Worth Waiting For (5 page)

“What kind of women are you used to? I
couldn’t
leave you out here when I could help. My clothes can be cleaned, and if I find it hard to stay up later, I could always drink some coffee.”

His gaze connected with hers. “Like I said, that’s really nice of you.”

The intensity of his brown eyes caused a zing to pass through her. There was no mistaking it this time. Freddie made her feel things she
hadn’t
felt in a while. She swallowed down the uneasiness in her gut and made a production out of smoothing non-existent wrinkles from her skirt.

The light streaming on the battery wiggled until she brought the slight tremor of her hand under control. Silence descended between them. The only sounds came from the chorus of crickets serenading them from the bushes and his movements as he used a rag to wipe clean the coke from the terminals. After the cleaning, the terminals, formerly dull gray, returned to a shiny silver color.

After Freddie finished reattaching the cables, Julia let out a relieved breath and handed him the flashlight. He appeared unruffled, while for her the last few minutes had been tension filled.
Surely
she couldn’t have been the only one who felt it.

Freddie slammed down the hood of the truck. “Thanks a lot for your help.”

“You’re welcome.” She picked up her briefcase and turned to go, although a part of her wanted to linger longer.

“Let me know if I need to pay the dry cleaning bill.”

His voice halted her retreat. With a furrowed
brow
she faced him again, and she could just make out the amused look on his face.

“I’ll do that,” she said, too soft, with a breathless quality to her voice he
couldn’t
have missed.

He was studying her again the same way he had earlier. Unnerved, she tightened her fingers around the handle of the briefcase and moved as quickly as her pumps could carry her up the sloped lawn. She could feel his dark gaze on her the entire time until she turned the corner and practically ran to the front door.

CHAPTER FOUR

Friday night, after a quick stop at the store to pick up groceries for dinner, Julia arrived home earlier than usual. It had been a long week.

She stripped off her pants suit and got comfortable in a pair of baggy shorts and a T-shirt from her alma mater, then set her sights on making dinner. The distant sound of a hammer
could be heard
downstairs.

 
Julia switched on the radio to her favorite jazz station and poured herself a glass of white wine. Standing before the stove, she closed her eyes briefly, savoring the sweet flavor as the liquid oozed across her palate and calmed her shredded nerves.

 
“Hey, how was your day?”

 
Julia turned away from the stove to send a smile in her father’s direction. “Long and stressful, but nothing you want to hear about.”

 
“Try me.”

 
She stirred the pot a few times before answering. “The deal I’d been working on all week—the one I told you almost fell through?”

 
“Mhmm.”

 
“I managed to save it at the last minute.
I
left work early. I figured I deserved it after such a stressful week.” She sprinkled salt into the pot and then covered it. “Have you been downstairs today to check things out?”

“No. I haven’t been down there since Tuesday.”

“Why don’t you go downstairs and check out the work they’re doing? Make sure they’re doing a good job for me, and give me your opinion.”

 
“All right, I can do that.”

This way she could find out if he liked what he saw, and if he had concerns or wanted to change anything, she could discuss it with Freddie. Her lips quirked into a smile. She enjoyed the little charade and could hardly contain her excitement about the plan she had set in motion for her father.

 
He still had no idea the basement would be transformed into an apartment for him, with a full kitchen instead of a kitchenette. She had also coerced him into agreeing he wouldn’t sign an apartment lease without letting her review it first. He grumbled about being in his right mind and fully capable of signing a contract on his own, but he finally agreed.

 
Randolph was gone for about ten minutes, and when he returned, Julia was chopping vegetables for a salad. “Well?” she prompted.

 
He nodded his approval. “They’re doing a real good job down there. It’s going to look nice. They have half the sheet rock up already. The Mexican fella knows what he’s doing.”

 
Julia sighed. “He’s not Mexican.
He’s Puerto Rican.”

 
 
“Mexican, Puerto Rican, same difference.”

 
“No, it’s not,” Julia said in a harder tone. “How would you feel if—” She watched her father grab his keys from the key rack. “Where are you going?”

 
“I’m going out tonight.”

 
“I thought you and your friends weren’t playing poker tonight because Martin and his wife are out of town.” She couldn’t stop the disappointment that crept into her voice. She had looked forward to spending time with him.

 
“We’re not. I have a date.” Her father’s face lit up with a devilish grin.

 
“
A date?
”

 
“Yes, a date. You might have forgotten what that is,” Randolph said pointedly. “It’s when a man and a woman—“

“
Dad.”

“All right, all right.” Randolph moved to stand across from her at the kitchen island. “I met her at the senior center,” he said, his eyes shining. “Real sweet gal. Her name is Irene. We started out talking on the phone and discovered we have a lot in common. We’ve met several times socially, but this is our first night time date.”

Julia was deflated. Her shoulders sagged a little. She had come home early to relax and spend time with her father, and he was about to waltz out the door to spend time with someone else. How pathetic. Her father had a more interesting Friday night planned than she did.

“Have fun,” she said, pushing aside her own dissatisfaction with the way the evening turned out.

Her father came around to kiss her on the temple. “You going to be all right with those strange men in the house?”

“I’ll be fine. Go enjoy yourself.”

Randolph practically skipped out of the kitchen. “Don’t wait up,” he sang on his way to the front door.

Julia shook her head and turned back to the stove.

At least he’s happy
, she mused to herself.

In the few years since her mother’s passing, this was the first time she’d seen her father in such good spirits about a woman. Irene must be something special.

****

Freddie had spent most of the day working in the basement. After dismissing his men, he cleaned up and exited through the basement’s exterior door. He planned to leave until he saw Julia’s car parked in the driveway. He decided to touch base with her before he went home and walked to the front door and rang the doorbell.

When she answered, his eyes drank in the striking image she made. She didn’t look uptight and serious like when she wore her business attire. She still wore her hair pulled back and secured in the professional French roll, but she wore a pair of large gym shorts and a T-shirt with “University of Georgia” across the front.

 
Her casual clothes evoked the same urge he felt when he first met her. It was the overwhelming desire to protect her.

 
She looked surprised to see him standing out front. “What are you doing here? I thought all of you had left.”

 
“I was about to when I saw your car. I figured I’d update you on our progress.”

 
“Come on in.” She opened the door wider. “Walk with me to the kitchen. I have something on the stove.”

 
Freddie trailed behind her, lowering his gaze to the back and forth motion of her hips, which weren’t hidden well by the oversized shorts. Some women moved so sinuously it seemed effortless, the movement made even more alluring because it was unconscious.

 
Stepping through the door of the kitchen, the inviting smell of something simmering on the stove greeted his nose. The muted tones of a trumpet spilled from the stereo’s speakers and drifted on the air toward him. The lights were dimmed, and it seemed as if the kitchen embraced him with warm arms once he stepped onto the tile.

His earlier fatigue melted away with the unexpectedly domestic scene, replaced by comfort and relaxation.

Almost as quickly as he gave himself over to the comforting thoughts, he allowed another, disquieting one to enter. Was Julia expecting someone tonight? He knew she was home alone because her father’s car wasn’t in the driveway.

 
“So how is everything going?” Julia asked. “My father was pleased when he went down there earlier. I’m sorry I haven’t been more involved. Work has been keeping me extra busy lately.”

 
“Everything’s going well,” Freddie answered. Thoughts of another man enjoying this intimate setting with her jangled his nerves.
 

 
Since the night she assisted him with the truck, they’d had a few more conversations about her ideas and changes to the basement. Although she always appeared busy, she was never rude. She did come off as cool, maybe even a little aloof at times, but he couldn’t deny his attraction to her. Because of her steely composure, he doubted if anything could frazzle her. She was always perfectly put together in tailored business suits and not a single hair out of place, wrapped up tight and neat like a Christmas present, unable to be opened until permission granted. He often wondered what lay inside the pretty package.

She was different tonight, though. She wasn’t wearing one of her power suits or carrying a briefcase. Tonight she looked like any other woman in any other household in the country. The normalcy of it gnawed at his gut.

 
 
“You’re still on schedule?” Julia asked.

She had no clue how badly he wanted to end the conversation and bolt out of there before he did something stupid, like try to plant a kiss on those luscious-looking lips. His attraction to her had blossomed and morphed into a fixation. His teeth ached to tug on her full bottom lip.

 
“Yes. I’ll send the guys back out early Monday morning and stop by at the end of the day to check their progress.”

“Good. I can’t wait to see my Dad’s expression when I hand him the keys to his apartment.”

An impish grin spread over her face, a smile of pure, unselfish pleasure. Those brown eyes of hers lit up. He couldn’t look away, even though the power of her smile left him shaking in his boots.

“Well, I won’t bother you anymore. I just wanted to give you an update.” As if it were standard operating procedure to offer evening updates to all his clients. He turned to go.

 
“Freddie.” Her voice beckoned to him, halting his hasty retreat.

When he faced her, she looked a bit flustered, as if she’d spoken without thinking first. “Yes?”