A Perfect Match

But even if her evenings were free, Zeke doubted Julia would take an interest in him. He was Beast to her Beauty.

Still, stranger things had happened.

At least he got to see her almost every evening at the center. Not that Julia was the reason he volunteered there, he thought, a surge of electricity running through him. He put his time in to serve God and the people of the HeartBeat Center, helping people like his sister, who’d found themselves at a rough crossing.

He prayed that was the truth.

But now he wondered if his motivation for helping out at the clinic had become because Julia Evans was there.

Was it true?

She’d only just spoken to him for the first time yesterday at the pool party, and even then it was because of her friend Lakeisha. And yet he had to admit that the desire to see her again tonight ranked right up there with the desire to do good works.

His thoughts tearing him up, he worked frantically, until suddenly he heard her voice.

“Zeke? Zeke Taylor?”

Now he was hallucinating. Next he’d be put in a straitjacket. He whistled a birdsong and imagined stars floating over his head.

“Hello! May I come down there?”

Zeke turned around to see none other than the true-to-the-flesh Julia Evans slip-sliding her way down a steep, gravel-covered driveway and onto the job site. Her arms flapped wildly as she struggled to maintain her precarious balance.

She wasn’t dressed for visiting a construction job site. For one thing, she was wearing a dress. A pretty, soft, flowery-looking thing that Zeke thought might disintegrate underneath the touch of his rough fingertips. It was a dress that could easily be torn to shreds in a work area full of protruding nails and rough lumber.

And then there were her shoes. High heels from the looks of them, and they were sinking into the gravel with every step she took.

Feeling like a bumbling giant, he lumbered to her side and offered his arm for assistance.

Her eyes widened to enormous proportions as she laid her hand upon his forearm and allowed his other arm to encircle her tiny waist, and Zeke wished for the millionth time that he wasn’t so big.

Sure, men admired his strength, but to a delicate young woman like Julia, he knew he must come off looking and moving like a big, dumb ox.

For Julia’s part, her lungs had simply refused to work from the moment Zeke jogged to her side to the time she stood safely at the bottom of the hill. He was so athletic, his muscles and ligaments working in perfect harmony. His autumn-blond hair shone like a gold halo over his expressive blue eyes.

She wished she could enjoy the picture, but she had other problems, like being about to plunge head-down on the gravel driveway. Her shoes were the worst possible choice.

Warmth flooded to her cheeks. She was mortified. She hadn’t given her attire a single thought when she came here, to this dirty, rocky job site.

What must Zeke think of her? He was all kindness. But honestly, what kind of an idiot wore patent leather pumps to a construction site?

Even Zeke had a hard hat on.

As if seeing the direction of her gaze, Zeke moved to a trunk and picked up an extra hard hat. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to—” he cleared his throat “—to ask you to wear one of these guys for the length of your visit. It’s for your own safety, as well as our regulations.”

He tacked the last part on so swiftly Julia barely understood the words.

She thought she saw Zeke cringe slightly, as if anticipating her answer. No doubt he thought, based on the little he knew of her, that she’d criticize or whine at having to meet with safety requirements that were nothing less than good, common sense.

Well, she’d do neither, she thought, reaching for the hat with her best smile.

Even though she knew she’d look ridiculous. Even though the hat was two sizes too big.

Zeke jammed his hands into his front jeans pockets and raised his eyebrows. His huge blue eyes were gleaming with mischief, and she was certain she detected the corner of his mouth twitching under his beard.

Her dander rose quickly, and just as quickly departed. What could she say, when he was right? “Feel free to laugh out loud,” she said wryly, and with a smile.

A bubble of deep, hearty laughter burst from his lips, though he looked like he was struggling desperately to restrain it.

“Sorry,” he apologized when he could speak. He wiped his eyes with his thumb. “It’s just that you’re by far the cutest carpenter I’ve ever seen on a job site, this or any other.”

“Thank you very much.” She curtsied slightly, turning her head to conceal the blush she knew clouded her cheeks. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It was meant that way.” His voice was deep and husky, and Julia looked away.

There was an extended silence while Zeke collected his mirth and Julia collected her thoughts.

“Did you come here about HeartBeat?” he asked quietly, leaning a shoulder against the wood framework he’d earlier been pounding upon.

“No. Not directly, anyway.” Julia’s chest tightened around her breath as she quickly gathered her thoughts and gained her courage.

Yesterday, at the pool party, Zeke had left as soon as he’d pulled the dog from the pool. She’d never had the chance to thank him, or to help take care of that poor little dog.

“Actually, I’d like to find out what happened to that little Jack Russell terrier you rescued. Is he okay?”

“Tip? Yeah, she’s fine.” He cocked his head and stood silently for a moment, taking in her mettle. “You really care?”

“I think I’ve proved my worth with my pumps, don’t you?”

He looked puzzled, and she explained with a laugh. “My high heels.”

He grinned. “You have a point.”

“How do you know her name is Tip?” she asked, self-consciously fiddling with her hard hat.

“Because I named her. Would you like to see her for yourself?”

“The puppy is here?” Julia asked in astonishment. “At the construction site?”

He nodded. “I didn’t want to leave her home alone all day. Especially while she’s healing from her wounds.”

Julia’s heart fell. “Oh, my. She’s badly hurt, then? Is there anything I can do?”

Zeke smiled gently and shook his head. Offering his hand, he led her toward a gentler incline than the one she’d come down. “Tip will be okay, give or take a few weeks. No permanent damage.”

He grinned down at her, and her racing heart stopped still. “Her leg is broken. And I think there’s a screw loose in that brain of hers, jumping into the pool the way she did.”

“Oh, no,” Julia objected, wondering at the squeak in her voice, and hoping Zeke could not hear it. “I’m sure she must have thought she knew how to swim.”

Zeke chuckled loudly. “Yeah. Thought being the key word.”

She met his gleaming eyes, and they laughed.

“Seriously, though,” Zeke continued, swinging Julia’s hand as they walked, “Tip is going to be just fine. Nothing a little good, old-fashioned R and R can’t fix.”

One step at a time, he led her back up the gravel to where his full-size blue truck was parked. In the bed of his truck, tucked securely into a torn box and curled up on an old scrap of blanket, was Tip.

Zeke picked her up, and she immediately wagged her tail and began licking his chin enthusiastically.

“You can sure tell who Tip likes,” Julia teased. “It didn’t take long for the two of you to form an attachment.”

Color crept up Zeke’s cheek above his beard, and Julia smiled in delight. There was nothing made up about Zeke Taylor. He was all man, the genuine article.

“I made a report to the Humane Society, but if no one claims her, she’s mine,” Zeke explained tenderly. As he spoke, he stroked the dog’s fur, almost mechanically. Julia marveled at how gentle Zeke’s big hands appeared against the small dog.

“So she’ll recover completely?” Julia reached forward to stroke the dog’s wiry coat. Tip had had a recent bath, she noticed. No more dirt spots were clinging to her, and the white part of her coat was fresh and sparkling in the sunshine.

“Completely,” Zeke agreed. “And she has a home. I figure she can keep me company, and I can keep her away from large bodies of water.”

Julia smothered a laugh. “I’m glad she has a good home, now,” she said softly. “I hope I’m not over-stepping my boundaries, but if it’s okay with you, I’d like to buy a few things for Tip.” She paused and caught his gaze. “Sort of a homecoming present for her.”

“Things?”

“Bowls for food and water. A collar and leash. A couple of squeaky toys. Dog bones. And a big bag of puppy kibble, of course. Things,” she concluded, feeling suddenly foolish for coming out to the site at all.

Zeke had things well in hand, and he clearly didn’t need her interference. Of course, he’d made her feel more than welcome, but it was obvious she wasn’t needed here.

She hadn’t even been sure she could find Tip again, thinking Zeke would most likely drop her off at the Humane Society.

She was thrilled to know Zeke would be keeping her. Tip was a lucky puppy. And buying things for Zeke’s new housemate would not only be fun, but a kind of catharsis, a way of doing something now for Tip, when Julia’s own inertia had kept her from helping yesterday at the pool.

The longer Julia’s list had grown the wider Zeke’s gaze grew, and now he was staring at her outright.

“What?” Julia asked, wondering if he was going to call her an idiot. She would call herself an idiot. What a dumb thing to suggest. At the least, she probably should have called first and asked if he needed anything for Tip, and if he didn’t mind her stopping by the site.

But there she was, the typical Julia, always going off half-cocked, trying to help when she was really just getting in the way, even if everyone was too polite to say so.

Perhaps she’d learn her lesson this time.

“You are a godsend,” Zeke said, carefully replacing Tip in her box with one last gentle rub.

Julia felt like someone had brushed a finger down her spine. Adrenaline coursed through her. “What?”

He turned to her, leaning his muscular arm against the side of his truck. His eyes gleamed with a combination of appreciation and genuine male admiration that made Julia’s stomach swirl with unusual and unnamable emotions.

Zeke continued, his voice low and resolute. “Unfortunately, I barely made it to the vet’s last afternoon, and then Tip needed looking after. I haven’t purchased anything for her. I’ve been feeding her from one of my cereal bowls with the sample food the vet gave me.”

“You don’t have anything for her?” she repeated numbly.

“Anything. Or is that nothing?” He smiled wide and belted a strong laugh. “So you see, Julia, you’re an answer to prayer today. For Tip. And for me. You’re a blessing disguised as an angel.”

This time, it was Julia’s turn to blush.

Chapter Three

As the Colorado Indian summer faded crisply into late fall, Julia found her mind often on Zeke. His unconventional good looks were part of it, to be sure, but that didn’t explain why she now anticipated his presence at HeartBeat, or why their frequent conversations lingered in her mind long after the lights were turned out and the doors safely locked.

On this overcast Tuesday evening she was hauling charitable baby gifts she’d volunteered to pick up at various community bins, located inside grocery stores and department stores.

During her commute from store to store, her mind often shifted to her budding friendship with Zeke. She was surprised to find they had a lot in common, not so much in hobbies or background as in values, interests and viewpoints.

She realized with a start that she should be thinking about Bryan Cummings, about her future. About stability and security.

It was just as well, pushing Zeke from her conscious thoughts. At least thinking about Bryan didn’t confuse her, or make her feel all these new, foolish sensations Zeke aroused in her.

Happy and sad.

Threatened and safe.

Give her a stronghold of security any day of the week. Father Bryan Cummings was safety. She would do well to remember that, she reminded herself severely as she got in her car. She had a plan to carry out.

She pulled her car into the Grace Church parking lot. Grace Church had opened its doors to the struggling ministry, given the small, dedicated staff of HeartBeat a place to assemble, and main offices where they could conduct the nonprofit business of benevolence without having to pay a high rent for the space.

The pregnant women who came for help often needed shelter. HeartBeat owned and maintained three houses in the neighborhood, where women in need were encouraged to stay and prepare for their little blessings to arrive.

After their babies were born, they often stayed around until they’d arranged, with HeartBeat’s help, new lives of their own.

Julia’s heart welled when she thought of the brave women who sought help here. It took courage to admit they needed help, and wisdom to fight their way through to new lives.

Julia opened the trunk and surveyed with pleasure the hodgepodge of gifts—pink, blue, green and yellow baby blankets; fuzzy-footed sleepers; bottles and big cans of formula. The back seat of her car was full to overflowing with diapers, which was a good thing. If there was one thing HeartBeat could never have enough of, it was diapers.

It was a remarkable baby shower, there in her trunk, and that’s exactly what it was meant to be.

“Hey, girl, what took you so long?” Lakeisha’s sudden speech nearly jolted Julia out of her shoes.

Placing a palm over her chest to still her racing heart, Julia whirled on her friend. “Do you mind not sneaking up on me that way? You nearly scared the wits out of me.”

Lakeisha laughed and waved her hand as if brushing away the comment. “You don’t have any wits to scare out of you.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” growled Julia affectionately. “Did you come out here to give me a hard time, or to help me with these packages?”

Lakeisha’s black eyes grew wide. “Well, I’m not carrying all this stuff inside, if that’s what you mean.”

“That’s exactly what I mean, and you know it. Come on, hon, it’s not any worse than carrying groceries up to our apartment.”

Lakeisha grinned, her eyes gleaming. “True. But at our apartment, we don’t have a smorgasbord of handsome men to choose from. Men willing and able to carry these meager boxes in for us poor damsels in distress.”

Julia hoisted a box from the trunk. “Lakeisha, you are too much.”

“Put the box down,” Lakeisha suggested. “I’ll run and get that mighty conqueror of baby boxes, just to prove it to you.”

“Make it Father Bryan,” Julia suggested, giving in to the inevitable. She might as well get something out of this charade.

Lakeisha snorted. “Like Father Bryan would condescend to carrying boxes.”

Julia shrugged. She was probably right. “I wish you weren’t so dead set against Father Bryan.”

“It’s not that I don’t approve of Bryan, exactly,” Lakeisha explained. “I just don’t think he’s the right man for you.”

“He is,” Julia muttered, folding her arms tightly across her chest. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Don’t worry,” Lakeisha assured after an extended silence. Her voice was unusually bright and cheerful. Clearly feigned. It was an open disagreement between them. “I’ll bring back the best man for the job,” she assured. “And if he’s good looking, so much the better, huh? It’ll only take a minute.”

Julia sighed and slumped against the back bumper. It would take more than a minute to find the best man for the job. Such a man as Lakeisha painted with her words didn’t exist. Not in this world, anyway.

It was a busy night in the HeartBeat office as groups of volunteers worked on mailings. The church’s new janitor was even mopping his way around the compound. And Zeke was right in the middle of it, making wood frames for signs, his hammer swinging as fast as his thoughts.

But his busy hands couldn’t take away the excruciating stillness of his heart. He’d seen everyone but Julia, and he was dismayed to find how very much it mattered to him that she wasn’t there.

Fortunately, at that moment, Lakeisha came bursting in the door, her brown cheeks flushed pink from the crisp air, and breathing as if she’d been running.

Her gaze made a quick sweep around the room before settling solidly on Zeke. She lifted one eyebrow, as if asking a question.

He didn’t know the answer, so he shrugged.

Apparently, that was the answer she was looking for, because she grinned like a cat and beelined for him as if he were the proverbial mouse. With the gleam in her eye, he thought he just might be. He slung his hammer into his belt and accepted her friendly hug.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Lakeisha burst out excitedly. “You’re just the right man.”

Zeke frowned, furrowing his eyebrows low over his eyes. “Thank you.” He paused and grinned thoughtfully. “I think.”

“It’s a compliment,” Lakeisha assured him. “Where’s your coat?”

“Are we going somewhere?”

“Just outside. Julia needs your help.”

His heart jump-started with a vengeance, and his scowl deepened. He was elated, but he didn’t want Lakeisha to pick up on that.

“At your service, ma’am,” he said, shrugging into his lined jean jacket. With a grim half smile, he gestured Lakeisha out the door ahead of him.

Zeke spotted Julia’s car immediately, parked just out the door, pulled in backward with the trunk open. Julia leaned negligently against the rear bumper, her arms crossed in front of her. Her black jeans and pink sweatshirt only served to make her cheeks look flushed and beautiful, even in the muted light of the parking lot.

Her eyes widened noticeably when she saw him. He grinned, wondering if that was good or bad.

“See, I told you,” Lakeisha crowed from behind him.

Julia glared at her over his shoulder. Lakeisha just laughed.

“Told her what?” he asked, wondering if he really wanted to know. Clearly, whatever they’d been discussing involved him, either directly or indirectly.

“It was nothing,” Julia muttered immediately.

Again, Lakeisha chuckled.

“What can I do for you ladies?” he asked, changing the subject, hoping to quell the internal power struggle going on between the roommates. It was friendly tension, but tension none the less.

He swiftly decided he really didn’t want to know the cause.

“I was going to haul these boxes of baby things into the church so I can wrap them up for distribution,” Julia explained, gesturing toward her trunk. “Lakeisha, however, thought we needed a man’s help. Scarlett O’Hara and all that.”

Comprehension unfolded around him in waves, and he smothered a grin. “If we all go in together, I’ll bet we can get this stuff in one trip,” he suggested quietly, careful not to look at Julia, lest she see the gleam of amusement in his eye.

Julia didn’t let him off the hook that easily. She took his arm and pulled him around to meet her gaze. She studied him carefully, and Zeke put all his energies into counseling his features and swallowing the huge lump in his throat that formed when he stared into her beautiful eyes.

He was about to break away when suddenly she smiled. Zeke’s heart stopped cold.

“Where’d you get this stuff?” he asked, ignoring his scratchy throat.

Taking refuge in activity, he loaded Lakeisha’s arms with boxes, then turned to do the same with Julia. He was careful not to overload them—he could easily get the bulk of the boxes himself.

He didn’t want to insult Julia in the process, so he made sure he gave her a decent armful.

“These are all from local community bins,” Julia said over her shoulder as she moved toward the door.

Zeke was impressed by the quality and quantity of items the community gave.

He followed the women into the church and down a long hallway, into a vacant Sunday school room. From the look of the pictures on the wall, he thought it might be a younger grade. Lots of bright colors, depicting major Bible characters with round, smiling faces and rosy pink cheeks.

“What are you going to do with this stuff now?” he asked, dumping the load in his arms into one corner.

“We’re going to wrap all these gifts up in pretty baby-shower paper,” Lakeisha said brightly, a cunning gleam in her friendly black eyes. “I don’t suppose you transport and gift wrap?”

Zeke chuckled loudly, as much at the way Julia cringed as by the question itself. “I think I may surprise you.”

Lakeisha took him up on his boast. “This I’ve got to see.” She immediately began digging around in the Sunday school cubby for scissors and tape.

With an audible sigh, Julia moved to one of the boxes and pulled out the gift wrap. “You did this to yourself,” she reminded him, handing him a tube of baby-blue paper covered with big, fluffy white clouds and brown cows jumping over orange crescent moons.

Lakeisha placed the scissors and tape on the table, then retrieved a baby monitor in a rectangular box and set it before him.

“You’re not even going to challenge me?” he asked, with a wink at Julia. “How can I prove real men gift wrap if all you give me is a box?”

Julia laughed, the high, bell-toned chime like the ones that filled Zeke’s dreams. “Here. Try this one.” She shoved a stuffed monkey into his arms. It was brown and tan and held a half-peeled banana in one hand. “No more straight edges and square corners for you to deal with. But don’t squeeze the banana.”

Zeke, of course, squeezed the banana.

The monkey let out a screech worthy of its real-life jungle counterpart, and Zeke laughed. “That’s more like it. Now watch, ladies, and learn at the hands of a master.”

Lakeisha and Julia burst into laughter, and he waggled his eyebrows.

Without another word, he measured, cut, folded and taped with the accuracy of years of carpentry and the dedication of his loving mother’s early training.

The women watched, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He struggled not to grin. It served them right. And he had to admit he liked this, being the center of female attention, most particularly Julia’s.

“I beg your pardon, Zeke,” Lakeisha said as he finished. “I have misjudged your talent and ability with gift wrap.”

He held up his big hands. “It’s an easy mistake to make.”

“I wasn’t talking about your hands,” Lakeisha admitted.

“The hands of an artist,” Julia acknowledged softly, and Zeke stood a good two inches taller.

“You know,” Julia continued, “you’re just the sort of person I need for my planning committee. The special dinner is coming up, you know. Would you consider it?”

Zeke swallowed hard. He tried to force clumsy words through his dry throat, but nothing would come.

“You really should,” Lakeisha encouraged. “I certainly underestimated your…”

“Artistic skills?” he provided hoarsely.

“Gender,” Julia said with a laugh. “Don’t ask.”

“My gender,” Zeke repeated dumbly.

“You’re a guy,” Julia explained, rolling her eyes at her roommate and friend. “You know—all bulk, no brains.”

Zeke backed up a step and put a dramatic hand to his chest. “I’m wounded. Mortally wounded.”

Julia laughed. “Well, don’t take it too hard. Maybe Lakeisha has learned her lesson. Women can tote boxes. Men can wrap presents. There is no happily ever after.”

Julia’s words shocked Zeke far more than Lakeisha’s insinuations ever had. “What’s this? No happily ever after?”

“Julia insists that Prince Charming lives only in storybooks,” Lakeisha explained lightly, though the look she gave Julia was anything but light. “No white steeds, no shiny armor. Nothing.”

“She’s wrong,” Zeke responded without thinking. His angel didn’t believe in love? What kind of nonsense was this?