4. Nate

4

NATE

I am incredibly uncomfortable. Not only are there bees buzzing around the room, but a woman I've wronged is bent over, studying them, with her perfect ass in tight cut-off shorts, and I have absolutely no right to be memorizing the shape of it.

That night we spent together last year? I did a lot of that shit. I'm grateful she called me up to tell me about the STI. As far as I know, we both caught it early and cleared it up with meds. The whole thing was a wake-up call, though. I really should thank her.

And apologize.

I swat at a bee diving for my face as Eden peers into the tiny hole Chris smashed into the plaster before all hell broke loose. "Well?" I hope she can hear me above the racket. How did we miss all this last week when we were checking out the property?

I don't understand how Eden is just… bare handed, touching bees. She grunts. "You've got a colony in here. These gals have been here for a minute. I bet the swarm at the church next door came from this group."

I swallow, and my mouth is chalky and dry. "So… what do we do?"

Eden stands up, hands on her hips. She's not even wearing one of those veils. "We?" She arches a brow, and I hold up my hands in surrender.

"You…? What do you do now? My guys are terrified and won't come near the property."

"That's a pretty typical response." Eden brushes a sweaty strand of hair from her face. "Can we talk options in another room? I don't want to disturb them at sunset."

I gesture toward the stairs, trying not to think about what times of day are bad manners to disturb a bunch of killer bees. Eden descends to the second floor and sits on the exposed hardwood. I squat across from her, not sure if it's safe to sit in case the bees come charging.

Eden brushes another strand of hair from her face, leaving a smear of dust on her cheek. My fingers twitch with the urge to wipe it clean.

"You know," she says, peering toward the attic, "I never thought I'd be here with you. Life's funny that way."

I swallow hard. "Yeah, funny. Listen, Eden, I really am sorry about?—"

Eden presses her lips into a line. "I can get the queen out of the wall and relocate her. Maybe you saw the other day, but the bees will follow wherever she goes."

"Great. Do that. When will they be gone?"

She shakes her head. "That's just phase one. I'd have to open more of the wall to see, but I'm pretty certain you have a boatload of honey and beeswax in there."

I scratch my neck. "Define boatload."

Eden's face brightens and it's impossible to look away. "I'd guess there are multiple gallons of honey in there. And it'll be contained in the wax, so totally viable."

"Viable?"

"Yeah." She flaps a hand around. "To sell. Usually when I do hive management, there's no money exchanged. I split the honey fifty-fifty with the property owner, and I keep the wax."

"You keep the wax." I parrot her words like they make any sort of sense. She is approaching this professionally, though, so even though I'm turned on, I know I'm in good hands with this whole infestation.

Eden nods. "Yeah. I mean, I sell it, but I get all of it. I recommend we treat this as a hive management situation instead of a swarm removal. It'll mean you have to open the wall methodically. If we're careful, we can save the honey."

I scratch at the stubble I haven't gotten around to shaving. My father would tell me I look like a damn hipster. I stifle a surge of grief at the thought of him, and my ass finally finds the floor.

"I'll put a special device in the hole that will let the bees out but prevent them from returning," Eden continues. "As I said, I'll take the queen. Either way, you have to open the wall."

"Hmmmm." I frown. "You know I'm not the property owner, right? I'm just their contractor."

Eden's brows shoot up. "Okay… Call them, then. Tell them my plan means no outlay of cash, plus a potential influx. And I can move the queen tonight." She looks toward the window. "If we move fast. I really don't want to dig in there after sunset. The bees will be doing night work. It's a whole thing."

I tell her to go ahead while I head outside to think. Much as I'd like to watch her dig a queen bee from a hole in the wall with her bare hands, I have a serious dilemma here. Eden's solution won't cost money, but she said it will take two weeks to deal with properly. We absolutely cannot sit on this project that long. But what other choice do I have?

By the time I see her walking out the door with another cardboard box full of bees and a smile on her face, I've already decided not to tell the owner. Eden sets the bees on the ground and turns toward me, skin nearly glowing under the streetlight, eyes sparkling with joy and satisfaction. She's so competent, and I had no idea it would turn me on to watch a woman charm bees, but here I am, half hard despite a stress headache.

I follow her to the curb and cough. "Do you, uh, need me to do anything? With the plug thingy?"

Hollow amusement fills her tone. "I think you've done enough."

I blow out a breath. "God, Eden, I'm so sorry about how things went down last year."

Her head tilts back, brow furrowed. "How things went down?"

"I'm sorry I got plastered and gave you a disease. It's not an excuse or anything, but the explanation is that my dad had just died, and I was?—"

Her face softens. "I didn't know that. About your father."

"Heart attack." I lean against her van, the metal warm from the day's heat. "Dead before he hit the ground."

She winces. "That's so awful, Nate." Eden stiffens and rolls her lips between her teeth. "I wish I knew this a year ago." She opens the back of her van and shoves the bees inside, turning to face me before shutting the door. "I should have probably been more assertive about using a condom."

I let my head fall against the side of the van. "Aw hell, we didn't even use a condom?"

Eden lifts a shoulder. "I guess we were both reckless. Making bad decisions all around."

I humph in agreement. "Lucky nothing worse happened."

"Worse than gonorrhea?"

My eyes fly wide. "Yeah. Like something incurable? Or, you know…" I don't finish the sentence because there's really no decent way to say I'm glad I didn't knock up a total stranger when I was drunk and deep in grief. "I have my shit together a little more now. I go to a group. At the church, actually. That's how I learned about this hot property." I gesture at the sagging porch and overgrown lawn.

Eden laughs. That's got to be something, right? A laugh? She seems to gather her composure and backs toward the driver's seat door without breaking eye contact. "I appreciate your apology, Nate. And the context."

She climbs into the driver's seat. "Hey," I blurt. "What happens next? With the bees?"

Eden taps her chin, considering. "I'll have to get supplies. We should give them a few days to fully vacate. So meet me here Tuesday?"

She tells me to hang plastic at the entrance to the third floor and the guys can work on the other floors of the house. And then she drives off with a van full of bees, which is how I feel inside knowing I'm going to be working closely with this woman. Maybe by the time we finish the project, I'll have figured out a way to get her to forgive me.