Disgruntled Read online

  Reva had something bothering her that she was wrestling with internally. He had no desire to pry it out of her and certainly no interest in hearing about workplace gossip. Did that make him cold? As he watched the movement of her hips which still carried a spackling of dirt across the back pockets of her shorts, he knew the answer was no. There was nothing cold about the feelings he had around Reva. Just the opposite.

  She turned as she put a key in her door and waved before disappearing inside. In fact, he decided to make a mission out of getting that smile to reach her eyes. He didn’t want to know her drama but he certainly did want to get her past it. The following days flew by for Todd. He found a new line of loungers that would sell well on his website and worked through the contract language, then set a delivery schedule with the supplier. A few emails back and forth to another possible vendor and he had an idea to open another branch of stores. He still marveled at how well the business had done the past few years, literally growing from a small landscape business to a worldwide. He had done focusing the biggest part receiving, and marketing. It had all been done from a small warehouse he rented thirty minutes away. This year when he had finally expanded to more stores, he needed a space to use as a pseudo-headquarters. That didn’t seem likely at the warehouse. So, he moved everything another ten minutes from the house into a larger building that consisted of three conglomerate that shipped

  without an office for years, of efforts on the shipping, offices, a small kitchen, and a warehouse that equaled in size to the prior one. It frightened him that the business had grown so quickly.

  Still, it had not taken any serious toll on him financially or health-wise. The concerns had been for the new staff he added and the longevity of their success. With gained achievement came the realization that he had new responsibilities for the lives of his employees. Relationshipwise, it had been a relief to drown himself in work rather than consider how long it had been since he’d been out with a woman or simply “in” with a woman. When he had not been at work, his time centered on Eric—at least on the weekends that he was lucky enough to have the kid around. Since he’d met Reva, he found himself spending more time peering at the roof of her house over the fence. Sometimes he had simply sat in the backyard with a beer and considered what she was doing.

  Thursday night, he stood in the kitchen and noticed Reva’s light and wondered how she had managed her problem at work.

  “Hey.” He was tired but tried to be cheerful when she answered her cell. “How’s your week been so far?” “Fabulous.” Her voice sounded otherwise. “What’s up?” “I have something for you. Mind if I bring it by? I could drop it over the fence but I know how that bothers you.” “What is it?”

  He laughed. “Just wait and see. Be there in fifteen minutes.” Dusk settled over their quiet little streets as he stepped up to her door. He knocked, aware that she would look out the window and door to validate his presence before opening up. Reva didn’t disappoint. Not by looking through the door as he waved, and not by being exceptionally perky and sexy in her shorts and tank top. Her hair was swept back in a tie but much of it had fallen forward to frame her face. The look was refreshing in the fact that she’d taken no time to worry over it. He smiled when she opened the door. He reached for her hand. Reva drew back briefly, then let him take it.

  “Come on. It’s in the yard.” He nodded at the pile of rocks he’d brought over in his truck.

  “Rocks? You brought me rocks? Have you been talking with Ben?” She followed him.

  “No, it’s not a pile of rocks. Look,” he held up a clear hose, “it’s a waterfall for your backyard. I thought you might like it as an addition to all the other artwork. It’s from a supplier in Phoenix that wants our business. I asked him to send some samples a while back, and this is one of them. I’ve set up the others at our office warehouse so we can test them out. This was an extra. What do you think? I can install it for you if you like it.” He watched her survey the mass of rocks and plastic. Reva trod lightly around it with her hands in the back pockets of her shorts as if to evaluate what it would look like. Todd pulled a crumpled paper from his pocket, smoothed the edges, then held it out to her.

  “Here’s what you can expect it to look like when finished. It requires electricity and water so I thought you might want it by the back door. If you don’t think it’ll work for you, I can keep it. It just seemed a good fit with all the rest of the…” “Junk?”

  “No, I wasn’t going to say that.” He laughed. “Artwork was more the word I had in mind.” He peered at her with hands on hips. Admittedly, it would be hard to picture the end result without the paper he had handed to her. Since he’d already assembled two at the office, he knew the basic look and felt confident the end result would please her. “Uh, okay. I can help you with it. How long does it take to assemble? This isn’t going to be like my old dollhouse is it? My parents bought one of those build-it-yourself dollhouse kits when I was ten and we worked on it two or three nights a week for over a month. It sat on the counter in the den for ages unfinished because I lost interest. I basically grew out of dolls while it sat there. My dad finally admitted defeat and gave it to a little girl down the street.”

  “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “That if it can be done quickly and efficiently so I can use it right away, I’m all in. Otherwise…count me out.” “So, you’re not a very patient woman then?” he teased. She shook her head, sending the ponytail whisking back and forth. “Nope. Not for that kind of thing. I love building things but I love finished things more. I do technical projects for a living so I’m pretty good at them…and I like to get them done ontime. On the other hand, I do believe in doing things proper and sturdy. So, I guess you could say I’m patient to a point, but once it crosses the realm into tedious and boring, you lose me.”

  Todd held up his hands. “You might get a little dirty doing this but I doubt it will take us more than one day, maybe only an afternoon. Depending on how much you like hard work of course.”

  “Is that a challenge?”

  “Pretty much. What do you think?”

  The rumble of a car approaching caught her interest and she glanced down the street. Todd noticed that she moved a few steps toward the house and frowned. “Okay, come by on Saturday but not in the afternoon. I don’t want to be out working in the yard in the heat of the day. Be here at eight.” “Sounds good.”

  “You’re not going to leave this here in the front yard, are you?”

  Todd laughed. She sounded like his mother. “Of course not, but I wasn’t going to go traipsing around in your backyard without talking to you first. Not only would that be bad manners but, based on the scare you had when Bugsy made his escape, I was afraid I’d catch you topless or something. Then you’d probably call the cops on me.” His thoughts slid back to the strings left loose around her neck from her bikini and the way they’d tantalized him as if they’d fall at any moment. Maybe he should have gone to the backyard first anyway.

  “Yeah, probably. I’ll help you carry it back and we can stack it next to the door until Saturday.” Reva bent over and picked up the largest of the rocks. He noticed she tested the weight before lifting to prevent injury, which indicated she had done a fair bit of lifting before. He admired that she hadn’t been afraid of the work.

  “Are you trying to impress me?” he asked.

  “Impress you how?” She craned her neck up at him. “By going for the biggest rock just to show you’re not helpless.”

  “No, but if that impresses you, feel free to wonder at my incredible charm and beauty while you’re at it.”

  Todd stacked two rocks on top of each other and hoisted them in his arms. “I already noticed that part, Reva, but it’s good to know you’re strong as an ox too. That’ll come in handy next time I get in a gang fight and need Helga the Bone-crusher on my side. Been doing a little weightlifting along with the running?”

  He followed as she worked her way to the backyard with t
he rock. As much as she wanted him to think her an Amazon woman, she struggled under the weight. The thought to drop his and help was fleeting. She wouldn’t want the help. She pressed the rock against the wall of her house while she maneuvered her weight under it.

  “I stay in shape. You never know when you might be in a position where you have to kick some ass.” She pulled the rock back and crossed the remaining distance to her back door before dropping it to the ground. The thud punctuated her statement quite effectively.

  “Or protect yourself. Remind me not to piss you off,” he answered before adding his rocks to her pile of one. They carried the rest of the pieces back and when done, she offered him an iced tea.

  “You’re bleeding, Reva.” He noticed the drip trailing off the scratches on her arm. “You must have aggravated the tree scratches.”

  He moved toward her to get a look. Reva lifted her arm and peered at the flesh.

  “It’s nothing. I’ll wrap it up.” She swiped the blood with her finger.

  Todd wrapped his fingers around her forearm and lifted it. He leaned in to get a better view of the damage. Her pulse spiked but she didn’t pull away.

  “I shouldn’t have let you carry all this. I’m sorry,” he said. “What the …” A booming voice said from the gate. Reva’s brother Tim glanced over the fence posts, taking in Todd’s hand, Reva’s scratches, the words, and – the blood. “No way!” Tim bellowed as he slammed the gate open and barreled through with Ben on his heels.

  “You son of a bitch,” Ben added.

  Todd dropped Reva’s arm as the two pit-bulls charged him, their faces filled with anger.

  “It’s not like that guys!” Reva stepped between them to stop her brothers’ attack but they pushed her aside. “He was just helping me.”

  “I see that. Helping you get cut up and pushed around again.” Tim shoved Todd against the brick and levered a forearm against his throat, pinching off his breath. Todd had no way to defend himself against both men. Doing so would have escalated the issue further. He simply held up his hands and faced the palms toward them. He said nothing.

  “You think it’s okay to take advantage of women, smartass?” Ben’s voice was low and threatening behind Tim’s mass. He reached in and grabbed a handful of Todd’s hair. “Think again. She’s been through that already and there’s no way—” Reva screamed and lunged onto Tim’s back, tightening her arms around his neck and forcing him to release Todd. She pushed the fingers of one hand into his hair, pulling hard while she threaded the other hand over his eyes and blinded him. “He didn’t touch me guys! He. Didn’t. Touch. Me. It’s just a scratch.”

  “Sure. You’ve said that before,” Tim growled.

  With Tim occupied, Ben stepped in and took over by landing a solid punch to Todd’s face. Damn. Todd leaned down cupping a hand over his right eye, which very likely had started swelling. He couldn’t open it. He held out a hand to try to wield off the next movement, which ended up a good swift kick to the shin. He felt lucky – it had been aimed at the groin. His fast reaction readjusted the target. “Ouch! Jesus, this is not happening.” Todd groaned and fell to the ground to rub his shin.

  “Stop it!” Reva shouted. “Stop it! He’s done nothing. Nothing, you hear me? He helped me carry these rocks back here and I opened up the scabs on my scratch. A scratch which was inflicted while climbing a tree.”

  “Sure, sis,” Ben said. “I haven’t seen you climb a tree since you were eleven. That didn’t come from a damn tree and stop covering for him. His type doesn’t deserve it.” “I’m not covering for him, and if you so much as lay another hand on him, Ben, I will…I will send all this crap to the junkyard and tell your sweetie you haven’t sold a single piece. Do you hear me?”

  Todd had no clue what that meant but he assumed Ben had been passing off his artwork as more successful than hoped. Probably for his family’s benefit. Or his. Who knew? “And Tim, I’ll tell Mom about your trip to Dayton last spring. I’m sure she’d find that real interesting. Almost as interesting as the grandkid they don’t know about!” Oh my God. It’s the Kardashians – in a Latin sort of way. Ben released Todd and switched his snarl to Tim. “What grandkid?”

  “Oh shit,” Reva muttered and removed a hand from Tim’s head to clamp it over her mouth. Tim shrugged her off his back and gave her a snarl that Todd thought might actually wither a weaker person. Not Reva.

  “Yeah, oh shit. Thanks, sis. I appreciate you airing my dirty laundry. Any other bombshells you want to drop on us?” Ben recognized his evasion and persisted. “What grandkid, Tim?”

  “None of your damn business.” Tim stomped back to Todd, still nursing a battered shin. With a growl, Tim pulled him from the ground and twisted fingers into the neck of his shirt. When they were almost eye-to-eye he spoke. “Did you lay hands on my sister or not?”

  Todd looked through the healthy eye and shook his head. The movement sent a shot of pain across his right cheek and he quickly ended his denial.

  “Did you cause that scratch?”

  Todd looked at the smear of blood on Reva’s arm. If he hadn’t let her carry the rocks, the wound would have been fine. If his eyes had not been focused on her ass and legs as she flexed to lift the rocks, he’d be a little less bruised. Way to go, perve. He started to nod.

  She stepped in front of him, noticing his acquiescence before they did. “Of course not, you idiots. He was helping me carry this stuff to the backyard, like I said.” Reva waved at the fountain parts. “I scratched my arm in the process. Well, technically I scratched it a while back because I got it stuck in a tree trying to get a baseball. But carrying the rocks opened up the scratches again.”

  Ben stooped down to evaluate the equipment. “So, you’re putting in a fountain, Rev?”

  “Yes. Actually, Todd gave me the fountain earlier. It’s a demo from one of his suppliers and we were going to install it this weekend. Now, it looks like he’s going to need a couple days of recovery before we get started, thanks to you two.” Tim and Ben exchanged glances and backed away from Todd. Tim ran a hand down his shirt to smooth it and added, “Sorry about that man. No hard feelings?” “Reva?” Todd tried to focus her way. “You have any ice in there?” He motioned to her door as he pressed a hand to his eye. He understood Tim and Ben. He knew where they came from and likely might have done the same thing. Still, as much as he liked her and enjoyed her company, this seemed to punctuate his reservations about involvement with a woman that had been through so much. What the hell had convinced him to keep trying?

  “Sure. Come on.” She took his arm between her hands and led him inside. Ben and Tim followed. “So, now that you’ve done all the damage you can, mind telling me why you’re here?” She spoke over her shoulder at her brothers. “Uh, we just wanted to stop in and check on you,” Ben said. Reva eyed them suspiciously as she removed a baggie from the cabinet and filled it. She walked to her living room for a minute then returned and placed the ice against Todd’s cheek. He sighed at the coolness of the contact which drew the heat and pain away. Home sounded good at the moment. He wanted to lie down for a while, down a beer, and consider how he’d get out of building the fountain. “Is that one of your sculptures in the back of Tim’s truck?” Reva asked Ben.

  Tim coughed. Ben shuffled a shoe across in front of the other before he answered. “Um, yeah. I thought I’d swap it for the broken one.”

  “The broken one’s fixed,” Todd said.

  It was difficult to disguise his annoyance. Todd took the ice bag from Reva’s hand and lifted away from her counter. “I had better get home. You guys enjoy your night.” He waved and headed toward the door. Todd chastised himself for considering this night would end with his mouth against Reva’s. In truth, since the first time he’d seen her getting out of her car, that thought had been on his mind. Now, he realized touching Reva at all might be dangerous, stupid, and complicated. If this had happened just due to a scratch on her arm, imagine what might happen if he’d kissed her and she
hadn’t wanted him to. Part of him wanted to protect her as they were doing, but in all honesty, another part wanted more than just the role of body guard. Common sense told him all of that was idiotic to consider at all.

  Reva reached out and snagged his arm as he passed. “Wait.” She looked into his eyes and he imagined she recognized his thoughts. Reva tiptoed to him, brushed the icepack from his cheek, and planted her lips firmly against his. Todd darted a look at her brothers. She pressed into him, molding those delicious curves to him, and he felt the warmth of her skin. His eyes closed involuntarily. She threaded her fingers into his hair and a growing heat passed over him even with the icepack firmly in his hand. Though he wanted to, he didn’t dare move his fingers to clutch her skin. Todd feared it would startle her and she’d back off. He leaned into her. She trailed a couple more kisses across his cheek then whispered in his ear, “I’ll make this up to you. I promise.”

  You just did.

  Reva pulled back and smiled up at him before letting go. Todd stumbled to the door, tongue-tied. He had not only been punched in the face but her kiss had sucker-punched him as well. He reveled in the feeling of her warm lips on his, her fingers in his hair, and the brief touch of her breasts against his chest. The whole scenario spelled big trouble. Complicated. Idiotic. Trouble.

  8 CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Spill, kiddo,” Tim said after Todd was gone. “First you tell us he’s moving in, then he’s in your backyard with his hands on you and blood trailed down your arm. Next you’re giving him vertical CPR. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing. Yet. He lives behind me and we play softball together. That’s all.” Reva wondered if Todd still planned to install the fountain. She wouldn’t blame him if he had changed his mind. “Although, now he might press charges against us for assault, thanks to both of you.”