hooked.
His words finally registered. “Wait . . . what?”
“Nothing.”
She reached for the hose. “I can get that.”
He set the lock and let the meter click as the tank filled. “It’s under control.”
“Are you going to pay for it, too?”
“If you need me to.”
Oh, lord, that smile. With the body and the face it amounted to a triple punch to a woman’s control. Smashed her common sense into a million pieces.
Much more of this and she’d be making him dinner. “Should I be worried?”
“About?” He put his hands in his front pockets. The move lifted his tee and showed off that sexy tattoo again.
Why couldn’t he have a duck or a naked woman or something totally unappealing? “You being nice to me.”
“Maybe I’m a nice guy.”
That was starting to be her concern. If he was who he appeared to be, then all those years of running around and investigating were a waste of time. Worse, her father would never accept news of a good-guy Hanover and she’d get stuck between the men and infuriate her father when she refused to ruin Declan. Not a battle she relished.
“Don’t sound so impressed with yourself,” she said, her voice more gruff than intended because of the thoughts running through her head.
He gave his eyes and neck an exaggerated roll. “We’re not going to fight, are we? Because I haven’t had my coffee yet and think I may need caffeine to do battle with you.”
“I told you I was done with fighting.” And she truly wanted to be. This went beyond his looks to a piece inside her that had snapped. She just didn’t crave justice, or what she’d been taught equaled justice, with the same intensity as she did before.
“I want to believe you, Leah.”
“Then do. What’s wrong with the truck?” When his eyes narrowed, she laughed. “Really, no games. I saw you looking under the hood.”
“Do you know something about engines?”
“Not a thing, but I do know mechanics and thought I could direct you.”
The gas clicked off and he put it away and closed her tank again. “No trouble. I was adding oil.”
“Good.”
“Is it?”
“You don’t trust me.” She didn’t ask it as a question because she knew the answer.
“I want to.”
For some reason she expected a smart-ass reply, not a serious one. “You do?”
A car horn honked and a man rolled down his window. “You two almost done?”
Declan nodded. “Sorry about that.”
The guy waved him off. “No trouble.”
“Looks like we are done.” Declan smiled down at her. “For now.”
***
Beck dropped in the chair across from Declan at the dinner table. He shifted papers and files around. “Tell me what we’re doing again.”
Declan snatched back the notepad he’d been using before Beck read through the notes and started dissecting them. Last thing he needed was a heavy dose of lawyer-ese. “Having the worst Saturday night in history.”
“That much is obvious, but what’s with all the documents?”
That’s the part Declan wasn’t quite ready to share. Being in the house with Beck for a few days felt right. They fixed the immediate problems and did a few woodworking projects. Well, Declan did, while Beck supervised. But launching into the offer for a buyout from Leah and their upcoming meeting struck Declan as premature. He wanted to see what she had to say first.
He also didn’t need twenty-four hours of brotherly advice about women, and that’s exactly what Beck would give him. The two times Leah’s name came up, Beck offered his thoughts on how best to handle her, and he wasn’t talking about the house.
Declan put his hands on top of the two files on either side of his notepad. “I’m trying to piece the house ownership records together.”
“Why?” Beck opened a beer then opened a second and passed it to Declan.
“I figure you’re not the only one who should know what’s going on.” And that was almost the truth. Up until now, before meeting Leah, Declan had blocked most of the details. He knew they owned Shadow Hill together and that it was in big financial trouble. End of story.
Now that he wanted to keep the house, he had to educate himself on every piece of paper. Mostly, he had to be ready for whatever argument Leah threw at him tomorrow.
Beck leaned on the back two legs of his chair. “I kind of like being the one in the know.”
“Of course you do.”
“Look, the house ownership is pretty simple.”
Declan learned long ago not to say that. It didn’t apply to any part of his life.