Chapter 7
LINDY
Mav and Bridget were sitting on the stoop of Dex’s house when we walked up with our carry out order.
I only ended our call at the pizza place less than ten minutes earlier–or whatever it was to walk back to Dex’s house–so they must have been close by.
My guess, checking out our house which was less than a mile away.
Bridget popped to her feet and came over, giving me a fierce hug. Scout, Mav’s dog that he adopted from the local shelter after the pet parade on the Fourth of July, joined her. His little nose bumped my bare calf and his tail wagged so hard the back half of his short body wiggled.
She had on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a green tank top. Her hair was up in a sloppy bun. If I looked like that, it meant I was cleaning behind the furnace in the basement. For Bridget, it was her usual look. One Mav didn’t seem to mind.
Over her shoulder I watched Mav rise to his full lumberjack-sized height. Dex was a big guy, but Mav was bigger. He eyed me with a look that was all, are you okay? without saying a word. I offered him a small smile as I had the air squeezed from my lungs.
His gaze shifted to Bridget, and it was clear he was worried about her. It wasn’t every day a house was damaged like ours had been. Fire, maybe. Too much snow and the roof collapsed under the weight, definitely. But a fallen tree in Montana? A very rare occurrence.
“When I heard what happened, I freaked,” Bridget said, letting me go but not stepping back. “What if you’d been inside?”
“I wasn’t,” I reassured, reaching down and giving Scout a pet. His tongue hung out of his mouth, and he smiled up at me. Or it looked like he did. “I was at the store getting groceries and Mr. VanMeyer those brownies he likes.”
She sighed. “You were lucky then.”
I didn’t want to tell her I was working at the kitchen table, right where the tree came through, before I left.
“We drove by the house and I can’t believe it. Well, I can with the things Mr. VanMeyer does. What was he thinking?” She ran a hand over her hair and blew out a breath. “I mean there’s only one outcome with the physics behind where he cut the tree. Falling right on our house.”
I was sure she studied what he’d done as well as the damage.
“Take pictures,” I said. “Share them with your science class this fall. That’ll grab their attention more than anything else will.”
She rolled her eyes, then pushed her glasses up. I’d been telling her since eleventh grade to get contacts, but she always refused. “Physics isn’t that boring.”
Yes, it so was.
“Besides, I only turned in my application,” she continued. “Who knows if I’ll get the job.”
Mallory had been pushing Bridget to apply for a long-term substitute position at the high school teaching physics.
She consistently downplayed her interest in it, but I secretly believed she was excited about the opportunity.
She’d be really good at it and the kids would respond to her well, especially if she shared pics of our personal Physics-in-Action lesson.
The school district would have to tell her soon since school started in about six weeks. In the meantime, she was working with Mav on the James Inn project where they met.
“You’re redirecting, Lind. Why didn’t you call and tell me what happened?”
I was totally redirecting but unfortunately, she was too smart for her own good. Or not ten any longer.
I let out a sigh, because really, I needed to. That’s what Aspen, my yoga teacher, would have me do. Breathe.
“I was dealing with the fire department and the insurance company and there was no reason for you to have to deal with any of that.”
She gave me a look. The same one I saw every time I told her something she didn’t like. Which, when she was thirteen, was everything out of my mouth. “So you were just going to hide the fact that our house got taken out by a tree to protect me?”
“Bridge–”
“Um, yeah, you should have called. It’s my house, too. I can deal with the insurance company for you.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “My boss will give me all the time I need to help out.”
Her boss was Mav and he’d give her anything.
“Yes, you can, but you don’t need to. I’m sorry I didn’t call you right away.” I frowned and thought for a moment. “Wait, how did you find out anyway?”
“Dex texted Mav.”
Now I really frowned. And turned to look at Dex. Who was looking at me. I narrowed my eyes at the guy who was… what? Butting in? Being helpful?
“Don’t give him that look,” she said, tugging on my arm so I’d spin back around. “He told Mav you were fine, the house was damaged but it’s fixable. That you’d call me when you could.”
I was surprised. That was exactly the right thing to say.
“But I couldn’t wait,” she added. Thus, the call at the pizza place.
“Well, good then. I’m um… glad he texted Mav. It’s been crazy. Obviously. Dex and I got some of my things since my room is missing a wall and a ceiling and there’s a branch in my bed. Then we came here and then food and–”
She spun about, noticed the guys were talking by the front door, then took my wrist and tugged me across the small front yard to the sidewalk.
“What’s up with you with Dex?” she whispered when we were another twenty feet away from Dex and Mav.
“Nothing,” I whispered back. “I ran into him at the grocery store, and he was behind me in the checkout line when Mr. VanMeyer called about the house. He drove me home and, well… helped.”
She glanced at the guys again. Scout abandoned us, ran over and plopped to his butt beside Mav.
“Helped? Helped you out of your panties you mean?”
My flush was instant. And hot. It was my turn to tug her further away from the guys. “Bridget Beckett.”
“What? I’m not ten. It’s okay to talk about sex.”
“Yes, we can talk about sex. But what do you mean me and Dex? It’s not like that.”
I didn’t mention the kiss. No way. And I wasn’t going to mention I was attracted to Dex. That I thought about him in the Biblical sense. If the Bible was filled with naughty, filthy things.
“Really?” She cocked her head to the side to sneak a peek over my shoulder. “Then why is he staring at you the way Mav stares at me when he wants to get his hands on me?”
I swiveled around, feeling like I was being watched. There was Dex, eyeing me like he really did want to get his hands on me. Again. He winked.
“See?” she hisses. “He wants you.”
“Because he winked?”
“Because he hasn’t stopped looking at you since I pulled you away. Since he’s practically licking his lips like he’s a tiger and you’re a piece of meat.”
I couldn’t help but laugh because she was insane. I didn’t know how to respond because I wasn’t used to a guy thinking I was that edible. Then my brain returned to the kiss.
Yeah, he wanted me. I’d felt every hard inch of him as he pressed me into the glass.
“It doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to happen.” Except for kissing on Main Street.
“Why not?” she asked, looking as confused as I’d be if she showed me one of those big math problems she worked on at MIT. “He’s great.”
“I’m almost ten years older than he is.”
“You say that as if you’re menopausal and going off on field trips with the senior center.”
I was thirteen years older than Bridget. Sometimes with her, I felt that old.
“Fine,” I countered. “I’ll spin it around the other way. He’s almost ten years younger than me.”
“Whatever.” She waved her hand through the air. “You’ve been looking for Mr. Right. Maybe he’s right here, right now. Mr. Right Now.”
I highly doubted that. All I knew from being with Dex was that my libido was in working order. If my panties didn’t get wet looking at–let alone kissing–Dex James, then I’d need to go to the doctor.
“I don’t want Mr. Right Now,” I countered. “I can’t waste my time on that. I want a solid relationship. A husband. Kids. You know all of this. Dex barely checks off any of the boxes on my man list.”
“The one you have taped to the bottom of the toaster?”
“Yes, that one.” I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling attacked. “I made that list with Mom. Things I wanted in a man. Values.”
“I know all about this, Lind. Sheesh, you made me make one when I was fourteen.”
“And did it work with Mav?” I countered, cocking an eyebrow.
“Definitely. But I never taped mine to a kitchen appliance.”
“Mom wanted to put it on the fridge so I’d always see it. I thought I’d die of embarrassment so I stuck it to the bottom of the toaster instead.”
“That’s kind of cute,” she replied with a sappy smile.
“Don’t mock me. Or the list. Or the toaster. I have standards.”
This time, she set her hand on my arm and gave me a soft smile. “I’m not mocking you. I’m proud of you for holding out for Mr. Right. Okay? But I’ve seen that list. Dex seems to have everything on it. And he’s sexy. Don’t tell Mav I think his brother’s hot.”
Her words placated me, a little. Not the part about how she thought Dex was sexy. She got Mav. She couldn’t have Dex too.
“I have a date tomorrow night with hopefully Mr. Right.”
She frowned. “But… there’s Dex pretty much eye fucking you across the yard.
Maybe it’s okay to have a little fun with Mr. Right Now.
” Her eyebrows went up and down behind her glasses and she offered a sly smile.
She wanted me to sleep with Dex, regardless of the fact that he would be a fling.
Same went with Lucy on our writing sprint video call earlier. She wanted me to use him as my muse.
I had to admit, my scenes were hotter and getting down onto the page faster than ever since I met him. Still… I wasn’t one to fuck and forget and I had a feeling sleeping with Dex was something I definitely would never forget.
“Let’s go have some pizza,” I said, cutting her off. Discussion about my dating life and anything that she saw happening between me and Dex was over.
“Sure. Okay. Fine. There are four guest rooms at Mav’s place. You can pick any one you want.”
“I’m staying here.”
She stared at me, wide eyed. “Here? With Dex?”
I nodded and a slow grin spread across her face.
“Ha! You do want him.”
I put my hand over her mouth and stepped in close. “Shh! I really, really don’t want to be in the same house with you and Mav. You want to talk about sex, fine. I just don’t need to hear it.”
That gave Bridget pause and I dropped my hand. She nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Dex offered and his guest bedroom is better than a hotel.”
She studied me some more, then shook her head, in a sad, sorry manner.
“If all you’ve got to say about staying with the sexy Dex James is that he’s only better than a hotel, then there’s no hope for you.
” She tugged my hand again, this time back toward the guys.
“Come on, old lady, let’s get some pizza before your eight o’clock bedtime. ”