“What?”
“Don’t mention the boys.”
Before he could respond, the car door slammed shut. They both looked up, watching a slick-suited man walk toward them. Ryan hated suits, but he knew them. And the one this guy wore cost big. His hair, blond from this distance with the sun behind him, was gelled to perfection. Messy, styled perfection. His wide, gleaming smile made Ryan think of the time he’d been asked to do a toothpaste commercial.
Slick stopped in front of them and Ryan took an instinctual step closer to Frankie. “Hi there.“ His eyes darted between Ryan and Frankie, so fast someone else might have missed it. But someone else wasn’t used to slamming the shit out of a ball flying straight at them at ninety miles an hour, while knowing the exact second to swing.
“I’m Cameron Ross. I live at the beginning of the street. Meant to get over here sooner and say hello, but it’s been a busy week,” he said, a bit of a drawl lilting his words. He held out a hand to Frankie.
“Hi Cameron. I’m Frankie.”
Cameron held out the same hand for Ryan but his eyebrows drew together, his polished smile showing uncertainty. His grip was strong and sure, even if his palm was damp.
Aiming to be polite, Ryan didn’t wipe his hand on his jeans after the shake. “Ryan.”
“You look familiar,” Cameron said to Ryan, but let it go at that.
Cameron turned his gaze to Frankie, and Ryan noted the way his eyes wandered over her sweet curves. Ryan must have made some sort of sound because Frankie tried, poorly, to arch an eyebrow in amusement.
“You two enjoying the neighborhood so far? I’m sorry about Beth. One of you was related to her?” Cameron put his hands in his pants pockets, at ease like he was shooting the shit with old friends.
“Actually, she was my aunt. And thank you. You knew her?”
“We’re a friendly community. She was a lovely woman,” Cameron said, his eyes not leaving Frankie’s. Frankie gave an unladylike snort, which made Ryan chuckle. Cameron’s cheeks turned red.
“She had her moments,” Cameron restated.
Frankie nodded. “Yes. She did. She could be difficult, but she was special. She had a bigger heart than I realized. “ Ryan caught the hint of sadness, of loss, in her tone, and almost put an arm around her.
“I’m sure she’d be happy you’re both here. As you can see, she was one of our hold-outs on the gentrification project,” Cameron said, looking around.
Frankie stiffened beside Ryan.
“Uh, actually, Ryan lives next door,” Frankie said.
“Oh. That works out well. I was headed there next,” Cameron said with far too much enthusiasm. Ryan worried he was going to try to shake his hand again so he tucked them in the pockets of his jeans. “You really do look familiar, Ryan.”
His stomach cramped. “I get that a lot.”
“So, you’re just helping a neighbor out?” Cameron gestured to the gutters and the ladder.
“Not—”
Frankie smacked her shoulder into Ryan’s, cutting him off and making him take a step to the side.
“Yup. He is so sweet. Saw me up on the ladder and told me to get down,” Frankie said, smiling with her whole face. Ryan frowned at her. Sweet? Not bloody likely.
“How chivalrous,” Cameron said. His tone didn’t match his words.
“That’s me. Sweet and chivalrous,” Ryan said. He inched closer to Frankie, returning her wide smile with exaggerated glee.
Cameron pulled out a leather wallet and handed them each a white card with his name embossed in gold.
“Well, listen, I have to get going. I wanted to say hi and welcome you. I’m really pleased to have some new faces in the community. Frankie, if you need any help with contractors or suppliers to get you going on overhauling this place, you let me know. I have no doubt you want to get started on renovations soon. Ryan, maybe we can grab a beer sometime and I’ll figure out where I know you from.”
He slipped his wallet into his back pocket and Ryan smirked at the word mayor under Cameron’s name.
Frankie looked at Cameron then at Ryan. “Uh. Thank you?”
“Nice to meet you,” Cameron said, shaking both of their hands again. This time Ryan’s first and Frankie’s a tad too long. He moseyed back to his slick car and folded his slick-suit-wearing body into the driver’s seat. Turning the ignition, he flashed them another smile and waved. Frankie put her hand up, but kept it still.
“Mayor wants in your pants,” Ryan said, enjoying the sight of Frankie’s eyes going round as saucers.
“You’re insane.”
“Nope. I’m a man and we can sense these things. He wants in your pants so watch out.” Ryan didn’t want to think about how much the thought turned his stomach so he switched topics. “What the hell just happened there?” He looked back and forth between the house and Frankie.
She shuffled her feet a second and then picked up a rake that was lying on the grass.
“The boys recognized his car and they said he was the mayor. I guess he’s stopped at the shelter on the outside of town as well as the soup kitchen. They didn’t want him to see them here. I’m not sure which of us would have been in trouble,” she said, her eyes looking at him through long, thick lashes. Gorgeous lashes. God. Now he was noticing eyelashes?
“Why would you be in trouble? If he’s the mayor, he would know exactly what to do,” Ryan said, leaning on the ladder.
She stopped raking and narrowed her gaze at him. “Pretty sure you can’t call finders keepers on three kids, Ryan. So, I could be in trouble for that. Plus, if he wanted to, he could take the boys and then they’d get split up.”
He pushed off the ladder and tried to keep his voice even. “Frankie, you won’t get in trouble for trying to help. You’ve done the best you can. This is not your responsibility. Those boys need help. And you don’t know for sure what will happen. They could keep them together.”
Her brow furrowed and she began raking again in slow, short pulls. “I’m trying to help them. I just want to look into a few more things and see if I can make sure they get to stay together.”
Ryan shook his head and wrapped his hand around the rake, forcing her to stop.
“You cannot possibly want three boys living in your house,” he said.
“I don’t know what I want, Captain Grumpy. I just know I can’t throw them out on the street or let someone split them up when they’ve been through hell trying to stay together. I can’t send them off and just forget they were here. That they…”
“They what?”
She looked down. “That they make me feel like I have a purpose. Even if just a temporary one.”
Their hands touched where each of them held tight to the rake. He didn’t want to feel this spark, a connection. Leaves danced across the yard.
His heart clenched hard, making it difficult to speak. He tried to lighten the tone. “Captain Grumpy? What are you, twelve?”
“Just don’t say anything, okay? When Mister Mayor takes you out for your manly beer and tries to figure out how he knows you, don’t say a word about the boys. Please. And hey, why do you look so familiar?” She poked his chest with her free hand.
“Maybe I just have one of those faces,” he said, trapping her hand against his chest. The scent of fall, leaves, and cold earth swirled around them. Her eyes were darker than he’d thought, like they had layers of blue on blue.
“Ha. Yeah. I’ll say you have one of those faces,” she said, her tone was too wary to be complimentary.
Ignoring his better judgment, he moved his hand up on the rake and covered her small fist. Heat crept along his forearm, radiating all the way through him. He didn’t like it, yet he stepped closer.
“You like my face, Frankie?” He leaned down and heard her intake of breath. He didn’t know which one of them was worse at walking away from the temptation.
She flexed her fingers on the hand that was now flat against his chest. She ran her hand up, sparks following her fingers. His gut tightened with the awareness of how effortlessly sexy she was. He heard his heart, her breathing, as she went up on tiptoe. Her lips grazed his ear. A lesser man would have shivered at the sensation of that mouth against his skin. Ryan stood still, holding his breath.
“A lot more than your attitude,” she whispered, giving him a gentle shove and pulling her hand out from under his. She walked into the house, shutting the door loudly. Ryan stood, staring after her, his hand still wrapped around the wood.