Lighting Her Fuse Read online

  Lighting hER fuse

  Dru Parkes

  Copyright © 2019 by Dru Parkes.

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Hannah

  As I hauled the small desk out from the back of my car and onto the driveway, my back gave a warning twinge. Maybe the decision to move my stuff into my grandparents’ old home on my own and save money by not hiring professional movers was not the best one I’d made recently.

  But this was the start of my new life, and I intended to make it a good one.

  I straightened up, rubbed my back, and glanced toward the house, telling myself that it would all work out just fine.

  Okay, so I had cash-flow problems, but I also had a lovely old house that had been bequeathed to me by my wonderful grandma and grandpa. That was a whole lot more than many people had. I’d lived in the old house for most of my life, right up until I’d gone off to college.

  Turning, I leaned back against the half-in/half-out desk and felt my throat tighten as thoughts of my grandparents swept over me along with copious wonderful memories.

  I missed them so much. There seemed to be this awful ache in my heart since they’d both passed away almost a year ago and within two months of each other. A blessing, of course, at least for them. I don’t think grandpa would have survived happily without grandma long term, and vice-versa. But that didn’t stop me from being heartbroken.

  No point being maudlin, as grandma would say. No point wishing things were different. And I really did have so much to be thankful for.

  I turned back to the car, took a huge breath in, then pulled at the desk again.

  No sooner had I started yanking, when an arm shot out from behind me and made me squeal. I spun around and stared up into gorgeous blue eyes in a face more rugged than handsome.

  The stranger held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry. Just didn’t want you injuring yourself.”

  I swallowed, taking a couple of breaths, unsure if I was still reacting to the shock of being startled or if it was something else entirely. Hell, he was built. Wide shoulders, big chest, perfectly displayed beneath a battered leather jacket and navy shirt.

  “I’m okay,” I said although I wasn’t sure it was possible for any woman to be okay when confronted by someone like him. My pulse had hiked up several levels, and it had nothing to do with the physical effort of shifting the desk.

  “I’m okay,” I said again. “Which is more than can be said for this desk. It’s really jammed solid.”

  “Let me have a try.” He smiled, unsettling my pulse even more. That was some smile he had—crooked and so damn sexy. The kind of smile that made me think of dark nights, silky sheets, and all manner of naughty happenings.

  Before I could ponder further on those happenings, he bent over to grab the sides of the desk and I got an eyeful of his backside…

  Wow, and double wow.

  “Yeah,” he said straightening up. “Well and truly stuck. It’d be best to push it all the way inside, move it around some, and then pull it out again.”

  I had to swallow. My mind had gone off on a completely different train of thought to the one it should have been on. Because he was talking about the desk. The desk.

  In my defense, he really did have a mighty fine rear view. Distracting in the extreme. It wasn’t my fault I was distracted. A girl was only human.

  “I tried to move the car seat forward,” I explained. “But it’s jammed tight.”

  He shoved the item hard into the back seat. “Try it now.”

  I got into the driver’s side and hiked the seat forward. It moved a bare inch. “Does that help?”

  “Yeah. Reckon it’ll shift now.”

  When I got out of the car, he already had the desk halfway out. “Let me help you,” I said hurrying around to his other side. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

  As if. The man was solidly built. All well over six feet of him.

  He tilted the end of the desk so he could jiggle the rest of it out of the car. Seconds later the unit sat on the driveway, and he straightened and blew out a breath. “There you go. Where inside do you want it?”

  I was about to tell him that he’d been kind enough and that I could take it from there, but since it would likely take me ages to maneuver the thing up the driveway and over the ledge to get it into the hallway, I wasn’t about to be an idiot and cut off my nose to spite my face.

  “The hallway would be good. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Wouldn’t have asked if I’d minded.” He bent down, tilted the desk and then somehow managed to hike it across his shoulder so that two of its legs dangled in front of him and two dangled behind. It wobbled precariously as he strode down the driveway toward the house, and I hurried after him.

  Just as he reached the door, the thing looked like it was about to topple backward and I sprung forward to help.

  “I’ve got it,” he said and edged inside the hallway. “Where’s it going?”

  “Just there,” I pointed to the space I’d selected for it.

  He dropped it down where I indicated, then shuffled it back until it sat flush with the wall. I took a moment to admire how good it looked there, before turning to admire how even better he looked standing in my hallway.

  It was a roomy space, but it didn’t seem that way now. He filled it. Not just his physique, which was very impressive, but with his sheer magnetism.

  A slow burn moved across my belly as he fixed me with his hooded gaze. He dusted off his hands. “Did you hurt yourself?” he asked, nodding toward my back when I just stared at him. “Outside, I thought I saw you rub your back.”

  “No. I’m fine.” In fact, I felt pretty much numb right then. Even if I had hurt myself, looking at him was the best antispasmodic on the market. “Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.”

  My fingers itched to brush away the fine dust that layered lightly on his shoulders, to feel for myself if those shoulders were as hard and muscular as they looked. But since that wasn’t appropriate, I regretfully kept my hands to myself.

  “You’ve got dust on your jacket.”

  He tilted his head to where I pointed, then brushed his own hands over the leather. “No problem.”

  I didn’t want to chance that he would leave before I got to have a few more minutes to ogle at him. “Would you like coffee?” I said before I could stop myself. “It’s the least I can do to thank you for your help.”

  He looked at me with those gorgeous blue eyes in a way that made me wonder if he thought I was coming on to him. Maybe he wouldn’t be far off the mark. Any other time I might have played it up, but for the foreseeable future I needed to stay focused on keeping this roof over my head.

  “Coffee would be great.”

  As I started to move through to the kitchen, he stopped me. “You should close up your car first. The door’s still open and I noticed you’ve got things still left to bring inside.”

  “Oh, right.” I could have kicked myself for not thinking to close up, maybe because I was too busy getting an eyeful of my hunky helper. “It’s a good neighborhood, but you can’t be too careful.”

  “Why don’
t you put the coffee on,” he said, holding out his big calloused hand for the keys. “I’ll get the rest of your stuff and close up the car for you.”

  I should have protested. Told him that I’d already put him to enough trouble, but there I was dropping the keys in his palm and then watching him walk back outside. It had been a while since I’d found myself instantly attracted to a guy and wanting to know a little bit more about him.

  Plus, it was maybe foolhardy to invite a complete stranger into my home like this. The thing was, I didn’t get an off vibe from him, and he seemed genuine enough.

  I busied myself in the kitchen, unpacking my coffee machine and the staples I’d bought with me so that in my first night here I at least wouldn’t die of thirst or starve. When I’d dug out what I’d need for coffee, I plugged in the machine and jumped back in alarm when a loud bang reverberated around the kitchen.

  As I stood there shaking, my stranger hurried into the kitchen. “Are you okay?”

  I thumped a hand to my chest. “Fine. Can’t say the same for my coffee machine though.”

  He walked over to the machine and pulled out the plug. Then went to switch on the kitchen light. “Electrics have blown,” he said. “Where’s your fuse box?”

  Still with my hand clutched to my chest, I shook my head. “No idea.”

  “Okay. I’ll take a look around.”

  “I’m putting you to a lot of trouble,” I said guiltily as I followed him out of the kitchen. “You must have somewhere you’re supposed to be.”

  “Shouldn’t take long to fix.”

  After a few minutes looking around the obvious places, we found the electric circuit box in a cupboard in the utility area. He shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to me.

  “I don’t even know your name,” I said resisting the urge to sniff his jacket in the hope I could get a better whiff of his enticing scent. “I’m Hannah.”

  “Jack,” he said hunkering down and opening the box. “So, you moving in here, Hannah?”

  Distracted for a moment by the solid strength of his thighs, I blinked. “That’s the plan.”

  “It’s a big place,” he said as he flicked down switches. “Huge for one person. Anyone else moving in with you?”

  “Not in the immediate future, but I’ve thought about it.” In truth, I’d done more than think. After doing my sums it was more than likely I’d have no other option. “Not sure who though. I’ve been away at art school for three years, and in that time my best friend got married and has a place of her own, while most of my other friends have moved away.”

  “What kind of art?”

  “Decorative. I create and make my own jewelry.”

  “Sounds great. Do you have a toolbox handy?”

  “For making jewelry?”

  He tossed me a look over his shoulder, his quirky grin doing ridiculous things to my insides. “For fixing electric outages.”

  “Oh.” I could have kicked myself. He had to think I was an idiot. “My grandpa probably kept one somewhere. I’ll go and look.”

  I was back a few minutes later, having located a rusty old toolbox in the utility. Surprisingly, some of the tools seemed new, hardly used. It hurt my heart to think my grandpa had probably bought them shortly before he died, and maybe hadn’t even gotten to use them.

  “Are these any good?”

  Still hunkered down, Jack checked the contents of the box I held out to him. “Yeah. That should do as a temporary measure, but from the look of some of this wiring you’ll need to think about upgrading sooner rather than later.”

  Great. Just what I needed to hear. “How much sooner?”

  He pursed his lips as he clipped a wire. “I’d make it a priority. Some of these old houses haven’t been updated in years.”

  I wasn’t sure how in hell I was supposed to think about upgrading. I was just making ends meet as it was. But safety couldn’t be messed with. “Do you know any good electricians?”

  “As it happens, I do. He’ll do you an excellent job and I’ll make sure he gives you a good deal.”

  “That would be great.” I’d have to see about finding another part-time job, maybe even getting a loan against the house. I hadn’t wanted to do that unless I had to, but it seemed I had to. “Can you leave me his contact details?”

  “I’ll do better than that,” he said as he flicked a switch, then closed the box door. He stood, towering over me and making my pulse kick up. “I’ll give him a call for you.”

  “Really?” I stepped back as my breathing became choppy just standing next to him. He had a really strange effect on me, probably because he was so gorgeous, and I’d been starved of male company while I’d been so focused on my studies.

  He smiled. “How about we test out the coffee machine?” he said as I picked up his jacket and handed it to him. “Make sure everything’s in working order.”

  I had no doubt everything about him was in working order.

  I gave myself a mental shake. “I bet you could do with a coffee after all this manual labor,” I said aiming for humor to offset the unsettled feeling I had when he looked at me like he was doing now. “I might even be able to find a cookie or two.”

  He shrugged into his jacket, a glint in his eye. “I’m a sucker for cookies. I’ve got a sweet tooth.”

  My stomach did little flips as I headed back to the kitchen. I gingerly plugged in the coffee machine, relieved when the kitchen didn’t vibrate again. “Fantastic,” I said, then busied myself with the coffee. “You know your way around electrics.”

  He pulled out a chair and sat at the old pine kitchen table. “I’ve picked up some tips along the way.”

  “Along the way to what?”

  He hesitated, then raised his eyebrows. “I’m a building contractor,” he said, keeping his gaze on mine as if he were expecting that I might react to that. “Trey, the electrician I mentioned, is my business partner. We specialize in commercial properties.”

  I leaned back against the counter and looked over at him. “So that’s why you’re so interested in my property.”

  A wary look shot into his eyes, then he shrugged. “Hard not to be. It’s a great place. Has potential.”

  “It must be good working for yourself. That’s really what I’d like to do. Eventually.”

  “Creating and selling jewelry?”

  “Yes. I’ve been dabbling with selling online, but I’m not earning enough to pay the bills yet. I’m planning to set up my own online shop eventually.”

  “Sounds great. What does pay the bills?”

  “Part-time virtual assistant work for a couple of online businesses. Just general admin.”

  “Like it?”

  “I do, actually.” The interest in his eyes was drawing me in. He seemed to listen with his whole being, as if he was really interested in what I was saying. I found it unsettling, even as I found it appealing. Thankfully, the machine chose that moment to ting its readiness. “How do you like your coffee?”

  “Black. Two sugars.”

  I turned to pour the coffee, then took both mugs over to the table. I sat opposite him, and although we were a good three feet apart with a table between us, I could still feel his warmth like a tangible thing.

  I blew on my coffee then sipped it, aware that he was watching me.

  I looked up, met all that sizzling blue. Our gazes locked and my insides did all kinds of ridiculous things even as my nipples tingled with awareness and a warmth spread between my legs.

  I swear I could see the heat in his eyes, the interest, and it made me wish for things that I didn’t even know I’d wanted.

  Long moments went by as I imagined how it would feel to have his mouth on mine, how it would feel to be naked in his bed as he explored my body with his undoubtedly skilled and talented hands.

  Then his mouth hiked up in that lopsided grin. “I seem to remember you promised me a cookie.”

  Chapter Two

  Jack

  She had a whole lot on
her plate. I could tell, even though she made light of it. I could tell from the look in her pretty brown eyes. They had a whole language of their own.

  I’d noticed the wistfulness there when she’d handed me her late grandfather’s toolbox, the light when she’d told me of her dreams and goals, and then the startled look when I’d mentioned her electrics needed updating.

  So, she had money flow problems. That should have been music to my ears, but I couldn’t quite find any pleasure in knowing that. Not that I usually took pleasure in people’s financial difficulties, far from it, it was just that knowing she was in difficulties might make her more open to the proposition I intended to make to her. A proposition that would certainly put an end to any money worries she might have.

  As I watched her busy herself opening a packet of cookies, I took a moment to enjoy the view. At six four I probably had a good ten inches on her, but I sensed there was a backbone beneath those pretty curves and dips of her gorgeous body. A kind of feminine toughness that intrigued me more than I could say.

  Long fair hair currently tied back, and those brown eyes could likely stop a man at fifty paces if she batted them at him. Her mouth was…kissable.

  Shit.

  I shifted in my chair, annoyed at myself. While there was no problem with a man admiring a beautiful woman, I had other more important things to deal with than hitting on this one, despite the fact she was hot and so damn tempting.

  I’d kept a close eye on her reaction when I’d told her I was in construction, checking for any hint of recognition or suspicion. But it seemed Trey had managed to keep everything on the down low, which meant Hannah wouldn’t have been forewarned about what I’d come here to propose and wouldn’t be ready to talk herself out of accepting.

  She smiled as she came back with the plate of cookies and slid them across to me.

  “So, you said the toolbox belonged to your grandpa,” I said. “Was this your grandparents house?”

  I already knew it was, of course, but I needed an opening line to start up the conversation I’d come here to have with her.

  “Yes,” she said settling back and looking around the roomy, if dated and tired kitchen. “They both passed away about a year ago, and they left the house to me.”