I nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. I really don’t have anything going on today until after three. But then I have to be in the Square for some last-minute readings. Do you think I’ll be done by then?”
“I would think so. I think the contractor just needs to do a walk-through, take some measurements, get the lay of the land, that sort of thing. They’re supposed to be shoring up some of the damaged areas so we can still investigate in there safely.”
“Sounds like a smart idea to me. Yeah, no problem. I’ll hop in the shower now and be over there by ten. And welcome back home.”
“Thanks. And you’re a lifesaver. Now, I’m off to put out some fires at Chasing Hope. And probably fire a couple of people while I’m at it.”
I cringed. “That bad, huh?”
“You have no idea. Talk to you later, Birdie.”
“Bye.” We disconnected, and I glanced at the clock again, thinking about what I should throw on that I could wear straight to Jackson Square for my readings if I didn’t have time to stop back at home. It needed to be something that didn’t show dirt, just in case. I had no idea what I’d be walking into in the Ninth, and I should probably be prepared for just about anything—natural or supernatural.
At nine-forty-eight,when I pulled up to the house at 400 Egania Street, a fancy truck was already in the drive. It seemed the contractor was extra-punctual.
I parked my car and just took a minute to take in the house. TheCaptain’s House, as it had been dubbed, dwarfed most of the buildings around it—except for its sister manse across the street in the 503 lot. Shaped like a steamboat, this one was white with turquoise accents, whereas the other was an icy turquoise with white accents. They both had ornate windows like portholes, detailing that looked like giant draping pearls, and elaborate, second-story wraparound porches, intricate lacy scrollwork details, and pillared galleries. They also had pagoda-like roof massing and widow’s-walk rooms with three-hundred-and-sixty-degree views overlooking the Mississippi River. In a word, they were stunning. And they had an aura and obvious history. I couldn’t wait to peel the layers away to see what lay at their cores.
I headed through the gate and up the walk, noting that the yard was in desperate need of some landscaping. But, then again, they likely didn’t put much in here given the beating it took if and when a storm hit. The only reason these homes were even still standing was because of how they had been built and the fact that the lower levels had been engineered to withstand flooding—nearly everything having been coated in ceramic. Once the water receded, all you had to do was hose it out and fix a few things, and it was good as new. The house would remain virtually unscathed if the upper levels didn’t take much wind damage, and the shuttered windows remained intact. I saw some minor roof damage from one of the recent storms, but I assumed it had likely been replaced or at the very least repaired after Katrina.
I rapped a courtesy knock on the door and opened it, calling out. “Hello?” The place echoed a bit, given there was minimal furniture inside. It seemed nobody was currently living in this house. I wasn’t sure about the one across the street. When I didn’t get a response to my callout, I headed in the direction I assumed the damaged area was located. Dev had mentioned when we’d first agreed to this investigation and location that there had been a fire in the area just off the kitchen and that the walkway and the attached building next door had completely burned out. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure where the kitchen was, but most houses were created the same with the kitchen near the center.
When I walked into the room, I saw someone bent over, looking at some damage to a support column. My first thought was purely feminine:Dang, that’s nice.My next thought was kind of ridiculous:This guy is dressed way too nice to be a contractor.I shook my head to rid it of all banal thoughts and cleared my throat.
“Uh, hello?” I’d remembered the accent this time, at least.
The guy stood and turned to me, a tool belt in his hand and a headlamp on his sandy-blond head.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I snapped.
“Well, hello again,” Kholt said, a cheeky grin on his face.
I shook my head and slashed my hand through the air, fire warming my blood. “No. Nuh-uh. You don’t get to be cute right now. What the hell are you doing here?” So much for the accent. I’d completely lost it in the shock of seeing him. And so much for my usual calm and collected air. I seemed to swear more than the sailors who would feel right at home in these houses when I was around Kholt Leroy.
He actually blushed and appeared a bit uncomfortable. It softened the edges of my anger a little, but not by much. “So, about that. . . .”
His tone had my ire rising again, followed quickly by a flash of fear that made my palms clammy. “Oh, this had better be good. Because if I find out that you’re spying on me for thefamily, especially after we already kind of had that discussion,we are going to have way more than words.”
“What?” He looked genuinely surprised and quite taken aback. Stuttering a bit, he continued. “Oh. Uh, um. No. Not at all.” He furrowed his brow and shook his head, moving a couple of steps closer to me.
He reached out, but let his hand fall back to his side. “No. Turner actually recommended me to Deveraux for this job. He thought it’d be cool for us to work together, and that it’d be a little side thing I’d enjoy. Dev accepted my bid and hired me earlier this week. I didn’t mention it the other night because you were already on edge, and we had a whole lot of other things to talk about—which was wonderful, by the way.”
He smiled, and I tried to hold onto my mad, despite the fact that the flash of those pearly whites disarmed me a bit—like it always had. I should have expected that.
He spread his hands wide, his palms still full of the tools of his trade. I tried not to notice how rugged his hands were. How big.
“And because I figured I’d be here alone until we all got together. I planned to talk to you about it before then. I’m sorry I surprised you.” He frowned again before continuing. “Why areyouhere? I thought you guys were off doing other pre-production stuff and wouldn’t come here until later.”
“Well, first,” I said, taking a breath and trying to shake the attitude. My indignation had risen with my paranoia, but I honestly didn’t believe this was anything nefarious. My magic would warn me if I were in danger. At least, I hoped it would. “I work for the show, why wouldn’t I be here? And, second, Dev actually asked Paxton to come and meet the contractor—apparently,you—so that someone from the cast was here for questions and so they could pass along the info to the rest of us. But he had an emergency at his soup kitchen and asked me to come instead.”
Kholt nodded. “Yeah, having someone from the show with me is probably a good idea. Well, since you’re here, are you up for a walk-through? I don’t want you to get all dirty. You look great, and if you have somewhere to be after this . . .” He made a vague gesture with his hands. “But we do have to note the things that need addressing both in this house and the one on the opposite corner.”
His compliment broke through a bit of my icy layer and his movements once again drew my attention to his hands—and the way his muscles moved under his clothing. Geez, my thoughts and emotions were all over the place, and I was having a really hard time concentrating on anything right now. I didn’t want anything to do with Balance of Light, and Kholt was from and part of that world. I didn’t trust that word of my whereabouts wouldn’t get back to them and thus put me in danger, and I hadn’t yet explained to Kholt why they couldn’t know where I was. He hadn’t remarked on my accent when I first walked in, but he’d always been way too observant for his own good. I was sure he’d caught it. And I was even more confident that he had a million questions he was amassing, just waiting to unleash them on me. My stomach roiled at the thought.
“Nope, all good. I dressed with that in mind. I do have somewhere to be around three, but we have until then to do whatever is needed.”
He secured his tool belt and put whatever he had been using in one of the loops. I couldn’t stop my gaze from tracking his movements, and my libido took notice once again. Seemed he filled out both sides of his jeans nicely. I gave myself a mental shake.
Kholt had always been cute, and we’d been really close back in the day. I’d never seen him like that, though. However, the more I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t looked atanyonethat way back then. Now, he was a virtual stranger to me, and my inner wanton was taking note of how handsome he was in a big way. Not to mention he’d been nothing but a gentleman since we’d run into each other again—despite the weirdness—and the things he was showing me that indicated the kind of man he’d become were very intriguing. And endearing. And super sexy. I sighed.