Blown Away: A Small Town Military Romance (The Moore Brothers Book 1) (5 page)

“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.

She held out her hand and put on her New York City businesswoman face. “I believe we have a deal, Lt. Moore.”

Chapter Six

Ian

When Ian had seen those long legs standing in front of him at Good Beginnings, that dark hair swept up into a swinging ponytail, heard that sweet voice complimenting Ellie on her cafe, Ian couldn’t believe his luck. After deciding last night that he was going to stop by and check up on her this morning, he’d changed his mind once he woke up. He told himself it was because she was probably too flighty to be worth his time, but he knew it was because he wasn’t so sure he could keep himself from getting involved with her. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his head the rest of last night, his dick twitching merrily away in his tuxedo pants for the entirety of the party. As soon as he’d gotten home, he’d taken himself in his hand, stroked his hard length while envisioning his hands on her tits, his fingers playing inside her, that surprised little face she’d make when he slapped her ass…

He had come so hard thinking about her last night that he was still smiling this morning.

And now, here he was, shaking her hand, getting ready to move her into his newest property for the super low price of absolutely nothing. He took one look at her thin arms and manicured hands and knew she wouldn’t be much help with the renovations. But, he would get to spend every day with her.
And
she might actually have a decent head on her shoulders.
And
she definitely needed his help. He should have known she was running from trouble. Everything about her screamed ‘help me.’

Of course, she’d deny it if he told her. She’d been trying so hard to be strong and brave. Hell, she probably thought she
was
strong and brave. So much so that she’d get all offended if he let her know he could see straight through to the scared little girl inside. And it was that scared little girl that had him wanting to protect her, to give her the help she needed. To put four solid walls around her and a roof over her head so he could keep her safe.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal to let her stay in one of the already renovated rental properties, but he could tell she’d have fought him tooth and nail over that. He hated the thought of her in the rundown home he’d just agreed to get her set up in, but at least it wasn’t her car. His jaw clenched at the thought of her curled up and uncomfortable, nothing but a few thin pieces of glass between her and the world.

“Well, Ms. Lane,” he said, keeping up the formality she’d used to accept his offer, “why don’t you hop in your former abode there,” he indicated her car and was rewarded with the sweetest little giggle, “and I’ll lead you to your newest abode.”

Juliet clasped her hands behind her back and rocked up onto her toes to kiss Ian on the cheek. There was the whisper of her skin against his, the scent of her hair, the rustle of her breath moving past his ear. He wanted to grab her face in his hands and kiss her, part her lips with his tongue and taste her. She paused, frozen, so close to him.

When she finally rocked back onto her heels, he saw his lust reflected on her face, but there was also something else, too. Guilt? Fear? Yah, that was it. Juliet was scared.

And of course she was. The whole reason she showed up in Bliss in the first place was because she was running from some asshole. Full on leaving the state kind of running. He’d noticed her plates at the rest stop last night. New York. What could possibly have happened that had her needing to put several hundred miles and almost five states between her and this guy?

Juliet smiled and hid the fear on her face and Ian didn’t let on that he’d even seen it. Confusion drew her eyebrows together and she scanned the cars parked on the street. “Where’s your car?”

Ian pointed to his truck—a Toyota Tundra TRD Pro with every single option known to man—parked right across the street. “Right where I left it.”

Her eyes lit with surprise. “Of course you have a truck. Where’s the power car?”

“Power car?” Ian knew she was talking about the M4 she’d seen him in last night, but he just wanted to hear her talk some more.

“Yah, you know, the sleek and shiny thing you rolled up in last night. The one that says
I’m a man who wields money and power and you should all show me proper respect
?”

“Is that what you think it says?”

“You
don’t
think it says that?”

This woman was something else. Of course that’s the whole reason he chose to drive the M4 last night. He liked rolling up to his parents’ house in style. They’d been supportive when he joined the Navy, but they’d not been happy. They’d been even less happy when he was sent overseas to fly fighters, and even less happy than that when he’d been sent home, injured, with his honorable discharge. That’s not totally true. They were distraught that he was injured, but they were over the moon thrilled to have him home and alive. Especially given the severity of his accident. It’s not every day that someone crash lands a plane and manages to walk away with no more than a back injury. Not everyone gets to be that lucky. Ian knew that all too well.

And they were just as over the moon thrilled to know his military career was over. And even though he knew that all their reticence over his chosen career came from the fact that they loved him so damn much, he’d resented not having their full support when he first enlisted. Flying planes had been his dream since before he could talk. So, when he started making money investing the income from his rental properties, he promptly bought the car just to help solidify the fact that he was okay. If there was one thing the Moore family understood, it was money.

Juliet was waiting for his response. He shrugged and brought out his best smile. “I know exactly what that car says.”

“I see, and just what, exactly, is that?”

“It says get in your car and follow my sexy truck to your new home.”

Juliet laughed and Ian opened the car door for her, shaking his head as Lulu jumped in and parked herself in the passenger seat. He practically sprinted across the street and stepped up into the truck. As he led Juliet through the streets of Bliss—out of the little section of shops and restaurants the inhabitants affectionately called downtown and through the neighborhoods to get to the more remote area where he bought his beachfront properties—Ian went through a mental checklist of Things to Do.