“It’s had a few incarnations and various uses. Storage and utility, just as now. And my great-grandfather had a workshop down here. He liked to build things, and so it’s told he liked to have a quiet space to retreat when my great-grandmother was on a tear. They stored preserves and root vegetables, whatever else they canned during harvests. My father said his parents outfitted it as an air-raid shelter during the fifties.”

As the space widened again, she stopped, put her hands on her hips. “God, Del, it’s creepy. It’s like a catacomb.”

“I like it.” Jack circled, eyes narrowed.“Take out that wall, widen the opening. Beams, columns.That brings in one more window, a little more light.”

“You call that sliver a window?” Laurel asked.

“Lighting’s a priority, and we have ways.” Jack looked up.“We’d have to reroute some of the pipes, give you more headroom. Space isn’t an issue, so I’d fir out the walls, run the electric, more plumbing. Put a nice john over there, balance that with a closet over here. Me, I’d put in a gas fireplace. Heat and ambiance, maybe do some stone or brick on that wall.Tile the floor, put heat elements under the tile.

“You’ve got your storm cellar doors out there. I want to think about that, take measurements, but it’s doable. Oh yeah, it’s doable.”

Del glanced at Parker, cocked an eyebrow.

“If it’s what you want, of course, I’m fine with it.”

“There’s your green light, Cooke.”

Jack rubbed his hands together. “Yeah, baby.”

“They’re going to start talking about bearing walls and rough plumbing.” Laurel shook her head.“I’m going up. I’ve barely cleared the brain haze from the construction of my auxiliary kitchen. Which is the work of genius,” she added to Jack.

“We do no less.”

“I’ll go with you.” Parker started out with Laurel, stopped. “Jack, can we do heated floors in the storage area?”

“All that, my lovely, and more.”

She smiled. “Maybe we’ll talk.”

By the time Malcolm came back up—and damn if Jack hadn’t made him see a space as slick, maybe even slicker, than the testosterone paradise in Del’s current house—Mrs. Grady, Emma, Laurel, and Parker had made a serious dent in the clearing up.

He took Mrs. Grady’s hand, shaking his head.“Uh-uh.You sit.” He gestured to the bench in the breakfast nook. “The one who cooks doesn’t clean up.That’s the Law of Kavanaugh.”

“I always liked your mother.”

“I’m pretty fond of her myself.Want some more wine?”

“I’ve had my share, but I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea.”

“You got it.”

He walked back to the stove, shook the kettle, then bumped Parker out of the way to fill it from the tap. He answered her stare with one of his own.

“Problem?”

“No.”

“Your hair smells like this white flower that bloomed all over this bush I had under my bedroom window when we were stationed in Florida. It gets its hooks right in me.”

He set the kettle on the burner, turned it on. The other men walked in as he took a stack of dishes from Emma.

“Damn,” Del complained. “We didn’t stay down there long enough.”

“You can grab what’s left on the table,” Laurel told them. “We’re shorthanded as Mac and Carter ducked out to have dessert at home.Which is spelled s-e-x.”

“If they’d waited an hour, they could’ve had pie and sex.” Malcolm found a cup and saucer in a cupboard. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

And, he discovered in short order, it was damn good pie.

He gauged his timing before he pushed back from the table. Del and Jack huddled over designs Jack sketched on a legal pad someone had dug up, and Laurel talked recipes with Mrs. Grady.

“I’ve got to take off.Thanks, Mrs. Grady.”

“Poker night,” Del said, glancing up. “Bring cash.”

“Sure, since I’ll be leaving with yours.”

“You give my best to your mother. Parker.” Mrs. Grady tapped a finger on the table. “Get Malcolm the leftovers I put aside for him.”

Even better, Malcolm thought, and flashed Mrs. Grady a grin when she winked at him. He trailed Parker into the kitchen.

“Looks like I’ll be eating like a king tomorrow, too.” He tucked the container under his arm.

“Mrs. G has a weakness for strays. I didn’t mean it like that,” she said quickly.

“I didn’t take it like that.”

“I’m really grateful for your help tonight.You saved me a lot of time and aggravation. I’ll walk you out.”

She’d pulled out that formal tone, he noted. The one that clearly ordered a man to take a step back. He moved deliberately closer as they walked through the house.

“Can you give me an estimate on when I can pick up my car?”

All business now, Malcolm mused. “Ma’ll call you about the tires in the morning, and work that out with you. Since I’ve got it in, I can give it a once-over.”

“I was going to schedule a general maintenance next month, but yes, since it’s already there.”

“You been having any problems with it?”

“No. None.”

“That should make it easy.”

She reached for the door. He beat her to it.

“Thanks again. I’ll expect your mother’s call tomorrow.”

Brisk and dry as a handshake, he thought. He set the container down on a table holding a vase of fat orange roses. Sometimes, he thought, you moved fast; sometimes you moved slow.

He moved fast, giving her a quick yank that had her body colliding with his.The way she said excuse me, like a veteran school-teacher to an unruly student made him grin before he took her mouth with his.

It was even better than the pie.

Soft, tasty, ripe, with just a hint of shock to cut the sweet. He felt her fingers dig into his shoulders, and the light tremble might have been outrage, might have been pleasure.

He’d tasted her before. Once when she’d grabbed him and planted one on him to take a slap at Del, and again when he’d followed his own instincts on a visit to their place in the Hamptons.

And every taste made him want more.

A lot more.

He didn’t bother to be gentle. He imagined she’d had plenty of the smooth type, the polite type, and he wasn’t inclined to be either. So he pleased himself, letting his hands run up that truly exceptional body of hers, then down again, enjoying her slow melt against him.

When he heard the low purr in her throat, when he tasted it on his tongue, he let her go. He stepped back, picked up the container of leftovers.

He smiled at her. It was the first time he’d seen her stunned and speechless.

“See you later, Legs.”

He strolled out, strapped the container onto his bike.When he swung on, revved the engine, he glanced back to see her standing in the open doorway.

She made a hell of a picture, he thought, framed there in her power suit, just a little bit mussed, with the big, gorgeous house around her.

He tapped his helmet in salute, then roared away with that picture as clear in his head as the taste of her on his tongue.

Parker stepped back, shut the door, then turned and jumped when she saw Laurel in the hallway.

“Can I just say wow?”

Parker shook her head, wished she had something to do with her hands. “He just . . . grabbed me.”

“I’ll say. And let’s have one more wow.”

“He’s grabby and pushy and—”

“Really, really hot. And I say that as a woman madly in love with your brother. I might also add,” she continued as she walked to Parker, “that as I didn’t politely avert my eyes and go away, I happened to observe you weren’t exactly fighting him off.”

“He caught me by surprise. Besides, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.”

“Sorry, but he looked pretty satisfied. And Parker?” She gave her friend’s arm a pat. “You look flustered, glowy, and dazzled.”

“I am not glowy.”

Laurel simply turned Parker by the shoulders to the big foyer mirror. “You were saying?”

Maybe color did glow in her cheeks, and maybe her eyes were a little dazzled, but . . . “That’s irritation.”

“I won’t say ‘liar, liar,’ but, Parks, under that skirt, your pants are on fire.”

“All right, fine.

Fine. He’s a good kisser, if you like the rough, arrogant style.”

“You seemed good with it.”

“That was only because he ambushed me. And this is a stupid conversation about nothing. I’m going up.”

“Me, too, which is why I got an eyeful of the nothing.”

They started up together, but before they separated Parker stopped on the landing. “I was wearing the Back-Off Cloak.”

“What?”

“I’m not stupid. He made a little move in the kitchen.Actually, he makes little moves every time I run into him, which is disconcerting, but I can handle it. So when I walked him to the door, I thought he might get ideas.”

Laurel’s eyes widened. “You swirled on the Back-Off Cloak? The famed shield that repels men of all ages, creeds, and political affiliations?”

“Yes.”

“Yet he was not repelled. He’s immune.” She gave Parker a slap on the arm. “He may be the only creature of his kind.”

“It’s not funny.”

“Sure it is. Also sexy.”

“I’m not interested in funny and sexy with Malcolm Kavanaugh.”

“Parker, if you weren’t interested, on some level, you’d have flicked him off like lint on a lapel. He . . .” Laurel searched for the right word. “He intrigues you.”

“No, he . . . Maybe.”

“As your friend, let me say it’s nice to see you intrigued by a man, especially since I like the man, and have noted he is also intrigued by you.”

Parker jerked a shoulder. “He just wants to get me in bed.”

“Well, of course he wants to get you in bed. But I’m not at all convinced it’s ‘just.’”

“I’m not going to have sex with him.We have a business relationship.”

“Because he’s your mechanic?”

“He’s Vows’ mechanic now, and he’s Del’s friend.”

“Parks, your excuses are so lame they’re limping, which makes me think you’re worried you want to have sex with him.”

“It’s not about sex. Everything’s not always about sex.”

“You brought it up.”

Caught, Parker admitted.“Now I’m bringing it down. I’ve got too much on my mind to think about this anyway.We’re jammed tomorrow.We’re jammed for the next five days straight.”

“We are. Do you want me to come up, hang out awhile?”

The fact that she did, really did, only confirmed to Parker she was making too much out of nothing.“No, thanks, I’m good.And I’ve got a little work I want to get in before bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She walked up alone, and switched on the TV for company. After slipping out of her shoes, she checked them for any dings, scrapes, or scratches. Satisfied, she set them in their proper place on the shoe wall of her closet. She dropped her suit in the dry cleaning bag, replaced her jewelry in the slots designed for them in the thin drawers.

She slipped on a nightshirt, a robe, tucked her phone in the robe pocket. She considered a long, hot bath, but exed it out since long, hot baths encouraged thinking and dreaming. She didn’t care to do either.

Instead, she fixed her mind on the next day’s schedule while she cleansed, toned, moisturized her face.

Glowy, she thought, giving her reflection a cool stare. What a silly word. It wasn’t even a word in the first place, and totally inaccurate.

Laurel had romance fever. Nearly all brides caught it, and due to its side effects they saw everything and everyone through a pretty haze of love.

Nice for them, she admitted as she took the band from her hair. Good business for Vows.

And speaking of business, she’d take an hour now to input all the new data from the evening consult and the initial choices made by the clients.

An estimated 225 on the guest list, she thought as she wandered back into the bedroom with the intention of going to work on her laptop in her sitting room. A bridal party of six, including a flower girl who’d be five by the June wedding.

The bride’s favorite flower was peony, her color choices—for now anyway—pink and green. Soft tones.

Soft, Parker thought again, and changed direction to open her terrace doors and step out. She’d just get a little air first, just take in a little of the night air.

The bride wanted soft and delicate. She’d asked Parker to meet her at the salon to view the gown she’d chosen, which proved she was a bride who understood that the wedding dress created the center of whatever tone or theme or mood the wedding took.