The Ivy House - By Drea Stein Page 0,39

a movie-star mom, but he’d never known who his real father was and barely remembered Leland, his “stepfather.”

“Well, Chase has got it all: looks and money. So are you going to sleep with him?” Lynn pulled up another chair, the metal feet scraping across the word floor. Phoebe winced, but realized it didn’t matter. The floors needed to be redone.

“Sleep with him? Why would I want to sleep with him? He, along with the rest of the village, was trying to buy my house because they think I am some sort of West Coast harpy who wants to tear this place down and build some sort of modernist white box.”

Lynn waved her hand. “Don’t worry, I put my mom on it. She’ll let everyone know that you’re planning to restore the house to its former glory. Watch out: the ladies from the Historical Commission will be over here with old pictures and banana bread in about two days.”

“Thanks, I think.” Phoebe didn’t really care for banana bread.

“So you don’t want to sleep with him?” Lynn’s voice was coy.

Phoebe sighed. “What I am saying is that he clearly wants something from me. I don’t think it would be a good thing if I got involved, again, with someone who doesn’t want me—only something from me. Besides, I barely know him. I’m not actually a ‘buy me a drink and I’ll go to bed with you’ kind of girl.”

“You know, there’s no harm in trying it out. And just think of what the papers would say.” Lynn’s eyes went dreamy. “The fans would love it. It might be good for your business, you know.”

Phoebe reached out and grabbed Lynn’s hand. “No way. Don’t even go there. If a reporter ever found out that Chase and I had even talked. Ugh. It may seem cool to be in the paper, but really, it’s not. I left Los Angeles to get away from all that.”

“OK,” Lynn said, and Phoebe saw that her friend’s eyes mirrored her own seriousness. “Mum’s the word. But if you do sleep with him, I need all of the details, please.”

“Lynn!”

“What,” Lynn said laughing, “I’m a sleep-deprived resident who works at a children’s clinic. All I see are moms and married dads. I need some vicarious thrills. Please.”

Phoebe just laughed.

Chapter 17

“And just what do you think you’re doing?”

Phoebe almost lost her balance, waved her arms, and then finally managed to hop off the rusty folding chair and land with a thump on the floorboards. They gave a little beneath her weight, and she swore as she felt the whole house shake.

Chase Sanders darkened the doorway, hands on his hips, filling the space, such that he was a silhouette against the light blue of the sky.

Phoebe stood, her balance regained and looked at him. It was hard to make out his features, but she was sure that there was the unmistakable curl of lips. Laughing. Chase Sanders was trying not to laugh at her again.

She kept looking at him and he lost the battle, erupting into a full-bellied laugh that Phoebe might have been tempted to join in with if she hadn’t been the object of it.

“I was changing a light bulb.” She tried to keep the prim tone out of her voice, but knew she hadn’t quite succeeded.

“The light’s out? Are you sure you shouldn’t have had the electricity turned on first?” He took a step in and Phoebe could see that he had dispensed with the business attire and just wore jeans and a dark gray v-neck sweater that fitted him tightly, allowing a display of his chest. Definitely impressive, Phoebe thought.

“I did.” And Phoebe had. She didn’t mention that she had cable and internet. Really, it was none of his business.

Chase flipped a switch by the door, and behind him, the light on the porch went on and off.

“See. It works. But this,” she pointed to the chandelier above her head, “doesn’t. There were some light bulbs in the kitchen.”

He moved in closer and she could finally see him now that he wasn’t framed in the glare from outside. Chase pushed his sunglasses back on top of his head and reached out.

Phoebe reared back, but his hand gently touched her hair, pulled back in a ponytail.

“Cobweb,” he said, and she could feel the warmth of his fingers brush along her scalp, sending a tingle down the back of her neck.

There was an easy smile as he cleared the cobweb away and shook his hand to rid himself of