Loving You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 2) (9 page)

Annie threw her hands in the air. “It still doesn’t make the house more affordable. It’s one hundred and forty-five thousand dollars over your budget.”

“You liked it, didn’t you?”

She crossed her hands in front of her chest and slouched down on the park bench they were sitting on. A group of kids were kicking a ball around in front of them, yelling and screaming as if they were playing in the finals of a world championship.

He glanced at Annie.

“Okay. I liked it,” she admitted. “If I had enough money I’d make an offer on the property myself. But I don’t, and you don’t either.”

Dylan hid the smile working its way to his face. “I might have enough.”

Annie gave up her bad cop attitude and turned toward him. “There’s no point getting into debt over a house. At the end of the day, it’s four walls and a roof. No matter how nice those four walls are, it’s still a house. What about the last property we saw? That was nice, too.”

He slid his sunglasses down his nose and stared at her.

She blushed beet red and narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not going to be intimidated by your know-it-all attitude. Maybe it wasn’t as nice as the first house, but it was one hundred and twenty thousand dollars cheaper. Even the realtor thought it was a steal.”

“The realtor doesn’t have to live in it.”

“Neither do I, and I vote for the last house.”

Dylan pushed his sunglasses over his eyes. “What about the kitchen in the first house?” He knew he had her there. If he’d been blind, he still would have felt her excitement ratchet off the got-to-have meter.

“It was okay.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t better than okay? You spent fifteen minutes opening every drawer and cupboard, then another five minutes running your hand over the granite counter.”

“Kitchens are important.”

“Really?”

Annie’s chin tilted at a stubborn angle. “You can’t change my mind by dangling an awesome kitchen under my nose.”

Dylan looked at the boys kicking the ball. If he kept watching Annie, he’d start laughing. “What would you need such a big kitchen for, anyway? It doesn’t take three ovens to cook dinner for one person.”

Annie looked down at her jeans. “If I had a kitchen like that I could almost start my own business.”

“Don’t you like working for Tess?”

Annie sighed. “I do, but I’ve got an idea for another business. There are lots of villages springing up everywhere for older people. I want to give the residents another option for eating in their homes. And there are lots of working parents who want a home cooked meal instead of takeout. I could do that for them.”

“You’d make meals and deliver them?”

Annie nodded. “I wrote a business plan and showed it to the loans officer at the bank. I just don’t have enough money at the moment.”

“So your dream is to own your own business?”

“My dream is to own my own successful business. I’ve got a financial plan. In three years, I’ll have enough money saved to lease a property with a commercial kitchen.”

Dylan pulled his cell phone out. “Sounds like you’re organized.”

“I have to be. Life doesn’t just happen. You have to make it happen.”

“On that positive note, I’m calling Polly. Do you want to come and have another look at the first house?”

“I shouldn’t,” she muttered. “I feel like I’m supporting your addiction to spending money.”

He scrolled through his contact list. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Annie sat quietly beside him while he arranged to meet Polly in twenty minutes.

With the appointment made, he disconnected the call and stretched his legs out in front of him. “She wasn’t surprised.”

“I bet she’s working out her commission as we speak.”

“There are worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.”

Annie glanced down at her watch. “I need to be home by four-thirty at the latest.”

“Who are you bowling against?”

“My coach. He thinks he can beat me. What time are you meeting your friends?”

“Five thirty. We’re having dinner together. A couple of the guys had family things to go to this afternoon.”

“How did you meet them?”

A white ball rolled toward Dylan. He stood up and kicked it back to the group of boys. “I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. My counselor told me about the support group Pastor Steven set up. It’s a small group, but it means a lot.”

“I overheard Logan telling Tess about it. It sounds like a good group to be part of.”

Dylan nodded. The transition to civilian life had been hard enough without having to deal with what had brought him here. The friendship of the guys in the group had made everything much easier to deal with.

He checked his watch. “We’d better get going or we’re going to be late.”

Annie sighed as she stood up. “And we wouldn’t want that. Someone else might have their pen in their hand, ready to sign their life away.”

“But what a life.”

“Think mortgage.”

Dylan laughed. “You worry too much. I might not like the house as much this time around.”

Annie snorted. “I don’t think so. I could see you figuring out where you’d stack your unopened boxes.”

He stood beside the passenger door of his truck. “This could be the home that inspires me to unpack everything for the first time. And then there’s the kitchen. You could practice your bulk cooking skills in there.”

Annie growled at him. “Blackmail won’t make me change my mind.”

A heat he hadn’t felt in a long time spread through his body. He could think of more creative ways of changing Annie’s mind, and buying a house didn’t even come close.

He opened her door and waited for her to get inside his truck. “You know, there is another way of looking at this,” he said.

Annie looked up from her seat. “There is?”

“It could be a move in the right direction. I’m putting down roots, finding something more permanent than what I’ve got.”

“I’m not sure your motives are quite so virtuous.” Annie had a wicked gleam in her eyes. “I think you like the house because you want females falling at your feet. A single, handsome bodyguard with a big house is a real turn on for some women. A woman with a kind heart, long legs, and unlimited patience would love to be part of that.”

“You weren’t exaggerating, were you?” Dylan enjoyed watching the confusion on Annie’s face. “You remembered all of the important things I’m looking for. But you forgot one thing.”

“A sports car?”

“Nice try, Ms. O’Leary. You told me I had the nesting bug. Most of the women I’ve met want everything except the nest.”

“You must have been looking in the wrong places.” Annie sighed. “They do things a little differently in Montana. If you’re ready to settle down, you’ll have twice as many women banging on your door.”

Dylan smiled. “We’d better make sure there’s a doorbell, then. I wouldn’t want them chipping their nail polish.” He closed her door and headed toward his side of the truck.

The frown on Annie’s face didn’t worry him at all. And neither did her bright pink nails, especially if the house they were going back to had a doorbell.

Chapter Four

Dylan looked at the men sitting in Pastor Steven’s living room. Everyone except Logan seemed tired. Out of all of them, Logan had the most reason to look a little rough around the edges. Planning a wedding couldn’t be the easiest thing to do, especially with his mom keeping tabs on what they were doing.

Everyone except Todd had managed to make the meeting. No one talked about why he regularly left Montana, but they knew it had something to do with his life back in New York.

What most of the group didn’t know was that Todd was determined to track down the men responsible for killing his wife and son. Dylan had known Todd for eight months. During that time, Todd had thrown himself into more dangerous situations than most people found in their lifetimes. And each time he came home, it took longer to get back to where he’d been before he left.

“So what have you been up to, Logan?” Pastor Steven asked.

Logan choked on the coffee he’d been drinking. “Don’t do that to me,” he groaned. “I’ve just had a week of my mother asking exactly the same thing. Our wedding reception’s turning into the party from hell.”

“Serves yourself right for getting married.” Jeremy smirked from the other side of the room. He wouldn’t have said that if he’d been sitting next to Logan.

“Been there, done that,” William sighed. “You just got to go with it, man. Some women like to take control. It doesn’t matter what you say or do, it won’t be good enough.”

Dylan paid close attention to William. He knew William’s marriage had taken a turn for the worst not long after he’d arrived in Bozeman.

“How’s Patsy doing?” Pastor Steven asked William.

Patsy was William’s wife. They’d had a baby six months ago and they were still struggling with sleepless nights.

“She’s okay. I help where I can, but I’m gone for most of the day. The meals Logan brought around the other day were appreciated.”

Logan relaxed in his chair. “Tess thought they might help. Delivering them to you got me away from mom.”

Pastor Steven’s gaze turned to Dylan. “What have you been doing, Dylan?”

Dylan had been dreading what he’d say today. There were only two rules in their support group. Be honest with yourself and be honest with everyone else. He hadn’t even told Logan what he’d been doing. “Work has been busy.”

“And…” Jeremy looked at him expectantly. The kid could be a right royal pain in the ass sometimes.

“And nothing. We’re looking at expanding our warehouse; providing secure storage without all the bells and whistles our current building has.”

“Are you going to build something from scratch or buy an existing building?” William asked.

Dylan hesitated before answering. Logan had a frown on his face. It was almost as if he knew Dylan was keeping something back, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. Dylan kept on eye on him. When he did work it out, he’d have more questions than anyone in the room.

“My boss has seen a property not far from where we are at the moment. We’re going to look at it tomorrow.” Dylan cleared his throat. “As well as warehouses, I’ve been looking at residential property. I’m deciding whether to buy a house or keep renting.”

“Don’t do it,” Jeremy said. “If you buy a house, you’ll want to fill it with a wife and kids. Tell him what married life is really like, William.”

“I’m not the world’s best example of married life,” William said dryly. “Half the time I’m sure Patsy wishes she was single. It’s hard work.”

“Nothing worth much is ever easy,” Logan muttered. “You’ve got to look past what’s on the surface and take care of what’s underneath.”

Jeremy groaned. “You’re going philosophical on us again.”

Logan grinned. “That was a big word. I bet you can’t spell it.”

“I don’t need to. I’m not a reporter.”

Pastor Steven reached for his coffee mug. “Have you seen a house you like, Dylan?”

He nodded cautiously. This was where things could get tricky, especially if he told them about Annie’s help. “It’s on Morning Sun Drive.”

“Nice area,” William said.

“Isn’t that on the outskirts of town?” Logan asked. “I thought you wanted to be closer to town?”

Dylan shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a big property. I couldn’t get the same sized lot or house in town.”

“How big are we talking?” Jeremy walked back to his chair after putting a few sandwiches on his plate. “Do you need someone to come and stay to help pay your mortgage?”

“There are five bedrooms, an office, and enough living areas to get lost in. And no, I don’t want a roommate.”

Logan gave Dylan another sharp stare. “Who else has seen the house?”

Damn.
Dylan ignored the blush hitting his face. No one else ignored it.

Jeremy’s mouth dropped open. “You’ve got a girlfriend and you didn’t tell us?”

“No girlfriend,” Dylan said firmly.

A compassionate look crossed William’s face. It was almost as if he felt sorry for him. Dylan made a mental note to catch up with William after the meeting. Not that he knew much about married life, but sometimes all you needed was someone to listen.

Jeremy sat on the edge of his seat. “There’s a woman in there somewhere, isn’t there? You wouldn’t be getting all hot and bothered if your mom was helping you look for a house.”

Sometimes Dylan wished Jeremy wasn’t quite so…he couldn’t even think of a word to describe him. Some days he was a cross between the Easter bunny and Einstein. One minute he was all bouncy and happy, and in the next breath he was coming up with over-the-top theories about life and the universe.

Dylan ground his teeth together, waiting for someone else to land in the spotlight. He looked around the room. Even Pastor Steven had a concerned frown on his face. And then it hit him. It wasn’t the fact that a woman might be viewing houses with him. It was what might come after the house hunting that worried them. “You don’t think I can handle a girlfriend?”