CHAPTER THIRTY
Alicia had pulled up a website that offered home-away rentals in exotic locations. The trip she’d taken on her own had been spent in hotels, hostels, and bed-and-breakfasts. She’d spent no more than a few days in each place, eager to the point of excessiveness to experience as much as she possibly could. But now she wanted to spend some real time in one place, getting to know it.
“I like this one.” She pointed at the picture of a stone cottage surrounded by a garden of wildflowers. “Scotland. Near Loch Ness. Have you been there?”
Nikolai leaned forward to look. “Nope.”
“One of the few places you haven’t been,” she said. “It would be fun to explore someplace brand-new with you.”
“I won’t eat haggis,” he warned.
Alicia made a face. “Yuck. Me neither. But . . . Scotland? Is that a yes? This says it’s close enough to town to ride bikes. There’s a pub there.”
“I think that’s a requirement, isn’t it?” Nikolai shifted on the couch to let his arm run along the back of it so his fingers could tickle her nape. “Looks good to me. Let’s book it.”
“You sure?” Her fingers hesitated over the keyboard.
“Absolutely.” Nikolai’s fingers curled around the base of her neck, a touch that had her mind going swiftly to sexy places. “Admit it, this is just a way for you to get me into a kilt.”
She laughed and leaned against him to offer her lips in a kiss he easily took. “With those legs? You know it.”
Nikolai kissed her again, and Alicia put aside thoughts of planning their trip. There were other things to think about. Like sliding onto his lap and taking his face in her hands. Like kissing him long and slow and then faster, harder. Like feeling him get hard against her body as his hands roamed—
The sound of the front door opening had them both scrambling to settle on the couch as though nothing had been going on, although Alicia couldn’t stop herself from giggling when Theresa walked in. Asking the other woman to be her roommate hadn’t been the wrong decision, and it wasn’t like she was regretting it, but it had certainly made things a little less . . . spontaneous.
“Hey,” Theresa said, eyeing them both with a look that said she suspected she’d interrupted, “I’m going to bed. Carry on.”
“I don’t have hot dogs in my pants,” Nikolai blurted, an homage to a show they’d all watched one afternoon a million years ago in which the cartoon character had been lying to his father about sneaking out to feed alligators.
Alicia burst into laughter, followed a moment later by Theresa, who shook her head and covered her eyes for a second.
“Okay, weirdo,” she said. “I’d forgotten all about that.”
Nikolai shrugged. “Me, too, until just now.”
“How’d your meeting with Ilya go? Did you get things settled?” Alicia asked.
Theresa nodded. “Yep. We signed the papers and got the keys and it’s going to happen.”
“Exciting,” Alicia said, watching Theresa’s face carefully. She didn’t look that excited. “Are you nervous?”
“I’m not putting too much of my money on the line, to be honest. I don’t have any to put on the line,” Theresa said with a rueful chuckle and seemed to relax a bit. “But, yeah, I am a little nervous. It’s a big commitment. It’s going to take a lot of work.”
“The best things usually do,” Nikolai said.
Theresa hadn’t moved out of the doorway, though now she shrugged out of her lightweight coat. She’d dressed up for the meeting, Alicia noticed. Pretty dress. Heels. She’d done her hair a little differently.
Interesting.
“So, where are you two crazy kids off to next?” Theresa asked.
It was clear she wanted to change the subject, so Alicia let her. She turned the laptop on the coffee table toward Theresa. “We’re thinking of renting this place for a month.”
Theresa moved closer. “Looks great. Hey, Nikolai, I got a lead on something the other day you might be interested in. You know the Mutter Mansion north of town?”
“Is that the museum we all had to visit in high school? The one that’s set up kind of like colonial Williamsburg?”
Theresa took off her heels and picked them up with a sigh of relief, wiggling her toes. “Yeah, the museum is the main house, the outbuildings and barn, and some part of the grounds. There’s a winery there, too. The original owners kept the summer house for their own use, and guess what?”
Nikolai laughed. “I can’t begin.”
“They keep bees. Have for years. They sell the honey, and the museum makes candles, lotions, and stuff like that from the beeswax,” Theresa said. “Mrs. Mutter is now in her nineties and needs to hire someone to look after the hives. She has about a hundred.”
Alicia’s eyebrows rose, and she turned to him. “Wow. How’d you find out about this?”
“I never knew how many different people I’d met and knew until I started doing this freelance stuff,” Theresa said with a grin. “I met Mrs. Mutter’s son, Ron, a couple years ago because he was the guy who built that apartment complex over by where the drive-in used to be.”
“The shoe factory,” Alicia said, since it was unlikely Nikolai would know about it.
“Anyway, Mrs. Mutter has kept the bees for years, but had hired someone to handle them for the past decade or so. Her current guy is retiring, and she wants a new person to take over, or else she’s going to just let them go.” Theresa swung her shoes from the tips of her fingers and gave Nikolai a look. “I should mention that Mrs. Mutter has more money than she knows what to do with, not to mention that because the property is considered a historical site, it qualifies for different sort of grants and things to cover staffing expenses.”
Alicia blew out a soft breath. “Do you think that’s something you’d like to do again?”
“It could be.” Nikolai laughed, shaking his head. “Never thought I’d come home to do the same thing I did on Beit Devorah, but . . . hey. It’s something to start off with, right?”
“I can give Ron your name and number, if you want.”
“It’s work. Sure. I need a job.”
“Don’t we all.” Alicia was strangely relieved that Theresa had been the one to bring it up. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of something magical that would suit me?”
Theresa laughed. “I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for you. It’s my favorite part of what I do, you know? Putting people together who will make a great team. Alicia, when you’re ready to put the house on the market, if you want a Realtor recommendation, I can give you one.”
“That’d be great, thanks.” Alicia studied the other woman for a second. “Everything okay with you?”
“Tired. Ate too much dinner.” Theresa made a show of patting her stomach with a frown. “I’m going to take a shower and hit the hay. ’Night, guys.”
After she’d gone, Nikolai turned to Alicia with a sexy grin and grasping hands, but she fended him off gently with a laugh. “Wait a bit. She’s not asleep yet.”
“I can be quiet. You’re the noisy one.”
She poked him. “Uh-huh. Right. Hey, what do you really think about the possibility of a job like that?”
“I don’t know. I can’t really think about it unless I know what it entails, you know? Beekeeping isn’t as easy as people seem to think. If she’s willing to pay me a living for it, sure. But I’d think about it.” Nikolai sat back against the couch. “It’s been bothering you, huh?”
Alicia nodded. “A little bit. I’m a little more worried about what I’m going to do, honestly.”
“You’ll find something great.” He stroked her hair and tugged her closer for a kiss. “We both will.”
With an ear cocked toward the sound of the running shower from upstairs, Alicia slid onto Nikolai’s lap again. “I’ve already found something great. Right here.”