Chapter Seven

 

IT HAD BEEN three weeks since Nat had served him lasagna for lunch. Three weeks of shared takeout meals in his truck on the way back from PT, but he’d received no more invitations to dine over at Casa Prescot. He had no one to blame but himself. Maybe if he hadn’t blurted out how fucking beautiful she was, she’d be comfortable having him over.

At least she was still letting him ferry her around, thank god, but who knew how much longer that would last? When her leg was reliable and steady again, she’d probably be getting her own car and then he’d be obsolete, damn it all to hell. Probably catch a wave from her to and from their cars at most.

Grandma Edna still visited occasionally, but short of forcing his company on Nat, what was he supposed to do?

“How about inviting her over here? Randi can have an overnighter with sweet little Belle. And don’t you worry, Nat will eventually open up to that little cherub. Who could resist?”

The pat on his cheek before the room warmed again told him Grandma Edna had flitted through just long enough to deliver her message. And it was a pretty good message, too. Somewhere between lasagna and when he’d woken this morning, he’d decided the attraction he felt for Natalie wasn’t going away, and was in fact growing in strength and desire. That the kernel of affection in his heart was growing into something he as-yet refused to label.

If he really thought she didn’t want him around, he would try valiantly to ignore it, except her actions convinced him she was just as attracted. That she also held some affection for him, and it was growing the more time they spent together. During the past week, he’d flipped from distrusting every woman on the planet and wanting to stay single, to wanting Natalie with every breath he took.

There may actually be something to the magic purported to swirl around Beacon Bay. He’d gone to the library over the past weekend and checked out a couple of history books written specifically about the magic and ghostly happenings.

The first folks who’d inhabited the area were Siuslaw First Nations, and they welcomed others to the area as they arrived, until it was a mix of different races and nationalities. Fascinated by the book, it had amazed him to learn about who all had arrived to make their homes here—mages, or magi, from Persia, druids from Ireland, fairy-folk from Scotland, Bruja from Spain, mediums, warlocks, witches, and wizards. The list had been endless and surprised the hell out of him.

Beacon Bay must truly have been a psychic beacon to magical folks, for such an eclectic mix to trek here, each and every person welcomed by the First Nations elders and healers. No wonder Grandma Edna was hanging around and sticking her ghostly, loving nose into their business. She somehow knew her granddaughter had been on a downward slide into deep depression, and also knew he had given up on women. The older woman still had work to do in Beacon Bay.

He’d spilled his guts to her one day, when Belle had been asking why other kids at school had moms who volunteered and loved them, and she didn’t. Knowing she was too young to understand drug addiction and empty, evil souls, he’d hedged and said some people were missing love in their hearts, and that there were men and women who’d fathered and mothered children, but then were no longer in their lives.

Belle remembered how scared of her mother she’d been, so at least he didn’t have to worry she’d go off with her willingly. He realized now, his stubbornness and distrust of all women because of one women’s perfidy and betrayal, and evil intentions, was ridiculous and robbing both him and Belle of the possibility of welcoming a loving woman into their lives. Especially with the realization Natalie may just be the woman for them.

Not to mention his little munchkin had been bugging him all week to meet Nat again, insistent that the sad expression she sometimes wore would go away if Nat just had bright Christmas lights and decorations at her house. And a little girl to read and talk to.

So far, he’d been successful in diverting her attention, but he knew his daughter was just biding her time, until she either wore him down, or somehow wheedled her way into actually talking to Nat, and wearing her down. He didn’t think Nat was quite ready, and didn’t want to alienate her before he even got out of the gate and started formally wooing her, even if she didn’t realize it.

Thank goodness Belle hadn’t out and out misbehaved and gone against his rules, but his little munchkin sure knew how to twist and turn them sometimes until you couldn’t decide if you’d somehow agreed, or the rules didn’t actually apply to what she was doing.

She’d make a brilliant attorney if she leaned that way as an adult. Until then, he just had to keep an eagle eye on her. Speaking of keeping an eye on her, he rose and strode from his office to ensure she was still in her room, where he’d settled her with coloring and puzzle books, and had turned on one of her favorite shows.

Then he would finish up and publish the blog he was writing, call Randi to see if she could keep Belle overnight on Saturday, and then try to convince Nat to come over for dinner. No, maybe he would invite both Nat and Cal, break the ice that way, then convince Cal to head home early.

If he wasn’t mistaken, from the conversations he’d had with his buddy the past couple of weeks, he was fully on board with him pursuing Nat. Hopefully, with a ghostly grandmother and her cousin on his side, Natalie would eventually give in to their attraction, and he could add Belle into the mix. When she was ready. No way would he blindside her.

 

❄ ❄ ❄

 

BELLE KNEW she should color and watch Dora the Explorer while Daddy worked, but she couldn’t stop thinking of the sad lady—Nat-alie—next door. She just knew that if the lady had colorful things to look at, like Christmas lights, she would be happier. Gram Edna used to tell her stories about Nat-alie, and Belle would wish she was her mommy. She still wished it, even though she was a meanyhead the other day.

Gram Edna had visited her just the other day. It had scared her enough to almost pee her pants at first, before she remembered hearing kids at school talk about friendly ghosts visiting them sometimes to help them out, or to say goodbye if they didn’t have a chance before they died.

Two of the teachers were talking in the hallway, just outside her classroom door, about how Beacon Bay was a magical place and had ghosts visiting all the time. That it started a long time ago.

Gram Edna said something about Nat-alie having had a little boy, but he had died years ago and that was why she was sad—and why she was growly. Grammy said she thought Belle was just the thing her sweet granddaughter needed.

If that was right, then maybe she could run next door real quick like and plug in the Christmas lights, and Nat-alie would see that Belle wanted her to be happy. Daddy would understand after he saw how pretty they were, she was sure. After all, wasn’t he always doing things to help the old people on their block? Although the lady next door wasn’t old. She was pretty though, even when she was a mean grumpy-pants. But she hadn’t been mean or grumpy since that first time, although Belle had only seen her through the window and not for real in person again.

After a quick trip to her room to tuck Mr. King into bed, she was tiptoeing out the back door, careful to close it quietly. She’d decided that through the small hole in the hedge between her backyard and Nat-alie’s backyard was the best way to go, cause she wouldn’t be breaking any promises not to leave the backyard.

Daddy didn’t say don’t leave their backyard when he gave that rule, just not to leave the backyard. If the hedge wasn’t there, then there would be just one big backyard!

Belle was very proud of herself for figuring out a way to help decorate the house next door and obey Daddy’s rules, too. She skipped across the grass, got to her knees at the small hole in the hedge, and wiggled and wormed her way into the lady’s backyard, careful not to snag her t-shirt.

When she crawled out the other side, the old house towered above her. She missed visiting Gram Edna when she lived there. Belle had loved it when she would bake cookies and bring them over for her and daddy, or invite them over for a cookie party. She wished Nat-alie wanted a little girl to come over for cookies. And maybe a hug or two. Annnd, maybe read her a book, too.

She looked over her shoulder and wondered if her daddy was looking for her. Better be quick, before he found out she wasn’t where he’d put her. She ran fast to the back of the house and stopped, the plug at the end of the Christmas lights laying at eye level on the porch just waiting for her.

 

❄ ❄ ❄

 

 

NATALIE HAD just finished yoga in the living room, having struggled through the entire session fantasizing about her handsome neighbor instead of regulating her breathing and concentrating on her poses.

She’d finished earlier in the day editing the second Dixie Dupret book and whew! That woman knew her sex scenes. Nat had spent so many years with her sexuality shut down, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with her newfound libido.

She still had bouts of depression, still woke in a funk almost every morning, but found that as the day progressed, she could lose herself in the books she was working on, and more often than she wanted to admit, in thoughts of what Zach would look like sans clothes doing to her what was described between the pages.

He continued to ferry her to PT twice a week, although Cal said her leg was stable enough for her to drive again. She knew exactly why she was putting off purchasing a car. She’d lose her built in reason to see Zach, and would have to decide whether they could, or should, remain friends, taking meals together and becoming closer with every week, every day—every minute that ticked by.

It just wasn’t fair to him, or to her, to keep up this charade, though. The one where he hoped she would want to be around Belle, and where she thought she still had a heart to offer that amazing man and his little girl.

She stifled a sob at the thought of not seeing him anymore, and of not holding a little chubby body in her arms, getting sticky hands caught in her hair, and slobbery kisses on her cheek. Oh man, what had she done? So what if she’d been sad, been unhappy all the time? Now she’d gotten a peek into what life could be like with Zach, with his little girl, and wanted it—but just couldn’t risk it.

Couldn’t go down that path again. Not that she thought he would ever turn out to be the evil bastard her ex had been. She didn’t think Zach had it in him to even be mean without just cause. But her heart apparently didn’t trust her brain, and the fear still had tight hold of her emotions.

God, she was such a fool! Fooling herself into thinking she could keep her feelings for the man superficial and ignore the fact he had such a sweet, motherless daughter. She needed her damned head examined.

What she needed to do was immerse herself in jasmine-scented water and soak her sore muscles. She’d overdone it today, between cleaning the house and too much yoga. The activity had kicked her ass, with her lower back in spasms and her leg aching to beat the band. The muscles on each side of her spine screamed for relief and a hot bath was just the ticket.

She needed to get her head on straight, and also needed to buy a car and let Zach know she wouldn’t be needing a ride anymore, as painful as the thought of not seeing him, talking to him, sharing intimate meals with him was.

Grabbing her silk kimono, she carefully climbed the stairs to the bathroom on the second floor, that depressive funk threatening to overwhelm her again. The claw-foot tub in that room was cavernous and oh so comfortable. The once-a-day climb, just to sink into that sea of hot water, was worth it for the benefits to her damaged muscles and ligaments.

After entering and closing the door, she hung her robe on a hook on the wall, affixed her inflatable pillow to the slope of the tub, then adjusted the water to just-this-side of hot as Hades, adding a few drops of jasmine and eucalyptus oil. She needed to buy some lavender to help her relax. A groan escaped as she slid into the amazing heat, her back muscles singing hallelujah as she immersed herself.

A sigh slipped out as she lay back on the waterproof pillow and picked up her favorite paranormal romance book, unearthed from one of the many boxes she’d unpacked, determined to lose herself in the story and stop thinking of Zach, Belle, and her empty arms.

The soothing heat of the water was seductive, and Natalie’s back was finally loose, her bones rubbery as a Halloween chicken. She set her book on the floor and sank fully into the water with a frown, the thought of how badly she’d treated Zach’s little girl popping to the front of her mind again. He’d reassured her Belle was fine, with no ill effects of Nat snapping at her, but still.

Goodbye relaxation, hello guilt. She would be sure to speak kindly next time she saw her, if she saw her again, and not act like Scrooge McMeany.

Her eyes drifted closed as the warmth seduced her, coupled with her exhaustion from sleepless nights, and worry. Her last thought before sleep claimed her was how handsome and beguiling her new neighbor was, and how she wished she could be emotionally together enough to pursue the man.

Natalie’s eyes popped open at the sound of her grandma’s panicked voice. “Wake up, sweetie! Get out of the house! Now!” The rhythmic thumping and confusion over why she was sleeping in water made her muddle-headed.

“Grandma?”

She suddenly remembered her grandma was dead and gone as she looked around frantically, wondering at the strange noise. It amazed her she’d slept long enough for her candles to gut, leaving the acrid smell of smoke behind.

Water sloshed over the side of the tub when clarity roared to the front. She hadn’t lit any candles! She looked around frantically and climbed stiffly from the tub, slipping on the book she’d set on the floor, her leg crumpling as it twisted. Shit, all she needed was a setback and to re-injure her leg!

The smell of smoke intensified, and she scrambled to her feet, realizing her damaged leg barely held her weight now, and snatched the silk robe from the hook.

“Oh my God, is the house on fire?”

Great, escaping with one good leg won’t be easy. She jerked on the robe and lay a hand flat against the door. Not hot.

A yank had it opening, and she reeled back when a noxious cloud of smoke wafted around her head and snaked into the bathroom. She slammed the door and watched in horror as wisps of smoke slipped under it into the bathroom.

“Out the window, Nat, now!”

Heeding her grandma’s instructions, she swiveled on her one sturdy leg and dunked a towel in the tub until it was soaked, then dragged it out and pressed it firmly across the bottom of the door.

Her eyes widened when she twisted toward the window, chest high and narrow. How will I get out of that? Good thing she’d lost weight the past few months, although she had put some back on, along with muscle.

The window creaked as she pushed it open and stuck her head out, relieved to see one of the fat branches from the old oak tree almost touching the side of the house. As she looked down, she wondered if she’d be able to climb out onto the tree without breaking her neck.

The thumping stopped the minute she slid the window open. A little shrieking voice had her glancing toward the back porch where a tear-streaked gamin face peered up at her. She was much too close to the flames licking at the porch and holy shit, what used to be her back door!

“You gots to get out of there, Nat-alie!”

“Get away from the house!” she shouted in panic. “Go home! Get your dad!”

Nat felt faint with relief to see the little girl scurry across the lawn and dart into a crevice in the hedge separating the houses. She could hear her screaming on the other side of the greenery as she climbed gingerly out the window and reached for the heavy limb.

“Daddy! Daaaddyyyy!”

 

❄ ❄ ❄

 

ZACH HEARD his daughter screaming for him, at the same time a ghostly voice shouted at him.

“Save Nat; Zach you must save Nat!”

He’d just gotten to his feet, and was on his way out of his office to check on Belle. It sounded like her voice came from the backyard, for god’s sake. Why wasn’t she safe and sound, watching TV in the playroom just off her bedroom where he’d left her?

“Belle!” He ran down the hall and flung open the door to an empty room. A quick look in her bedroom garnered the same results. “Belle!” he thundered. “Where are you?”

His heart in his throat, he tore downstairs and through the kitchen, yanking open the door to the yard, only to rock back as she flew into his arms.

“Quick, Daddy! Nat-alie. Her house is on fire. She’s in the window!”

The adrenaline surge and subsequent relief had him grab the doorframe for support when he realized nothing had happened to his daughter. He clutched her to his chest, then propped her on his hip and jogged down the stairs toward the gate. He had a bad feeling his little girl hadn’t stuck to his rules.

He popped open the gate at the side of the house, his heart about stopping when he saw smoke billowing from the back of Nat’s home. Noooo! He couldn’t lose her right after he’d realized how much she meant to him!

“You gots to hurry, Daddy! Come on. She’s in the window and I don’t think she can get out!”

He ran down the steps and jogged between the houses to the front yard. The smoke was thickening, and his heart raced, wondering how much of the flames had engulfed the old place. It must be tinderbox dry. He couldn’t leave Belle out front, but didn’t want to take her near the fire.

“No, Daddy. You hafta go in the back. That’s where it’s burning and where the lady is!”

Zach groaned as he realized his daughter had gone over to Nat’s house against his orders. He was going to have a heart-to-heart with his little girl about following rules after this.

He flicked the catch on the gate to Natalie’s backyard and ran in, lecturing as they went. “You stay at the very back of the yard, do you hear me? Don’t. Move.”

“I won’t, Daddy, I pwomise. Just hurry! Look up, she’s in the window!”

He ran to the fence at the back of the yard and set Belle down before turning and racing back to the house, horrified to see flames engulfing the entire porch and corner of the kitchen. The sirens he heard screaming in the distance better be headed here. He looked up at the window Belle had pointed to, only to find it empty. “Natalie!” he yelled.

“Here! I’m here, Zach!”

Coughing punctuated her cry as smoke changed direction and billowed around the old tree he saw her perched in.His heart skipped a beat to see her clutching the trunk of the big oak, stuck on a wide limb just six and a half feet from the ground, and about the same distance from the house, too far up to jump without hurting herself. He spied a wicked scar running the length of her shin and figured that was the reason she was having trouble getting out of the tree. She was low enough, though, that he’d be able to reach her hips and lift her down.
“Hold tight. I’ve got you!”

His eyes and lungs burned as he raced through the smoke and skidded to a stop under where she sat, relieved when the wind changed direction and whipped it back toward the house. He wrapped his hands around her hips, trying for careful when all he wanted to do was snatch her down and run like hell.

Their eyes met as she clutched the silky robe closed across her breasts with one hand, panic and pain washing across her pretty face.

“Hang on tight and bring your other leg to this side.”

She followed his directions carefully, wobbling a little on the branch. He tightened his hold on her hips and was grateful she trusted him enough to grab his forearm with her free hand and lean down, depending on him to carry her to safety.

He lifted her from the tree branch and lowered her to the ground, wrapping an arm around her waist as she again clutched her robe closed. Relief washed through him when the wail of a siren and screech of brakes cut off abruptly in front of the house.

Her leg crumpled at her first step and he swept her into his arms, her gasp drowned out by the shouts of the firefighters. He jogged back to where his daughter was standing with her head down, tears dribbling down her cheeks. He lowered to sit on the cold ground, settling Natalie on his lap, one arm wrapped tight around Nat and the other around Belle, tugging her close.

His little girl burst into sobs and buried her face in his side, whether hiding from Natalie or just realizing now how much trouble she was going to be in for leaving the house.

“Hey, pumpkin. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Okay, dad-daddy.”

That look on his munchkin’s face didn’t bode well. It was the same guilty look she got when she broke something or disobeyed. He’d get to the bottom of that later. He’d noticed Nat’s grimace when he’d sat down and asked, “Where are you hurt besides your leg?”

“I twisted my leg when I got out of the tub and fell, then hurt my head when I smacked it on the tree trunk climbing out the window. Other than that, I’m okay.”

He looked at the abraded lump on her temple and cursed silently. Her teeth started chattering, and he wished he had a thick blanket to wrap her in to counter the shock of escaping her burning home, and the December chill of coastal weather.

 

❄ ❄ ❄

 

NATALIE FELT her nipples bead from the chill breeze and wished she had on her plush, warm robe instead of this barely there silky number. She wiggled to get comfortable in his lap and surprise lit her up inside to realize that, although her house was in flames, attraction for this big man had tingles zipping through her nerves.

Oh, she knew the attraction had been building over the past several weeks—if she was honest with herself—the seed had first taken root back when they’d met a couple of years ago. Wasn’t that why she’d stopped inviting him over for meals? What on earth was the matter with her?

Her beloved grandma’s house was burning in front of her eyes, her leg hurt like heck, her forehead throbbed from smacking it on the tree trunk, and she was half-naked on Zach’s lap. What the heck was she doing? Thinking carnal thoughts about the darned man.

She’d felt nothing for years, since well before she’d lost Matty—when her ex-husband had first started his campaign of terror and abuse—not happiness, not desire, not much of anything at all. Why now? With this man? She just couldn’t seem to ignore how muscular and much too sexy for her own good he was. How gentle, compassionate, and caring. She’d noticed it back when Calum had been in the hospital, but had been a basket-case then and not in any frame of mind to do anything about it.

Apparently, now that she was back in Beacon Bay and in close proximity to the darned man, her heart was finally thawing. She wasn’t sure she approved. Wasn’t it better to just let it stay frozen? Then there’d be no chance of being disappointed or having it broken again.

With her head tucked under his chin and sitting sideways on those muscled quads, she got an eyeful of his to-die-for body. A black tee shirt hugged the corded strength of his broad chest and shoulders. His biceps bulged like melons, especially with her added weight. His thighs were like thick tree limbs, rock hard and ripped.

Her eyes slid closed, and she reminded herself there were more important things to think about than what his body did to her libido. Like were her keepsakes—her only mementoes and reminders of Matty and her grandma—turning into a pile of ash along with the house she grew up in?

It was too much to take in, and no doubt she was using her attraction to the darned man to escape the fear and loss happening to her home and belongings.

She tucked her head deeper into the warmth of his neck, his male-musk and strength a double-edged sword. Her pounding heart tripped to a different beat as she breathed him in, its cadence finally slowing from fear to the steady beat of his own heart.

His now escalating heartbeat, she realized, ratcheting even faster when she wiggled again to get even closer to the delicious heat of his body. He apparently wasn’t unaffected by her in his lap after all, unless the fear of his daughter being out of the house, and saving her from the fire, had him ramped up. Adrenaline overload. That was probably it. Happened to men on the battlefield all the time.

She told herself sternly there was no way she was going to act on this unwanted attraction, even if he reciprocated. Not only was she still trying to get her head on straight from her surgeries and losing her grandma, and still depressed by the loss of her little guy, she was busy with her business—and not interested in the opposite sex.

Besides, she couldn’t be around his little girl for any length of time. It was just too painful. It seemed like only yesterday she’d lost Matty and sadness still consumed her. She carefully blanked her brain and concentrated on letting the heat from his body chase away the chill.

“Daddy? Is the lady going to be okay?” she heard Belle whisper.

“Yes, pumpkin. She’s going to be fine.”

“But her house, Daddy.”

Zach motioned the paramedics over as they ran through the gate into the backyard. “Hey, over here!”

The two-woman team jogged across the yard and squatted, one laying out their equipment while the other got busy with Natalie.

“Let’s look at your eyes and that bump on your head,” she murmured. As she shone a penlight in each eye and checked Natalie’s pupils, she asked, “How long did you breathe smoke?”

“Not long. The wind only blew in my direction for a few seconds before reversing again, right before Zach pulled me out of the tree.”

“Good, that’s good. Eyes look fine,” the med tech murmured, apparently satisfied smoke inhalation would not be an immediate problem. “Let’s get this nasal cannula on you and some oxygen going just in case until the doc can check you out at the hospital.”

“Oh, I don’t need to go to the hospital. I’m good,” Natalie countered through chattering teeth.

The paramedic was having none of that and pinned her with a glare as she tucked the tubing behind her ears and notched it in her nose. “Be smart. If not for yourself, then for your husband and daughter. Smoke inhalation is nothing to mess with, nor is a head injury.”

Natalie stiffened at the paramedic’s words. There was a small corner of her heart that wondered what it would be like to be Zach’s wife and Belle’s mama.

“I know, you’re right, I just hate hospitals. I’ve spent way too much time there.”

She glanced up when Zach dipped his head down and realized she hadn’t masked the distress or emotional pain well enough. She let her eyes drift shut—too upset, too exhausted and in too darned much pain—to decipher the emotions she’d seen swirl in his.

He leaned over until his lips brushed her ear. “A trip to the emergency room is a good idea, Nat.”

“I don’t need to go, honestly.” She kept her eyes closed. No way did she want to see the compassion in his eyes or his pretty little girl any longer than necessary. And no way did she want to step foot in a hospital again. The smells and bright lights brought back memories best left buried.

“Don’t be stubborn,” he growled. “Smoke inhalation and concussions aren’t something to ignore. You need to have a doctor sign off.”

Her eyes opened and met his. “I appreciate your help, really, but I’m not going to the hospital. The paramedics can finish checking me out here.”

She attempted to get off his lap when the paramedic stood and he tugged her right back down, garnering a huff from her at his highhandedness. His big, callused hand on her cheek as he tugged her around to look at him had her stilling.

“Do I need to call Cal?”

Well, darn him for knowing just what to say to get her to agree with him, and the paramedic.

“Fine, I’ll go, but you don’t need to go with me. And do not call Calum.”