Page 33 of Meet Me in Ivy Falls

I crept back up to the landing and grabbed a large piece of broken ceiling tile. Not a great weapon, but it’d work in a pinch. With slow, measured steps I approached the master bedroom, not sure what, or who, I’d find.

Chapter Sixteen

TORRAN

Climb Your Ass Down From Mount Arrogance.

I wasn’t supposed to be in the house. I’d promised Manny I’d wait before doing any demo, but after I’d said goodbye to Tessa and the girls at the park, I’d headed here to start working.

The truth was I needed to keep busy because the more I thought about the agreement we’d made with Beck, the more I worried I’d made a colossal mistake.

I pulled a screwdriver from my tool belt and went to work on the cabinets in the master bathroom, working the screws out of the hinges and setting the doors in a pile on the floor. The steady pace of the work helped me forget the ugly stares from the ladies in the park. I knew I deserved their ire, but it still cut into me that they were angry, especially since most of them had been so close to Mom. But that was why I was here. Why I’d essentially made a deal with the devil. If I could fix this house, I could keep my promise to Mom and hopefully win back the town’s trust.

I reached for the sledgehammer I’d brought in from my truck, eager to release all my pent-up anger and nervous energy on the ancient cabinets. Quickly I curled my fingers around the handle and swung the hammer back when the sound of shuffling feet made me stop dead.

I gripped the sledgehammer and stepped out of the bathroom. Slowly I inched to the closed bedroom door. When it creaked open, my heart filled my throat and I unleashed the full force of a swing. A hand quickly moved out and caught the steel head, stopping its forward motion.

‘Holy shit! You could have taken off my head.’ Beck yanked the hammer toward him, and I stumbled into his chest.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I roared.

‘I’m here to work. Isn’t that why you’re here?’ he snapped.

‘You are such an ass, Beck! Did you think maybe you could call my name? Give me some warning you were here?’ I spun around and charged back to the bathroom.

‘First, I didn’t see Sally Mae in the driveway. Second, I didn’t know I had to announce my presence,’ he said, following behind me.

‘The truck is parked farther up the street because of the neighbor’s birthday party, and she keeps leaking oil that I don’t want on the driveway. And announcing your presence would have been damn helpful considering I almost bashed your head in!’

‘Something tells me you’d get pleasure out of that,’ he said, dropping the sledgehammer and a flimsy piece of ceiling tile on the floor.

‘Yep. Someone needs to knock some sense into that thoughtless brain of yours.’

‘Thoughtless brain? Who’s the one swinging heavy equipment without looking first?’

‘Only because I thought you were a fucking burglar!’

‘Obviously you can see that I’m not.’

His eyes flared and a surge of need zapped through me. I couldn’t do this. Be this close to him and not remember how deep brown his eyes were. The faint scent of soap that always lingered on his skin.

‘This isn’t going to work,’ I said, tugging off my gloves.

‘What isn’t going to work?’

‘You. Me. This house.’ I flailed my hands out to my sides. ‘It’s all a very bad idea.’

He inched in and heat burned behind his eyes. ‘What’s bad about it, Torran? Is it that it’s hard to be this close to me?’

God, yes, I wanted to say but instead I planted my feet. Glared right back at him. ‘You can climb your ass right back down Mount Arrogance because I’m perfectly fine around you.’

I prayed he didn’t hear the tremble in my voice. Notice the fire burning in my cheeks. See the twitch in my fingers because I ached to touch him.

He reached forward and swept back a hair from my face. We stood not speaking, barely breathing. He leaned in and with a honeyed voice whispered, ‘You sure about that?’

I knew that look. A combination of hunger and desire I hadn’t seen since we were in high school. He slid his hand behind my neck, and without any hesitation, pulled me in. The warmth of his breath tickled my cheeks. My mind screamed not to let him closer, give in to the heat careening through my veins, but the protest died in my throat as he swept his mouth over mine.

He tasted like coffee and peppermint as he sucked on my bottom lip. A small whimper sprang from my mouth and I melted under his touch. He gripped the back of my shirt like he knew I’d puddle to the floor without him holding me up. This shouldn’t be happening. I hated him. What he did to my heart all those years ago. But I still held on to him with every bit of strength I had.