They made arrangements to meet later that afternoon, after she’d had time to do some research. Assuming he could get the property for a reasonable amount and find a workable house plan, he’d start construction as soon as weather permitted. He’d done some construction in his younger days, and although he didn’t have the knowledge or experience to build an entire house by himself, he could lend the builder a hand.
The only wildcard was Sunny. She smelled money, and he didn’t intend to give her any. When he was alive, John paid her enough to live well, and the payments probably continued long after Blade left home. The Banner family had given Sunny more than enough.
<>
After she sent her boys to bed, Maria pulled on her raincoat and walked down to Blade’s house. The rain had let up, and the air smelled fresh and clean. She tapped on the front door. “Blade? Are you in there?”
“Go away, Sunny,” he called.
“It’s Maria.”
A second later, the door opened. “Hi. Come in.”
“What’s that stuff all over your driveway?”
“I dumped the rest of the dish soap on the oil patch. I thought it would wash the oil off, but all it did was make suds.”
“I thought the auto supplies places had that stuff that soaks up oil.”
“They do, but I ran out and I didn’t think I could get it home on my bike. The pickup isn’t running right now.”
He motioned her to a chair in the living room and turned on another light. “I called the real estate broker and put an offer on that property today. I doubt I’ll get it, though. The sellers are asking a half-million, and that’s more than I want to spend.”
“That seems rather steep, but I don’t know that much about real estate values.” Unbuttoning her coat, she asked, “Blade, is something wrong?”
He groaned. “Don’t tell me you can read my mind.”
“Actually, I can’t read it from down the street. I just had a feeling that something was wrong, and—”
“Yeah, something is wrong, but... What in the hell do you mean, you can’t read it from down the street? I thought you just got feelings.” He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. “Are you telling me you can actually read people’s minds?”
She opened her mouth and closed it and then opened it again. “It’s more like I can read thoughts. It doesn’t work all the time, and I can’t tune in to everyone’s thoughts all the time. If I could, it would drive me crazy. I’m better with family members, and Mom is better at it than me.”
He cocked his head. “So when we were washing the dog, you knew what I was thinking?”
Her eyebrows lifted and her mouth played with an almost smile.
“Jeez, Maria. The least you could do is warn a guy. That’s downright scary for a guy with a normal, healthy sex drive, especially the way you look.”
“Thank you, I think. Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“You mean besides with you?”
He put the kettle on the stove for coffee and rummaged for clean cups. There weren’t any, so he ran hot water in the sink and dumped in some Tide.
“No dishwasher?”
“I’m the dishwasher, and I don’t have that many dishes, so everything I own is dirty. I poured the rest of the dish soap on the driveway to kill the oil, only it didn’t work, so what I have is a soapy driveway with a big oil stain.”
She choked on a laugh. “You are the least domestic man I’ve ever met. Who takes care of you?”
“Nobody. That’s the problem.” The woman could read his mind. If he didn’t tell her, she’d figure it out on her own. While he washed the dishes, he told her about his grandfather and the inheritance and the conditions he’d put on it. “So I have maybe enough money to put a house on that property, assuming I can buy the parcel for a reasonable amount. I don’t get the rest of the money until I get married. Now I ask you, Maria. What woman is going to want to marry a guy whose closest friend is a Harley?”
She turned off the burner and moved the singing kettle to another burner. “If you wave that money around, you’ll find a woman in no time. They’ll be fighting over you.”
“You don’t understand. I’ve never been married or had a serious, long-term relationship. I have no idea what to look for in a wife and no clue how to make a marriage work if I did find a woman.”
“You could find a wife, then dump her and keep the money.”
“With my luck, she’d dump me and take it all with her.”
The doorbell rang and Blade looked into Maria’s eyes, pleading for help.
“I’ll take care of it, Blade. Stay here in the kitchen.”
Maria slipped her coat off and draped it over the chair in the kitchen and then walked to the front door. “Yes, can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Blade,” she said. “Tell him it’s Sunny.”
“I’m afraid you have the wrong house,” said Maria. She pushed the door closed, twisted the lock, and put on the chain. Seconds later, the woman knocked again. Maria left the door on the chain and opened it a crack. “Go away or I’ll call the police.”
“Tell him I’ll be back.”
Sunny’s heels clicked on the sidewalk as she walked away. Blade and Maria peeked through the blinds a minute later and saw Sunny slip and fall on the driveway. She didn’t appear to be hurt, but the goop from the driveway decorated one side of her fancy fur coat. She brushed at it and swore up a storm.
There’s twenty bucks for Grandma’s cuss jar
, he thought, and Maria’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.
Blade watched Sunny get into her Cadillac and drive away. Fur coats and big cars cost money. How had she been living since John died? Had she found another man to support her? Another kid to keep hostage and milk for all he was worth? Another boy to slap around and feed bourbon to shut him up? He’d grown up with that woman, and he felt nothing but loathing for her.
“Do you want to talk about it, Blade?” Maria’s gentle voice encouraged him to talk about things he’d never said to anyone. “Who is that woman?”
“Sunny Banner, my father’s wife. He left when I was five, and I grew up in Sunny’s house. She fed me bourbon to shut me up. It was her remedy for everything. ‘Have a drink.’ By the time I was a teenager, I was drinking every day.”
“Dear God,” Maria whispered.
“When I was fifteen, we were both drunk and she was badmouthing me as usual. I wanted to shut her up for good. I knew if I stayed, one of us would end up dead, so the next morning, while she was sleeping it off, I packed a bag, emptied her purse, and walked away. I haven’t had a drink since then. End of story.” Maria’s kids didn’t know how lucky they were to have a parent who loved them. He’d never had that kind of love.
The end of the story with Sunny led to a better life, but he had to struggle to get there. He’d worked in a bunch of menial, low-paying jobs and fought his way out of some sticky situations, but he’d done it. He’d proven to himself that his life was worth something. Sunny may think she’d earned some of his inheritance, but what she’d earned was a prison sentence for child abuse.
Blade’s cell phone rang. He answered, and Colin Jacobs said, “Mr. Banner, I’ve been trying to reach you, but your house phone doesn’t seem to be working.”
“I had it disconnected. Is something wrong?”
“No, sir, it’s good news. I received a full-price contract on the house today, contingent on probate, of course, and the buyers are asking if you’d be interested in selling some of the furnishings.”
“Well, yes, I suppose, but I’ll have to know what the items are worth before I can give them a fair price.”
“Would you like me to have an appraiser come in?”
“Good idea. When is the closing?”
“It’s scheduled for the last week of June, assuming we can get through probate that quickly. The buyers would like to be in before September at the latest, so we have a little flexibility. The man has been in the diplomatic service and they’ve been living in Europe. They’ll be staying with relatives until they can get into the house.”
“Okay,” said Blade. “Three months sounds good to me. Thanks for calling.”
Maria cocked her head. “Good news?”
“My grandfather’s attorney found a buyer for the house in New York. I thought it would take forever to sell.”
“I hope you got a good price.”
“Twelve million. Do you know anything about furniture? I need someone to help me figure out what to keep and what to sell.”
Maria stared at him. “Are you asking me to go to New York with you?”
“Can your family take care of the kids for a week?”
“They could, but I’m not going to ask them. And I’m not going to New York or anywhere else with you. I have a job and a family, and I can’t leave either one.”
He should run the other direction from a woman who could crawl inside his mind, but he didn’t want to run anywhere. He wanted her so much he could almost taste her.
She looked away, and he knew she’d heard his thoughts. He took her shoulders and turned her to face him.
Kiss me, Maria. Come on, honey, I need a kiss.
Her gaze moved from his eyes to his lips, and an instant later she was in his arms, and the kiss turned into a full-blown melt-down. God, she tasted good.
“Blade,” she whispered, and he took that as an invitation to kiss her again, this time with his hand under her shirt. If he thought he could get away with it, he’d take her in the bedroom and rip her clothes off, but she’d probably slap him silly if he did.
Maria backed away and straightened her clothes. Her hands were shaking. Her entire body trembled not with fear, but with longing. She wanted to take what he had to offer, to lose herself in his arms, but she couldn’t get involved with another man, especially one as needy as this one. He needed love the way other people needed air to breathe, but at this point in her life, Maria wasn’t so sure she could love another man. Her marriage had squeezed every drop out of her. It would be foolish to open herself up to that kind of pain again.
Pulling her coat on, she walked toward the front door. “Don’t I get a goodnight kiss?” Blade asked, and she shook her head. One more kiss and she’d lose what little control she had left. She felt as vulnerable now as when she slept with Roberto, only she had real feelings for Blade, feelings she didn’t have for Fred or for Professor Roberto Galterio.
Unlocking the front door, she said, “Goodnight, Blade.”
“Goodnight, Maria.”
Without looking back, she walked down the side of the driveway, away from the soap and oil, and down the street. The water foamed as it ran down Blade’s driveway, and she wondered how long it would take to get all that soap out of the broken asphalt.
A soft rain fell from the sky, but she kept walking. If she turned back now, she wouldn’t get home tonight, and she’d never be able to explain that to the kids or to her mother. Or to herself.
What was it about that man that got to her? He seemed lost in some ways, capable of living alone yet incapable of taking care of himself. He needed a wife to get his inheritance, but the thought of being married was so foreign to him, the entire prospect of living with another human being scared him half to death. And he didn’t have the slightest idea what to do with kids.
Assuming the sellers of that lot near Nick’s house accepted Blade’s offer, Maria would help him find the right house plan for the property, but he’d have to find his own wife. With his inheritance, he could surely find a woman to marry. If he kissed another woman the way he’d kissed her and flashed some of that money around, he’d be married in no time. Keeping the woman from running off with his money was another matter.
As Maria walked up to her mother’s front door, she wondered if his lusty kiss was an indication of how good he was in bed. Her face burned with the thought, but she couldn’t get it out of her mind. Blade would undoubtedly be an unforgettable lover, but she’d never know. From now on, she’d keep her distance.
Before she walked inside the house, she spotted Sunny’s car driving slowly down the street. Maria stepped inside and peered around the living room drapes. The car cruised around the cul-de-sac and down to Blade’s house. It stopped in the street and sat there for a few minutes before it moved on.
Maria rubbed the goose bumps off her arms.
<>
The next morning, Blade heard from the broker. The sellers had made a counter-offer. He made arrangements to meet June at her office after lunch and then drove to the
Max and Company
offices to see if he could find a house plan that would work on that site. Maria wasn’t there, but Nick was.