Kallie tried not to let the Wheeling man bother her. There was something in his eyes though, when he had finally realized that she was going to turn down his offer again. Craig had expected her to jump at the money, but he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. He told her as much, promising her that he would eventually make an offer that she couldn’t refuse. Kallie didn’t argue with him, but she did leave pretty quickly after that.
Going back to the old house, she decided that she was going to start staying there and it would give her the time and the incentive to fix it up quicker. It didn’t seem to be in that bad of shape, but she did not have an experienced eye. She did notice pretty quickly that there was no air conditioner, so she had most of the windows open by early afternoon.
Kallie spent most of the rest of her day cleaning. The place had been taken care of in some ways, but it looked like her father hadn’t lived there in a while. There was a thick coating of dust on pretty much everything and it was dark before she got through enough rooms to be satisfied. There was still an upstairs and a basement that she had not even investigated. She didn’t have the energy when it came down to it.
Sitting down with a glass of wine, she sighed to herself, feeling accomplished to have a place to sleep that wouldn’t give her hives. It was strange how quiet it was out there. Kallie could actually hear the cricket and frogs outside by the creek and she closed her eyes to the natural melody. Her body started when she head a crash. Something had been thrown through the window just feet from her. She saw the large brick on the floor and her mind instantly went to Craig. Was he capable of that or was she just being paranoid?
Either way, there was glass all over the floor and she could imagine mosquitoes getting in through the broken glass. Sighing to herself, she got up and waited to see if she heard anything. Maybe it was just some local kids that were causing mischief. She liked that idea better than someone in the dark being malicious.
After a moment of indecision, she decided to just got to the hardware store before they closed and picking up some wood or something to cover the window until she could hire someone to fix it. It was going to be harder than she thought, to say no to the man, but things like that just made her want to stay more. She was hard-headed in that way.
So, getting dressed and heading out, she turned all of the flood lights on around the house but saw no one. She cursed whoever it was and went towards the other side of town where the store was that she needed. Parking in the parking lot, she looked at the clock and she had about fifteen minutes before the place closed. One of the bad things about smaller towns was that everything closed down by eight o clock. It was as if people should all be at home at that time, so either you get it earlier or you don’t get it at all.
Her eyes squinting to the bright fluorescent light, she looked at the overhead signs to find the aisle she was looking for. Happy that they had some precut boards, she looked around for something to put them in. Walking through the aisles, she still couldn’t find anyone to ask or anything to use. Checking her watch, she realized that it was almost time to close. Going back to the wood, she grabbed as many as she could carry and headed towards the checkout.
“Do you need some help with that?”
Turning around, Kallie groaned inwardly. Of course she was a mess and looked strange surely carrying eight foot boards. Kallie had just thrown on some muck boots over her pajama shorts and a coat on over her tank top. Her hair was in a knot on top of her head and she was void of any makeup. It was not the way she was hoping to see anyone of consequence, least of all the man that made her knees grow weak.
“Caspin. What are you doing here?”
“Had to grab a couple of things for the night. You?”
He grabbed all of the boards out of her hand. “Let me go back and get a few more.”
She was gone before he could say anything. He didn’t know what she was doing, but he had to admire her long thighs in the shorts that barely made it passed her ass. Looking down at the bundle in his hands, she came back with just as much on the second trip. “Okay thanks. I think this will be enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“I’ve got to board up a window.”
“Really? What happened?”
“Well I moved into my dad’s old house on Johnson and someone threw a brick through the window. So unless I get the window covered, I am going to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. I don’t know how you guys live with those things. They are huge here. I hear that everything is bigger in Texas, but somehow that is not what I had in mind when I heard that.”
He chuckled and it made him even more devastatingly handsome. His dark features made him look mysterious, but his eyes made not issue about what they wanted. That part of him was not a mystery at all, but she remembered what Andre said about him.
“Why don’t you seem upset that someone threw a brick through your window?”
Kallie watched the cashier come around and start to count the boards. She tried to tell her twice, but she just ignored her and restarted the count. Kallie was trying not to get aggravated, but she was. She was upset that someone had done it and that the cashier was taking forever, her arms burning with the load. But the worst part was that she had run into him and she looked like she did.
“There isn’t much getting upset will solve. I am pretty sure I know who it is.”
Caspin stopped and looked at her as she finally got to set them down and take out her card. “The Wheelings?”
“I see that everyone can tell what a lovely guy he is. He seems like the type to throw a hissy fit when he doesn’t get what he wants.”
“And he wants the oil underneath it.”
“See, not so hard to figure out.”
“Not a very nice welcome to Conroe.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay. I am used to pissing people off, I guess.”
Kallie had managed to get her card back into her pocket and since he had grabbed some more boards from her stack, she picked up the rest as he followed her out to one of the feed store trucks that she had taken home. Loading them up, she thanked him again and was about to get in when he stopped her. “Why don’t you let me help you?”
“No I couldn’t take up anymore of your time. I am sure you had something to do.”
“I can’t even remember why I am here. Let me help you, I will follow you there.”
It didn’t seem to be a question, so she nodded and started off in the darkness towards her new home. Her heart raced and she sighed at the reflection of herself in the mirror. There was something poetic about seeing him like that. He would never look at her the same again and though she knew it was probably just as well, she wished that he would look at her the same way he had before.
Pulling up behind by the front, his headlights cut off next to her and he got out. Helping her unload, she noticed that his jacket was covered in saw dust. She wiped a few pieces of saw dust off of his jacket and noticed the hard muscles underneath. Pulling back, Kallie looked up into his dark eyes for a minute. “Sorry about that. I keep getting your clothes dirty every time I am around you.”
“That’s perfectly okay. It’s well worth it.”
She giggled a little before she stopped herself. Why was he affecting her in such a way? Just the nearness, the feel of him under her fingertips was enough to make her breathing quicken. Moving away, she walked into the house and started to get the broom and dustpan, grabbing her glass of wine as she went.
“I haven’t been here in years.”
“Oh, you’ve been here before?”
“Yes, I knew your father pretty well and he lived here off and on for over a decade.”
“It seems like everyone knew him except me.”
“I am sorry. I didn’t know that you two weren’t close. I guess I just figured because of the will.”
“Yes, well I don’t know what that was about, but here I am. To be honest I don’t know what I am doing here. That man offered me enough to buy my own island and here I am, picking up broken glass from a hundred year old floor.”
“So why then?”
She shrugged, Kallie really wasn’t sure. “Because my father didn’t want to sell. I guess I am just as stubborn as he is.”