Chapter Nine

Setting the bucket next to her car, Stephanie turned the water on and aimed the hose at her car.   What a week she thought as she hosed down the car.  Her new job was going well, she had a manuscript she was finishing up that sounded promising and she’d managed to make some new friends.  Jack and Darcy had even talked her into going out for drinks last night too.  It had actually been fun to be out, even if she had only stayed for one drink and been home before nine on a Friday night.

Shrugging, she grabbed the sponge from her bucket and slopped the soapy water on the car.  Once a week she washed her baby.  A couple times a year she got waxed too.  That was next today.  Her house was clean and now her car would be too.  She smiled.  Her and Mark had spent many a Saturday taking care of their cars.  When Ben was old enough they got him involved and had their own little family car wash once a week.  The three of them usually ended up as wet as the cars, but it was all in good fun.  Sadness crept into her smile.  She missed those moments.

As she worked her way around the car, her thoughts turned to Richie and their encounter earlier that week on the beach.  They had spent a long while sitting on the beach just talking.  She had eventually told him her name and, before they went their separate ways, she reluctantly gave him her number.  He had said he wanted to see her again, but no call had come so far.  She picked up the hose to rinse the car.  It didn’t really matter.  She was sure he was just trying to be nice to her.  There wasn’t really anything more to it than that.

Singing along with radio as she worked she didn’t see the little silver sports car drive by and turn around, slowing to a stop in front of her house.

Crouching to work on the tires she didn’t see the man standing at the foot of the driveway until she stood and nearly hit him with the spray from the hose.

“Hey!”  He quickly stepped back out of the way of the stream of water.  “Watch where you aim that thing.”  He quickly drank her in.  Her jeans hugged her hips, had wet spots on the knees and were rolled up above her ankles, her t-shirt was damp and her feet were bare.  Her hair was pulled back in a long tail at the nape of her neck.  She looked damned cute and his whole body reacted to this fresh faced beauty doing an everyday normal thing.  None of the women he had been involved with lately would have been caught dead looking like she did.

She jerked her head in the direction of the now very recognizable voice.  “Richie?!  What are you doing here?”  Her pulse started to race.  How did he know where she lived?  And did he have to look so damn good in jeans and a t-shirt?

Seeing that she still held the hose in her hand, he took a tentative step forward, his hands raised in defense.  “Don’t shoot.”  When she lowered the hose he continued.  “I had an appointment in Burbank this morning and happened to see you out here as I was driving by.”   He stepped closer; her car gleamed in the sunshine.  “So I thought I’d stop.”  He motioned to her car.  “She looks great.”

Stephanie smiled.  “Yeah she does, but she’s not quite done yet.  She gets her winter coat of wax today.”

“I like a woman who knows how to take care of her car.”

Stephanie moved to shut the water off and grabbed a couple of towels.  “I think you just like my car.”  She started wiping the car down, “you going to just stand there?”  When he didn’t move she tossed a towel in his direction.  If he was going to make her all nervous and jerky, the least he could do was grab a towel and help her out.  “I assume you know how to wipe off a car, right?”

Grinning, he picked up the towel.  She was in a feisty mood today.  “Yeah, I do.”

Together they wiped down the car and when they were through Stephanie took the towels back into the garage and came back with the can of carnauba wax and two more cloths. “What are you doing here Rich?”  She rubbed the wax on the hood of the car while she waited for him to answer.  She needed to keep busy.  She didn’t want him to see how he made her pulse jump and race.  It wasn’t right.

Reaching around her he tugged the cloth out of her back pocket and rubbed the wax off as she rubbed it on.  She smelled different today.  Like citrus and sunshine with a hint of the beach thrown in just to drive him that much crazier.   “I told you I wanted to see you again.”

She swallowed as his hand ghosted across her lower back and nodded, “you did.  But you also said you’d call me.”

“I know.  But I got busy this week and, well, here I am in person instead.”  It had been totally unplanned, but when he saw her out in her driveway, he couldn’t just drive by.  He had to stop.  “I was going to call you this afternoon.”  He stopped and turned her so they were facing each other.  “Should I go home and call you instead?”

Looking up to his face his dimple was out in full force and a very girly giggle escaped before she could stop it.  “No.  You just surprised me.  I was sure I only gave you my phone number the other day and not my address.”

He shrugged.  “Just one more coincidence to add to the others from last week I guess.”  He tugged his sunglasses down and narrowed his eyes playfully.  “Are you sure you’re not stalking me?”

She couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out of her throat.  “No.  And if you look around, it’s MY driveway you’re standing in and MY house your car is parked in front of.  I’m starting to think you’re the one who’s stalking me.”

“Damn.”  His smile broadened as he looked around.  “You figured me out.”

“Yeah well, you’re easy to read.”  She took the wax and rags back into the garage and shut the radio off.  “Now she’s done.”

Richie rocked back on his heels.  He wasn’t ready for this interlude to be over with yet.  He glanced down at his watch.  “Can I take you to lunch?”

She coiled up the hose and looked down at herself.  Her jeans were damp; her shirt was smudged with dirt.  She was a mess.  “I’m not really dressed to go out anywhere.”

He shrugged.  “So go change, I’ll wait.”

She stood looking at him for a long moment trying to figure him out.  He was a world famous rock star and he wanted to have lunch with her; a woman who was more than a little broken and trying to find her way.   She opened her mouth intending to say no, but the words that came out surprised even her.  “Why don’t you come in and I’ll make us some lunch?”

Without waiting for his answer, she moved past him and up the walk to the door.