Page 70 of Operation Protector
“I’ll manage. I’ve got a dolly in the garage to manage the bigger, heavier stuff.”
It wasn’t until they were at the one stop light on their route that he asked, “Could we…make another stop?”
“Of course,” Ali said to Colby’s hesitant question. “We have plenty of time, although I’m not sure we have room for much more.”
“I didn’t mean more plants… I meant my place. I need a couple of things. It’s close,” he added, gesturing up the hill.
“Oh, of course,” she said quickly. She couldn’t deny the spark of interest that flared. She was curious to see where he lived, how he lived, when he wasn’t under the kind of stress he was now.
She followed his directions until they ended up on a small cul-de-sac with about a half dozen houses. All were what she’d call tidy-looking, cozy, welcoming. Fairly new, but not starkly so. Each one different, yet they all fit together, with enough in common to suggest the same designer, yet not cookie cutter.
“This is lovely!” she exclaimed.
“Thanks.” He sounded pleased, but a little embarrassed.
“I can see why you chose this place. All of the homes here are just perfect. And this one in particular,” she added as he directed her into a driveway leading to one of the two houses at the end of the loop.
This one was a bit more secluded than the others, but mainly because of the trees that sheltered it. The house was a single story, with a small yard and a welcoming covered porch. It was painted a light gray with dark gray trim, which could have made it a bit stark, but not next to all the greenery.
Once she’d parked the car, she glanced over at him. He was looking pleased again, which pleased her in turn. Funny how just seeing him react in any kind of positive way warmed her heart. But there was something even more in his smile this time. And after a moment she had it.
“You helped build these, didn’t you?” she exclaimed.
He looked startled then. “How did you know that?”
“Because you looked proud. And the only other time I’ve seen that look on your face is around Grace.”
That seemed to startle him, but his smile widened. “Do you want to come in?” His mouth quirked. “I don’t remember how big a mess it is, I kind of left in a hurry.”
“I’d love to.”
It didn’t look messy to her, but then she’d been living half-unpacked for three weeks. Sure, there was a coffee mug in the sink, a pair of boots on the floor inside the back door and a jacket and shirt tossed over the back of a chair, but to her that just meant lived-in.
As was instinct with her, she noticed some things—very few—she would do, give him a drying rack for those work boots, maybe a bit of tile on the floor for wet and muddy days, and add a splash of color here and there, but all in all this felt like a place she’d finished with, not one she needed to work on. And down at the end of a hallway she saw a door open, to a brightly colored purple-and-pink room with toys and books strewn about, and stuffed animals and more books on every shelf.
Grace. There was no question. She thought about the cold, sterile room the child was relegated to in her mother’s house, and felt another jab of sorrow and sympathy.
Then they walked through to the main room, which had more of the neat, functional feel. And the stack of books on an end table were a positive, even if they weren’t exactly neat. But all of it barely registered when she saw the view out the large back windows. Not just the expansive deck but, in the distance and between more of the trees she loved, as if they were a frame, the water of Puget Sound. It was a lovely blue today under the clear winter sky.
“Colby, this is beyond wonderful,” she said when she heard him come up behind her.
“Kind of plain, I know—”
“It’s not plain, it’s functional. And who needs fancy inside when you have that—” she gestured toward the sparkling water through the trees “—outside? This spot up on this hill is the perfect place, and I love that you didn’t mow down all the trees to take advantage of the view.”
“They talked about it, but I told them I was buying this one and to leave them. To me, they frame the view, not distract from it.”
She turned around quickly as he used exactly the word she’d thought of a moment ago. She hadn’t realized he was quite that close, and before she knew it she was up against him. She wobbled a little, and his hands instantly came out to steady her.
And then she was in his arms, looking up at him. She thought she saw something flash in those blue eyes, something hot followed by an effort to look away that was underlined by the tension in his arms, as if he were trying to let go but his arms wouldn’t cooperate.
“Colby,” she whispered, her voice coming out husky because of the tightness in her throat. And then he was kissing her.
It began almost harshly and definitely hungrily. Fierce, even. She let out a low moan without even thinking about it, because she couldn’t have stopped it anyway. He broke the kiss, and she felt him start to back off.
“No!” she protested, and reached up to pull him back to her.
“Ali, I…can’t do this.”
