CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gage unlatched Pancake’s harness from the seatbelt in the backseat of his SUV.
The dog scrambled out and over to the dirt where she squatted.
She had a bladder the size of a peanut. He grabbed his laptop case and duffel from the back and stepped out of the garage and into a brisk wind.
Clouds gathered to the west. His weather app had shown rain heading toward Sisters.
He punched the button on the control panel and his garage door rumbled closed.
Being pulled into an unexpected trip to the Bay area had put the conversation with Melanie on hold. He could’ve called, but he wanted to talk with her face-to-face.
Dinh had called Tuesday evening.
The phone call? Dinh had located a woman who might be his aunt.
Someone who could possibly help him find his mother.
As a result, Dinh needed to move up a planned trip to Ho Chi Minh City, which meant Gage had to cover a scheduled training for a new client plus an on-site assessment for another. Both were in San Francisco.
That had given Gage the opportunity to stay with his mom and Stuart in Oakland. He’d crashed in their guest room last night, Pancake snoring beside him on the ridiculously cozy bed Judy had made: layered blankets stacked like a throne littered with about a half dozen toys.
Lying in bed, Gage texted Melanie to let her know he and Pancake were out of town. Nothing more than a simple courtesy. He was not checking in like they were in a relationship.
She’d replied with a thumbs-up.
That should’ve been the end of it, until she sent a picture of Addy and Olivia holding wooden pails stamped with the Cider Mill Farm logo. The buckets were full of apples, and also twigs, leaves, and acorns. He’d responded with a picture of Pancake eating pancakes because, again, his mom.
He’d spoken with Luke so he knew he’d been out to Melanie’s house to assess her security needs. Gage texted asking her about the meeting, and was relieved to learn she was leaning toward the system he thought would work best for her.
Melanie’d followed that up with pics of her and Addy assembling the desk. He grinned at the one of Mel using Gage’s screw gun, which she’d captioned “girl power.”
Then he got pissed because the kid who’d been harassing Addy had, as Melanie put it, “accidentally on purpose” spilled milk all over Addy’s clothes. The texts kept flying, drifting from topic to topic, until Melanie finally signed off with a sleeping emoji.
He’d been shocked to realize he’d spent nearly an hour texting with her.
Now he was back home and wanted to check in with them. Make sure they were okay. See the desk in person. Pretend he wasn’t falling for them both.
With the dog at his heels, he lugged his gear to his backdoor. Kid voices carried from the creek. Pancake froze, ears up, then went charging down the slope and through the trees. That was followed by excited shouts and Pancake barking her head off.
A glance toward the house had Gage stopping in his tracks.
Yeah, Melanie was there, leggy and gorgeous as usual.
It was the A-frame ladder she was carrying down the driveway that put him on alert.
He disarmed the alarm and stashed his bags inside the door, then moved down his own driveway to see what she was doing.
She set the ladder under the eaves at the front of her house. It was made of wood and had to be decades old. She moved it around to stabilize it. Even with the distance he could see the ladder was wobbly, but she put her foot on the first rung and climbed right up.
“Oh, fuck no.” He headed for the trail across the creek. Kids and dog were at the bridge.
“Hi, Gage. Pancake is causing mayhem.” Addy gave him her dimpled grin, Olivia at her elbow. “Olivia and me are making fairy boats, but Pancake sank Jordy’s.”
Pancake sat on the sandy bank of the shallow creek, paws muddy and showing no remorse. The girls both wore rainboots while Jordy’s sneakers were coated in mud.
Jordy looked up from where he knelt next to the grinning dog. “Pancake didn’t mean to sink my boat. She got excited.”
Olivia held up a mess of twigs and leaves. A plastic doll with a tiara sat on top. “This is the fairy princess. Her name is Keyara and this is her boat that will carry her to fairyland. We’re almost ready to sail it.”
Gage tried to keep the skepticism out of his voice. “Good luck with that.”
“Mine was a pirate ship, not a fairy boat. I’m making another one.” Jordy had a row of sticks about the same length and a long piece of twine he was using to lash them together. Expression serious, he said, “Girls are crazy about fairies. I don’t get it.”
“Well, you’re crazy about pirates,” Addy retorted.
“She got you there, pal.” Gage left the kids and climbed the embankment. He crossed to Melanie’s driveway and followed it to the front of her house.
Screwdriver in hand, Melanie stood near the top of the ancient ladder, leaning over way too far to do whatever she was doing to a sunshade attached to the facia board.
She would likely have been fine if the ladder had been made in the current century.
The high eaves made it even more of a stretch to reach the sunshade.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He realized his mistake instantly. She jerked in surprise and the rickety ladder wobbled, giving a loud creak.
The screwdriver clattered to the ground and Melanie grabbed for the roof edge.
The rung she was standing on gave way with a splintering of wood, and Melanie let out a shriek as the ladder toppled over, leaving her hanging.
He leapt over the ladder to wrap his arms around her legs from the front. She’d caught herself with one hand on the roof edge and the other entwined with the shade that looked brittle from sun exposure. “I got you.”
“I’m gonna fall. I’m gonna fall. Oh damn, I don’t want to break a leg.”
“You won’t fall. I got you. Let go, Melanie.”
She didn’t let go. “Dammit, Gage. Why’d you scare me like that? I’ll break a leg.” Her voice sounded strained. “Mom will have to move in to take care of me and that’ll only prove I made a mistake buying this house.”
“Jesus Christ, woman. We can talk it to death when you’re safe on the ground.” He angled his head back. Both her hands now gripped the edge of the roof. “I got you. Let go.”
“I’m heavy. You’ll drop me.”
“I won’t drop you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Let go, sweetheart.”
He could feel her take a deep breath, then release her hold. He took her weight and eased her down. His hands on her ass and her breasts in his face would have made his day in any other circumstance, but he was too relieved and too pissed to enjoy the moment.
Her arms circled his shoulders in a death grip. “Holy crap. Thank you, Gage. I didn’t want to die.”
He lowered her until her feet touched the ground.
“What were you doing up there?” he growled. “If you hadn’t climbed up there on a shit ladder, you wouldn’t have been in danger of breaking your leg.”
Her arms remained clamped around his shoulders. Her chest rose and fell as she gave a shuddering breath he felt against his skin as she’d burrowed her face into his neck.
“You can yell at me later, but give me a minute, will you?” Her words sounded muffled. God, she felt good. And safe. She couldn’t get hurt if she was in his arms.
That one snuck right under what was left of the shields guarding his heart. The anger drained away and he held her tighter, lowering his head next to hers and breathing her in. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m sorry,” he murmured. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“I scared the shit out of me too.” She gave a shuddering breath. “I’m okay now.”
“Yeah, you are.”
She tipped her head back and their gazes locked, her close call heavy between them. Something shifted and with it came a feeling like he was staring at his destiny.
Sanity seemed to have escaped him because he made no effort to stop himself from dipping his head and taking her mouth. Her lips parted, his tongue sought hers, and the kiss skipped slow and casual and rocketed straight into intense and hot.
Her taste, dark and seductive, contrasted with her scent, which reminded him of the freshness of first rain. Add in the feel of her body clamped against his, and the parts of him that had been closed down for too long roared to life.
The kiss felt inevitable and the assault on his senses made him ravenous for more. Her mouth moved with his like she was savoring the kiss as much as he was. A hard frozen knot deep inside his chest felt like it was warming for the first time in more years than he could count.
The thought flashed that he was well and truly fucked, and there was no going back. She went still and her breath hitched. He had a hell no moment because he didn’t want it to end, but then her tongue slid over his and she let out a purring groan that had his blood draining straight south.
Her hands fisted in his shirt and she pulled him closer. Cupping her face, he buried his fingers in the silky thickness of her hair. He tried to ignore the message his brain was sending: a giant neon light blinking mine surrounded by caution tape.
They broke apart and realization seemed to strike each of them at the same moment. She stared at him with a deer-in-the-headlights look. He lifted his hands carefully as if she was unstable dynamite. They each took a step back.
He needed to think, to put this moment in perspective, but the wind ruffling her hair distracted him.
He never thought short hair would do it for him, but god help him, he found it sexy as hell.
Tousled on top and falling over her forehead in choppy bangs, it somehow made her eyes look big enough to drown in.
And the bare slope of her neck? Next opportunity he had he was putting his mouth right there.
Now that they’d had a taste of what they’d be like together he didn’t think either of them would be able to resist going for more. Lots more.