Love Is Crazy (Love Is… #1) (21 page)

“I hope to call this place home. Just need to find the actual home to make it official.”

A deep baritone voice came from behind her. “You didn’t like the hotel?” Juliet jumped and squeaked a little before spinning around, her eyes wide and her hand on her heart.

There, standing in line almost directly behind her, was the delectable Ian Moore.

J
ulz let
out a long breath and a shaky laugh. “Wow, Ian. You scared me.”

“I can see that.”

Today, he was looking way more approachable in jeans, a t-shirt, and honest to goodness cowboy boots. Dressed down or not, he was still hot as hell. Maybe even better looking now than he was in the tux because Juliet could see the strong muscles in his arms and chest, the flat tummy that was sure to be all rippling abs under the thin cotton of his shirt. And he had the whole, scruffy, didn’t shave this morning deal going, which only set off his eyes all the more. Juliet suddenly wished she’d spent more time in front of the mirror.

“What’s this about not finding a place? You didn’t like the hotel? Bobby too grouchy for ya?”

Juliet stepped to the side while Ellie handed her a huge cup of coffee and went to work bagging up the rest of her order. “No, although he’s really not the most welcoming guy out there, is he?” Ian laughed and Juliet immediately wanted to make him laugh again. “He wouldn’t rent me a room,” she continued, eyes widening at the taut look spreading across Ian’s face.

“And why’s that?” His voice had an edge she didn’t like.

Not sure what she’d done to upset him, Juliet smoothed her hair back and squared her shoulders. Michael would have expected her to drop her eyes to the ground and go quiet. Julz wasn’t at all interested in being that girl anymore. “Because of Lulu, my dog.”

Ian laughed again. “Fucking Lulu.”

Juliet’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry, but who names their dog
Lulu
?” Ian asked through a broad smile.

Juliet looked him over from head to toe, all the while her heart pounding away in her chest. “And who are you to judge me for how I named my dog?” Michael would have grabbed her by the arm and thrown her over his knee, pulled up her skirt and spanked her ass until she cried for holding eye contact this long, let alone talking back like this.

It felt
so
.
damn.
good
. to be free.

Ian laughed again and it felt even better. “I’m Ian Moore, that’s who. I’ll judge you, and your little dog, too.”

“Did you for really real just reference the Wizard of Oz? On purpose?”

“And who are you to judge me for what movies I reference?”

Julz put a hand on her hip. “I’m Juliet Lane, that’s who.” She lifted an eyebrow and turned her back to Ian, pretending to see how close Ellie was to having her breakfast ready, but mostly just needing to hide the blush that worked its way up her chest and flared across her cheeks along with a giddy little smile. She liked talking to Ian.

Thankfully, Ellie rescued her and showed up with her order. “I threw a couple extra napkins in there. It’d be a shame to ruin such a pretty dress.”

Juliet looked down and fought the urge to say ‘this old thing?’ because while it was true, the dress was old, it’d only come across as false modesty. And she absolutely, positively, one hundred percent couldn’t stand any kind of falsehood.

Ellie smiled at Ian. “What can I get you, Lieutenant?”

Julz turned her back to Ian and made a surprised little face. Lieutenant, huh? Well, now, isn’t that a surprise? Ian Moore’s not only the kind of guy who drives fancy black cars and attends engagement parties in tuxedos, the kind of guy that owns beachfront rental properties, but he’s also a cowboy boot wearing, jeans and t-shirt sporting, military officer? Just who was this guy? This Ian Moore?

Juliet sipped her coffee and closed her eyes in pleasure as she swallowed. So good. She smiled at Ellie and tipped her coffee cup in Ian’s direction. “Nice meeting you, Ellie. And nice seeing you again, Lt. Moore,” she said and headed for the door despite every ounce of her body begging her to stay and keep talking to Ian.

“Juliet,” he called and she liked the way her name sounded in his voice. She turned in time to see Ian finish giving Ellie his order and then beckon her back over to the counter.

Juliet took one glance through the window towards Lulu. “I’ve got the dog in the car. Meet me outside?” She had to speak more loudly than she wanted to and the other customers were busy watching the interaction. Some politely trying to hide their curiosity while others stared unabashedly at Juliet as if they thought they’d find her family secrets written somewhere on her body.

Ian nodded and she couldn’t help the smile that blossomed from the bottom of her feet and bloomed on her face.
Take it easy,
she reminded herself as she floated on little imaginary clouds over to her car.
You’re not looking for a man. What you need is a place to stay and a way to make money.

Seemed like she wasn’t in the mood to listen to herself, though because as soon as she saw Ian exit Good Beginnings, her heart started pounding and her belly started growing a whole field of butterflies. She waited until she knew he’d seen her and then leaned into her car to let Lulu out.

She knew her dress was short and by bending over she was giving him an eyeful, a tantalizing glimpse of juuuust enough leg. She made sure he had a chance to take a good long look and his expression when she turned back around said he’d liked what he’d seen. It felt good to be seen, good to flirt. She took a deep breath and let it out as Ian strode towards her, all boots and biceps and tummy fluttering smiles.

Juliet took a long drink of her coffee and swallowed hard. She kind of wanted to touch him again, the memory of how hard his chest had felt under his tuxedo jacket ever so fresh in her mind. Strike that. She didn’t just
kind of
want to touch him again, she
definitely
wanted to touch him again.

“Hey,” he said as he came to a stop beside her and leaned against the car.

“Hey.”

“Long time no see. How ya been?”

He kept his face so pleasantly stoic that Juliet was a little thrown on how to respond. She went with light and sarcastic. “It
has
been a long time since I saw you inside Good Beginnings, just now.”

“Longest five minutes of my life.” He said it without flinching, without winking or grinning or doing anything to weaken the words by making light of them.

Juliet blushed and smiled again but tried to cover it by taking a bite of her sandwich. She broke off a piece and fed it to Lulu rather than climbing into the back seat to get her doggie bowl and food and giving Ian a chance to walk away.

“Where did you sleep last night?” Ian unwrapped his sandwich and took a man-sized bite.

Juliet tapped the hood of the Hyundai. “Right there.” There was an odd sense of pride in the statement.

Ian swallowed the bite in his mouth with effort. “In your car?” Clearly he didn’t share her positive feelings about the experience. “Why didn’t you call me?”

Truth was, she hadn’t really thought about it, but now that she did, she wasn’t really sure she’d have called even if she
had
remembered his card in her purse. “Put yourself in my shoes. New to town. Showed up without a plan. Get help from a random stranger and then, when your non-existent plan lands you in a tight spot, would
you
want to call that same stranger and ask for even
more
help?” Juliet shook her head and took a drink. “I know I wouldn’t. It was my fault I didn’t have a place to go. No need to make you suffer the consequences of my poor planning.”

Ian shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. “There’s some sense there, I guess. I still don’t like that you spent a night in your car, but I can respect your decision not to call given the circumstances.” He held up a finger and put on a serious face. “This time.”

Juliet smiled and the wind played in her skirt, brushing the light cotton against her legs. For just a moment, she felt out of time, as if this instant could stretch on and on until the rest of forever.

“So what are you going to do?” Ian asked and reality came crashing down around her.

“I was gonna look in the paper, see if there are some places in my price range. Hunt down the library and check online. I’m not opposed to another night or two in the car, if it comes to that.”

“You don’t get service here?”

It took her a second to parse the question, but then she realized that Ian was asking about her phone. Because, in this day and age, who didn’t have a smartphone with instant access to the internet? Women on the run, that’s who.

She smiled wryly and pulled out the prepaid Walmart phone. “Oh, I get service,” she said, flipping the thing open and closed before tossing it into her purse. “It’s just not very easy to Google stuff on that thing.” She tried to keep her smile light and easy in the wake of his ever growing judgement. She watched it darken his face and found that she much preferred his smile.

“That’s settled then,” he said with a perfunctory nod. “You’ll move into one of my beach houses.” And then he smiled and it was like the sun parting the clouds. “I know just the one. It’s newly remodeled, all new appliances, counters, the bathroom is updated. Huge walk in closet in the master—”

Juliet held up her hands and cut him off. “Whoa there, Cap’n. I appreciate the offer and it sounds absolutely wonderful, but there’s no way I can afford that and I’m not looking for handouts.”

Ian studied her. “What
can
you afford?”

Juliet sighed. “I’m here, in a new town without a job, sporting a prepaid phone and a car full of not enough stuff.” Juliet waited for him to respond and she finally sighed into his silence. “Not much. I can’t afford much.”

Ian studied her and Juliet fidgeted under the intensity of his stare. “What are you running from?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“The law?”

Juliet choked on a laugh. “God no.”

“Trouble?”

She sighed and nodded. “Of the crazy male variety.” And that was all she was going to say about that. That was already more than she wanted to say about that. If he wasn’t satisfied with the answer, then he could just go on about his merry way and leave her to figure this stuff out on her own.

“And you didn’t do anything to incite said male craziness? Take his stuff? Ruin his life?”

Juliet bristled. “Of course not.” She hadn’t finished her sandwich, but wasn’t all that interested now that the butterflies in her stomach had morphed into plain old nauseating nerves. She set it on its wrapping paper on the roof of her car and took a drink of coffee.

“Hey,” Ian said, holding out his hands, “you can’t fault me for asking.”

“No, I guess I really can’t, but can we please change the subject? First day of my new life and all that. I’d rather focus on looking forward.”

Ian stared off into the distance and Juliet took the time to try and calm down her churning stomach. All the awesomeness of starting her fancy new life was starting to wear off and all she had left was the realization that she had very little money, no job, and nowhere to stay. And to make matters worse, she was going to cry. And there was nothing worse than crying in front of anyone, let alone a man.

She swiped at her eyes and hoped he wouldn’t see, but of course he did anyway. “Oh hell, what have I done?” While he sounded totally put out, that didn’t stop him from reaching into the paper bag and pulling out some of the extra napkins Ellie had put in there. He wiped her eyes, leaning in close enough for her to smell his cologne and then stayed there even after her eyes were dry. He ran his thumb across her cheekbone and Juliet’s breath caught in her throat. Her lips parted. The muscles in her stomach clenched. It didn’t make any sense. None at all. But in this moment she thought that if Ian kissed her, she’d kiss him right back.

And then Ian pulled away and cleared his throat. “That’s settled then,” he said, as if it really was.

“What’s settled?”

“I have a place that I just got my hands on—”

Juliet started to explain yet again that she couldn’t afford it and Ian gave her a stern look.

“This isn’t up for discussion, Juliet.” The tone of his voice had her snapping her mouth shut against what she was about to say. “The bones of the house are good,” he continued, “but the whole thing needs renovating. You’ll stay there in exchange for helping to get the place ready for a real renter.”

“How much?”

“Work? Oh, it needs new paint, new floors, new cabinets, a new deck. New everything, really.”

“No. That’s not what I meant. How much for the rent?”

“I won’t take your money. Just your help.”

“It’s a house on the beach?” Juliet bit her lip, trying to hold in the excitement.

“The ocean practically touches the back door.”

“And I could live there while we fix it up? For free?”

“Oh, darlin’, it won’t be free. I’ll need your blood, sweat, and tears.”

“And you’ll be there every day, while we work on it together?”

“Every. Day.” Ian gave her the cutest little ‘what do you think’ face. “So? You gonna agree with me on this or keep me standing out here on the street?”

Juliet wanted to jump up, wrap her legs around him, and plant a great big kiss on his face. What did she think? It sounded absolutely perfect! A house on the beach. No lease agreement for Michael to trace back to her. The ability to work off her debt.
And
, she’d get to spend lots of time with Ian while he did manly house fixing stuff. With his shirt off. Oh, please let him spend most of the time with his shirt off.