes.  Her mother could be so old-fashioned sometimes.

“And what about babies?  Caridad got married at
twenty-three and had her first within a year-”

“That’s Caridad, Mama, not me.  Let me live my life my
way, okay?  Right now I just want to focus on finishing my Master’s.”

“Yes, yes, education is important but so is family.  You
have to think about this.”

At that moment the front doorbell chimed and Solie
almost sighed her relief out loud.  Whenever the conversation turned to her
social life all she wanted to do was escape.  Fast.  Now she had the perfect
excuse.

“Ma, I have a visitor.  I have to run, okay?”

“Okay,
mi hija
, but call me later.”

“I’ll call you tonight.  Bye, Ma.  
Te amo
.”

Quickly, Solie placed the receiver back into its cradle
and hurried toward the front door.  “Coming,” she yelled as the bell chimed
again.  She already knew who it was.

Daniel, her neighbor’s son, had promised to drop off
some sheet music from his piano class.  She was dying to try them out on the
piano she’d bought herself for her birthday.

She flung the door open.  “Hi, Dan…”  The words died in her
throat.

What she saw on her doorstep wasn’t a fourteen-year old
kid clutching a handful of sheet music.  Standing in her doorway was a tall,
beefy dark-skinned man wearing a bright orange vest and a yellow hard hat. 

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” the big man said with a
sheepish grin, “but I need your help.”

CHAPTER SIX

The man held out his hand to her.  “I’m Trevor Jones, a
friend of your neighbor’s.”

“Y…yes, I know.”  Quickly getting over her shock she
took his hand and shook it.  “I remember you.”  Then she frowned.  “How can I
help?  Is something wrong?”  And just like she’d known it would, her stupid
renegade heart gave a tiny jerk of concern.  What if something else had
happened to Ransom Kent?

Trevor released her and shoved his hands into his pockets. 
He shook his head.  “No, not really.  It’s just…” He sighed and his eyes
wandered away from her face as he looked over the hedge that separated her yard
from Ransom’s.  “It’s just that neighbor of yours.”  He shook his head again
but this time when he looked back at her he was smiling.  “Ransom’s too darned
stubborn for his own good.  He won’t sit still even though he’s been having
some bad headaches these past few days.  Can you believe the man showed up for
work in his sick state?”  He grimaced then seemed to catch himself.

Trevor bit his lip and when he spoke again his eyes had
a tiny look of pleading that was hard to resist.  “I know this is none of your
concern,” he began, “but I was wondering if you would help me.  Could you…keep
an eye on him?  He’s liable to hurt himself.  When he’s bored he’ll even go out
and make work where no work exists.”  

His speech touched Solie’s heart.  She could see how
concerned Trevor was for his friend.  She cocked her head to one side as she
stared up at him.  “Do you think he’ll listen to me?”

That got her a chuckle.  “Oh, he will.  Just threaten
him with a needle.  You know he’s got a thing about needles, right?”

Solie nodded.  “I’ve got first-hand experience with
that.”

“So you know he’s not going to mess around with someone
who’s got the power to have him shaking in his boots.”  He shrugged.  “Me, I
could threaten till I turn blue.  He never listens.”

Solie almost smiled.  For a man as big as Trevor it
shouldn’t be hard to intimidate anyone.  But she knew how it was when you had a
stubborn one to deal with.  She knew exactly how to handle a mule like Ransom
Kent.

“Today,” she said, pulling the front door closed behind
her, “he’s going to listen, whether he likes it or not.  Come on.”

She took Trevor’s hand and turned him around then
marched him right back down the driveway, matching him step for step.

Her neighbor might have been able to stand up to Trevor
and bully him back but it wouldn’t happen with her.  Ransom Kent would soon
learn that Soledad Felix did not play around. 

***

“What’s up with you, boy?”  Ransom laughed and held out
his hand as King Tut raced toward the hedge and back again.  The Great Dane ran
up to him and pushed his nose into his palm then he was off again, barking as
he raced toward the leafy fence that separated their yard from that of the crazy
- well, maybe not so crazy - nurse who lived next door.

“What’s over there, boy?  Don’t go boring through that
hedge, now.  Don’t get me in trouble.”  He was still laughing when he heard the
clang of the garden gate and heavy footsteps coming up the pathway.  He wasn’t
surprised.  Trevor was a big guy and he wasn’t known for moving softly.  “Well,
that took you long enough,” he called out even before he saw his friend.  “How
long does it take a guy to grab a six-pack and head back?  Jeez, you must have
gone and brewed the damn thing yourself.”

“Nope,” he heard Trevor say even before he turned the
corner into the back yard.  “I went and got myself a lovely lady instead.”

Ransom couldn’t help but snort.  “Yeah, right.”

He was still grinning as he turned in the direction of
Trevor’s voice but his heart did a double-take when he saw that his friend had
been telling the truth.  Right by his side was the beauty who had been on his
mind ever since she’d threatened him with an enema.  And now, when he least
expected it, she was here…and she was not looking happy.

God, what now?

“Ransom,” Trevor said as he came to a halt before him,
“this is your neighbor, Miss Soledad Felix.”

“I know that,” Ransom growled, annoyed.  What did Trevor
think he was?  Daft?

He cleared his frown as he turned his attention on his
unexpected but certainly not unwelcome visitor.  “Hello, Nurse Felix.  Solie. 
How are you?”  He knew he sounded stiff but that was his best attempt at
courtesy.

She gave him a cool stare.  “The question is, how are
you?  I heard you’ve been having headaches.”

Ransom raised his eyebrows.  “You did, did you?”

“I did, and that’s not good.  Have you been to your
primary care physician since the accident?”

Ransom turned cool eyes on Trevor but he’d turned away
and was studiously examining a hibiscus just off the end of the patio.  So he’d
been talking.  A traitor in the midst.

Ransom turned back to Solie.  “As a matter of fact, I
haven’t.  Not necessary.”

He almost stepped back when her glacial stare suddenly
turned fiery.  Her brows fell and her eyes were practically shooting poison
darts at him.

“What do you mean, you haven’t?  When you were
discharged you were specifically instructed to do a follow-up with your
doctor.  Why didn’t you follow instructions?”  She jammed her fists on her hips
and was looking for all the world like his battle-axe of a first grade teacher,
just without the bun and the horn-rimmed glasses.

She’d surprised him with her outburst but he wasn’t
about to show it.  With practiced nonchalance he shrugged.  “Didn’t have time.”

“Didn’t have…” She looked just about ready to haul off
and slap him.  “You don’t have the time for your own health?  What kind of bull
is that?” 

That made Ransom raise his eyebrows again.  A delicate
flower using a word like that?  But as he stared down at Solie, an amused smile
tickling his lips, he had to admit…not so delicate, after all.  Not when she
was bold and bristling right under his nose, her eyes flashing, her full lips
formed into a tempting pout, her breasts rising and falling with every angry
breath she took.  She was no hothouse flower, this one.  No, she was a
thorn-bearing rose and all he wanted to do right then and there was kiss her
till she shed those thorns and unfolded her soft petals so he could sink deep
into…   

“Listen,” she said, shattering his reverie and dragging
him back to reality, “you have to take your injury seriously.  You can’t be
shrugging this off like nothing happened.  You were seriously hurt and you need
to be under your doctor’s care.  And,” to his surprise she reached out and
clasped a soft hand around his upper arm, “you need to rest.”  With that she
pulled forcefully and turned him around to face the patio door.  “Now, in you
go.”

Ransom almost laughed.  Instead, he stared down at the
slender creature intent on bullying him back to health.  Who did she think she
was?  Florence Nightingale?

“Come on.  In.”  She was tugging at his arm, trying to
get him to step forward.

Of course, he didn’t budge.  He just stood there looking
down at her, waiting to see what she would do.

Not surprisingly, she glared up at him.  “Move, will
you?”

He gave her a slow smile.  “And what if I don’t?” he
asked, his voice a soft whisper.

Solie’s lips tightened and her eyes narrowed.  “Don’t
play with me.  I know the ER doctor who saw you in the hospital.  I can speak
to her about having you readmitted…” her gaze turned threatening “…into my
care.  And you’d better avoid that at all costs…if you know what’s good for
you.”

Solie released his arm and with her hands she mimicked
the preparation of a syringe with pointy needle.

Ransom’s eyes narrowed as he watched her.  “You
wouldn’t.”

She stared boldly at him, her eyes direct and full of
challenge.  “Try me.” 

He scowled some more but that seemed to have little
effect on his tormentor.  He glanced over to where Trevor stood, seeking any
support he could get.  Snitch that he was, the man looked away.

Ransom drew in his breath then slowly let it out.  There
was nothing to do but comply.  He knew when he was beat.  He started walking…

…but not before shooting another parting glare at his
friend.  Now his nosy, domineering…and sexy…neighbor was all up in his
business.

What the hell had Trevor gotten him into?