Firecracker: A contemporary romance Page 8

  “Buying a house is hard.”

  “Unless you’re Jamie Lennox.”

  She sighed and accepted the cup of coffee he handed her. “True.” She eyed him. “Am I sensing I’m not the only one who’s a little envious of Jamie?”

  “Nah.” He started making another cup. “Jamie deserves everything he has. He’s worked his ass off for it since he was seventeen.”

  “True.”

  “And I’m exaggerating on the home buying thing. I’ve got some decent savings, thanks in large part to living here. Jamie and I have a deal so the work I do comes off my rent, and that’s really helped me put some money away.”

  She found the idea that he might move away…unsettling. Even though she’d just arrived here and had no idea how long she’d stay. “I guess I’m in a similar boat. Jamie’s letting me live here rent-free because the apartment is still under construction.”

  “Well, think of it this way. He can’t rent it to someone else; nobody would pay to live in an apartment that’s still being renovated. And it could take a while, since I just do it part-time.”

  “What about Norton?”

  “Huh?” He squinted at her.

  “Sunday at the beach…he seemed upset that Jamie had given me the apartment. Was it promised to him?”

  “No.” Tyler’s lips twisted and he shook his head. “Norton wants to live here. But he couldn’t afford the rent if Jamie charged him regular price. Norton still lives with his parents.”

  She nodded. “That’s not unusual these days.”

  “Especially for Puerto Rican families. My grandma lives with them too. Norton’s my cousin on my dad’s side, obviously. Multiple generations tend to live together. Norton would like to get out, but he can’t afford it anyway, and nobody promised him anything about this apartment.”

  “Well, hell. I feel bad. I feel like I took that away from him.”

  “You didn’t,” he said firmly. “If Norton really wanted to live on his own, he’d find a way.”

  “It’s not easy.”

  “I know. Hey, I don’t make that much money. It might seem like I’m getting some kind of deal from Jamie, but I work for it. So I found a way.”

  “True. Um…why don’t you still live with your mom?”

  He grimaced. “I offered. With Dad gone, I thought she might want me there to help out. But my mom’s not Puerto Rican, and she thinks a guy my age needs to live on his own, not with his mother.”

  “Ah.” She recalled that Tyler’s dad had passed away around the time she’d graduated from college, from a heart attack that had taken him way too soon.

  “Hey, how’d your new job go last night?” He picked up his own mug of steaming coffee.

  “Oh. Um. It was great!” She beamed a smile before taking another sip of coffee.

  He tilted his head. “Really?”

  She wasn’t about to share all her missteps last night. Not right now, anyway. Maybe someday they’d be funny stories, but she wasn’t quite ready to laugh at herself. She wanted everyone to think she had her shit together and was moving on with her life and doing just fine. “Really!”

  He eyed her and she held his gaze for a long moment. The warmth in his eyes made something inside her crumble. “Not really.” She dropped her head forward. “It was exhausting. I have so much to learn. And being on my feet all that time tired me out. That’s why the bath felt so good. Although I do love a nice, long bubble bath.” She lifted her head to give him a wry smile.

  His eyes darkened and his mouth firmed. He swallowed. “Well, good. You can use my bathtub any time.”

  “Thanks.” She sighed. “I made a bunch of stupid mistakes. I don’t know anything.”

  “Hey.” He moved closer, his dark eyes fastened on her. “It was your first day. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

  “I don’t like making mistakes or feeling stupid.”

  “Nobody does. Most people mess up from time to time.” He paused, holding up a hand. “But…wait…are you seriously telling me you’re not perfect?”

  Her forehead tightened. “Of course I’m not perfect.”

  “Well, hell. You’re destroying my illusions. I always thought Arden Lennox was perfect. Gorgeous. Smart. Fun. Kind.”

  “Kind?” She tipped her head to one side.

  “Sure. You may have had an annoying little brother, but you were always nice to his geeky friend. After Tara died…”

  “Oh.” She swallowed. He did remember that.

  “I also remember that day in high school when a bunch of kids were making fun of Barry Wong because he tripped and fell in the hall and broke his glasses and couldn’t find them. And you gave him his glasses and told them to shut up and leave him alone. And they listened to you. Because you were Arden Lennox.”

  Something expanded in her chest, stealing her breath. She couldn’t even speak.

  “I guess it’s true. Nobody’s perfect.” He shook his head with a sad expression. “Everybody’s ass has a crack.”

  A surprised laugh shot out of her. “Oh my God!”

  He grinned back at her. “Actually it’s good to know you’re not perfect.”

  “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

  His face changed, his eyes dropping. He shrugged. “Just good to know.”

  She didn’t think that was the real answer, but despite her curiosity, she didn’t push.

  “So, what are you going to do about it?” he asked.

  “About the fact that I’m not perfect?”

  “About the fact that you don’t know everything about your new job on day one.”

  “Ah.” She didn’t tell him she’d thought about quitting. “Well, I’ve given myself some homework. I need to study the menu. And make sure I’ve memorized the table sections.”

  “There you go.” His voice softened. “That’s all you can do, beautiful. Learn from your mistakes.”

  That soft warmth in her chest expanded even bigger and suddenly all her stupid mistakes didn’t seem so bad. “Right. You’re right.”

  “I usually am. Except about you being perfect, sadly.”

  She shook her head. “You’re crazy.”

  “Could be.” He paused. “Did you tell Jamie about the new job?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And what did he think about you working at Shenanigans?”

  She made a face. “Kind of the same as you.”

  Tyler nodded. “I won’t say I told you so.”

  “You just did.”

  He grinned, a flash of white teeth that was incredibly charming. “It kind of sucked you had to start work on the Fourth of July.”

  “Whatever. It’s not like I had big plans. You had to work yesterday too.”

  “Yeah.” He shrugged. “No big deal. Someone has to do it. I’m used to working holidays. And now I’m off for four days.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “That’s why I need a hobby like helping Jamie renovate this place. Keeps me busy.”

  “You must do other things besides that.” She paused. “You don’t have a girlfriend?”

  “Nah. Not right now. I was seeing someone for a while…we broke up about six months ago.”

  “Oh.” She wasn’t sure if she should express sympathy.

  “I play baseball once a week in the summer, when I can, with the guys from the station, and in the winter I play for the CFD hockey team. I help out my mom, when she lets me. And I do some community work.”

  “What kind of community work?”

  He shrugged. “My buddy Tremon and another guy—a cop—and I started a nonprofit organization a couple of years ago. We raise money for victims of fires. People’s lives are destroyed in an instant; they get injured or lose a family member, their homes are demolished. We saw how people suffered after a disaster, and we decided to try to do something to help.”

  “Oh. Wow.”

  “We do different fundraisers throughout the year and some outreach programs.”

  She nodded, intrigued by k
nowing this about Tyler. “That’s awesome. I used to volunteer with a women’s shelter in Phoenix. I enjoyed contributing to something…meaningful.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Does the nonprofit have many volunteers?”

  “Oh yeah. Couldn’t do it without them.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I need to go dry my hair. And do my homework.” She picked up her bundle of toiletries.

  “You can leave your stuff here.” He nodded at it. “Just leave it in my bathroom. It’ll be a while before you can use your own, and it won’t get in my way.”

  “You sure?”

  “Hell yeah. And you can have a bath any time. I hardly ever take baths.”

  Her lips twitched and opened her mouth to make the joke.

  He laughed, reading her mind. “Don’t worry, I do shower. I’ll be over to your place in a while to do more work. Just gonna grab some breakfast.”

  “Right. Okay.” She returned to the bathroom, set her bottles and shaver on the shelf above the bathtub and hung her sponge from the faucet. This was kind of weird. Another funny little intimacy for a couple who barely knew each other.

  But she was getting to know Tyler Ramirez. Grown-up Tyler Ramirez. And she really liked him.

  Chapter Eight

  He needed a shower.

  Tyler grinned, remembering his earlier conversation with Arden. Yeah, bubble baths weren’t his thing, although he could be persuaded if Arden asked him to join her.

  He let out a low groan. Keeping her firmly in the friend zone was getting harder and harder the more they hung out. He hadn’t offered her his bathtub to feed his spank bank with hot fantasies about wet, soapy Arden, but that’s what was happening, dammit.

  It was now nearly seven and he’d been working most of the day, stopping for a sandwich midafternoon. He was dirty and sweaty again but felt a sense of accomplishment. He was also starving.

  Until she left for work, Arden had been curled up with her laptop in the living room—when she wasn’t hovering around the bathroom asking if she could help.

  That was cute.

  He pulled his T-shirt off over his head as he crossed the hall between their apartments.

  He heard noises in the foyer at the bottom of the stairs and moved to peer down at Jamie and Mila coming in. “Hey, guys! You eat yet?”

  They both looked up at him. Mila grinned. “Tyler. You have no shirt on. Come down here so I can objectify your gorgeous body.”

  He laughed.

  Jamie shook his head. “Haven’t eaten.”

  “I was gonna order pizza. Want in?”

  “Yeah. That’d be good.”

  “Can’t,” Mila said. “Going over to Garth’s place.”

  “Order something, Jamie,” Tyler called. “I need a quick shower. Be down in ten.”

  “Bring beer!”

  He flashed a thumbs-up and headed back to his place.

  Forty minutes later, he and Jamie had each consumed two beers and now had pizza. As they loaded plates up, Mila walked in. She’d changed into a short baby doll dress with a jean jacket over it. “That smells great.”

  She wandered over and helped herself to a piece of the Italian special.

  “Hey.” Jamie frowned at her. “I thought you were going over to Garth’s.”

  “I am.” She took a big bite.

  Jamie shook his head and headed to his couch. “There’s a ball game on. Let’s watch it.”

  “No, let’s watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Mila sank down beside him.

  “You’re going out!”

  “And I am not watching that show,” Tyler added.

  Mila pouted. “I need someone to watch with me. Maybe Arden will. When she’s not working.”

  “Maybe.” Jamie found the Cubs game on TV, who were winning five-two.

  Mila finished off the piece of pizza, jumped up and washed her hands at his kitchen sink, then walked to the door. “Okay, guys, see you later.”

  “Have fun.”

  When the door had closed behind her, Tyler said, “Have you noticed she and Garth aren’t seeing each other as much?”

  Jamie gave him a blank look. “No.”

  Tyler shrugged. He picked up his pizza. “He was too busy working on Sunday to come to the beach. I can’t remember the last time I saw him, actually. And she didn’t seem in a big hurry to get to his place.”

  “Of course not. There’s free pizza here.”

  Tyler snorted. Maybe he was imagining things.

  “How’d you do upstairs today?” Jamie picked up his beer.

  Tyler filled him in on the progress he’d made with Arden’s bathroom.

  Already it was “Arden’s bathroom.” A few days ago it was Apartment Four.

  When the baseball game ended, they played Call of Duty until about eleven, then Jamie shut things down to go to bed. Tyler headed back upstairs to his place. He was physically tired from the work he’d done today, but considering he’d napped after getting off work, he wasn’t ready for sleep.

  He reached for the remote for his TV, then paused. Arden worked until midnight. He didn’t like the idea of her walking home alone at that time of night, although she’d done it last night without incident. He’d been thinking about it at work though.

  What the hell.

  He grabbed his keys and jogged back downstairs. He exited the building into the mild night air, the street quiet and dark. He soon entered Shenanigans, greeted by voices and music. He peered around, slowly walking toward the bar, keeping an eye out for Arden. There she was, loading up plates onto a big tray, dressed in a pair of narrow black pants and a white shirt that was fitted to her curves. The back booths had mostly cleared out, although the tables near the bar were about half occupied, and a group of people sat on the big couches by the fireplace.

  He paused at the far end of the bar, watching Arden hoist the heavy tray and head to the kitchen. A strand of hair hung in her face, which was flushed and shiny. His heart shifted in his chest.

  She was really doing this.

  “Tyler, my man,” Liam greeted him. “What can I get you? The usual?”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  Liam grabbed a Blue Line Pilsner and set it on the bar in front of him. “What’s new, man?”

  He made small talk with Liam while keeping an eye out for Arden to return. She walked out carrying an empty tray and paused beside one of the booths. Four men were sitting there, and she leaned in, apparently listening and smiling. Then she shook her head and said something, and all four guys roared with laughter.

  Tyler frowned.

  With a grin, Arden headed to the back of the bar, checked the booths, and then turned back. As she approached the bar, she spotted him. Her eyes widened and her head tilted.

  She walked closer to him. “What are you doing here?”

  “Getting a manicure. What does it look like I’m doing?” He lifted the bottle.

  Her lips twitched, but she lifted her eyebrows and gave him a long look.

  “I told you we hang out here a lot.”

  “He’s not lying, love,” Liam said with a wink.

  “Okay.” She shrugged. “How did things go in the bathroom?”

  Liam snorted. “Jaysus, man, you can’t be talking about your bowel issues with lovely Arden here.”

  Tyler met Arden’s eyes, and they both burst out laughing. Arden had to lean on the bar she was laughing so hard.

  “Oh my God.” She wiped an eye. “Liam!”

  Liam grinned. “What? That’s not what you meant?”

  “You know that’s not what I meant!”

  Tyler shook his head, still chuckling. “Christ, Liam.”

  The four guys she’d been talking to passed by on their way out, calling, “Night, Arden!”

  “See you soon, beautiful,” another added.

  “Good night, guys!” She waved.

  “Making friends already?” Tyler asked, his jaw tight.

  She grinned. “Sure. Welp, must
get back to work.”

  The booths had cleared out now. While he sipped his beer and watched another baseball game on one of the TVs, he glanced at her occasionally as she cleared the tables and wiped them down. Every once in a while, she’d look up and catch him watching her, as if she felt his gaze on her.

  He couldn’t stop, though.

  This was crazy.

  Every time he was around her, his body vibrated with tension. He was mesmerized by her—by her beauty, yes; by her appealing curves too; but also by the sad hope in her eyes, by the determined optimism in her smile, and by her unassuming rejection of all those amazing qualities that had made her the perfect prom queen.

  Now, watching her interact with customers and with Liam, who all appeared to be as entranced with her as he was, something unfurled in his chest.

  Christ. He gulped a mouthful of beer. That crush he’d had on her all those years ago apparently hadn’t died. How could that be?

  It seemed as if getting to know her better made her even hotter. Even more beautiful. Even more…special.

  They were both different people now. Looking back at the geeky kid he’d been, tongue-tied and wide-eyed in her presence, feeling completely out of her league, he almost felt sorry for himself. But he wasn’t that kid anymore. He was a man now, a man who’d had relationships with women, a man with the confidence to go after what he wanted in life.

  He wanted her.

  He let out a short exhalation and bent his head briefly. Okay, he’d admitted it. He wanted her.

  But there were problems with that. She still saw him as her little brother’s friend. Or maybe not…he was pretty sure she felt those sparks that sizzled around them. Or she felt something. Maybe.

  The other problem was that her husband had just died. Fuck. He hated thinking about her in love with another man. Was she still in love with him? Was she heartbroken and grieving?

  It had been a year. That was enough time for someone to move on. Wasn’t it?

  Or maybe the guy had been the love of her life and she’d never get over him. Fuck.

  All these questions backed up in his brain.

  He looked up at her as she said good night to more customers with that luminous smile. The bar was empty now, other than Liam, Sorcha, and Arden, and whoever was left cleaning up in the kitchen. And him.