Chapter Seven
Rachel let that long, night-time cuddle, with the sexiest man she’d ever met, no less, bother her the whole morning long. She’d forgotten how good it felt to snuggle up to another warm body during the night, a fully grown male body with all his parts in working order.
And boy, had she enjoyed being tucked against those working parts.
She bit her lower lip, hiding the grin threatening to split her face plum in two. A God fearing woman ought not to’ve allowed Dyuvad in her bed at all. Funny thing, that. The more she was around him, the more she suspected God might’ve had a hand in sending Dyuvad their way. That didn’t make sharing a bed with him right. Not in the least. But the possibility that he might really have been sent to her neck of the woods for a reason, the way he claimed, made it a little harder to fight the attraction stretching between them.
And she just felt better having him within arm’s reach. Safe, almost, like with Dyuvad there, she didn’t have to worry so hard over every little thing.
Rachel snorted and led Georgette out of the milking shed. Finding him chatting away with Tiny that morning sure hadn’t helped. What kind of woman could resist a man who went so far out of his way to accommodate her kids? Not many, that was for darn tootin’. Sometimes, their own fathers wouldn’t go that far.
Dyuvad did. Sure, he was a new broom and was bound to lose patience with them eventually. With her, too, for that matter, but for now, he was working out just fine.
She eyed him and Fate as she slipped around the side of the house with Georgette, toward the fenced in pasture. The two men had been thick as thieves since Dyuvad’s arrival, and today was no exception. No doubt they were up to something foolish, like going after that no account Miguel Ramirez. That, she wouldn’t stand a minute for, but she could head the men off well before they built up enough steam to go charging off half cocked.
No, what worried her was the way Dyuvad kept checking that fancy watch of his. Odd how twice now he’d stopped trouble before it got too far along and been dead serious in the doing. For a man who wandered around half dressed all the time, he sure had a dangerous look about him.
Especially when he was holding that laser gun of his.
Rachel penned Georgette up, stretched the kinks out of her back. Trudged to the separate kitchen Fate had built near the milking shed, bagged the day’s haul for freezing. She was putting the last labeled bag into the upright freezer when the shed’s door opened and Yasmin slipped inside.
Rachel brushed her hands off against the seat of her shorts and frowned. “Are you already off work for the day?”
Yasmin shook her head, bouncing the loose, nearly black curls pinned to the top of her head. “Fate texted me about last night. I got here as soon as Esme came in and took over for me.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I most certainly did,” Yasmin said, her words crisp and tart. “My best friend in the whole wide world was vandalized, and you expect me to sit in my shop waiting for last minute weekend weddings?”
“We’re fine.”
Yasmin grinned and waggled a thumb over her shoulder. “I heard Superman raced to the rescue, in more ways than one. Is he a good cuddler? Did he show you his super power?”
Heat flooded into Rachel’s cheeks. She slapped her hands to her face, covering it, and groaned. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Believe it, sister, and don’t think hiding your face is going to get you out of telling me every single detail.”
Rachel peeked through her fingers. “I’m not describing his super power.”
“So he did show it to you.” Yasmin clucked her tongue. “Did you tumble right out of bed onto your knees to ask God’s forgiveness for indulging in unwed sex?”
“I did not have sex with Dyuvad,” Rachel said firmly, “and if I had, I certainly would’ve waited until church tomorrow to pray about it.”
Yasmin laughed and threw her arms around Rachel, squeezing her tight. “Don’t ever change, Rach. Promise me.”
“Not on your life.”
Rachel wrapped her arms around Yasmin’s slender back and hugged hard. Here was the sister she’d dreamed of as a little girl after Fate came along and proved to be every inch a mud romping boy. He was a good man and had been a good brother, but there was nothing like having a sister to lean on when the going got tough.
And the going looked an awful lot like it was headed for hard times again.
Rachel eased back and met Yasmin’s laughing gaze, and braced herself for what had to be said. “You know I love you like my very own sister.”
Yasmin’s bright smile faded a notch. “Didn’t we have this exact conversation before you started dating Juan?”
“Yeah.”
“And when he left you that first time.”
Rachel twisted her mouth into a frown. “Yeah, then, too.”
“And when he came back and you kicked him out, and when he murdered that man down in Gainesville and—”
“Ok, ok, I tell you that a lot. I just…” Rachel paused, searching carefully through a landmine of words for exactly the right ones. “I don’t want you to think that what happens between me and your brother affects how much you mean to me and Kelly an d Tiny. You’re family, Yasmin, real and deep. That’s not ever gonna change.”
“Aw, Rach. I know that.” Yasmin pursed her lips together, then dropped her hands from Rachel’s waist and stepped back. “What I’m really wondering is what that lame-brained brother of mine has done this time.”
“Nothing, Yasmin. No, really. It’s not him. It’s Miguel Ramirez.”
“Fate told me he was bothering you again.”
“Just the once so far, but I thought…” Rachel inhaled a deep breath and let it out in a rush of words. “I want to have Juan’s parental rights terminated.”
Yasmin’s lashes swept down, a dark smudge against firm, tanned skin. “Oh.”
“Hear me out. I’ve thought about this a lot.”
“I know.”
“And I think now is the right time. Juan’s not ever gonna get out of jail.”
“Not for a long time, anyway,” Yasmin murmured.
“Until then, I have to protect my girls.” Rachel snagged Yasmin’s hands and held them between her own, warming her friend’s suddenly icy skin. “This is the last real tie they have to Juan, just to him. You and your folks, that’s different, Yas. You know I’ll never keep them from you.”
“I know, Rach.”
“But Juan? He runs with a dangerous crowd, and that danger keeps spilling over onto the girls. I don’t want to have to move to keep them safe. Maybe if I do this, we won’t have to.”
Yasmin nodded slowly. “You’ve explained all this before. Why now?”
“Because it’s starting again, the random visits, the threats.” Rachel shook her head, ignoring the thin strands of hair swirling around her face and the brush of her ponytail against the bare nape of her neck. “Please don’t argue me out of it this time. I really need your support here.”
“I love them. ”
“I know,” Rachel said softly.
“Like they were mine, Rach. Swear you’ll never…” Yasmin swallowed hard and her hands shifted in Rachel’s, clamping down until her bones hurt under the steady pressure of Yasmin’s grip. “Swear it.”
“I swear. You never have to worry about losing them, Yasmin. I’d never do that to you.”
“Ok.” Yasmin’s breath shuddered out on a long sigh and her grip eased. “All right, then. I heard another wild rumor. Something about dipping our toes in the kiddy pool followed by steaks on the grill.”
Rachel laughed, so relieved by Yasmin’s acceptance she could’ve danced a jig up and down Warwoman Road. “If Fate’s cooking, I reckon so.”
“He is,” Yasmin said firmly, “or will be as soon as I tell him to.”
Rachel held up her pinky finger and wiggled it. “That’s where you’ve got him.”
“Only when I need something out of him. Is four ok?”
“We’ll be here with bells on.”
“A swimsuit will highlight your super powers better.”
Rachel choked on a quickly drawn breath. “Yasmin!”
“Flaunt it if you’ve got it.” Yasmin pivoted on the ball of one slippered foot and sashayed to the door. “I fully intend to flaunt mine.”
“Oh, go on with you. We’ll see you after work.”
“Absolutely.” Yasmin paused at the door, half turned toward Rachel. “Thanks for telling me first.”
“Thanks for hearing me out.”
“What are friends for?”
What indeed?
Rachel leaned a hip against a stainless steel counter and waved a final farewell to the woman who’d been family for nearly as long as she could remember. Her heart was a light thump in her chest, no longer the heavy boulder she’d woken up with. Getting Juan permanently out of the girls’ lives felt like the right thing to do and it was a sight better than going after Miguel Ramirez. First thing Monday morning, Rachel vowed to set the legal wheels in motion. In the meantime, there was work to be done, then a whole evening spent with the folks she loved best.
And one Earthly man who really was beginning to feel an awful lot like Superman.
The days passed in a languid slide of laughter and fellowship. Once Dyuvad and Fate cleaned evidence of the vandal’s misdeeds off of Rachel’s home, they cut a hole in the wall between Dyuvad’s bedroom and Rachel’s, inside the closets that had once marked the end of the interior hallway. They left the entry unframed, a project Dyuvad could complete on his own between lulls in other work.
That other work gradually grew as Dyuvad quietly absorbed some of Rachel’s workload into his own. Kelly and Tiny happily pitched in weeding long rows of herbs and flowers carefully cultured behind a high, wooden fence separating it and the vegetable garden from the goats. Property maintenance became his sole purview, from repainting the house to repairing leaky sinks. He worked around Kelly’s lessons and her growing fascination with the universe, and slowly incorporated martial arts into her and Tiny’s schedules.
After all, he wouldn’t be on Earth forever. He couldn’t leave knowing they were completely defenseless, as they and Rachel had been before his arrival.
Mostly so, anyway. Having Fate and his surprisingly well-stocked arsenal next door wasn’t good enough. What if those vandals returned and broke into the house before Rachel could summon aid, when Dyuvad wasn’t there to protect her?
He shook the worry away and dipped his paintbrush into bright white paint. This would be his eighth day on Earth, and already, he knew how Rachel would react to being told she needed better security. The woman was too stubborn for her own good. If she were sensible, she’d retrieve the shotgun Fate was holding for her, but no. Not her. A hollow, metal stick was her only defense until, as Rachel had stated, Tiny grew up enough to recognize the dangers of firearms and knew better than to mess with them.
Maybe he’d have an easier time convincing Rachel if he could explain that Tiny only needed a single thought to grasp her mother’s warning.
At least, she would if she really was a telepath, as Dyuvad was beginning to suspect.
He slapped the paint-coated brush against prepared wood and slid it back and forth along the wood’s grain. Gaining Rachel’s trust was a slow process, one he took every opportunity to encourage, for the sake of his mission, yes, but also for the attraction growing between them. Rushing would only break what little trust he’d managed to establish, and so he practiced patience, a trait embedded into every Pruxn?’s bones.
That night, after the day’s work was done and the girls were tucked safely into their respective beds, Dyuvad settled shoulder to shoulder next to Rachel on the back steps overlooking the bulk of her farm. The moon was a bare sliver in a night sky filled with billions of twinkling lights. A cool breeze stirred the heavy air, chasing some of the humidity away as it carried the scents of sweet honeysuckle and fragrant roses to them.
“I love sitting out here at night,” Rachel said, her voice a soft hush against a backdrop of katydids and whispering leaves. “It’s so peaceful, so still.”
“A good place to rest after a long day.”
She smiled. “It is. You’ve been putting in some long days.”
“There is much to do.”
“It doesn’t all have to be done in one day.”
The mild reprimand teased him into humor. “I could say the same to you.”
She shrugged. “A woman’s work.”
He caught her chin and tilted her face to his. “This woman works too hard.”
“No, it’s a saying.” She huffed out a quiet laugh. “I keep forgetting you’re not from around here. You fit in so well.”
He did fit here among the rolling hills’ serenity, as he hadn’t quite fit in back home. Odd how much pleasure he gained from chores he’d merely endured in his youth, and how comfortable he’d become with his temporary family.
He squeezed her chin gently, then let it go and slid his gaze to the stars, away from the tempting lure of her mouth. “What were you working on today?”
“Making soap out of goat’s milk. I’ve been experimenting with it a while, tweaking recipes, adding this oil or that herb. If I work it just right, I can sell the soap over the fall holidays, maybe make enough to expand the flock next spring into the pasture behind Fate’s house.”
“Ever the businesswoman.”
She flashed a quick grin at him. “Ever the desperate single mom.”
Desperate wasn’t the word he would’ve used, but it was too kraden close for comfort. On Abyw, an unmated woman with children was never left to fend for herself as Rachel had been. Either family or suitors stepped in, and if not them, then neighbors. Here, Rachel had only Fate and Yasmin, and though both her brother and her next sister helped as frequently as they could, Rachel still carried too heavy a burden on her sturdy shoulders.
Dyuvad draped a casual arm around those shoulders and tugged her into the shelter of his body. He could do more for her while he was here, should do more. At the very least, he could leave her property in good repair, one less worry for her when he was gone. “Relax now, beauty, while the girls sleep and the day’s work is behind us.”
She sighed and leaned her head back against his arm. “Why do you call me that?”
“Call you what?”
“Beauty.”
“It’s an endearment among my people.”
“Oh. ”
He glanced down, met her solemn gaze half hidden in the deep shadows surrounding the house, where the light cast through the kitchen’s door failed to penetrate. “You sound disappointed.”
“What woman in her right mind would be disappointed by that?”
“One who believes she doesn’t deserve it.” He tucked a loose strand of wispy hair behind her ear, cupped her smooth cheek in his palm. “You are beautiful, Rachel.”
“Oh,” she said, and this time, the word was a soft, pleased sigh. “Thank you.”
He rubbed the pad of his thumb along the soft curve of her lower lip, and was surprised by the desire tightening his loins. Such a simple touch to stir such a great emotion, but today was not the day to give in to it. Patience would win her to him, and if not, he would choose another path. When the time was right.
Light streaked across the sky, bisecting the night. Rachel sighed and pushed herself off the steps, out of his embrace. “Heat lightening. There may be a storm later.”
“We could use the rain.”
“Spoken like a true farmer.” She grinned and held a hand out to him. “I was thinking about popping some popcorn, maybe watching a movie on the TV. I could use some company.”
He clasped her hand in his larger one, enjoying the gentle warmth of her skin. “Dibs on the remote.”
She laughed and hauled him upright. “Fate has been a bad influence on you.”
“Fate,” Dyuvad said, “is a true man’s man, drinker of the pale ale and wielder of the mighty spatula.”
“If that’s all it takes to make a man, humanity is doomed.”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “I will show you what makes a man.”
She snickered behind one hand. “No offense, Dyuvad, but I’ve already seen that.”
“I wasn’t talking about my manhood, beauty.”
With that, he scooped her up and slung her over one shoulder, and turned for the doorway .
She thumped a balled up fist lightly against his lower back. “Put me down right this instant, you golly whoppin’ cretin.”
He wrapped one arm around her firm thighs, holding her in place, and opened the door. A grin threatened to twist his mouth out of its mock stern lines, but since Rachel couldn’t see his face, what harm could a smile do? “A man only puts his woman down when he’s good and ready to.”
“Oh, I’m gonna have a long talk with that brother of mine,” she hissed. “He’s turning your manners on their head.”
“Manners have nothing to do with it. You challenged the manliness of men everywhere, and I am duty bound to defend it.” He smacked a hand against her bottom, eliciting a high-pitched squeak, and grinned. “Now hold still, woman. We have a movie to watch.”
He carried her inside and dropped her on the couch, and spent the evening’s remnants practicing the patience he’d vowed to woo her with.