Crossing the Line Part One (A Novella) (3 page)

Victoria smiled politely when Nick entered
the office, carrying the rolled up blueprints and a tool bag. Her
heart thumped in her chest, like she was a teenager again. She
needed to get control. "Good morning, Nick."

His mouth twitched. "Having a bad day?"

"What gave me away?" Victoria remembered the
girls' fight earlier over a curling iron. She'd wanted a glass of
wine before she'd even left the house.

"The frown. And the crease on your
forehead." Nick grinned and pointed to his own forehead.

Damn if he didn't make her want to smile and
forget all about the stress from earlier. "Not that you'd really
care, but my girls fought over a freakin' curling iron this
morning. Which is crazy, because Helena isn't even interested in
the girly hair stuff. But Lucia called her a nerd the other night,
so now she's determined to prove her wrong…" Victoria trailed off,
aware she rambled like she talked to her sisters. Nick watched her
with a grin, brows raised.

"I don't have any sisters so it's hard for
me to relate. I can see how it would cause you to have a bad
morning, though." Nick set the tool bag down on the counter and
Victoria watched him move. He looked so comfortable in his own
skin, and that confidence turned her on.

"Yeah, it did." Victoria couldn't believe
she'd vented about her girls to him. She didn't want him to think
that she couldn't handle her own kids.

"I finished the blueprints yesterday. We can
go over them, I'll make notes on what you think should change. The
permits will be approved soon, and then I can get started."

"Great." Victoria looked around the space.
It definitely had potential.

Nick spread the blueprints out on the old
receptionist counter. Victoria moved next to him, focusing on how
much she hated the ugly counter and not how good he smelled. She
pursed her lips and concentrated on the plans. She pretty much knew
enough to get a vague idea since her dad was a contractor, but she
pretended to understand it even less, just to hear Nick's smooth
baritone. He explained the plans patiently, without even a hint of
superiority. When he looked at her, those ice blue eyes warmed her
entire body.

"Is there anything you'd like to change?" He
nodded toward the plans, breaking the moment.

She swallowed and focused her brain. "Would
it be a big deal to add a window in my private office? I love the
openness of it."

"No, it'll be easy. I can make the
adjustments. Do you need me to show them to you before I get the
permits?"

Victoria arched a brow. "My dad trusts you
enough to try and set us up, so I think I can trust you to get the
permits." Why, why did she bring that up again? It made her seem
desperate, like she fished for a date. The smile froze on her
face.

Nick's lips quirked up at the corner. "True
enough. I'll get the permit and call you so we can go over start
times, fees, all that." He pulled out his cell phone, then looked
at her. "I need your number to do it."

Her stomach flipped. Relax, she told
herself, it's purely professional. After she rattled off her
number, determined to act collected, she thanked him.

"No problem." Nick rolled the blueprints
back up and walked to the door. "See ya soon."

"Bye," she waved, watching him as he got
into his truck. Her heart rampaged in her chest. Roger hadn't even
made her feel this way. This…lost. She could still feel his body
heat next to her. She was in way over her head right now. She had
to keep it under control. This business was important to her, and
getting spacy over the man fixing her office was not a good
idea.

With one last look at the office space, she
grabbed her purse and left. The rest of the day she staged a house
for Carmen, a real estate agent she loved to work with. The Texan
woman was loud, sweet, and had a sharp mind for business. Carmen
welcomed all the questions Victoria asked when she started her own
business.

In this house, Victoria worked with an
earthy tone to match the walls that were painted by the previous
owners. She pulled small yellow pillows out of her duffel bag and
arranged them on the couch to brighten the room. The stone wall
surrounding the fireplace made an great accent to the room, and
Victoria knew this place would attract a lot of buyers.

Her cell went off, and she dug it out of the
back pocket of her oldest jeans. She saw Halle's name and answered.
"Hey, what’s up?"

Halle's breathless voice came over the line.
"I'm walking to the deli to get lunch. Had to get out of that
office. It gets nuts sometimes."

"I can imagine." Victoria leaned against the
back of the couch. Halle worked as a nurse and office manager for
her husband's private practice.

"So, Addie told me about your hot
contractor."

"She can't keep her mouth shut." Victoria
said. "His name is Nick, and Dad hired him."

"Go, Dad," Halle cheered. "It's about time
you moved on. You wasted too much time on someone who wasn't
worthy."

"I have moved on. And I'm not interested in
seeing anyone right now. I have to focus on the girls and the
business." She reminded herself again. Something she had to keep in
mind when Nick was near.

"Oh bull. You're afraid that it'll end up
like it did with Roger. Well, honey, I remember Nick's reputation
from high school, but no one can be as self-serving as your
ex-husband. It defies the laws of nature."

Victoria forgot that her sisters could see
right through her. It didn't mean she was going to give in though.
"Halle, I'm serious. I'm not ready." Victoria tapped her nails on
the side of the phone.

"Uh huh. I can hear you doing your nervous
nail tap thing." Halle sighed. "But, I understand. Anyway, I'm at
the deli. Call me later, okay?"

"Okay." Victoria hung up the phone. She
wasn't afraid, she was just nervous. He seemed so intense and
probably didn't want a ready-made family.

"Mom! Mom!"

Victoria heard her daughters calling her
after they slammed open the front door. Their feet pounded on the
hardwood and then they burst into the kitchen where Victoria stood
over the stove.

They ran straight up to her, jumping up and
down, squealing.

"What is it?" Victoria laughed at the
obvious joy on their faces.

"I made the cheerleading team!" Lucia said
first, not able to wait.

"And I made the math club!" Helena
beamed.

Victoria enveloped them in hugs, held on a
little longer than they wanted. She couldn't help it. Those little
embraces were few and far between now. What happened to the days
when they'd toddle up to her, fighting for a spot in her arms?
"That's fantastic! Both of you! We need a treat. I'm going to make
cookies for dessert."

The girls squealed again.

"Go take a shower and then do homework.
Dinner will be ready in a bit."

"Thanks, Mom! We have paperwork in our
folders. We'll get it for you." Helena gave her one last hug before
following her sister out of the kitchen.

The girls were a whirlwind she couldn't live
without and Helena's happier mood brightened her own.

Victoria reached up into the cabinet and
grabbed the ingredients for homemade chocolate chip cookies. Her
mouth watered at the thought. She hadn't taken the time to make
them in a while.

Her phone's text message whistle rang out.
She washed her hands of flour before checking it.

Nick: Hey, got the permit approval. By the
way, this is Nick.

Victoria stared at the screen for a minute.
Blinked against the rush of butterflies that hit her. God, she
really was acting like a teenage girl. Should she text back? Would
he see that as a sign that she was desperate? Or would it be rude
to ignore it, making him think she was a bitch? When did it become
this big of a deal to answer a freakin'
business
text?
Before she changed her mind, she answered.

Good. When do you want to start?

Nick:
What are we referring
to?

Maybe it was because she was at home and not
near him, or maybe because she was about to eat the best cookies in
the world, but she couldn't resist flirting with him. It was
harmless, right?

Contracting, of course. What else would be
discussing?

He didn't respond immediately like before.
Victoria's insides twisted. Did she say something wrong? Then her
phone whistled. She read his text and laughed, surprising
herself.

Nick: Our date to the new restaurant on the
boardwalk, naturally.

She couldn’t believe she found that funny.
The attention and flattery stimulated her after so many years of
disinterest from Roger.

Whoa, stop it
. She didn't want to
compare the two of them. It wasn't like she was considering being
in a relationship with Nick. She had to stop thinking of him that
way. The best thing to do now was end the conversation.
Ha. G2g, cooking for the girls. Meet at the office around
9?

Nick: Sure, see ya then.

Victoria rushed through making the cookies
and finishing dinner, eager to get to her desk and drown her
thoughts of Nick under book keeping. Once she and the girls ate,
discussing all the things they'd have to do for their new
extracurricular activities, she tucked them in bed, kissing them
good night.

Her laptop beckoned to her. She did the
bookkeeping once a month so that it never overwhelmed her. It might
be enjoyable now, but wait until there was six months to do. A
headache waiting to happen.

Temptation snatched at her and she opened
her Facebook profile. Nick may or may not have one, but she could
definitely find out. She searched for him, found him. In his
profile picture he wore a big smile and stood outside of a gym.
Nothing too risqué, or too stuffy. Just that gorgeous, lazy grin.
Before she knew it, she started clicking through all of his
pictures, which mainly consisted of family, work, and vacation
photos. Should she be worried that there weren't pictures of women
on there or grateful that he didn't focus on the past?

God knows that the minute the divorce was
final, she'd removed all photos related to Roger from her social
networking sites. She didn't want any reminders of him popping up
when she signed in.

When she saw the time, she frowned. "Oh my
God." She shut the laptop and groaned. She'd been looking at
pictures of Nick for an hour. An hour! She was officially a
Facebook stalker. Her face heated up, even though no one else knew
how she'd spent her time. She would be humiliated if he ever found
out. She'd meet him tomorrow, and be cool and collected. He'd never
know.

§§

"Hey, Nick. Whatcha drinking?" The waitress,
a blonde with a curvy body, asked.

Nick scratched his scruff, made a mental
note to shave in the morning. "Whatever's on draft is good, Ivy.
Bring two, Luke should be here in a minute." He glanced around,
waving at some of the guys he knew. He knew mostly everyone here,
the bar was older than he was. Although the name and ownership had
changed from time to time, most thing stayed the same in the small
town of Sanctuary Bay.

Luke walked up to the table at the end of
his sentence. "Hey, bro." He sat on the stool across from Nick.
"Thanks for meeting me. Work was insane today, and I needed a cold
beer to wind down."

Several conversations hummed throughout the
sports bar. A baseball game played on the several flat screen TVs
hanging on the walls, volume low. Glass cased sports paraphernalia
signed by famous athletes decorated the remainder of the sports
bar.

"How did the interview go?" Nick asked.

"Great. He's young, early twenties, but
fought on the pro circuit. Quit when his girl got knocked up,
wanted to be closer to home." Luke told him. "Has a hell of a
resume'."

"When does he start?" Nick glanced
around.

"Next week. I'm giving him time to get his
stuff moved in and for them to settle in. Told him that any time he
needed off for the baby, he's got it."

"That's generous." But Nick knew why.

"Yeah, well. Got to support a guy who takes
care of his wife and kid."

Ivy brought their drinks and winked at Nick.
"Haven't seen you in a while."

"Been busy. Working." Nick wondered why her
smile didn't affect him anymore. Usually he couldn't resist
flirting back, maybe ending up in bed. She noticed his inattention,
scowled, and walked off.

"You didn't have to piss off our
waitress."

"Shut up, Luke."

Luke grinned over his beer. "You have the
hots for Victoria. You've been blinded by those incredible genes. I
mean, each of the sisters are gorgeous."

"Just because you're in love with one of
them, doesn't mean I am. Or that I will be. She's hot, but she also
has twin daughters, and a recently ended marriage. That's baggage I
don't want to mess with."

"Don't be stupid. Some women are worth
it."

§§

"So when can you start?" Victoria gazed at
Nick over the edge of the coffee cup he'd brought her. To prove to
herself that she didn't care what he thought, she'd worn simple
yoga pants, a long yellow tee, and pulled her hair up in the
messiest bun possible. She wasn't dressing up for him. "I'm not
trying to be impatient. I just can't wait to see it finished,
working from home is a big convenience, but I want to have a
professional front for clients."

"Understandable." Nick stood about two feet
away and she swore she felt the heat from his body on her skin. "I
can start Monday. I drew up a budget for the materials and labor.
It'll be a small crew, about five men, working with me. After you
approve it, I'll get the materials ordered and gut the place on
Monday."

Victoria wanted to jump, like her daughters
did when they heard good news, but remembered she held a cup of
coffee. "That's awesome." She beamed at him. "How long do you think
it will take?"