Big Bad Wolf (23 page)

Jaymee sat in the garage of the new house, sipping a bottle of cola, during a break from work.
Oh boy.
She was in much, much more trouble than possible.
Nick had taken her truck to get some ceramic tiles to fix a leak later this evening, when it would be cooler.
It had been barely an hour and she was already missing him.
She massaged the back of her neck, frowning.
She sighed.
Definitely, absolutely in trouble.
She was in love with Nick Langley.

It
had
warmed her insides to see him defending her so fiercely that morning.
No man had ever done that for her.
It made her feel special she meant something to this man.
But…she still wasn’t sure how to deal with him.
She’d been so sure he was merely amusing himself, yet he did these things that confounded her.
He was protective.
And tender.
And caring.
She sighed again. The qualities that w
ere
so darn attractive.

There were so many things about him she didn’t know although she was piecing the puzzle together little by little.
First, he was definitely not on the run.
He didn’t strike her as someone who was constantly looking over his shoulder.
Second, underneath that potent charm was the alertness of a hunter.
After witnessing this morning’s episode with her father, she hadn’t a doubt Nick could take down anyone who was on the wrong side of him.
Lastly, he was some kind of electronic expert who spoke legal and political terms with the ease of one educated in related fields.
He watched; he played with electronics; he was in top physical condition.
She smiled wryly at the last observation.
Oh yes, she was very sure about the last fact.
If she didn’t know how her imagination tended to be colorful where this man was concerned, she’d make him out to be some sort of military guy, like the Green Beret, or something.
She’d read somewhere the Green Berets were electronic experts, could speak several languages, and trained like a machine.
Oh yeah, right, Jaymee girl, she mocked, as she took another sip of her
c
ola.
Didn’t the same article showed some Green Berets carrying big, wicked-looking Bowie knives?
She tried imagining Nick with a green beret and a Bowie knife.
Cute.
And she was going bonkers.

“I heard old Mindy is having her annual bash tomorrow, boss, is that right?” Dicker broke into her reverie.

“Hmmm?
Oh.
Yes.
Are you going?”

“Maybe.
If I’m not fishing or something.”

“Mindy makes the best barbecue, man.
I’m going,” Lucky chimed in.

“Yeah, and if I go, I’ll have to shop for a birthday present,” Dicker grumbled, wrinkling his nose.
“I ain’t no good with women’s things, man.”

“I would guess the same things your old lady likes, Dicker,” Lucky said, rubbing his beard.

“What, you mean Mindy wants me to paint the fence and buy her some lottery tickets?”

Jaymee laughed, shaking her head.
“Now, Dicker, I’m sure you didn’t buy Rosy lottery tickets for her birthday!”

Dicker scratched his neck, looking sheepish.
“Sure I did.
Ten dollars worth.
She was mighty happy coz she won a hundred bucks.”

“Man, you don’t have not one romantical bone in your body.”
Lucky puffed out his chest.
“I’m going to buy Mindy one of those sweet-smelling perfumes, what is it called — Possession.”

Dicker and Jaymee laughed at the misnamed product.
“You mean, Obsession, Lucky,” Jaymee said.

Grinning back at them good-naturedly, Lucky shrugged.
“Obsession, Possession, bah!
I can name them perfumes way better.”

“And what are you gonna call your perfume?” Dicker wanted to know.
“Fish-ion?
Shingles?”

They all chuckled.
“Roofing Cement Potion,” suggested Jaymee, still laughing.

“Or just plain Sweat,” Dicker bantered.

Lucky assumed a thoughtful air as he continued scratching his beard.
“Nah, not sexy enough.
I’ll name my perfume Lucky Charms.
Yeah, just like me.”

They all hooted, and that was how Nick found them, laughing uproariously in the garage.
One of his dark brows arched up.
“Not laughing at some of my mistakes, I hope,” he said, putting down a can of roofing cement.

“That’s it!
That’s it!
Nick’s Mistake!”
Lucky thumped an empty box and laughed so hard he fell off the cement block on which he was sitting.
He managed to gasp out, “Oh, that would be some foul-smelling perfume.”

“We’ve somehow gotten around to naming Lucky’s new perfume
which he’
s going to give Mindy tomorrow,” Jaymee explained to the mildly amused and perplexed Nick, smiling up at him.
“So far, our top contestants are Roofing Cement Potion, Sweat, and Lucky Charms.
Besides Nick’s Mistake, of course.”
She didn’t hide her laughter, as she added, “Not that we’re making fun of your work, Nick.”

All three of them went off again.
Nick grinned, not minding being the butt of their jokes.
It’d been a long time since he was made fun of that way, not since his days training with the army Rangers.
Besides, he liked listening to Jaymee’s laugh.
She didn’t do it enough.

“Nick is smart, man, he can name a perfume for a woman,” Dicker said, when they stopped for breath.
“Unlike Luck-man’s Possession.”

“Sure he can,” agreed Lucky, his gap-toothed smile cheeky.
“Remember he knows them big words that got Up-Chuck all flustered.”

“Now that’s what I would name my perfume for my old lady,” cracked Dicker.
“All-Flustered.
Perfect.
What would you name your perfume,
Langley
?”

Jaymee chewed on her lower lip while the other two men turned expectant eyes at Nick.
She knew it hadn’t escaped their notice Nick was wearing her tee
-
shirt that morning.
She didn’t care whether there would be gossip.
Enough with living with the fear people would continually bring up Danny.
She’d never felt so alive, so comfortable.
Looking at the tall man who ha
d changed her outlook so much, she couldn’t even remember much about her old feelings for Danny.

There was simply no comparison.

She was also glad
he was getting along with her workers.
Dicker and Lucky now included him in their daily chats, and she liked the way Nick mixed with them so easily.
Right now, his eyes were half-closed as he considered Dicker’s question about naming, of all things, a perfume.
It struck her
he just wasn’t the type of man who would sit around a bunch of guys playing name games.
Aga
in she had the odd feeling
he was hiding something.

“I don’t know.
You guys have chosen all the good ones,” he joked.
Leaning over, he picked up Jaymee’s cola and finished it off.
She stared at him in fascination.
Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he continued, “I supposed Smartass is out of the question?
Or, Scary Screamer?
Or Maniac?”

The other men chuckled, as if sharing some in-joke.
Jaymee rolled her eyes, then stuck her tongue out at Nick.
She would bide her time to punish smart-mouthiness.
She was the boss, after all.

*

“Don’t feel so smart now, do you, Mr. Big Words?” Jaymee mocked Nick later that day.
She’
d left Dicker and Lucky at the job, taking him with her to fix the leak in the tile roof.
At the moment, she stood with perfect balance, each foot planted on a ceramic tile, hands on her hips.
She looked smugly at Nick, feeling slightly avenged for the knowing chuckles her men had given when he named his perfume.
Tease her, would he?
Well, let’s see how he felt being at the other end.

Nick concent
rated on first making sure
he didn’t slip.
The ceramic tiles weren’t slippery, but because of their inverted ‘S’ shape, his big feet couldn’t fit on the dented part of the tile, like Jaymee’s did, and so he had to put his weight awkwardly
on
the rounded curve.

Crrrunch.

A crack line appeared under his foot.
Wincing,
he put his other foot down.
A
nother crunching sound.

Normally, Jaymee would have given any employee the proper tongue-lashing, but the sight of the big man gingerly trying to walk toward her was almost worth the money she was going to lose, at the rate he was breaking the tiles.
She just stood there, a big grin on her face.

“I’m going to take all the damage out of your paycheck tonight, if you don’t stop breaking them,” she warned sternly, but her mischievous smile gave her away.

“It’s like walking on eggs,” muttered Nick, when he reached her.

“You’re lucky I had you pick up those extra tiles this afternoon, or we’d have some
missing pieces, what with those big feet of yours!”

Nick grinned.
“OK, so I made it up here.
Now what?”

Jaymee cocked her head.
“Ever made love on a ceramic tile roof before?”

He groaned.
“No, and I’m not going to start now.”
He watched Jaymee turn around and nimbly walk up a few rows higher.
Her butt was at eye level.
He groaned again.
“OK, we’ll do it.”

“Not if you can’t catch me,” she teased, squatting down and loosening one of the tiles.
She pulled a few out of the way, and said, “Here, you can stand more comfortably on the fern strips below the tiles.”

Nick did as she suggested.

Jaymee pointed to the material exposed by the tiles.
“That is called base sheet, and it’s thicker than felt paper.
It’s meant to protect the roof, in case water gets under the tile.”

“Obviously, it doesn’t work, because the roof is leaking,” observed Nick.

“Usually it’s because there is a hole somewhere the previous roofer didn’t patch up, or they didn’t use base sheet, opting for lower grade material instead, and it rotted away because of the water.
Sometimes they didn’t layer it properly.”
She tapped on a water stain where she had taken out a tile.
“There, see?
That’s a clue, dear Mr. Watson.”

“How does water get under the tile, Sherlock?”
Nick asked, squatting carefully down beside her.

Jaymee shrugged.
“Cracked tiles, holes in the lead boot, could be a number of things.
That’s why this ‘underlayment’ is very important.
Finding leaks on tile roofs can be tricky, since water stains showing on the ceiling inside the house don’t usually match the spot on the roof.
That’s because water moves differently when it travels under the tiles, like underground caverns, you know?”

“And these fern strips act like diverters, shooting the water in different directions, right?”
Nick traced the water stain pattern above the little strips of wood that supported the tiles.

“Right.
So, we have to follow this water stain, take off the tiles as we go, and tada!”
Jaymee gestured dramatically.

“The leak!” Nick finished for her.

“Elementary, my dear Watson!”

By the time they were done, it was almost six o’clock.
Nick enjoyed the new lesson.
Searching for leaks on roofs wasn’t that different from the other kind of leaks he specialized in, he supposed.
Look for the source and eliminate.
In a general perspective, life in the outside world could be just as exciting.
Then he remembered what was left of his beloved boat.
And not so dangerous.

“So when can I add ‘leak expert’ as part of my construction man resume?” he quipped, as he loaded the truck with broken tiles.

Jaymee couldn’t resist it.
Putting on her best Chinese accent, she parodied a line from a famous TV show.
“When you can walk on tile and leave no crack, my son, then you are leak expert.
Until then, I am still master.”