Nerds on Fire (32 page)

“
Are you telling me we have
to move your furniture from a second floor apartment to your attic,
on the third floor?” Leo sounded suspicious.

“
Yes.” Trixi, hands on
hips, stared him down.

Katy patted his chest. “This is your
exercise for the day.”

He glanced at Mark, who looked amused.
“This is not a good idea.”

“
Yes it is. Lauren hopes to
start moving in this afternoon or evening, whenever her shift ends.
We need to make room for her.” Trixi beetled her brows at
him.

“
Who rented her this
apartment again?”

Trixi pointed to his brother, the
guilty one. “Him.”

“
Ah.” Leo looked
interested. “Let me guess, you didn’t even know about this until
after he pretty much rented the apartment.”

“
It wasn’t like that,” Mark
defended although he didn’t sound concerned.

“
How was it like then?”
Katy appeared amused. She also, thankfully, steered Leo into the
mudroom and handed him his jacket before slipping hers
on.

Trixi followed Mark and was astonished
when he helped her into her jacket before grabbing his. Since she
was allowed to kiss him now, she did. “Thanks, honey.”

He laughed. “You’re welcome.” His
finger traced over her nose and he bent and kissed her
again.

“
How was it like then?” Leo
repeated Katy’s question.

“
What?” Trixi had entirely
forgotten the others.
Entirely
. This man blew all her
neurons. Oh no, she was thinking in terms of
brains
. Ugh.

“
Lauren was telling someone
how her landlord sold her building and gave the tenants three weeks
to move out. I told her about Trixi having two places she can
rent.”

Leo frowned. “That’s not much
notice.”

“
No, it isn’t. Lauren was
in a panic, and I knew Trixi had this apartment. I figured Lauren
would love it, so I mentioned it to her.”

“
She asked me as soon as
she tracked me down.”

“
She squealed when she saw
it.” Mark smiled at Trixi as he took her hand. Her hand curled into
his like it belonged there. Another surge of... something she
didn’t recognize but liked, caused a wave of thankfulness for this
man and this moment.

They led the way to the carriage house
where Trixi unlocked doors as they went. Leo enjoyed inspecting the
garage and the small tractor and nodded when she told him Lauren
planned to rent one of the bays.

She pelted up the stairs,
aware of her followers and unlocked the door. Leo inspected the
apartment
—
it only
took him about a minute to see everything. “This is a great setup
for a single person or a couple.”

“
Yeah, Reed and Shawna did
a great job with the remodel.” Katy peeked into the
bathroom.

“
Who are they?” Leo
asked.

Katy scooped up a small end table.
“Our brother and his wife.”

Leo nodded and then he looked between
her and Mark. “What are you thinking for emptying this
place?”

“
I’ll go get the cart.” The
machine would be helpful in transporting what was here.

“
You stay, let me do it.”
Katy set the small table down.

“
Cart?” Mark asked and Leo
echoed.

“
It’s like a rugged golf
cart.” Trixi assessed the furniture in the apartment. It might take
a couple trips but there wasn’t as much here as she
feared.

The men were still interested in the
cart, so Katy mentioned the brand name, and both seemed familiar
with it. Like the SUV and tractor, the utility vehicle was a
necessity for an estate of this size.

“
Those are
nice.”

Trixi smiled. “We use it frequently.
It has earned its keep.”

“
You use the tractor for
what?” Leo asked.

She shrugged. “Yard work and snow
removal.”

Leo turned speculative eyes on Katy.
“You know how to run Trixi’s tractor?”

“
Of course.” She sent him a
superior smirk.

He play growled and attacked her.
Trixi wondered if he planned to start licking Katy. No, he tickled
her instead while she shrieked with laughter.

“
I’ll go get the cart.”
Mark cocked an eyebrow at her. She handed him the keys and he left
to retrieve it from the outbuilding where it was stored. It was
parked right beside the big SUV since Mark’s vehicle now resided in
its bay in the garage.

In the meantime, Trixi gathered up
everything she could carry. There wasn’t much here.

They finished clearing the apartment
in under an hour. Then they had to transport it all up to the
attic. The hardest part was ascending and descending all the
stairs. After they cleared out the furniture, she and Katy quickly
cleaned the place. Therefore, Lauren wouldn’t need to bother. It
wasn’t dirty, but they had tracked leaves and other debris
in.

After she locked up, she turned to her
helpers. “You know, the guesthouse also has furniture in
it.”

They all groaned, but Leo hadn’t seen
it yet, so they trudged over there. It didn’t take long to show
them through the cottage as well. Katy had seen it plenty of times,
and this time Mark made plans.

There was a storage loft, so they
moved everything neatly up there. There was a lockable closet at
the back where they stored the furniture. It was wonderful to have
this done.

“
Now Lauren can move her
things in and this space is ready to rent as well.” Trixi was
pleased with their morning’s work. “Thank you.” She smiled at her
tired crew. They all turned of one accord toward the
house.

“
Lunch?” Gran asked from
her spot at the kitchen island.

“
Yes, please.” Trixi took
an appreciative sniff of the fragrant air.

Gran nodded and quickly set a meal on
the table.

“
So you cleared the
apartment?” Gran inquired as to their progress after they started
eating.

“
It’s ready for Lauren.”
Trixi squirted some ketchup beside her potato wedges.

“
When does she move?” Leo
reached across the table for the iced tea pitcher.

“
Probably this
afternoon.”

He nodded and resumed eating after
pouring tea for most of them.

Trixi reflected that this man was
spending a lot of time around her table. It was nice.

Mark turned to Trixi. “Does Lauren
know the apartment is cleaned?”

“
Yes, I texted
her.”

He nodded and finished off his
burger.

“
About tonight,” Katy
ventured. She dipped a potato wedge in the mound of ketchup on
Trixi’s plate.

“
Yes?” Leo swallowed a huge
bite.

“
What do we
wear?”

“
You can wear what you have
on.” Mark assembled his second burger.

When both she and Trixi leveled
censorious looks on him he turned in bafflement to Leo. Who wore
the same look so they turned to Gran.

That unflappable lady offered, “Wear
something casual, but nice.”

“
Thanks, Gran.” Relief
threaded Katy’s tone.

Trixi concurred as she had also been
nervous. “Yes, thanks Gran.”

“
You have nothing to worry
about.” A frown line formed between Mark’s eyebrows.

“
Have you ever taken a
woman home to meet your family before?” Trixi set a potato wedge
back on her plate. Her stomach wasn’t certain all of a
sudden.

“
No.”

“
Then I need to be
nervous.”

Leo snorted. “Trust us, our family is
nice and they’re looking forward to meeting both of you.” He
leveled a look at her. “And they don’t know you’re dating big
brother here.”

“
They don’t?” That offered
a wave of relief. Their lack of knowledge made things a little
easier.

“
No. All they know is he’s
bringing the woman he’s renting his place from. They have no idea
you’re dating.”

Some of her tension leaked
out.

“
They’ll probably take one
look at you two together and figure it out fast, but they don’t
know right now.”

He might as well have poked a pin into
her balloon. Her relief deflated after a loud, resounding
pop.

“
Thank you, Leo.” She
nearly choked on the words.

“
You’re
welcome.”

Katy smacked him and he laughed. “You
two need to stop worrying. As far as we know, none of our rellys
have ever eaten someone we’ve taken home.”

“
That’s reassuring, at
least,” Katy said a moment before Trixi could.

Trixi turned to Mark. “I think I’m
getting a nasty headache.”

“
Too bad.” He leaned over
to kiss her nose. “We can nap after lunch.”

A nap sounded really nice.

Then another thought
occurred to her.
Together?

Chapter 31

“
Of course together.” They had finished lunch and were loading
the dishwasher. Mark sent her a look like he suspected she had
damaged some brain cells. His answer made her smile though, and she
was happy when he followed her up the stairs.

“
Where are you two going?”
Trixi asked Katy. Leo was close behind her.

“
We’re taking a nap too.”
The four of them ascended the stairs and then separated, with her
and Mark entering her bedroom and Katy and Leo disappearing into
the one she used.

It didn’t seem weird to have Mark in
her room. In fact, somehow, it felt exactly right. “I haven’t seen
your domain before, you know.” He gazed at everything with
interest.

She offered him a tour, showing him
her bathroom and the closet, both of which were perfect sized for
her, but he would have a hard time using her shower.

“
I forget how tiny you
are.”

“
Is my size bad?” Was that
her flirting?

“
No. I like you just the
way you are.” He wrapped her up in his arms. She drew him closer,
their breath intermingling. They embraced, just enjoying the other,
for long moments.

Then she took his hand and tugged him
to her bed. He settled on it, looking exactly right there. When he
stretched out, he groaned then pressed his nose into the pillow.
“This smells like you.”

“
It should since I use it
nightly.”

He hauled her across the bed until she
landed against him. “I love your scent. It’s one of the first
things I noticed when we met.” Mark paused. “Well that and your
beautiful eyes.”

She craned her neck to peer up at him.
“My eyes?”

“
You have the most
beautiful eyes in the world.” He traced her nose. “And the cutest
assortment of freckles.”

Trixi wrinkled her nose at him. “I
hate my freckles.”

“
I don’t.” He leaned down
and kissed her. By then the hectic week and busy morning took its
toll and both of them yawned. She cuddled closer as he yanked up
the blanket at the bottom of the bed. It was perfect for napping
under.

She drifted off into sleep in the arms
of the man who felt right.

When she awoke, still hazy,
Trixi realized two things. The first was she had needed a nap. The
second was acknowledgment of the toasty warmth and happy feelings
simmering inside. The reason for those snored on beside her,
holding her close and making more noise than a hospital generator.
Okay, maybe not
that
much, but the man sounded busy.

She turned her head on the
pillow they shared and even snoring and sound asleep he was still
an incredibly attractive man. And
she
was dating him. A thrill
undulated through her.

Good things had come to her who
waited. And waited and waited, and worried about becoming
petrified. If this was her reward for patience, she would take him,
snoring and all. He encountered her and awoke because the snoring
stopped. Then he frowned before he hauled her closer.

“
Trixi?”

“
I’m here.”

She felt him smile. “It smells like
you.”

He didn’t elaborate so she decided he
must have drifted off again. Then he abruptly dragged her on top of
him. “Did you sleep?”

“
Oh yes. I awoke about a
minute before you.”

He nodded and scrubbed a hand over his
face. “That was a great nap.”

“
Yes, I agree.” She
snuggled closer. “You’re warm.”

“
You’re cuddly.” He ran a
hand down her spine.

“
Is that a nice way of
saying I’m fat?”

Mark rumbled. “You barely
classify as curvy. But you’re perfect.” His eyes fixed on her lips,
and when she licked them, realized she could be licking
his
which was far more
interesting. He must have been entertaining similar thoughts
because he twined a hand in her hair and tugged her lips to
his.