Tristan watched Shae leave. He didn’t think she knew who he was, but she was definitely on edge. He couldn’t blame her, considering he knew exactly what had put her on that edge. She hadn’t responded to him at first, but he could tell he’d been getting somewhere before he spooked her at the end. That was good. That meant he might be able to use charm to get the information he needed from her.
He looked back out at the beach and remembered that he was playing tourist. He had a feeling she’d be watching him from inside the house, so he played the part by walking toward the water and looking at the beach.
He been all over the world and seen pretty much every beach there was to see. He’d been to St. Pete a few times before. Where there were beaches, there were generally rich people, and where there were rich people, he’d normally be around somewhere. It was nice, even if a tad too crowded in some places. He enjoyed it here because the private residences gave the illusion of privacy. He stood beyond the reach of the water, not wanting to get his Italian leather shoes wet. He didn’t even have a swimsuit with him. He doubted he’d have time to actually go swimming during this job. Too many things to do.
As a matter of fact, he rarely ever went swimming. He seemed to always be working a job. Even when he tried to take vacations, he’d always stumble on to some mark or some game he could win. That’s why he didn’t want to be benched. The idea that he’d fucked up and Toni and Hart could kick him out so easily was terrifying. In fact, it made him rethink this entire arrangement. He liked them all enough, and the pay was good, but he didn’t need that kind of stress. He could get jobs on his own. He didn’t need a boss. He didn’t need to be taking orders. So what if Blackthorne was screwing over hundreds of people with their reckless developments and halfhearted buyouts of low-income communities? Hart would deal with it. Toni would deal with it. This didn’t have to be his problem.
Even so, after his screw-up last night, he felt double pressure to prove himself. Which meant gaining Shae’s trust. He knew that she had good reason to be reluctant, which didn’t bode well for him. If she’d been more naïve, he could’ve probably already had her driving up for a date right now. But as it was, he’d have to find some other way to embed himself into her life for the moment. If he came over to ask her out later today, it would surely just get her more suspicious. He’d have to make her think it was her idea.
It was time to bring out the big guns. He smiled at the thought as he walked back to the house. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a dart of movement in one of the windows of Shae’s house and he realized she’d been watching this whole time. This might be easier than he thought.
––––––––
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Vinyl was the best. Shae knew she was crazy to have so much love for an inanimate object, but it was true. After working for nine straight hours on the floors, she’d got a room and a half done. It might not be amazing progress, but considering she was working alone, she was damn impressed with herself. She sat back, her well-worn knee pads saving her legs from strenuous damage, and surveyed the beautiful floors. Sure, it wasn’t hardwood, but the overall effect was amazing. She’d bet a good eighty percent of people who looked at the home wouldn’t realize it wasn’t hardwood until they really got down and tapped on it. She would buy the place if she had the money....
She stood up and only then realized exactly how much the nine hours straight of labor had hurt her body. She stretched her arms up and leaned to each side, giving her spine a much-needed break. She really needed to get that new bathtub installed sooner rather than later. What she wouldn’t give to drop her body into a steaming-hot bath filled with Epsom salts.
There was the option to take a dip in the ocean, but she hated the idea of swimming alone at night. Something about the water became more menacing in the dark. Not to mention she watched a tad too many nature documentaries, so she knew exactly what was floating on the water at night.
She decided some fresh air would be good. She pulled off the mask that helped keep her from breathing in all the vinyl dust and turned the fan on higher as she opened all the windows. This would help clear out the space, but she’d still probably have a headache in the morning.
A small price to pay for how good it looked right now. With the fans working overtime, she walked gingerly downstairs and out the back door. It was too dark to really see the water, but she could hear the waves even over the sound of the fans blowing. She smiled at the relaxing sound and collapsed into one of the rocking chairs. She’d bought these chairs for about ten bucks a pop at the local hardware store. They were hard plastic, and any other day they’d be so uncomfortable she could barely sit in them. Right now, it felt like heaven. She let her head fall back and closed her eyes. As the relaxation finally settled into her bones, the loud blaring of the fire alarm had her eyes snapping open. She jumped up and turned around, looking at Seaside Escape to see what was happening. But then she realized the sound wasn’t coming from her house. It was coming from McCormick Place. She cursed under her breath as she started for her neighbor’s house. She was half expecting that the new neighbor had accidentally burned something, setting off the fire alarm by accident, but then she saw the orange flames dancing in the windows. “Shit.” Shae went running for the house. The back door was open, and she came inside right as she saw Tristan pour water onto the fire. The flames burst up, reaching as high as the ceiling but luckily staying confined to the pan it was coming from. Shae ran forward and pushed him away before he could cause any more damage as she found the lid that fit the pan and threw it on the fire. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she screamed.
Tristan held his hands up innocently, seeming not to understand what just happened. “I threw water on the fire. Water puts out fires. Even, like, three-year-old kids know that.”
“Not on a grease fire,” she said, unable to keep irritation out of her voice. She couldn’t believe he almost burned down McCormick Place. It would kill property values if she had to sell Seaside Escape next to a burned-out husk of a home.
Sure, it was a selfish way to think about it, but Shae wasn’t exactly in a giving mood right now. She grabbed an oven mitt, picked up the offending pan, and started for the back door. She’d apparently left the door open, so it was easy for her to get out onto the sandy beach. Once in the safety of the sand, she lifted the lid off. A billow of smoke rose out, but it appeared the flames had mostly died. Not wanting to take any chances, she put the pan on the ground, kicking the sand inside to make sure no more oxygen reached any of the embers. “You have no idea how dangerous that was,” she said, unable to hide her annoyance with him.
“I just can’t believe how lucky I am,” he said.
She frowned and glared at him. “Lucky? You almost burned down the place you’re renting, and you think you’re lucky?”
“What’s pretty damn lucky is that you were there. What would I do without you to save my ass?”
Shae just glared at him wordlessly, unable to find an adequate way to express how stupid he’d been. He had a good attitude, though. Maybe she should look on the bright side too. It had been lucky that she’d been around. It had been lucky that she knew exactly what to do to save the McCormicks’ house. She might’ve had a shitty couple of days, but at least she’d been able to do this one good deed. Maybe she should consider herself lucky too.
“I tell you though, that was a damn nice steak.”
Nope. She wasn’t looking on the bright side of things. He deserved to go to hell. In a rush, the nine hours of work caught up to her, and she was suddenly starving. The idea that he had destroyed such a good dinner affected her more than it should’ve.
As though he read her mind, he said, “You know, you saved my ass. The least I can do is buy you dinner.”
She blinked a few times, not sure she heard him right. “You want to buy me dinner?” she asked skeptically.
“I say you deserve a damn nice dinner too. And, in the spirit of things, I think it should be steak.”
Her mouth watered at the thought of a steak dinner. She probably smelled like smoke and vinyl glue, and she had no idea how she looked, but she didn’t care at this moment. She’d been on such a tight shoestring budget with this house project that she hadn’t had anything more expensive than Taco Bell the past three months. Quite frankly, even if the super-hot guy did work for Damask, she didn’t care. “I can’t go like this...” she said, to herself more than to him.
“Well, considering you saved my life, I can wait for a while. How long do you need?”
All the nice steak houses would be closing by eleven. She mentally calculated the time she had to get ready and drive and get there without being a complete jerk to waitstaff. “Give me ten minutes.”
He looked at her skeptically. “Just ten minutes?”
She wasn’t sure whether she should be offended by his opinion of her time to get ready. But she’d always been efficient in everything she did, and makeup wasn’t any different. “Eleven minutes,” she said. This gave her buffer time to reach her bathroom. Without waiting, she took off running back to the house, calculating all the things she needed to do to be presentable. Not just presentable, but so she didn’t look completely out of place on the arm of someone as handsome as Tristan.
She ran to the small bedroom she was using as her own on the first floor. Her hair was a mess, so she just pulled the curly mess back into a simple twist. As for makeup, she did a quick brush of foundation, which did wonders to even her skin, threw on loads of mascara, blush, and then found her bright-red lipstick. No matter how plain her makeup was, Shae found that when she put on bright-red lipstick, she would immediately look so much more put together.
She had very few nice clothes. Considering how often she was sweaty and covered in dirt and dust and glue, nice clothes didn’t really make sense. But it was Florida, so she found the nicest-looking summer dress she had. It was blue, with some large orange flowers in the pattern. The bright-red lipstick brought out the bright orange in the dress and it almost looked as if she’d planned this. The dress was very, very light. It was long enough normally, but in a breeze it would go dangerously high. If she were going on a date, this would be the perfect dress. Flirty, but not too tight and high enough in the front to not be too revealing. Sexy without trying too hard. She looked herself over in the mirror. Pretty good for—she checked her watch—seven minutes. She smiled and practically skipped down the hall. She didn’t know what had her in such a good mood. Well, she did know. It was rather obvious. The date with the handsome, mysterious stranger, with the promise of some good food. She never realized how easy she was to please until now.
She came out of the house to find Tristan waiting for her on her back porch. She smiled at him—a genuine, authentic smile. She really was excited about spending the night with him.
He didn’t smile at her. In fact, his face was utterly serious as he looked her up and down. “Well damn,” he said quietly. “I might be in over my head here.”