Dirty Deeds: Standalone sexy romance(4)

 

"Yeah. So?" Tate shoved her hands in her camo shorts pockets and waited for the other baby shoe to drop.

 

"So," Val preened. "While Rich worked on your legal issues, I might have figured out a way to get your required beautification updates done at a reduced cost."

 

Free legal advice and now this? Ka-ching. The slot machines in Deadwood had nothing on her; she'd hit the friend lottery with Val. A warm wave of hope tugged on the edges of her doubts. "Really? How?"

 

Val passed over a crumpled business card. "You don't know my brother Nathan since he was in the army those summers you were here, but he lives here now and installs utilities."

 

Her fuzzy warm feeling cooled a bit. "Utilities?"

 

"It's a fancy way of saying he digs ditches and creates sewage systems. However, he does the occasional landscaping job. He did all the outside work on our new house."

 

Tate looked up. Val gazed at her so earnestly she knew she'd made a serious error in judgment. Come to think of it, Val had brought up her brother's name, in nearly reverent tones, many, many times. "If he's that good, I'm sure I can't afford him." She discreetly passed the card back.

 

But Val blithely tucked the card into Tate's pocket. "He is good with his hands. Unfortunately you couldn't tell by the schematics he's trying to pass off as drawings. Chicken scratches make more sense. Poor man can't draw worth a darn."  

 

But she could.

 

An idea caught fire. How hard could it be to teach him the rudimentary points of drawing plants and trees? Or give him a tutorial on any of the landscaping computer programs? "You think he'd be up for a partial trade? Art lessons for landscaping work? Or something?"

 

"Knowing him, the 'or something' would be the most appealing." A catlike curl lifted Val's lips. "But I'll warn you, don't fall for him because Nathan isn't into relationships."

 

Val's every phrase and innuendo clicked into place like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Tate's heart thumped double time. "Valerie Westfield. Is your brother the no-strings-attached guy you planned to fix me up with?"

 

Val's eyes shone, her curls bounced, and she looked like a woman who'd been gifted with a get-out-of-labor-free card. "Yep."

 

"Why?"

 

"Because he's the perfect solution to your problem."

 

"To my orgasm shortage?"

 

"That too, but first and foremost he is an awesome landscaper. Talk to him. See what you can work out. What have you got to lose?"

 

Nothing. Tate had never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth, even when this situation with Val's brother smacked of strange coincidence. Yet, here was her chance to unleash the wild woman lodged inside.

 

"Offer him art lessons, huh?" she mused, taking the business card out and studying it. "Think I can persuade him to throw in a few sex lessons as well?"

 

 

 

 

 

"She asked if I'd what?" Nathan LeBeau gaped at his sister.

 

"You heard me."

 

He shook his head. "I thought I heard you offer my-" Nathan glanced at his crotch then back up to Val's amused eyes. "Exchanging dirt work for down-and-dirty sexual favors?"

 

"No. Trading art lessons for your landscaping expertise." A sneaky smile spread across Val's face. "If you decided to throw in sexual favors, well, that's just a bonus."

 

Nathan angled the beer bottle at her in mild reproof. "Ah hell, Val. Is this another one of your hormonal pregnancy things?"

 

Val mumbled something suspiciously prayer-like.

 

"Amazing grace, my ass. Miraculous as it may seem to you, I can procure my own dates, and she will not be a friend of yours."

 

"Why not?"

 

He shoved aside his niggling fear that no woman would ever want him for the man he was inside, not what showed outside. Lightly, he said, "You want the reasons alphabetically or numerically?"

 

"Always with the smart comments. No wonder you haven't gotten laid in months. Just hear me out-"

 

"Nope. Get yourself another chump, or should I say hump, and leave me out of it."

 

He stood abruptly. No way was he getting sucked into another one of his sister's crazy schemes. No matter how crazy he was about her. No matter she was eight months pregnant and apparently delusional.

 

Shit. This whole thing smacked of Val's penchant for matchmaking. Except she'd stepped up her campaign to pair him off by boasting of his "stud" services to her friend. If it didn't involve him personally, he'd be rolling on the ground busting a gut.

 

Yet, it bothered him that Val didn't think he was capable of a more meaningful relationship. Maybe he shouldn't try so hard to convince his friends and family he was the love 'em and leave 'em type.