ScandalandSin (8 page)

Alaina had met some arrogant men in her
life. She never would have believed Rye was one of them. He’d just proved her
wrong. Yes, the sex had been scorching. That didn’t mean she planned to drop
her panties every time he looked at her.

“This meeting is officially over. Have a
nice life, Rye.”

She made it three steps before Rye grabbed
her arm to stop her. “Where are you going?”

She jerked her arm away from him. “I’m not
going to spend the next several months with someone who glares at me and snaps
at me when I did nothing wrong. We had sex, Rye.
We
, as in you and me.
It happened. Neither of us planned it. But you’re treating me as if I’m Alesia
and I’m not. See?” She picked up a hank of her hair and waved it in his face.
“Red hair, not blonde. I didn’t plan what happened between us. I wasn’t trying
to use you. But you can’t seem to get that through your thick skull. Don’t
worry. You don’t have to worry about me attacking you again. I’ll find another
construction firm to work for me.”

“All right, all right! I’m sorry.”

“That’s the lousiest apology I’ve ever
heard.”

If possible, his scowl deepened. “What the
hell do you want from me?”

“I want you to treat me with the same
respect you’d treat any other customer. If you can’t do that, then give me that
list of construction firms you mentioned and I’m outta here.”

He looked away from her and blew out a deep
breath. She waited, unsure if he’d agree she should leave or admit he was
wrong.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, his tone more
convincing. She saw the sincerity in his eyes when he looked back at her. “I
mean that. You’re right. I should treat you the same way I treat all my
customers. You’re also right that it was both of us yesterday who got carried
away.”

“Thank you for admitting that.”

He stared at her for several moments. “You
look like Alesia, but you don’t look like Alesia.”

“We favor a little, but she took after our
father’s side of the family. I’m the image of my mother.”

A hint of a smile touched his lips. “Then
your mom must be a fox.”

Alaina chuckled. “I’ll tell her you said
that.” She quickly turned serious again. “I’m like my mom in every way, Rye…not
my sister or my father. I’ve never gotten off by hurting people.”

He looked at her for several moments, his
gaze moving over her hair, her face, her body. It lingered on her breasts
longer than anywhere else before returning to her face. “I won’t be rude to you
again, Alaina.”

“So we’ll start fresh.” She held out her
hand to him. “Hi. I’m Alaina May. I have a remodeling job for you.”

With humor twinkling in his eyes again, Rye
shook her hand. “I accept your job.”

She held back the gasp of pleasure at the
touch of his skin on hers. It wasn’t easy. Being close to Rye kept her hormones
in a constant frenzy.

Rye released her hand. “I’ll call my dad
and see if he can meet us.”

“Okay.”

He turned and walked back to his desk.
Alaina admired his broad shoulders in the brown T-shirt, his ass in the tight
jeans. Doing physical work for a living had given him an amazing body.

He’s off limits, Alaina. He’s made that
very clear.

Besides, she had her bed-and-breakfast to
occupy her life. She didn’t have time for a man, not even one as sexy as Rye.

She slipped back into her chair as Rye hung
up the receiver. “Dad will meet us there in twenty minutes. That gives us time
to stop at the donut shop for coffee and hot apple fritters.”

She smiled. “Perfect.”

* * * * *

Alaina had barely known Kenneth Coleman
when she was in school, but she did remember him as a kind man who served on
the volunteer fire department and the city council. She didn’t remember him as
being so handsome. Streaks of gray highlighted his dark brown hair. A neatly
trimmed Van Dyke reflected the same brown with gray streaks. He was trim and
fit, having a better body in his mid-fifties than a lot of men she knew in
their twenties or thirties. There was no doubt where his sons got their looks.

He greeted her with a warm smile after Rye
made the introductions. “It’s nice to meet you, Alaina.”

“You too, Mr. Coleman.”

“Kenneth, please. We’ll be working together
for a while, so there’s no reason to be formal.”

“Alaina has a lot of ideas of what she
wants to do, Dad. I told her I can do the work, but want to leave the designing
up to you.”

Kenneth lifted a leather portfolio holding
a white legal pad. “I’m ready. Let’s go through the house room by room, Alaina,
and you can tell me your ideas.”

It became obvious to Alaina within five
minutes that father and son had worked together many times as they bounced
ideas off each other. It was also obvious that they were very close. Jealousy
curled in her tummy. She’d never had a close relationship with her father.
Luckily her mother had always been there for her, even when she was hurting so
much from her husband’s infidelity. Alaina thanked God every day that her
mother had finally left her father and started a new life in a different city.
She adored her stepfather. He made her mom happy, and that made him very
special in Alaina’s eyes.

They spent over two hours going through
every room on the first two floors while Kenneth and Rye took notes and
measurements. There wasn’t anything Alaina suggested that the men said couldn’t
be done. They sometimes offered a different suggestion than her original idea,
which was always better than the way she’d imagined something.

Coleman Construction’s impeccable
reputation wasn’t an exaggeration.

“All that’s left is the attic and turret,”
Rye said to Alaina. “Do you want to look at it now?”

Alaina nodded. “I want to see it all.”

Rye led the way to a small door at the west
end of the second floor. It fell off the hinges when he pulled it open. He
leaned it against the wall. “I’m surprised more doors haven’t fallen off the
hinges when we’ve opened them.”

Alaina peeked through the opening to see a
set of narrow stairs. Only one person at a time would be able to climb them.
“I’ll let you go first and knock down the cobwebs.”

Rye’s mouth twisted to one side. “Gee
thanks.”

She followed Rye up the stairs, biting her
lip to keep from laughing when she heard Kenneth’s chuckle. Each step creaked
when Rye put his weight on it, but none broke. The temperature rose as they
climbed, until it was quite warm in the stairwell. She was no construction
expert, but knew it would be unbearably hot in the attic during the height of
summer.

Tiny dust particles danced in the sunlight
flowing through the east-facing turret. Alaina immediately fell in love with
the charming area. A dusty, faded cushion covered the window seat that circled
the three sides of the bay window. The tall glass looked as if it hadn’t been
washed in a century.

She turned and walked farther into the
attic. It ran the length and width of the house.

“This is amazing,” Alaina said, smiling at
the two men. “I love it.”

“I told Alaina she could make two or three
bedrooms up here,” Rye said to his father.

“That won’t be a problem.” Kenneth made
another note on his pad. “There’s plenty of room for three suites with private
bathrooms.”

“Will it be too hot for guests?”

“Not when I get through with it,” Rye said.
“Each floor will have its own central heating and cooling unit. The whole house
will be well insulated and have new windows and doors besides the new roof.
Basically, we’ll gut the house and start fresh. New wiring, new plumbing, the
works.”

“Can my room be here?”

“Is that what you want?”

She gazed at the turret, imagining the sun
waking her every morning. She’d like nothing better. She nodded. “Yes.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. Unless…” He
stopped.

“Unless what?” Alaina asked.

“I haven’t computed out the cost yet,
Alaina. You’re looking at a lot of money to do the job right.”

“The cost doesn’t matter.”

“Cost
always
matters.”

“Rye, I promise it doesn’t matter. I have
the financing. I won’t give you a blank check, but I want the house to sparkle
when you’re finished with it.”

“I’ll give you every break I can.”

“I appreciate that.”

He continued to look into her eyes. The
room suddenly seemed warmer and Alaina didn’t think it had anything to do with
the sun shining in the windows.

Rye cleared his throat and faced his
father. “Do you have everything you need, Dad?”

“For now. I’ll start a draft of the plans
and let y’all look at them for approval.” He looked at Alaina. “Do you have any
questions for me?”

“Not that I can think of now.”

“Rye will give you my cell phone number.
Call me if you think of anything.”

Alaina smiled at him. “Thank you, Kenneth.”

“See you later, Dad.”

Kenneth waved at them over his shoulder as
he started down the steep staircase. The large room now seemed smaller as well
as warmer with just her and Rye in it. She wasn’t sure what to say to him now
that they were alone.

“Do you have any questions for me?” he
asked.

Yes. Will you take me against the wall
again?

Alaina slipped her hands into the back
pockets of her jeans to keep from reaching out for Rye. “Do you need a deposit
from me before you start anything?”

“I usually get one, yeah.”

“Can I write a personal check to you or
would you rather I get a cashier’s check?”

“A personal check will be fine.” That
crooked smile she was starting to recognize touched his lips. “If Bella
Olinghouse accepted your check, I can too.” He slipped his pen above his ear.
“Are you ready to go?”

Alaina nodded. She turned and started for
the door. A cold blast of air flowed over her once she stepped close to the
turret. She shivered.

“Did you feel that?” she asked Rye.

“Feel what?”

“The cold air.”

“You couldn’t have felt any cold air. It
has to be at least eighty degrees in here.”

“Then explain this.” She lifted her arm,
which had goose bumps scattered across it.

Rye ran his fingertips over the pebbled
skin. “Strange. I didn’t feel any cold air, Alaina.”

“You don’t suppose this house is haunted,
do you?”

She’d asked the question in jest, yet a
part of her wondered if there could be something…otherworldly in the old house.
It held a lot of history for Rye’s family.

And hers.

“Lanville is a small town with a lot of
people who like to spread gossip,” Rye said. “There isn’t much that goes on
that doesn’t get back to me. I’ve never heard of anyone claiming to see or hear
ghosts in this house, not even as a joke.”

Alaina slowly looked around the large room.
She felt…something. She didn’t know what to call it, whether a presence or
simply a feeling of something—or some
one
—here with them. It didn’t
frighten her, but intrigued her.

“Maybe it’s just the excitement of knowing the
house will be mine soon. When will you start working on it?”

“Dax, Griff and I will pick up supplies
this weekend. We may be able to start as early as Monday.”

Alaina clasped her hands together beneath
her chin. This was really going to happen. Stevens House would be her new home
in a few months. She could hardly wait to tell Kelcey and Emma.

“Knowing how quickly my dad works, he’ll
have that draft for you to look at tomorrow. And you can get together with Dax
to talk about paint colors. It’ll be a while before we’ll do any painting, but
he can pick up some of those paint sample cards for you.”

“I already have dozens of them. I’ve been
checking out the building supplies warehouses for weeks. I’ve already picked
out most of the light fixtures and ceiling fans. Oh, and the crown molding.”

Rye chuckled. “You were determined to buy
this house, weren’t you?”

She nodded.

“Why this house? You told Bella it called
to you the first time you saw it. What’s so special about it?”

Alaina thought of the book she carried in
her purse…the book that explained so much about her family, yet left many
questions unanswered. She hoped to find all the answers in this house.

Until she found the answers, she wasn’t
ready to tell anyone about the book.

“My purse is in your truck. I can write
that check to you now before I leave Lanville.”

“Where are you going?”

“Back to Dallas. I want to tell my
housemates my good news. I’ll spend the night at home and be back tomorrow.”

She turned and headed for the staircase,
Rye close behind her. At her car, she removed her purse, dug through it for her
checkbook, then joined Rye at his pickup. She snagged the pen from behind his
ear. “Is five thousand okay?”