10. Beau
Beau
Idon't want to let her go.
The realization hits me somewhere between the warmth of her body against mine and the soft exhale she lets out into my chest.
Nelly melts when she's exhausted.
Not completely. She still carries tension in her shoulders like she's bracing for impact, but the sharp edges dull when she's tired enough. And right now? Tucked against me on Nash's couch while rain taps against the windows? She feels softer than she usually lets herself be.
Now I understand why Levi keeps looking at her.
Hell, I understand why everyone does.
But then she shifts, like she's realizing how long we've been sitting there, and I force myself to loosen my grip before it gets weird.
Before I make it weird.
Because I always seem to do that.
"Either of you want another beer?" Levi asks from the kitchen.
"Sure," Nelly mumbles as she reaches her hand out.
I glance up in time to watch Levi stroll over, an already opened bottle dangling from his fingers, and hand it to her. His grin stretches wider the second our eyes meet, and the asshole actually wiggles his eyebrows at me.
I roll my eyes so hard it almost hurts.
Nash, meanwhile, moves on to his kitchen floor, scrubbing at the linoleum like a madman.
"You know your floors were clean when I walked in, right?" Levi asks him.
"You dropped a pepperoni."
Levi looks at me pointedly. "If you ask me, that's serial killer behavior."
"They sanitize for evidence. They don't clean," Nash mutters.
Nelly huffs out a laugh after taking a pull from her beer. Cool air rushes into the space she left against my body, and it's annoying, how much I notice.
I prefer her warmth.
I try not to think about that too much.
Her hair is a mess from the humidity, frizzy and shining, like a cloud around her head. Her cheeks are flushed from the beer and pizza.
"You need to get rest tonight if you're going to get back at it tomorrow," I say.
"I know, I know," she murmurs.
"Can I get you anything?" Levi asks.
Nelly snickers. "A second chance at this house. I was an idiot for not hiring an inspector."
"Hey," Levi says as he sinks into Nash's recliner next to the couch, "we all do dumb shit with our businesses."
"Oh, yeah?" Nelly asks as she looks over at him. "And what dumb shit did you do?"
Levi crooks that grin of his. "I booked my first client without having signed the lease on my building."
Nelly and I answer at the same time. "Wait, you did?"
Levi takes a glug of his beer. "Yep. Ended up doing the tattoo in my bathroom and started my business with a two-star review."
I look over at Nelly. "He's right, though. We've all done stupid stuff in our careers. Sure, not hiring the inspector wasn't a good idea. But you'll dig your way out of this like you always do, and then you won't do it again."
She scoffs. "You've got that right."
Nash comes back into the living room and plants himself on the other side of the couch.
"During my first police ride with my grandfather back when we were all in high school, I watched him pull a weapon on a man trying to rob the grocery store.
I was so stupid at the time, thinking I could do something, that I jumped out of the car and stood between my grandfather's gun and the man in the mask. "
Nelly gawks. "Wait, for real?"
Levi chuckles. "I remember that. Made the local newspaper and everything."
Nash just nods. "We all do things we shouldn't. But you'll flip this house and move on to the next. What you do to the abandoned homes in this town matters, Nelly. You rejuvenate things. The Grove needs that."
Silence falls when Nash is done talking. I look over at Nelly to find her staring at him with equal parts shock and awe.
"Huh," she says as she sips her beer, "guess you aren't such a terrible person, after all."
"Oh, can it," Nash grumbles.
Nelly's head falls back in laughter, and the sound wraps around my heart in a way I refuse to admit.
I'm in over my head with her.
I need to leave.
"Now, remember," I say as I stand and gather my things, "you can call me anytime. For anything. I'll pick up."
Nelly's expression softens. "Wait, you're leaving?"
I check my watch. "Rain doesn't stop my business. Just makes me work from home."
I'm shocked when she stands and throws her arms back around me. Levi lets out a teasing whistle and I shoot him a look over her shoulder.
It doesn't stop me from wrapping her up just as tight, though.
"Thanks again," she says softly.
And just like that, I'm done for. "No problem. And seriously, you can call me for anything. Doesn't have to be professional."
"I know."
Levi polishes off his beer and stands, stretching. "All right, Talcott. Walk me to the elevator so Sheriff Grumpy Pants can scrub his baseboards in peace."
"How is it a bad thing that an Alpha wants a clean home?" Nash grumbles.
Levi smiles. "We could get you a little maid's outfit and everything."
Nash flips him off, and that makes Nelly snicker as Levi and I head for the door. I peer back over my shoulder at Nelly, asking without a word whether she's okay here.
She gives me a nod and a thumbs-up, so I slip out into the hallway.
The apartment door barely closes before Levi elbows me in the ribs. "That was a long hug, Beau."
I sigh heavily as we move toward the elevator. "Don't start."
"Oh, I'm absolutely starting." The elevator dings open and we step inside. "You got heart eyes, man. Bad."
"I do not."
"You looked ready to build her a house yourself."
"I literally help manage her house projects."
"That's not what I mean, and you know it."
I rub at my forehead as the elevator starts moving. "We've been friends for years, Levi. All of us."
"Mhm."
"I've known her since before the flipping business."
"Yep."
"She trusts me."
Levi's grin grows. "That doesn't explain the heart eyes."
I glare at him, but it only makes him laugh.
The elevator doors slide open onto his floor, and he steps backward out into the hallway.
"You're in denial," he says.
"You're awful."
"I'm realistic."
"You keep telling yourself that, Levi."
The doors start sliding shut before Levi sticks his hand back through at the last second. "You smell her, right?"
My brows furrow. "Like, her scent?"
He nods, and I can tell there's something he's not asking. "Yeah. Like, you smell her, yes? How strong her scent is?"
I shrug. "It's just her scent. Nothing weird about it. Why?"
He tilts his head. "Nothing weird about it at all to you?"
"What? You think she stinks or something?"
He pulls his hand back. "Have a good evening, Talcott."
Odd. "You, too, Levi."
The doors finally close, and I lean back against the elevator wall. I draw in a deep breath and, sure enough, Nelly's scent clings to me like white on rice. By the time I make it to my apartment, lightning is cutting across the sky. Thunder rolls hard, booming closer than the last couple of days.
I pull my tie loose as I head into my bedroom.
It lands over the back of a chair while I unbutton the top of my dress shirt and move through my nightly routine on autopilot. Laptop bag on the counter. Wallet in the dish beside the keys. Work folder stacked neatly with the others waiting for tomorrow morning.
But my brain keeps drifting back downstairs to Nelly tucked against my chest. To the way she sighed when I held her. To how well she fit against the crook of my body. To the fact that some part of me wanted to hold her tighter.
I stare at my reflection in the bathroom mirror while brushing my teeth.
"This is a bad idea," I tell myself around toothpaste foam.
My reflection looks unconvinced.
Sleep eventually finds me sometime after midnight, but leaves just as quickly.
CLANG!
My eyes snap open to hammering echoing through the morning air. Another loud crack of wood jerks me fully awake, and I squint toward the window, where sunlight already filters weakly through the storm clouds outside.
CLANG BANG!
I already know who it is, too.
I wash up and get ready for my day, running through my morning routine. Coffee, shower, clothes. In that order, every single morning. I grab a honey bun from the pantry and stuff it into my shoulder bag, along with all my work folders.
And the second I emerge from the apartment complex, I see her.
Nelly.
Standing halfway up a ladder in front of that house during the only break in storms she'll see today.
The porch railing hangs crooked beside her while she braces a fresh board into place with one hand and swings a hammer with the other. She's got a pencil holding her hair up off her neck, and sweat already darkens the back of her tank top despite the early hour.
The rhythmic pound of the hammer carries across the courtyard and I check my watch.
Seven-thirteen in the morning.
"She's insane," I murmur.
And she's smiling.
Which makes me smile.
I scrub a hand down my face before following the sidewalk to the dilapidated driveway of the home. Already, I'm crunching numbers in my head, trying to figure out a way to get her the money to have the driveway repaved.
That would raise the value of the home.
Put more money in her pocket.
Nelly doesn't notice me at first. She stays focused on the porch, her tongue poking against the corner of her mouth while she lines up another nail.
BANG BANG BANG!
"Have you eaten?" I call out.
She startles so hard she nearly drops the hammer.
"Jesus Christ, Beau!"
I laugh despite myself as I step closer. "Good morning to you, too."
Her chest rises with a heavy breath while she presses one hand dramatically to it. "You're lucky I didn't fall off this ladder. What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?"
"You'd yell at gravity before you hit the ground, and you know it."
She bobs her head side to side. "That's fair. What's up?"
I stop beside the ladder and tip my head back to look at her. "You eat yet?"
She waves the hammer at me and goes back to work. "Coffee counts."
"No, it doesn't."
"It has calories."
"Nelly. Have you chewed something this morning?"
BANG BANG BANG!
The porch railing shifts into place beneath her hands.
"How long have you been awake?" I ask. "Twenty minutes?"
"An hour and a half, thank you very much. I knew the second the rain stopped."
I stare at her. "I'm sure you did."
She shrugs without looking down. "Couldn't sleep."
"Because normal people definitely start construction projects at dawn."
"The porch was sagging. I can't stand how it looks. I know this isn't a permanent fix, but it'll keep the rain from pelting against this opening until I can properly take a look at it."
"What do you think's going on with the porch?"
"Outside of it offending me?"
Another laugh slips out. God, she's ridiculous.
It's precious.
I move closer to the ladder, one hand resting against the side rail. "Come on. I can spare an hour. Let's go get breakfast before you pass out trying to rebuild this place by yourself. It's going to get wet, and we'll deal with it once the worst of it passes."
That gets her attention. She pauses mid-swing and glances down at me. Something flickers across her face when our eyes meet, and it's not a look I see on her often.
Worry.
She's worried about the house being so vulnerable to this storm.
Then she lets out a long sigh. "You're so bossy, you know that?"
I smile as I watch her climb down the ladder. "You say that like you're not worse."
She points the hammer at me. "You better be glad you're offering food. I'd take offense to that, otherwise."
"Come on, little Miss Dynamite. Let's go get some food into your system."
And when she slides the hammer into the tool belt slung around her waist, she slips her arm through mine. "Lead the way, Mr. Mathematics."
Her touch alone sends a jolt of electricity down my spine.
Maybe there's something to what Levi said last night.
I'd never tell him that, though.