Page 16 of Noble Neighbor
He shook his head, dislodging the memories from his mind to concentrate on the road. Nearing the Jones drive, Oliver automatically decelerated and looked at the house. His gaze roamed over the structure.
There’d been a whirlpool of activity over the last couple of weeks.She’d had contractors in to remodel the girls’ bathroom, rip out carpets, sand and seal the hardwood floors. Exterior painting was starting next week, and—
Oliver blinked, twice, before the image made sense. Yes, the waving figure, the almost hanging-off-the-side-of-the-roof figure, was Sunny. “What the hell is that woman doing?” he muttered with disbelief.
He braked and made a quick three-point turn. By the time he pulled to a stop at the back of her house, his heart rate had accelerated to an alarming rate.
“Are you trying to break your neck?” he yelled as heraced to the side and stepped back to look up, screening his eyes with a hand. Seeing her teetering three storiesup on the one section of the house where the wrap verandadid not reach was heart attack inducing.
She lifted one arm from its hold on the dormer window and flung it up in the air, glaring back. “Not particularly,”she shouted back. “Besides, it’s your fault I’m stuck here.”
“My fault? How in all that’s holy can you blame me for your stupidity?”
“Don’t use that word.”
“Your girls are not here.” Oliver sucked in a breath and counted, aiming for ten. He got to three. “And I can say whatever the hell I want. Your climbing onto the roof is the height of brainlessness.” He shook his head in exasperation and calmed his tone. “How did you get there?”
“Hmm. Let me think … maybe a ladder?”
“You asking or telling, sweetheart?”
“Gah.” Sunny stamped her foot. It slipped, unbalancing her.“Aaah!” She twisted her body and regained a grip on the window jutting out beside her.
Oliver about peed in his pants. Heart hammering, he yelled, “Don’t move! Not another muscle.” His brain scrambled. Ladder? Ladder. He scanned the ground and noticed the ends sticking out around the corner. Rounding it, the extension ladder lay at an angle against the protruding veranda roof.
He righted it against the side — how had she hefted its weight? — and maneuvered it to line up with her feet, the top only just reaching the roofline. “Stay still. I’m coming up.”
When he got no snarky comeback, he glanced up. Her pallor was visible even from the distance.Fuck.Oliver stepped on the first rung, testing the balance of the ladder. He muttered a prayer and started climbing.
He stopped on the second to last rung, eye-level to her heaving chest. Her knuckles were white from her death grip on the dormer roof. “Sunny?”
She met his gaze, none of her earlier bravado visible.Oliver leaned forward, balancing one arm on the dormersiding, the other reaching to hook his fingers into her waistband.
He breathed a fraction easier but would feel a million times better when they were both — all limbs intact —on solid ground. “Can you keep a secret?”
Sunny frowned at him. “What?”
“I’m gonna admit to something very few people know. Swear not to tell?”
Her expression softened. “I swear.”
“I’m scared of heights.”
She blinked. “Oh.” Sunny shifted her gaze, looking past him. Looking down. “Shit.”
“Well, yes. Iamabout shitting in my pants right now. And I can’t go all fireman on you, fling you over my shoulder and slide down the ladder,” he admitted wryly. “Can you get in through the window?” He nudged his head toward the dormer.
“It’s painted shut.”
He cursed, thinking hard. “Scoot down and sit on your butt.”
“Just don’t let go of me. Okay?”
“I won’t. Promise, sweetheart. Now, place your left hand on my shoulder, but don’t push back against me else we’ll both break our necks. Yeah?”
She nodded and followed his instructions. Oliver sucked a breath of relief when her palm connected with his shoulder.
“Good girl. Loosen your hold on the window, place your hand on the siding for balance, and bend your knees till your butt touches the roof. I won’t let go of your waistband till you’re sitting.”
