Page 62 of Operation Protector
“Grace wanted me to wrap it all for your birthday, but given the size…”
His voice trailed off, and she realized she was staring at him.
“Look,” he began again, “if this isn’t a good time or is a lousy idea—”
“No!” She shook off her shock. “I just… I only told her…you did all this since yesterday?”
He shrugged. “I’ve worked with a guy whose family makes these kits. So when Grace said you really wanted a greenhouse, I got hold of him.”
She was still a little rattled by the unexpectedness of it. And the knowledge of how much this had to have cost. “I…wow. This wasn’t cheap. Especially now, with people thinking about spring coming.”
He shrugged and smiled. “I got a discount.”
“Colby, I don’t know what to say, except thank you.”
“That’ll do,” he said, and she only realized how tense he’d been by how things changed now. “But I’d better get started if we’re going to have it done before they get back. Don’t want to blow all our efforts out of the water by having Liz spot me over here.”
“Oh, no, we don’t,” Ali said, but she wasn’t happy about it. Because if it wasn’t for that, she’d happily have him over here anytime.
Maybe all the time.
He pulled off the big bow and went to toss it, but she stopped him. “No, I want to keep it, to put on it when it’s up.” She smiled. “A green bow for my new greenhouse.”
He paused, then handed it to her. “It made me think of your eyes.”
He looked away quickly then, and she was almost glad, because she could feel her cheeks heating up.
The process was fascinating. If she was honest, however, half of her enjoyment came from watching him work. He’d read the rather copious instructions thoroughly, then never looked at them again. He’d laid out the parts and pieces, using a tarp from his truck as a base for the smaller bits, screws and clips. Once it was all organized to his liking, he started the assembly.
He was so thorough it took a while, but in a much shorter time than if she’d tried to do it herself, she had the exact greenhouse she’d wanted, including shelves, lighting and a fan for air circulation to prevent mold in the rainy season. And mere steps from her back door.
And more importantly at the moment, out of view of her nasty neighbor’s cameras.
“I could build you a covered walkway,” Colby suggested. “It’s only about six feet, so it wouldn’t take much. And that way you’d never get wet.”
Ali looked at him and smiled. “I’m Pacific Northwest born and raised, walking six feet even in a downpour is nothing.” Then she couldn’t stop herself from grinning. “Tomatoes! Peppers! Carrots! Maybe even a mini citrus tree! And maybe some dahlias for color, and—”
“And, and, and,” Colby said, grinning back at her. “I get it.”
The color flooded her cheeks again, and she turned back to look at her birthday present. “You probably think I’m silly.”
“I think,” Colby said, something deeper, huskier coming into his voice, “you’re beautiful. Wonderful. Remarkable. And, and, and.”
She couldn’t help herself, she turned her head to meet his gaze. And what she saw there in his eyes sent her heart racing. She couldn’t look away. It was as if something tangible, something physical, had connected them.
He crossed the space between them in a single step, and when his arms came around her she wanted to cry out at the joy of the contact. She hadn’t thought she would ever, could ever feel like this. She thought this kind of heat, this kind of desire, had died with Josh, never to be felt again. Yet for the first time since he’d died, she felt completely alive. Alive and humming.
If anything ever happens to me, Ali, you have to promise meyou’ll miss me, but that after a while you’ll move on. Remember me but don’t live like you’d died with me.
Josh’s words ran through her head now. And she realized that until now she’d pretty much been doing that, continuing with the business of life, but setting the emotion of it aside.
Until Colby Kendrick had kidnapped her dog.
And then he was kissing her, and her last sane thought was that promise she’d made, so casually when Josh had asked her all those years ago when they’d been so young and death had been a faraway thing. Now, for the first time since he’d died, she renewed that vow.
And she kissed Colby back, fiercely, feeling as if she had come alive again.
Chapter 28
