Page 10 of One Little Spark

“That’s the last of it,” Jory said as he brought in a basket of clothing. He dropped it at the bottom of the stairs.

“Jesus Christ. How much stuff does she have? Who needs that much clothing?” Aiden demanded.

Jory grinned. “Women. They need something to wear for every occasion and a pile for the what-ifs?”

“What-ifs? What the hell are those?”

“What if it rains while we’re out to dinner? I might need a jacket that will match my outfit. What if it gets cooler later? I could need a sweater to match my shoes. What if it—"

Aiden waved him off. “I get it, I get it. But seriously, Jor, she’s only staying for a month. She doesn’t need all this shit.”

The smile left Jory’s face. “Look, Aiden, I know you don’t want this, and I totally get that, but I appreciate it all the same. Once things…calm down around here and we’ve stopped the arsonist and know whatever the hell else is going on is over, then we can get her a new place. Until then, sorry, bro… I don’t want her on her own.”

He held up his hands to ward off any complaints. “Yeah, I know she’s old enough to take care of herself, but I trust your gut. I would never forgive myself if she moved out to the edge of town and the firebug lit those buildings up. Or if she moved into the middle of town and something else happened. You said it yourself. Something weird is going on. I don’t want her on her own until it all gets sorted out.”

When Jory put it that way, he couldn’t argue. The idea ofHazel on her own right now gnawed at him. That didn’t mean he wanted her to live with him though. It was hard enough to resist her when she was at arm’s length, living in her mom’s basement. When she was home alone with him and naked in the shower… He slammed the door on that thought. If he had any hope of surviving, he was going to have to establish some hard and fast ground rules.

He ran a hand over his face. “What are you going to do about your mom now that she’s by herself?”

“I’m gonna drop by more often, but I asked Phoenix to see if he can get a patrol car to drive by more frequently. He said it shouldn’t be a problem. The guys give her a hard time about the paperwork, but they all like her. They’ll keep an eye out.”

So why can’t they do that for Hazel?But he knew it was too late for that. Hazel had moved in, and he was just going to have to live with it.

“Anyway, I gotta run. I’m doing Mike’s shift tonight, so I won’t see you until later in the week.” When there was a loud thump from upstairs, Jory laughed. “Good luck,” he called as he strolled out the door.

Aiden let out a long sigh as the thumping sounded again above his head. He leaned over and picked up the basket, then started up the stairs. He walked across the landing to Hazel’s new room.

“Here’s the last of it,” he said.

“Thanks,” Hazel said. She was standing on a couple of boxes in front of the window at the far wall, putting up some kind of rod.

“What are you doing?”

“Hanging curtains. I can’t change in here if the windows are bare. The world can see me.”

Aiden glanced out the window. There was a huge oak tree in the back yard blocking the neighbors view from everydirection. “Er, okay. I can do that tomorrow if you want. You can change in the bathroom down the hall for tonight.”

“It’s not a problem. I’m using a tension rod so as soon as I get it the right length, I’ll just stick the curtains on it and hang it up.” She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him. “I can’t thank you enough for letting me move in. I totally appreciate it. I know you have reservations, but it’s going to be fun. We can do movie nights when you’re not working, and I can cook dinner. I actually like to cook, so it will be nice to have someone to cook for.”

“Uh-huh.” Why was she prattling on? It was almost like she was nervous or something. Aiden set the basket on the floor and straightened again, only to lean on the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his chest. As he watched Hazel balancing on two boxes, he knew this was not going to end well. “You want some help?” he offered.

“No, I’ve got it. I don’t want to be a burden or anything.” She wound the rod out some more and then measured it against the window frame. “Aren’t the curtains nice?” She nodded toward the bed. Laying across the duvet were two thick white curtains.

“Uh-huh.” He didn’t trust himself to say anything else. He’d just spent months fixing this place up, and now she wanted to use a tension rod to hang curtains. It was going to scuff up his paint job for sure.

It appeared that she finally had the rod the length she wanted because she put one end on the inside of the window frame and pushed on the other end, trying to make it fit in the side.

“Yup, that will work.” She looked over her shoulder. “Can you hand me the curtains, please?”

He offered her the curtains, one at a time, and then went back to leaning on the doorjamb. He held his breath. He knewwhat was going to happen, but wisely kept his mouth shut, clamping his jaw closed.

When Hazel finally had the rod pushed in far enough that it fit inside the window frame with the curtains all bunched up on it, she tried to move the other side in, but she lost her grip, and the rod shot out again. She jumped back startled, and the boxes caved beneath her. Hazel yelped as she lost her balance and fell backward.

Aiden rushed forward and caught her in his arms, crushing her to his chest.

“Oh,” she looked up at him in surprise.

Her big blue eyes were wide, and her lips were slightly parted. It took everything he had not to kiss her.Off-limits, he reminded himself but, somehow, he couldn’t seem to put her down.

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