Boom - Sabrina Stark Page 0,38

"I can see you, too."

"Oh, for God's sake." Waverly turned to Roy and said, "Move her out of the way, will ya?"

Roy looked from Waverly to me and back again before telling her, "I'm pretty sure that's not in my contract."

"Fine," she snapped. "I'll do it."

But just as she started to move forward again, a familiar male voice from somewhere beyond the porch asked, "Is there a problem?"

In unison, we all turned to look. As we did, Brody sauntered into view, as if he had all the time in the world.

I smiled in relief. Obviously, he'd slipped out the back while I'd been guarding the front.

At the sight of him, Waverly said, "There you are!"

"Yeah," he said. "So what's the problem?"

Waverly jerked her thumb vaguely over her shoulder and said, "She won't let us in."

Brody gave a loose shrug. "Yeah, well. It's hard to find good help, you know?"

Hearing this, I didn't know whether to laugh or throttle him. And besides, by now I'd already pulled open the door nice and wide – not that Waverly seemed to notice.

And why? It was because she was giving Brody that look again, like he was the tallest, tastiest cup of coffee ever.

I spoke up. "If you wanted to come in, you should've said so."

At this, I swear Roy snickered, even if he did cover it up with a cough. As for Waverly, she ignored me completely as she turned away and hustled off the porch to join Brody on the front walkway.

With a flirty smile, she leaned toward him and asked, "So, where were you?"

"Here," he said. "Where were you?"

"I was trying to get inside." Her tone grew breathless as she said, "Did you know it rained the other night?"

"Yeah, so?"

Her smile widened. "I'm betting we've got major damage." She said this like it was a good thing.

But Brody wasn't smiling. "You think?"

"Sure," she said. "I heard it rained like four inches." Sounding nearly orgasmic, she breathed, "Just think of the 'before' footage. If the ceiling caved in, we're gold, baby."

Baby?

Good grief.

I spoke up. "If you were so excited about the rain, why didn't you look inside yesterday?"

It was a valid question. Yesterday, she'd shown up at this very house, only to spend all of her time griping about the lawn. To the best of my knowledge, she hadn't even bothered to open the front door.

With a sound of annoyance, she turned to face me. "Because I didn't know it rained until I saw last night's news coverage." Under her breath she added, "And besides, I didn't have a key."

I said, "But that didn't stop you today."

Her mouth tightened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, just now, you opened the door without one."

"Right, because today it was unlocked." She threw up her hands. "And why am I explaining myself to you?" She turned to Brody. "Did you know it was unlocked?"

"Yeah," he said. "Because I unlocked it."

"Oh." She perked up. "So? Was there rain damage?"

He gave a half-shrug. "Some."

With obvious disappointment, she said, "Just some?"

"Well, it's not like the ceiling caved in," he said.

She was frowning now. "Oh."

Brody glanced toward the house. "But we've got major damage on the third floor."

At this, she brightened considerably. "Really?"

"Yeah. The way it looks, the damage has been there a while."

"Thank God," she breathed. Turning to Roy, she said, "Go ahead and start setting up. Remember, we've got only two days to get the 'before' footage."

I asked, "What happens in two days?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she said, turning once again to beam at Brody. "We get straight to work."

Chapter 22

Brody

We. There was that word again. I gave Waverly a long, penetrating look. "So, you're gonna help?"

The question made her pause. "Excuse me?"

"You said we'd get straight to work. You mean fixing the house?"

She smiled. "Right."

I didn't smile back. "So, what are you gonna do?"

"Me?" she said. "I was thinking I'd help supervise."

It was time to set her straight. "Nope."

Her smile faltered. "What?"

"That's not gonna happen."

With a shaky laugh, she said, "Well, I mean I know that you're in charge of the actual work, but it's all a team effort, right?"

Normally, I might see it that way. But I'd come across Waverly's type before. She was the kind of person who'd never get her hands dirty, but would gunk up the gears for everyone else.

I told her, "You deal with your crew. I'll deal with mine."

She frowned. "You mean the film crew?"

"That is your crew, isn't it?"

"But what about everyone else?" she said. "Like plumbers and…" She made a