Chapter Four
A few days later, at about eight in the morning, Claire walked from the farmhouse to the sanctuary, armed with an extra-strong coffee in her travel mug. All things considered, her commute was pretty sweet. All she had to do was roll out of bed, walk across the field, and voilà. She was there.
It might have been her regular route to work, but right now, it was anything but regular. Her nerves reacted accordingly, tightening like an elastic that had been stretched across too wide a surface. She took a sip of coffee, but it didn’t erase the sensation that the elastic was ready to snap.
Haven was definitely not a haven at present.
Since the Handymen crew had arrived, her head had been spinning. Even now, as she approached the sanctuary, there were workers all over her yard. Eli Zorn had begun his landscaping project. As a result, the grass was torn up and big machines were currently digging up the gravel walkway.
As she walked past, Eli looked up from his shovel. His brow sweaty, he grinned. “Morning, Claire. Hope that’s a strong coffee you’ve got there.”
“Morning. I don’t take it any other way.”
He saluted and resumed shoveling, and she continued into the sanctuary.
As she’d been instructed, she headed to the makeup room so that she’d be ready for the cameras.
Even as she chatted with the makeup ladies, other noises encroached.
The moment she left the room, she was welcomed by the sound of large men in a small space, trying to extricate the old washer and dryer.
There was a lot of grunting and the odd stifled curse.
Michael had told her his team would be tackling the laundry room today.
As a result, she’d been up late last night, washing extra blankets and cloths to get her team through the day.
She poked her head around the laundry room wall.
Michael greeted her. “Claire, I hope you’re ready to demolish a wall today.”
Knowing there was always a camera present, she forced a smile. “Can’t wait.”
Lacey had explained that the cameras would pretty much always be rolling, in order to catch any cute exchanges and meaningful moments.
The first few days, Claire had been conscious of eyes on her everywhere she went.
She’d been on her best behavior, but Lacey had told her to relax so she appeared natural.
Although more accustomed to the ever-present cameras now, she still felt like she was being watched.
“My aim is to keep the wall demo short and sweet,” said Michael. “We don’t want to agitate the cats any more than we already have.”
“Thanks, Michael.”
As if on cue, the sound of caterwauling reached their ears. The felines did not appreciate the invasion of their space. Claire had instructed all the volunteers to spend as much time as possible with the cats, soothing them and distracting them. She’d been doing the same thing.
Eager to escape, she hurried to her office, the last bastion of privacy and peace. She knew the team planned to fix her damp walls, but they hadn’t gotten that far yet.
Claire opened the door to the office and rushed inside, closing it behind her. Before she even sat down, she took a sip of coffee and closed her eyes as the hot liquid warmed the back of her throat.
When she opened her eyes, Nick Zorn came into view.
Her office faced the back yard, so Nick had been coming into view a lot lately. He was working on something in the yard that he would only refer to as his ‘mystery project’.
Mysterious, sort of like him—or at least the way she’d been feeling around him.
Still clutching her travel mug, Claire meandered closer to the window, hoping to get a sense of what he was building out there.
He was the deck guy on Handymen, so she assumed he was constructing a deck.
Nice, if impractical. She didn’t exactly have a lot of time to lounge in the back yard.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d cracked the spine on one of her favorite romance novels or enjoyed a mojito in the sun.
Still, Nick had definitely improved her view this past week.
There was no denying he was a very handsome man, even though she felt guilty acknowledging it, even secretly.
Unlike his dark-haired brothers, Nick had lighter, tawny locks.
His hair was longish, waving around his ears, as if he’d been growing it out for a while.
She guessed a top stylist had probably helped him achieve the unkempt look.
He had amber-brown eyes. They reminded her of the stone in her favorite ring. He always seemed to have a five-o’clock shadow, like his brothers. She’d taken to calling it ‘the Zorn uniform’.
As for the rest of him…well, she tried not to concentrate too much on that expanse of muscled man.
There had been a moment earlier in the week when she’d been refilling water bowls for the cats.
She’d been distracted, thinking about the way Nick filled out his jeans, and she’d let the water overflow the bowls.
After mopping up that mess, she’d vowed not to look at Nick’s jeans again.
Too bad his ass was staring her in the face right now.
He was bent over, inspecting something, talking to one of the other crew members. Round and firm, his butt cheeks called to her in a way nothing had since she and Arthur had last made love. Flutters assaulted her stomach and her mouth went dry.
All of a sudden, Nick stood, turned around and spotted her.
Watching him.
His face went red, but he smiled and waved.
Without removing her hands from her coffee mug, she wiggled her fingers in a wave.
He motioned toward the window, asking her to open it.
She put her coffee down and moved toward him, although her feet seemed to be moving in slow motion. Get over yourself. The man’s waiting.
Feeling a little like a hesitant schoolgirl approaching her crush in the schoolyard, Claire opened the window.
The screen had been removed some time ago, so Nick leaned on the windowsill. He was still smiling.
She knew what that kind of smile meant. It meant trouble.
“Hey,” he said, with all the nonchalant sex appeal of a young Brad Pitt.
“Hey.”
“I know what you were doing a second ago.”
“Pardon?” Her heart leapt into her throat. “What do you think I was doing?”
“You were trying to figure out my mystery project.” He winked. “It won’t work, you know. It’s cloaked in secrecy.”
Thank God he hadn’t accused her of ogling his ass. At least there were no cameras present just then. “Busted. I just can’t stop wondering about your mystery project, Nick.”
“I’m going to have to hang a tarp on your office window. I can’t have you figuring it out.”
“Not a tarp.” She almost groaned. “My view.” Honestly, she’d be sorry to lose both views—the yard and Nick’s butt.
“A small price to pay.” His face grew serious. “I heard you were here really late last night.”
“That’s normal.”
“I hope you’re not working too hard.”
“I like my work.”
“A person can love their job and still be overworked.”
She didn’t really have a comeback for that one.
“Listen, I was hoping I could get a start on your office walls on Monday.”
He wanted to come inside her office? She was still getting used to him being directly outside it. “But what about your mystery project?”
He gasped, pretending to be offended. “I’ll be working on that too. I’m a great multitasker. Besides, we’ve already laid the groundwork. A footing’s in place. The team can continue for now, and I’ll pop in where I’m needed.”
“But what about Michael? I thought he was doing the inside renovations.”
“The laundry room and reception area are his. Your office is mine.”
Claire knew Nick hadn’t meant for those final four words to sound sexy. But, for some strange reason, those four words coming out of his mouth sounded way too sexy for her peace of mind. ‘Your office is mine.’
If she closed her eyes and imagined, she could almost hear him say, You’re mine.
Complete rubbish.
She’d need to kick up the air conditioning in her office. The summer heat was obviously making her loopy. “But I thought you were the deck guy.”
“I have many talents.”
“I see. So you’ll need to be in here, like, all day?”
“Probably more like a week. I’m sorry to intrude on your space.”
“No, it’s okay,” said Claire, hoping she didn’t sound ungrateful. “It’s all part of the process, right?”
“Right.”
“Great.”
“Great.”
“Okay then.”
“Okay.”
The conversation had come to its natural end, but neither of them moved. Nick’s gaze remained on her face, but as the quiet swallowed them up, she started wondering things she really shouldn’t be wondering. Her imagination took flight as his gaze dropped to her lips and back up to her eyes.
What would it be like to kiss a man like Nick Zorn?
The butterflies in her stomach smashed against her ribs.
Stupid pests.
“I should get to work. I have to deep clean the cat kennels today.”
“That sounds, um, fun. Enjoy.”
“Thanks. It’s a blast.” I sound like an idiot.
“Well, I’ll get back to my mystery project.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Will I see you at the craft services table at lunchtime?”
“Maybe. See you later.”
“Sure thing.”
This time, their awkward conversation really did come to an end. He gave her a little wave and she shut the window. Claire lingered in her office for a few minutes, firing up her laptop and doing a cursory check of her emails. However, her attention kept straying toward the window.
Toward Nick.
Why couldn’t she stop looking at the man?
She had no business checking him out.
To her absolute horror, Nick glanced over his shoulder a few times and caught her staring. Again.
Frustrated with herself, Claire returned to her work and forced herself to focus. When her cell phone rang a few minutes later, it caused her to jump.
She didn’t recognize the number, but she answered anyway. “Hello?”
“Hi.” A woman greeted her. “Is that Claire Brewer?”
“Yes.”
“My name’s Alison. I found your business card on the community board at the coffee shop.”
“Great. Were you looking to adopt a cat?”