Sea of Dreams (The American Heroes Series Book 2) (21 page)

He grinned. “I hadn’t really thought about it, but I guess I can,” he said. “I thought you said you didn’t want any more kids.”

“Just like you said you’d never get married again. The right person and the right circumstances tend to change your mind.”

His smile grew and he pulled her closer. “In that case,” he said, “I can see two or three baby brothers to balance out all of these girls.”

She laughed. “Wait a minute, buster,” she said. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. I just said one.”

“Me and Beck Jr. against five women?” he shook his head. “That doesn’t seem like good odds.”

Blakesley giggled. “The first time Charlotte puts a princess crown on him or paints his fingernails, you’re going to come apart at the seams, right?”

“You’re going to have to call an ambulance ‘cuz I’m going to be having a fit on the floor.”

They shared a laugh and he kissed her, growing more amorous until they were interrupted by a voice out in the entry.

“Hello?”

It was a male voice and Beck stood up, putting Blakesley on her feet.  “Hello,” he called, heading for front of the house with Blakesley behind him. “Is that you, Kevin?”

“It’s me,” came the voice.

Beck and Blakesley came through the dining room to find a nice looking man standing just inside the entry.  He had dark blue eyes and a buzzed haircut. He smiled and extended his hand to Beck.

“Hey, Beck,” he said. “I see you were able to get in the Knox box.”

Beck shook his hand. “Thanks for the combination,” he turned to Blakesley and put his arm around her. “This is my girlfriend, Blakesley.  Baby, this is an old friend, Kevin Robinson. He’s a real estate agent.”

Blakesley shook Kevin’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said. “Did you turn him on to this house?”

Kevin nodded. “He called earlier and said he was looking for something old and restored, with a lot of bedrooms,” he replied. “Does this fit the bill?”

Blakesley just looked at Beck, who forced a smile at his friend. “It sure did,” he replied. “We love it.”

“Great,” Kevin said. “Did you want to make an offer?”

Beck looked at Blakesley and she could see the yearning in his eyes.  He really, really wanted them to all move in together, all one big happy family. She could feel his eagerness, the green eyes silently begging her to consider it.  She sighed faintly and looked at Kevin.

“What are they asking?” she wanted to know.

“Four hundred and ninety-nine thousand dollars,” Kevin replied. “They bought it about six months ago for two hundred and twenty thousand, but they gutted it and renovated the entire thing. “

“If we were to make an offer, what would you suggest?”

Kevin looked around, shrugging. “The market is sluggish right now,” he said. “I’d offer them four hundred and forty thousand and see what they say.”

Blakesley looked around also.  She wandered back into the living room, the bathroom under the stairs, and on into the kitchen. The men followed.  She looked at the hot water heater, the fuse box,  and flipped a few switches.   She inspected walls and doorjambs. 

Beck watched her, smiling at her inspection of the details, shrugging at Kevin when the man looked at him curiously. The woman obviously had something in mind and she clearly knew what she was doing. Finally, Blakesley turned to the real estate agent.

“The quality is good but they cut corners with things like paint,” she pointed to the wall. “See the bubbles? They’re tiny, but still visible. That means cheap paint.  The drywall looks good and so do the restored floors, so I’d say all in all, they probably put eighty to one hundred thousand dollars into restoring this place. That brings them up to a three hundred and twenty thousand dollar investment, maximum. I’d really be surprised if they spent that much, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. They’re asking four hundred and ninety nine thousand, which is about an eighty percent profit once everything is paid off.  That’s kind of high.  Offer them four hundred and ten thousand, they pay all closing costs, and see what they say.”

Kevin was looking at her with some surprise.  He looked at Beck, who was staring at Blakesley.  Beck cleared his throat softly.

“Hold on, Kevin,” he crooked a finger at Blakesley. “A word, please.”

Blakesley followed him into the master bedroom. He stopped when he came to the French doors and turned to her.

“Baby, I’m not sure I can afford that,” he said softly. “Kevin never told me what the list price was. He just sent me to an old house like I’d asked. We never even discussed price.”

She put her hands on his chest. “You said your condo is nearly paid off, right?”

“Right.”

“How much is left on the mortgage?”

“About twenty five thousand.”

“What did it appraise for?”

He shrugged. “The townhome next door the same size as mine sold for almost three seventy.”

She lifted her eyebrows at him. “What are you worried about?” she wanted to know. “Worst case, your property lists for three sixty.  It sells for three fifty.  You pay off the remainder of your mortgage and still have three hundred and twenty five thousand dollars to turn over into a new home.  Add a new mortgage of maybe one hundred and thirty thousand and you’re talking about a house payment that’s less than a thousand dollars a month. You can’t afford that?”

He scratched his chin, listening carefully to her.  “I’m not going to make an offer on anything unless you and I resolve the issue of whether or not you and the girls are moving in with me.”

She backed off somewhat, gazing up at him with big, confused eyes.  After a moment, she simply shook her head.

“I’m not ready to make that decision right now,” she said softly. “It’s just too soon, Beck. I told you that you needed to give me time.”

“Then I can’t make the offer.”

“You’d better go tell your friend.”

There was pain in his expression as he turned away from her and Blakesley felt about as bad as she possibly could. But she wasn’t ready to make the decision yet. It was a subject they would have to delve in to deeply to resolve and he would have to understand they couldn’t do it in a matter of hours.  Still, she felt very bad about it.  She didn’t want him to be embarrassed in front of his friend.  Quickly, she made her way out to where the men were.

Beck was just starting to say something to Kevin when Blakesley charged in. “Kevin,” she interrupted them. “Beck and I need to talk about what we really want to do, so don’t make the offer yet. Tell them you have an interested buyer but Beck is going away tonight and he’s not sure when he’ll be back, so we don’t want to rush this.”

Kevin looked at Blakesley, at Beck, and then back to Blakesley again. “Sure,” he agreed. “Sounds good. Call me when Beck gets back and we’ll go from there.”

Blakesley smiled at him. “Thanks,” she said sincerely. “And thanks for letting us see the house. We really love it.”

She took charge of getting them out of the house, of making sure the door was locked, and then getting rid of Kevin.  As he drove off, she turned to Beck.

“Look,” she held up her hands in a supplicating gesture. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do and I love you for it. But I don’t want to make a rash decision that’s going to make you wake up in a week and wonder what in the hell you’ve done, or worse, I don’t want to wake up in a week and want to back out of it. You’re so sweet and generous, and I know you mean well, but I’m going to stick to my guns on this one.  I need to think about moving in with you so soon and I need you to decide just what, exactly, you want to do about the marriage issue.  If you really don’t want to get married, then you need to be firm about that so I know where I stand. But if you do… well, then we’ll talk.   I guess the bottom line is that I want us both to be very, very sure.”

He reached out and grasped her hands. “I know,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry I pushed. I know you’re only concerned with what’s right for you and the girls.”

She put her palms on his cheeks, kissing him sweetly. “I’m concerned about what’s right for you, too. You’re a very big part of this equation, Beck.”

He smiled, returning her kisses. “I appreciate that,” he said, taking her hand. “Let’s head back to the hotel and see what the girls are up to. Maybe we can go get an early dinner.”

“I need to go over to the house because the City is going to be there at three o’clock.” Her smiled faded as he led her back to his truck. “What time will you be leaving us?”

He opened her door. “Around six.”

“Then I’ll call them and postpone the meeting. I don’t want to waste this afternoon with them if you’re going to be leaving me tonight.”

He winked at her, smiling when she did.  He led her to the truck and opened the door, closing it behind her after she climbed in and then entering the truck from his side.  He seemed subdued, disappointed, so she didn’t say any more.  She didn’t want the subject to become an open wound, constantly being rehashed. It was better to let it go for now so they could both think about it in peace.

Beck turned the truck on and pulled out, silently driving back to Coronado. 

Chapter Eleven

He’d made her promise not to move in to the house until he returned.

Blakesley had made the promise because she was so upset that he was leaving again that she was willing to promise him almost anything.  He’d taken the whole gang out to dinner in the gas lamp district of San Diego, to another fun and lively restaurant that the girls had loved.  Beck and Blakesley had sat next to each other, his arm around her most of the time or his hand holding hers, as Crosby and Charlotte provided great entertainment for them and those around them.

 It had all started when Crosby had somehow gotten a hold of her mother’s lip liner pencil and proceeded to draw on her baby sister’s face when her mother’s back was turned. Beck had caught sight of what she was doing before Blakesley did, but she quickly caught on and promptly took back her pencil, scolding Crosby.  Crosby wasn’t down and out for long as she went to sit on Beck’s lap to hopefully garner some sympathy from the man.  It had been difficult, but Beck had stayed strong against her whining, even when she pleaded for an ice-cream only dinner.

Cadee and Charlotte were surprisingly well behaved, but it was Crosby who was the problem child.  Beck thought it was all great fun to try and coerce her to sit, to eat her spaghetti, or to wipe her mouth.   She seemed to respond to him much better than her mother, who had her attention diverted with the other two.  Beck was coming to see that Crosby, the middle child, was only acting out for want of attention, which he gave to her.  It really made him miss Lizzie and the times they had shared together when she had been small.  Besides, Crosby was as cute as a button and genuinely sweet, so he didn’t mind one bit that she was demanding all of his attention. 

With dinner over, Blakesley had Nikki take the girls back to the hotel so she could spend some time alone with Beck before he had to report to base.  They had less than an hour to spend with each other so Beck put her in the car and drove her to Imperial Beach, a stretch of sand on the opposite side of the bay from Coronado.  They sat in the cab of his truck and watched the boats in the bay, cuddled up, talking about Beck’s childhood and how, as the only child, he spent a lot of time with his dad fishing in the sea. 

As the sun began to set, he laid the seat back and Blakesley ended up next to him as they reclined. Gentle kisses turned into a heavy make-out session, which turned into a lot of petting and Beck nursing hungrily at her breasts as his fingers probed her deep. Beck felt like a high school kid sneaking off to play grab-ass with his girlfriend because they almost got caught a couple of times as people walked past his truck.  Blakesley had a great sense of humor about it but they always went back to doing what they were doing, more amorously than before.

Time eventually caught up with them and Beck was forced to drive her back to the hotel so he could make to base on time.  They arrived at the hotel and sat in the parking lot, holding hands but not saying a word. Beck found himself wanting to tell her all about what was coming up but he refrained, simply because he didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was. She held herself together admirably but he was sure it was just for show. 

Time was growing short so he took her in his arms, kissed her and told her how much he loved her. It was really all he could do.  He promised he’d be back as soon as he could and she vowed to hold him to that promise.  And with that, she climbed out of the truck and waved bravely at him as he pulled away.

She didn’t cry until much later that night when the girls were in bed and no one could see her. 

***

It was about eight thirty in the evening and Blakesley had just put the girls to bed.  Closing the door softly, she wandered out into the living room of her rented rooms, looking around at the vanilla surroundings, thinking heavy thoughts of Beck now that she was alone for the first time that day.  It had been three weeks since she had last seen him and she was trying not to feel lonely or scared.  Beck had told her he would come back and she clung to that thought, like it was the only thing saving her from deep depression.

Weird how she’d known the man all of a couple of weeks and already she couldn’t remember what her life had been like before she had met him.  So she poured herself a glass of wine and planted her butt in front of the television, suddenly thinking that she didn’t even have a picture of him.  If something happened to the man, she wouldn’t have anything to remind her of one of the sweetest and most exciting times of her personal life. More depressing thought swamped her and she took a big drink of wine, hoping that would help ease the pain and uncertainty.

As she flipped the channels looking for something to watch, her cell phone rang.  She looked at the incoming number but didn’t recognize it.  Hesitantly, she answered the phone.

“Hello?”

There was a brief pause. “Hello?” it was a woman. “Hi, this is Gina Aguirre. Can I please speak with Blakesley?”