pregnant Ria were walking down the porch stairs.
“What’s going on?” Matthew asked, getting out of the SUV.
Fitz forced himself not to hurry. Not to push past the others to get his eyes on Belinda and make sure she was all right. How the hell could there be flooding? There wasn’t a river or creek or even a stream anywhere nearby.
“The hot-water heater died,” Ria explained, “and it exploded all over the hallway.”
“Leaked,” Jacob added with a fond smile at his wife.
She made a face at him. “With the amount of water that ended up everywhere, it was more of an explosion than a leak.”
“It is a mess.” Jacob shook his head. “But Belinda has already ordered and paid for a new water heater. She’s pretty amazing. We’re heading out to pick it up for her now.”
Fitz really wanted to get inside to where Belinda was, but he could hardly shove the others aside when he hadn’t even been invited to go in.
“You need some help?” Matthew asked. “I don’t think Ria is in any shape to help you handle a water heater.”
Ria was softer and gentler than Belinda, but she had her share of the same spirit. She scowled. “I’m in very good shape. I’m just pregnant.” She paused. “But I’m definitely not going to haul a water heater. Maybe one of you guys could go with us so Jacob doesn’t have to wrestle with the thing alone.”
Fitz should probably volunteer, but he didn’t want to. He waited to see what Matthew would do.
“I’ll go,” Matthew said, glancing over at Fitz. “Unless you’d rather go, in which case I can help with the cleanup.”
“I can help clean up,” Fitz said mildly. “No problem.”
“Thanks,” Jacob said, giving Matthew a light punch on the shoulder.
They started toward Jacob’s pickup truck, so Fitz turned toward the house, finally able to escape and get to Belinda, but Ria put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Hey.”
He paused, his eyebrows pulling together in an unspoken question.
“She’s upset,” Ria murmured. “Don’t tease her.”
Fitz’s heart gave a little clench. “I won’t. Promise.”
“Thanks.” Ria smiled at him, looking momentarily just like her sister. Then she put her hands on her rounded belly and hurried to the truck to join Jacob and Matthew.
Fitz went inside.
The living room looked normal—perfectly clean and well furnished with comfortable pieces in earth tones and dark wood. Open french doors led into the dining room, and from there a wide opening led into the kitchen. There wasn’t a basement in this house, so the water heater was in a closet in the hallway near the downstairs bedroom and bathroom.
Fitz turned the corner into the hall and saw it was covered with soaked towels. Since there was still no Belinda in sight, he walked over the towels so he could see into the bedroom.
She was in there, mopping up more water. She must have run out of towels because there was still pooled water on the hardwood floor.
Fitz took in the details quickly before his eyes lingered on Belinda’s body. Her back was to him, and she was leaning over. She wore a short bathrobe in some sort of thin, soft material that clung to her body. Her legs were bare—long and toned and gorgeous. Her ass was tight and rounded deliciously, all of it displayed through the thin fabric. Her long dark brown hair was loose and wavy. She normally pulled it back, so it was strangely stunning as it hung down over her shoulders.
Fitz’s whole body came alive as he experienced the most intense wave of pure want he could remember.
She turned around just then. Of course she did. Right when he was stunned. Frozen. Pulsing with feeling. And staring like a teenage boy.
“Why did they send you?” she asked, rolling her eyes in that way she always did around him.
He opened his mouth to answer but couldn’t get a word out immediately. He was never like this, even back in his old life when he used to care about the impression he made on other people. He’d never had the wind knocked out of him by the sight of a woman before, even as disheveled and half-dressed as Belinda was right now.
But now that she’d turned around, he could see that something was different about her. Something that didn’t look quite right. Her skin was polished. Her cheeks were pink. Her eyelids were shadowed. And her dark eyelashes were much longer than normal. The makeup wasn’t overdone in that fake