Not Nathan though. He had brute strength that didn’t worry her in the least. She might even suggest they do it against the wall tonight. No, that might be a bit much. It was already close to eight and she wanted ice cream.

  “Are you around the right one now?”

  “Maybe,” she said, grinning at him. “I don’t suppose you’ve got anything good to drink here to go with this pizza.”

  “Sorry. I’m not a good host, am I?” He got up and walked to the garage and then came back with two beers.

  “You’re a great host. I got what I really came for.”

  “Is that all it is?” He looked at her strangely.

  “No. Not like you think. I had a frustrating week at work. Today was a long day on top of it. I just wanted to get my hands on you but didn’t expect this. Then we started to kiss, and well, there was no stopping it.”

  “I’m glad. So tell me about work.”

  “A lot of the same. I’ve got a lot of clients. Nothing major. Just busy. But remember when you saw me at the courthouse?”

  “The slumlord case?”

  “That’s the one. One of the tenants called all upset. She said nothing has been done yet other than the windowsills were painted over outside where there were lead paint issues.”

  “They still have a few weeks to get it all done, right?”

  “They do. I’m not sure if they will or not. We’ll have to go back to court and deal with it then. The problem is, they are worried the house will be condemned and they will be on the street.”

  “That could happen too,” he said.

  “I warned them of that. But if we didn’t push the landlord’s hand nothing would get done and they’d be living like they are now or worse.”

  “It’s too bad that anyone needs to live in that condition.”

  “It is,” she said. “But I can’t fix it for everyone. I can’t save the world even though I’d love to. I don’t have the time or the resources for it.”

  It bothered her more than she’d ever admit, but she learned to accept she could only do what she could.

  “I see enough of it myself. Trust me, as bad as it is for her, it’s nothing like some of the countries I was in when I was in the Army.”

  “I know. But we live in America. This shouldn’t be allowed.”

  “You’re a good person, Brina.”

  “I’d say the same about you. And look at us. Some fabulous sex and a beer and now we are getting all sappy. I’m not a sappy person.”

  “Neither am I,” he said.

  “But when I have a day like this I want ice cream. As great as the sex was, the ice cream is still a must have. Good ice cream too.”

  “You didn’t come in with any.”

  “Cold Stone Creamery,” she said.

  “I’ve never been there,” he said.

  “How could you live here and not have been?”

  “It’s not in Colonie,” he said. “Isn’t it in Stuyvesant Plaza?”

  “Fifteen minutes away. Everything in Albany, Colonie, and outlying towns are the same in my eyes.”

  “Where do you live?” he asked. “I just realized I didn’t know that.”

  “Guilderland.”

  “So you are closer to your ice cream shop,” he pointed out.

  “Right down the road,” she said. “I’m a few blocks from Crossgates Mall.”

  “So maybe once we get our ice cream you can show me your place?”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, finishing off her pizza. “I just realized you’ve got to work tomorrow.”

  “I do. It’s fine.”

  “Then unless you want another slice of pizza why don’t we stick this in your fridge and we can go get ice cream?”

  “Why don’t I follow you, then I can head home from your place.”

  “So you still want to see my place?” she asked.

  “Of course. It’s got to look nicer than mine.”

  “It’s convenient but nothing special. It suits my needs and that is enough. I’m pretty low maintenance about life.”

  Which was another thing he wasn’t used to. A woman that didn’t worry about her hair being messed up or eating pizza on paper plates in a construction zone.

  “Considering I live in places like this without a stove or functioning kitchen, it says how low maintenance I am. I just need a bed and a bathroom and I’m good most times.”

  “I’ve got both of them at my place. Maybe we can check my bed out next,” she said, standing and picking the pizza box up and shutting the top on it.

  “My wallet is empty,” he said. He didn’t normally carry more than one condom on him at a time unless he was planning better.

  “My bathroom drawer isn’t,” she said, smiling. “Unless you’re too tired. Did I wear you out?”

  He walked out with her, the doors all locked still. The lights off. “Never,” he said.

  They got their ice cream, ate it at one of the tables outside the shop so that it didn’t melt on the drive back to her place.

  When he pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building, he realized it was more like townhouses and not as bad as she made it out to be.

  “You don’t pull in the garage?” he asked. She’d parked in front of the door, and he parked next to her in the reserved spot after she pointed him there.

  “In the winter. Right now I’ve got to clean it out. I’ve got it full of crap.”

  “What could you have put in there?” he asked. “If you were parked in there over the winter?”

  “I bought some new furniture and haven’t gotten rid of the old stuff yet. I should have had them take it away but knew I could donate it. The problem is, I need help doing that and haven’t had time to work it out. I don’t have a lot of space in my apartment so I moved it out here.”

  She opened the garage door and he saw a couch and chair, table and chairs. “You moved this all out here yourself?” he asked.

  “I did. It wasn’t that hard. I don’t like asking for help. It’s only been here a month or so. My father would help me, but he doesn’t have a vehicle to put it in either. I’ll find someone who could use it and get it to them.”

  “I’m sure you’ve got clients that could use it,” he said.

  “I do, but I don’t want them to know where I live.”

  “Good point. And I’m glad you’re smart about that.”

  She bumped shoulders with him. “I’m a pretty smart girl.”

  “I can help you when you’re ready. If you haven’t noticed, my truck is pretty big. I’ve got a trailer too.”

  “I couldn’t ask you to do that. You’ve got enough things to do.”

  “You didn’t ask,” he said, frowning. “I offered.” Why was he insulted over her not wanting to accept his help?

  “We’ll see when the time comes. Anyway, welcome to my home,” she said, opening the door from the garage to a small hallway. “Nothing fancy but it’s good enough.”

  The place was nice and clean, very minimalistic. Not a lot of knickknacks around, but there were plenty of pictures.

  “Who’s this?” he asked.

  “That’s my sister, Hannah, and my cousin Blair.”

  “Blair, that lives in Paradise Place?”

  “Good memory. That’s her soon-to-be stepdaughter, Livi, too.”

  There were a lot of pictures on the wall. “Your parents?” he asked.

  “Yep. And that is my Uncle Tyler, Blair’s father, and his husband Jake.”

  She turned and looked at him and he just grinned so she pointed out some more family pictures on the wall.

  She showed him the rest of her two-bedroom apartment, stopping in her bedroom. “See, I’ve got a bed.”

  “It’s not a king,” he said.

  “No, but it’s better than a shower bench.”

  He laughed, picked her up, and tossed her on the bed, coming down on top of her. “You weren’t complaining an hour ago.”

  “Nope, and I wouldn’t again either. But it is nice to have a soft bed to lie on too.”

  “I’m not going to notice anything other than you,” he said, his mouth closing over hers.

  She yielded so easily, her hand coming up and running along his cheek, her eyes looking into his. “I think you’re the romantic one. Is that going to be a problem?” Brina said.

  “Sweetie, romance and me are like tuna and mustard.”

  “Eww.”

  “Exactly. Now I’m going to say it again. No more talking.”

  He pulled her mouth back to his and no more words were said.

  13

  Jump That Fast

  “So you spent some more time with the hot trooper?” Blair asked her when she walked into Brina’s office on Monday. “Were there handcuff’s present?”

  “Shhh,” Brina said. “Shut my door. And what are you doing here? Don’t you have to be at your shop or something?”

  “I was on my way in and thought I’d stop here first. I saw your car at Nathan’s place Friday night when Philip and I were walking back from the playground with Livi. Be happy I didn’t come knocking on the door for a tour. Something tells me you might not have wanted to be interrupted.”

  She narrowed her eyes at her cousin. Having someone see her car there hadn’t even crossed her mind. “You’re right, I might not have been happy. Or maybe we wouldn’t have even heard you. But we weren’t there long. I brought him pizza, he showed me what he’d done so far, then we went to Cold Stone Creamery.”

  “Hmm. Pizza and ice cream. Sounds like you had a bad day. Did he make it better?”

  She smirked at her cousin. “You didn’t have a dream to give you that answer?”

  “Actually, I did. Which is why I asked about the handcuffs.” Blair was laughing now.

  “I’m not sure if you are serious or not and I don’t want to know. We went back to my place after the ice cream. He left around eleven.”

  They made use of her bed, lay there for about an hour or so after. She’d dozed off; she thought he might have too but wasn’t sure. All she remembered was the bed moving as he got up to get dressed. He’d leaned down to kiss her and told her to lock up after him.

  She’d pulled herself out of bed, grabbed a T-shirt and athletic shorts to slip on and followed him to the front door to kiss him bye.

  “Must be serious for you to jump that fast with someone. What’s it been? Two dates?”

  She’d told Blair and her sister about their first date the weekend before. Normally she didn’t share much and she wasn’t sure why she was this time.

  “You know me. Nothing is serious. He’s a good guy. A great guy from what I know of him now. But it’s just fun. Nothing more.”

  Though she was serious when she made the comment about him having a romantic side. That was something she wasn’t used to with men. Most times when someone had that, she felt she couldn’t trust them. That they were trying to soften her up while they screwed her over once she fell for it.

  Past history had a way of making her more bitter than a mouth full of Sour Patch Kids.

  “So when is the next date?” Blair asked.

  “I don’t know. He’s working today and then he’ll be working on his house for four days until his next rotation starts. He needs to get the house somewhat livable before he closes on his current house.”

  Blair sat down and made herself comfortable telling Brina she wasn’t going to be able to get rid of her cousin that soon. “How does the house look inside?”

  “It’s bare. Completely gutted. There are no floors, no kitchen, no bathrooms but the half one downstairs he kept to use. But his master is almost done, so I guess that’s wrong.”

  “He can have a kitchen done by then? Even a living room?” Blair asked.

  “No. He said he’s fine with a bedroom, bath, microwave, and fridge.”

  “Or he could stay at your place,” Blair said.

  “Please. I don’t want to live with anyone. You know that. I barely stay the night with anyone. And it’s only been a few dates.”

  What the heck could her cousin be thinking suggesting that? Not only didn’t she do romance, she didn’t do living together either. Not even a lot of sleepovers.

  “It’d be more than two dates in that time frame and you know it.”

  “Why are you pushing this so much? You’ve got your happy ever after and now you want to shove it down everyone else’s throat.”

  Blair just laughed at her. “I’m not shoving it down your throat. And yes, I never thought I could be this happy, but I’m so excited and thrilled and...happy. So in love. I’d love to see my cousins that way too.”

  “Then focus on Hannah,” she argued.

  “She’s trying. You’re not. You need my focus.”

  “I’m not trying because I don’t have time for it.”

  “And you got hurt. We know it. Ben was an asshole of epic proportions. He’s the biggest douche I know. Bigger than Mount Rushmore. He gives all lawyers a bad name. He gives all men a bad name.”

  “He does. He’s like a lot of asshole lawyers too. Nathan would probably arrest him on sight for his career just looking at him.”

  “See, you brought up Nathan again,” Blair pointed out with a big grin on her face.

  Damn it. How could she have slipped like that? “I’m just saying that not only did Ben do what he did to me, it’s just in his nature to be that way in life.”

  “He wasn’t always that way,” Blair said. “What changed with him?”

  Brina didn’t want to talk about this but no one ever asked much when she and Ben had split. They’d started to date in college. Right at Albany College of Law. She’d wished Ben left the area after graduation, but he didn’t.

  “Money. Greed. I’m not sure. We had similar backgrounds. Or so I thought. He realized he wanted to be a defense attorney.”

  “Which right away is totally not your thing. You put sleazebags away and he wants to defend them.”

  “That was one of our issues.”

  They’d been dating almost a year when Ben changed his focus in law. She’d always known she was going for the little guy. The ones that were pushed around or bullied. Those that got knocked down with no one to help them stand up again.

  “One of many. So you fought about that?” Blair asked.

  “That was part of it. He has the right to choose his own field of study, which he pointed out and I agreed. Do we need to get into this? It’s old news. He was an old fashioned guy on top of wanting to make a name for himself any way he could. Both things go against everything I am.”

  “He didn’t want you to keep your name, did he?” Blair asked. “You’ve always been firm on keeping your name.”

  That had been a big fight they’d had. Not that they were even close to marriage, but she’d said it enough times that if she ever changed her name it’d have to be before she was already established. Now at thirty-two, she was known as Brina Shepard and she wasn’t changing her last name.

  She didn’t get it. What was the big deal? Taking someone’s last name shouldn’t determine whether you loved them or not.

  How many people didn’t even get married in this day and age but only lived together?

  A marriage license was just a piece of paper to her. It shouldn’t dictate her love for someone. If she ever fell in love again.

  “But you want kids. You know that. Some men might not like that you didn’t take their name and then it’s a fight on the child’s last name.”

  “I told you. I don’t need a man to have a kid either. I’m perfectly fine visiting a sperm bank and then I don’t need to worry about last names.”

  Blair shook her head. “He got you bad, didn’t he? You never used to be like this.”

  “I’ve always been career driven,” Brina said. “None of that has changed.”

  But when she was a teen she did think she’d fall in love. She did think she’d marry and have kids at some point. With a man that thought like her. That wanted to make a difference in life, not just in their wallet.

  She wasn’t that little girl anymore. She’d leave all those fairytale wishes and dreams to her cousin and sister.

  Blair stood up. “There is no talking you out of this. But maybe you’ll find someone who could.”

  “Blair, if I find the man for me, he isn’t going to care about those things anyway. Love is all that matters, if people are lucky enough to find it. You’re focusing on the little shit.”

  “You know, you’re right. I am. And I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I know you mean well. We are all our own people. You know that.”

  “I do. And I expect you to bring Nathan to my wedding too.”

  Brina felt her shoulders drop. “First off. I’m in the wedding. I’m not bringing a date where no one knows him and he’d be sitting there by himself. That’s just wrong. And second of all it’s two months away. It’s been two dates. I’m not even sure when a third would be and you think I’m going to ask him to a wedding?”

  “We’ll see,” Blair said. “I bet he goes.”

  “Let me guess,” Brina asked. “Because you had a dream about it.”

  “I think he looks mighty fine in a suit,” Blair said before she walked out the door.

  14

  A Great Thing

  Nathan was sweating his balls off. It didn’t matter the AC was on; it wasn’t helping much with the way he was nailing these boards in place. His goal was to get these floors done on the first level before he started his next rotation at work. Which of course was tomorrow.

  He’d heard his phone go off and figured it was a good time to stop and get a drink.

  When he picked it up he saw it was Brina. They’d talked once since he left her house on Friday night...five long days ago. But at least they were texting so that was some kind of communication.

  Her job took up a lot of her time, and he was working almost around the clock.

  He was starting to think he was stupid to have done this. To buy this house and then put his up for sale so fast. The money crunch was panicking him when it normally didn’t.