Emerging from her room fifteen minutes later, she found Reed inspecting the family photos placed throughout the living room. He pointed to a picture of her mom and Tom. “I take it this is your momma?”
“It is. How did you know I call her Momma?” she questioned with surprise.
“I didn’t.” He pointed to other pictures. “Who’s who?”
JC scanned over the photos, telling Reed the names of her family. He pointed at a picture of her family with Benny and Lisa Levi and their two kids. “I know who they are. I’ve seen a lot of their movies. Tom’s too. Are you related to them also?”
“No.” JC nudged his arm with her shoulder. “Well, not really, but I call them Uncle Benny and Aunt Lisa. Tom and Benny are best friends and my mom and Lisa are too. We spend Christmas together every year in Colorado. This picture was taken six years ago at my mom and Tom’s wedding in Greece.”
Grabbing her keys and purse, they strolled to the garage and got in her Prius. Pulling out of the drive, she looked over at Reed and laughed. The top of his head skimmed the roof of her car and his massive shoulders stuck out past his seat. “If we’re gonna hang out, Reed, I’m gonna need a bigger car.”
“Maybe we should stop by a dealership. This thing is as tiny as a sardine can.”
“Don’t try to blame it on my car. It’s you! You’re as big as one of those…those long horned cows roaming the range,” JC taunted, giving her best effort of a Texas drawl.
His deep voice sizzled in his chest. “JC, darlin’, you’re adorable. It’s cattle. Long horned cattle. But I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Heat gathered on her skin. She flushed, stuttering, “Reed, that’s not what I meant.” Her chest raised and lowered anxiously with her heartbeat. “I..I..shit. I can’t even talk right in front of you. I don’t know what the heck is wrong with me.” Unable to rid the image of his smoking hot naked body out of her thoughts, she shook her head. “Definitely a fair comparison though.”
His breath hitched. Silence filled the car.
After a moment of pure sexual electricity arcing dangerously between them, he broke the stillness. “Where are we headed?”
“A state park my mom and I hike at sometimes.”
Arriving at the park nestled in the canyons, they parked near the well-marked trail. Hiking under a thick canopy of sycamore and oak trees, JC and Reed hiked for hours, talking about everything from California to their careers.
“I grew up in a small town outside Austin.”
“What did you do there?”
“After college and a few years of hard work, a couple of my good buddies and I started an architectural firm. Got lucky with a couple of big clients. I still have ties to the company, but more as a silent partner now. My aunt left everything to me when she passed. I had no idea the woman had twelve homes in and near Malibu.”
JC stared at him with an open mouth. “No way! That old woman owned twelve houses?”
“That was my exact reaction when the attorney handling her estate got in touch with me. Most of them were beach rentals. She’d been married five times, widowed twice and divorced three. Apparently, every time she lost a husband she invested in real estate.”
“Wow. That’s a big undertaking.”
Reed nodded with a smirk. “I remember telling them, I’ll fly in next weekend to go over her will. The attorney explained I might want to plan on staying longer seeing as it might take a considerable amount of time to go through her affairs.”
He stood along the edge of the creek, waiting for JC as she teetered on a rock in the middle of a stream. Her arms flailed to the side, gaping down at the moss covered rocks, strategizing her next step.
Reed came back for her, grasping both of her hands for support. “Eyes on me, darlin’. I got you.”
Peeling her concentration from the slippery stones beneath her feet, she locked onto his piecing blue stare. She remained frozen, simply ogling him as if in a trance until he urged her forward, breaking the spell.
“Are you settling her affairs by yourself?” she stammered, finding her footing. “What are you going to do with all the houses?”
As they reached the embankment he released a heavy sigh. “I’m the last one left in my family, so that left me the sole beneficiary. I’ve already sold most of them, and I have a beach house in closing right now. I’m trying to decide which home I want to keep. The house next to you, or the last house on the beach. Both need a major overhauling. Have you been inside her house?”
JC shook her head vehemently, nearly tripping over a boulder at the water’s edge. “Hell no, Reed! I never went near the driveway. I wouldn’t have taken that truth-or-dare on Halloween as a kid. I was scared to death of that woman.”