Lisa Childs - Hot Seduction

No matter how much she needed money for the house upkeep and property taxes, Serena had never risked her own safety or the other tenants’ safety by renting to someone unsavory.

“I do background checks on all the boarders,” she said. When she’d rented to Stanley, she had also done background checks on Cody, since he was paying most of Stanley’s rent. In addition to no criminal record, he had excellent credit. “I’m safe here.”

Tammy Ingles picked up a magazine from the old chest in the sitting area at the end of the kitchen. She waved it back and forth in front of her glistening face. Despite the heat, the beautician’s makeup was perfect, just like the artful curls in her colorfully streaked hair. “You’re not safe anymore.”

“I might be in danger of melting,” Serena said. The repairman wasn’t able to come out for a few days, so she had no relief from the heat. Though it didn’t seem quite as hot in the house since Cody had left.

He had been gone for hours. How long had the Hotshots meeting been? Or had the fire call kept him occupied?

Or a woman?

A pang of jealousy struck her heart. But she drew in a breath and reminded herself his seeing someone else would be for the best. She needed Cody’s money more than his fleeting attention.

“You have to stay strong,” Fiona said. “Don’t let him melt you.”

“Him?” she asked. “I was talking about the broken air conditioner.”

“Better the AC be broken than your heart,” Fiona warned her.

Her heart was breaking, but the lawsuit—not a man—was the cause. However, she hadn’t mentioned the lawsuit to her friends. There was nothing they could do to help her. Neither of the women had the kind of money she needed.

“What are you talking about?” she asked Fiona.

“Cody Mallehan,” Fiona said. “Wyatt told me he’s moved in here.”

“Is that why you two stopped in to visit?” She’d been happy to see her friends for a few reasons. She missed them. She was usually so busy with the house and her boarders that she didn’t get to see them as much as she liked. She’d also welcomed the distraction from her worries about the house and from her preoccupation with her new boarder.

“You don’t get to town much,” Tammy said.

She didn’t get to town, but the town seemed to come to her—with the gossip her boarders and her friends brought back to her. A smile pulled up the corners of her mouth. “You’ve mentioned him to me before,” she reminded them. “And even if you hadn’t, you don’t think I could figure out for myself what a womanizer he is?”

Fiona groaned. “He already hit on you.”

Tammy snorted. “Of course, he hit on her. He’s Cody. He hits on you and Avery all the time—even though you’re with his friends.”

“He does that just to irritate Wyatt and Dawson,” Fiona said.

“He does it because he can’t help but flirt with any female with a pulse,” Tammy said.

Tammy would understand that behavior; she had a reputation of being quite the flirt herself. Serena suspected this was because of Tammy’s awkward teens. Now that she’d lost the weight and cleared up her complexion, their brunette friend enjoyed male attention. But with Tammy it was mostly just flirting. Apparently Cody did more than just flirt.

Serena chuckled. “So you’re saying I shouldn’t take his attention personally? He’s going to hit on Mrs. Gulliver too? She is pretty cute.”

Tammy smiled. “Don’t you love the pink streaks I put in her hair?”

“She loves them, too,” Serena assured the stylist. “She’s been talking about adding some purple ones.”

Tammy clapped her hands together. “That’s great. She’s eighty-six and open to change. When are you going to let me change your hair?”

Serena shrugged. “I don’t have time.”

But she actually kept it long and straight, because it reminded her of how her mother always wore her hair.

“Exactly,” Tammy said. “You’re too busy to deal with all that hair. Let me cut it off for you.”

“Hell no!” a deep voice exclaimed. Cody rushed into the kitchen as if ready to throw himself between Serena and a pair of scissors. “That would be a crime.”

Wyatt sauntered in behind his friend. “You’re a firefighter, not a cop,” he reminded Cody. Then he pulled his fiancée into his arms and planted a big kiss on her—as if he hadn’t seen her in days, instead of hours.

Serena felt that pang of jealousy again; she was envious of her friend. She wanted that kind of love—that kind of connection.

Cody was here. Staying in the same house. And he apparently liked her hair. But he wasn’t looking for love. Even without her friends’ warnings, she would have recognized that.

“Cutting hair is not a crime,” Tammy said.

“Cutting her hair would be,” he insisted. And he reached out as if to finger one of the long strands. But he caught himself and pulled his hand back to his side.

Serena’s face heated with embarrassment that she and her hair had become the topic of conversation. “What I decide to do about my hair is unimportant,” she said. “Have you learned anything more about the arsonist?”

Hopefully they’d caught him. She couldn’t get over how close she had come to losing her home in the last big fire. She gazed around the kitchen at the cabinets she and Mama had stripped and re-stained a rich chocolate color, several shades lighter than the oak floor they’d also refinished. There was no part of the house—structure, contents or residents—that Serena and her mother hadn’t cared for.

“Yes,” Fiona chimed in, “do you have any leads yet?”

Wyatt sighed and shook his head.

And Cody clenched his jaw so tightly a muscle twitched in his cheek. They were clearly troubled that they hadn’t caught the guy yet.

Serena’s nurturing instincts—inherited from Mama—kicked in and she turned toward the refrigerator. “I saved you some dinner,” she said. “There’s enough for everyone.” She pulled out the fried chicken and potato salad she’d made earlier.

Fiona groaned. “If I didn’t have an appointment to try on wedding gowns, I’d take you up on that offer. But I need to watch what I’m eating.”

“No, you don’t,” Wyatt said as his hand slid over the curve of his fiancée’s hip. “You’re perfect just as you are.”

The envy kicked in again. But she couldn’t be jealous of her friend. Fiona deserved her happiness.

Tammy emitted a wistful sigh. “You two make me sick.” It was clear she wanted what they had, too.

Cody was the only one who didn’t seem envious. His focus was on the chicken instead. He pulled a leg from the bowl she’d set on the counter. But he looked at her as he bit through the crispy coating. Then he moaned with pleasure.

That moan had her stomach muscles clenching in reaction.

“I can heat it up,” she offered.

He shook his head. “It’s perfect just as it is.”

Somehow she didn’t think they were talking about the chicken anymore. But before he could clarify, other boarders entered the kitchen. Mr. Stehouwer hobbled into the room with his walker. With a big grin, he greeted all the young people. Stanley bounded in with Annie—both bustling with energy.

She was going to have a time keeping that dog out of the house. But she loved the kitchen being as full of people as it had been when her grandmother had been alive, when she’d had so much family living there.

She wanted to fill it with family again. She had to find a way to hang on to the house.

She wasn’t going to find the answer in the wicked glint in Cody’s green eyes. Even though the rent he paid for himself and for Stanley would fix the air-conditioning unit, it wasn’t enough. She had to find a way to pay off that lawsuit and keep her family legacy.