Maid to Fit Read online

  With Addie covered, Kayla buckled down and lost herself in work for the next few hours, stopping only briefly when Addie called to say she was home and that Ronnie had left.

  “I’m leaving for the evening, Kayla,” James said a little while later, poking his head in her office. “Make sure you set the alarm when you leave. Great job this morning with the clients. I’d like to give them something as soon as possible, to whet their appetite, so to speak.”

  “I just need to get the Kessler brochure finished up and I will be able to devote my full attention to the design ideas I have for them,” she replied.

  He waved his hand and backed out of her doorway. The next time she looked up it was already after six, so she scrambled to email the brochure to the printing company, grab her sketches from the morning meeting and head out to visit her mother. She didn’t stay long tonight because her mother was sleeping. Waking her would only make it hard on the nurses.

  Pulling into the driveway a little after seven o’clock, she sighed as the garage bay opened and she realized she still hadn’t called someone to pick up the old sofa from the garage.

  There just wasn’t enough of her to go around.

  The sofa would have to wait. She was starving and Addie still needed to be fed.

  Grabbing her purse and the sketches off the front seat, she headed inside and closed the garage on her way through the door.

  “I’m in the kitchen, Mom,” Addie yelled.

  Kayla dropped off her things in her office and headed to the kitchen. Upon entering, she stopped and stared.

  The kitchen was clean—really clean. Dishes done, counters and stove cleaned off, as was the breakfast table, which held two table settings and what smelled and looked like dinner.

  “Oh, my goodness, Addie! Did you do all this?” she asked.

  “No, Ronnie did. Isn’t it great?” Addie smiled. A real smile.

  A clean kitchen, dinner and a happy teenager…Kayla would have to thank Ronnie when she finally met him.

  Chapter Two

  Boy did he have his work cut out for him. These people were majorly disorganized. They even had a couch in the garage.

  After entering the unlocked house and confirming that no one was hiding within waiting for the owners to return home, Ronnie had taken a look around to see if anything appeared to be missing.

  Actually, after seeing the other large houses in the neighborhood, he was curious as hell how the other half lived.

  There had been seven people in the house when he was growing up and they hadn’t had near the space the Clarks did. His parents had five children. He was smack-dab in the middle and the only boy. His father had worked in a steel mill and made a good wage; his mother had been the first military experience he’d ever had. She was organized and kept the whole family in line with a finesse worthy of the toughest drill sergeant. The little farm in Georgia where his parents still lived hadn’t been updated in twenty years, but it was always organized.

  He couldn’t figure out the point of working night and day to afford all this grandeur but not being able to enjoy it because you were always working. It was obvious Mrs. Clark and her husband had something to prove to someone, what with the posh-looking couch and designer dishes. Their kid was cute, though.

  Looking around, he’d figured out quickly that they must not eat dinner at the table. It was covered with newspapers and bills from weeks past, including a final notice for something. That is one crazy way to live, he’d thought, when you have money for lush carpets and nice curtains but don’t have time to pay your bills.

  He’d managed to clean up the kitchen and whip up some of his famous chicken, broccoli and cheese bake. He’d put their dinner in the fancy oven and figured out how to program it so that it would turn on at six o’clock. Then he had cleaned off the table and finished up just in time to go get the kid. He’d had a little of his mama in him after all.

  Upon pulling up to a town house equally as nice as the two-story home he’d just left, he noticed a group of about eight girls in the front yard running around and doing flips. A short girl with long dark brown hair and freckles yelled something at her friend and then ran and grabbed a bag off one of the porch chairs and headed his way. She approached his truck cautiously, staring him down the whole way. She was sizing him up, and he had to respect her for it.

  Opening the passenger-side door of his truck, she looked him in the eye and said, “Ronnie?”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  The ride back to her house had been relatively relaxed. When they pulled up he told her about the casserole and how to keep it warm, which resulted in a stunned look appearing on her face.

  After getting out of the truck, she looked at him before closing the door. “We have cheer practice in the gym at school tomorrow until 4:30. Can you pick me up?”

  He nodded and she blessed him with a pretty smile, then slammed the truck door and headed up the walk. He watched her until she was safely inside and then he left to go see Buck. Ronnie had dropped off some food and a chew toy for Buck this morning and visited with him for a little while, but he still felt bad about having to dump the dog on Rusty. Friend or not, that was asking a lot.

  Rusty didn’t seem to mind, but Ronnie had been raised not to impose on people’s generosity. He needed to start looking for an apartment that would allow pets, specifically big dogs. After parking the truck in the driveway, he knocked on the door only to have Rusty open it with an angry look on his face.

  “Your damn dog has been whining all day, and I’m pretty sure there aren’t any IEDs or the like anywhere in my house. I think he has PTSD. Find him a doggy shrink or something. Damn!” Rusty said, holding the door open for Ronnie to enter. “Did you get the kid home okay?”

  “Yeah, and I did one better. Cleaned the kitchen and part of the dining room and put some dinner in the oven. The kid needs me to pick her up from practice tomorrow, but I could probably take Buck along for the ride. Maybe getting him out for a while will help with the anxiety. God knows it’s a little rough for me to acclimate to civilian life. Still keep looking over my shoulder for…” He shook his head at his own absurdity.

  The blank look that so often crossed Rusty’s face when any of them mentioned that day showed up for a brief moment.

  Ronnie let the subject drop and entered the small living room of Rusty’s house. Buck got up from the large pillow where he’d been lying and made his way over to Ronnie. When Ronnie sat down on the couch, Buck laid his head on Ronnie’s lap and looked up at him with large, sad eyes. The dog was even more lost than the men were now that they were no longer enlisted.

  Just like in the service, though, they had each other’s backs. They would get through this adjustment period as a team—and that team included Buck.

  Ronnie, Buck and Rusty watched television for a bit until Seth and Ian showed up. Then they all sat around the dining room table playing cards and talking about civilian life and their cleaning jobs. Buck seemed more relaxed with them all around. Maybe he was just lonely without all of them.

  No matter what this cleaning job with the Clarks entailed, he could always count on these guys. Around them, he was just Ronnie…not chauffeur to a teenage cheerleader and meal planner for the Clarks. Once he got his feet underneath him in this job, he could start looking for a permanent place for himself and Buck.

  * * *

  While he was surfing the internet the following morning trying to figure out what classes he should sign up for at the local community college, his cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number but he answered anyway.

  “Hello, this is Megan with the Emory Group. Kayla Clark asked me to call you. There is an envelope here at my desk for you. Would you be able to stop by and pick it up today?” she asked.

  “Sure. Maybe around lunchtime. Will Kayla be available around that time? I’d like to meet with her for just a few minutes.”

  “I’m sorry, Kayla normally works through lunch,” Megan replied.


  “She has to eat, right? It would only take a minute. I just want to make sure I’m clear about what she expects from me,” he said.

  “Kayla is usually on the run from the time she walks in the door until long after I leave for the day. I’m sorry, sir,” Megan replied.

  “Fine.” He sighed. “I’ll come by around noon and pick up the envelope.”

  He’d met the kid and talked to the mom briefly. Where was the husband in all this? What kind of man let his wife work her fingers to the bone and didn’t make sure she at least ate on a regular basis? The man obviously didn’t help around the house, but maybe he worked even more than Kayla did.

  Rusty had always said Ronnie should do whatever needed to be done. Feeding his new employer sounded like a good place to start.

  After his morning workout and a shower, he got dressed and then picked up a sandwich from one of the more trendy restaurants. He doubted the mom was a fast-food kind of woman. He parked his older model truck in a parking lot full of expensive-looking sedans and made his way inside to the receptionist’s desk.

  “Hi, I’m Ronnie Brown. I’m here to see Kayla Clark,” he told the woman behind the desk.

  “Oh, yes. I’m Megan. Here is the envelope she left for you.” She handed him a plain white envelope that obviously contained a key to her house, judging by the bulk in the middle.

  “I brought some lunch at her request,” he lied, holding up the bag containing the sandwich and taking the envelope at the same time.

  Megan stared at him. “Oh… I… She didn’t say anything about lunch.”

  “It’s getting cold, so I’ll just drop it off in her office if you’ll point me in the right direction,” he said with a smile.

  Megan blushed, and victory was his. Mostly, he tried not to use his looks to get what he wanted from women, but occasionally his handsomeness had a bright side.

  “Her office is the third one on the right, down the hallway. She’s on the phone, so knock first if her door is closed.” Megan smiled at him.

  Heading down the hallway, he noticed a placard with Kayla’s name and knocked on that door. When she told him to enter, he opened the door, unprepared for the looker who sat behind the messy desk.

  Addie got her cuteness from her mama.

  Long brown hair was loosely swept up into a messy knot at the back of her head. Long eyelashes framed round brown eyes that peered at him in question. A spattering of freckles covered each cheek and the bridge of her nose. His eyes were drawn to Kayla’s plump bottom lip, which she was chewing on. It was an innocent gesture, obviously done in confusion at his presence in her office, but it sent shivers of sexual awareness down his back.

  She didn’t look like any mom he’d ever seen and she was especially young to have a teenager. She should have been the poster woman for MILF magazine. Her husband was one lucky son of a bitch.

  She paused midsentence and told the person on the phone that she would need to call back, then she hung up and stared at him. Her full lips must have tasted as good as they looked because she continued to chew on the bottom one.

  Realizing he was lurking in the doorway staring at a married woman in lust, he entered the office and approached her desk.

  “Ronnie Brown. I brought you some lunch. You should eat it while it’s still hot,” he said, placing the bag of food on the only available spot on her desk.

  Her lovely eyes swept him from head to toe with appreciation, and an image of him kissing and sucking those sweet lips of hers came to mind.

  Married! His brain yelled while his body continued to appreciate her. She wore a white business shirt that gapped a little from being stretched tightly across full breasts. Whoever said skinny women were hot needed a mental evaluation, because even while she was sitting down he could appreciate her curves.

  “I’m sorry… I’m Kayla. I was just expecting…” she started, and then stopped.

  “Expecting what?” he asked when she continued to look him over.

  “A veteran,” she finally blurted out. “Veterans are supposed to be—you are supposed to be—older…like a grandfather,” she finished in a whisper.

  “I am a veteran, but I’m nobody’s grandpa,” he said, pointing at the bag of food. “Eat up and don’t worry. I will pick up Addie from practice at 4:30. We worked it out yesterday.”

  “Thank you. You didn’t have to bring me lunch,” she said.

  “You hired me to take care of your family. You are part of the family, so…” He cleared his throat. “What time will you or your husband get home this evening? I can stay with Addie until one of you arrives and work on some of the items on this list.”

  “I’m not married. It’s just me and Addie. I visit my mother every evening after work, but I should be home by seven. Addie is used to staying by herself in the evenings, though, so you don’t have to stay with her,” Kayla said, pulling the bag of food closer to her.

  Kayla’s single status explained a lot. He felt a little guilty about his assumptions about the condition of her house and how she lived her life, but now he could stop feeling ashamed for checking her out.

  He still couldn’t help but wonder why Kayla had to do all the running around for Addie. Why wasn’t Addie’s dad picking her up from practice some of the time? None of that was Ronnie’s business, though, so he forced his mind back to the matter at hand.

  “Anything special you need me to do at the house?” he asked.

  “To be honest, I’ve been working so much lately I’m not sure where to tell you to start.” She sighed.

  “I noticed a couch in your garage yesterday. Did you want that moved into the house somewhere?”

  “No, I was going to donate it, but I keep forgetting to call someone to pick it up,” she said, pulling the sandwich out of the bag.

  “I have a buddy that could use it if you’re trying to get rid of it,” he said.

  “Oh, sure, yeah,” she replied.

  “I’m going to go, get out of your hair now, but I did want to ask if you were aware that there is a disconnect notice in the pile of papers I cleaned off the table yesterday and laid on the china hutch?”

  “Crap! I forgot to enter bills last month, too!” She sighed again. “Could I ask a favor? If I give you some money could you stop by the house and grab that water bill and take it up to the city offices and pay it? If not, you may not have water to clean with.”

  “Sure, I’ll take care of it on my way to pick up Addie,” he offered.

  Laying her sandwich down, she stood and walked over to a chair beneath the window in her office and bent over to rummage through her purse. Try as he might he could not keep his eyes from drinking her in. The dress pants she wore hid what he could only guess were curvy and luscious legs, but they did show off a nicely rounded ass.

  After pulling some money from her wallet, she turned and walked to where he stood.

  “Thanks for doing this, and for the sandwich,” she said, handing him the money.

  She was about a head shorter than him and, up close, simply breathtaking. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had turned his head to this degree.

  He noticed her scent; it was like a full-frontal assault to his senses. Unlike the floral scents his mother and sisters tended to wear, this one had a musky smell that effectively kicked his libido into overdrive.

  He took the money with a nod and hightailed it out of there.

  * * *

  Kayla stayed on his mind for the remainder of the afternoon. He made it back to her house, loaded up the old couch in the back of his truck and reorganized some things so she could fit her car in the garage. After cleaning up the living room, he headed to his apartment, where Ian helped him unload the sofa and position it in front of their TV. Ian and Seth both congratulated him on obtaining better furniture for their apartment. He hadn’t lied to Kayla. Ian and Seth did need a couch. He would just benefit from it, as well.

  After dropping off the sofa, he went by Rusty’s house and picked up Buck. The
n he stopped at the city offices to pay Kayla’s water bill, and after that headed to the school. He was a little early, so when Buck indicated he needed to do his business, Ronnie grabbed the dog’s leash and led him around to the grassy area in front of the building. Once Buck finished, Ronnie decided to take the dog inside the school to see if they could locate Addie. The closer they got to the double doors the more excited Buck became.

  A couple of teenage boys came out through the doors and Buck barked and then took up whining. After correcting Buck’s behavior, Ronnie assured the boys that Buck was friendly.

  “Are you in the army?” one of the boys asked, pointing at the dog tags Ronnie wore around his neck, more out of habit than anything else. He did look military with his camouflage pants, high and tight haircut and the tags.

  “We both were,” he said, indicating Buck.

  “That’s beast!” the other boy said. “Can we pet him?”

  “Let him smell your hand first so he knows that you’re an American.” Ronnie had to grin when the boys looked in awe that a dog might be able to detect a person’s nationality. Yep, kids were still gullible.

  They approached and held out their hands in Buck’s direction. The dog sniffed them and then bumped their hands for a pat.

  “I’m looking for Addison Clark. Either of you guys know her?”

  “Yeah, Addie is in the gym,” one of the boys said.

  “We can wait out here with your dog while you go inside to get her,” the other boy offered.

  “I appreciate the offer, but Buck stays with me,” Ronnie said.

  “Mr. Thompson, the principal, doesn’t allow animals in the building,” the taller of the two boys said.

  “This is no mere animal. This is a sergeant in the United States Army. Show some respect! Don’t they teach you kids anything these days?” Ronnie said in disgust.

  He nearly fell out laughing when one of the boys stood up a little straighter and saluted Buck with a mischievous grin. Smart-ass.