Chapter 6
6
JOHNNY
Wire digs through my gloves as I heave another haybale onto the growing stack in front of me. Sweat drips down my forehead and chin and chest. The shirt I wore to work this morning lies on the ground, warming beneath the sun as I work. I sweated through it ten minutes into my task and was quick to chuck it off when it started to stick to my skin.
I’m probably burning to shit right now in the thirty-five-degree weather with no sunscreen on my bare back and shoulders, but it’s better than the alternative. And it’ll help even out my farmer’s tan.
The horses in the field beside me watch from behind the fence, giving me pouty eyes like they think the hay I’m hauling is tastier than the grass beneath their hooves. Joker, my black-and-white polka-dotted mare, is inside the original Steele Ranch stable, munching on the exact same hay I’m hauling. Special treatment for the special girl. Maybe the other horses have a point.
Lifting another bale, I swing my torso and start a third stack beside the previous two along the stable wall. The construction crew behind me is loud, banging and drilling at the beams they’re meant to finish by tomorrow. The structure will be done in the time they promised, but the siding issue is still ongoing. They’ve returned the wrong wood and ordered the new stuff, but it’ll take eight days to get here.
I made the decision to keep that information from Wade for now. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Not when it comes to this. A day is a day, and if he’s pissed about being kept in the dark about it come eight days from now, then he can take it up with me.
“Stacking bales is one job I don’t miss doing.”
The familiar voice comes from behind me. I spin to grin at my friend and yank my gloves off before tucking them into my back pocket.
“You’re here early today,” I say, heading toward Garrison.
A few months ago, seeing him dressed in a pair of thigh huggers and a plain white tee would have taken me by surprise. But not anymore. While Garrison Beckett hasn’t shed his billionaire CEO skin quite yet, he’s become a pro at adapting to a more casual, rancher vibe while he’s here. His time living on Steele Ranch is partially responsible for that, but I think him falling in love with Poppy had more to do with it than anything else.
“Poppy said we had to be here by eleven. Something about a show happening at the ranch? You know anything about that?” he asks.
I smooth a hand over my head before shaking it. “A show?”
Garrison shrugs, his eyes inspecting the area around us. They linger on the crew behind us, something like cold annoyance growing there before he’s focusing on the main house across the road.
“Who knows. It isn’t a bad thing to be here early.”
“You say the sweetest things, Garry. If you wanted to spend some time with me, you could have just called or texted.”
He ignores me, but I know he heard every word I said. His grumpiness is one of the things I like most about him. Well, that and his blunt humour. I love that shit.
“Where is Poppy, anyway?” I ask .
“Talking with Eliza. You know how they are.”
I laugh, twisting to face the main house. “Yeah, I should have figured that one out on my own.”
“You’d think they’d all been separated for months, not a week.”
“It’s cute, though. That they’re all so close. It’s like you, me, and Brody,” I tease, knocking our shoulders together.
He scowls at me, shaking his arm out. “Not quite.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Just you and me, then.”
Garrison and Brody’s relationship has grown over the past few months, but they’re nowhere close to the finish line. Brody working under Garrison’s music label, Swift Edge Records, has kept the line between friends and colleagues nice and thick between them. Regardless of the fact both of their women are best friends, they haven’t quite followed suit just yet.
“Yeah, like you and me,” he admits.
My lips stretch into a smile as I nod to the house. “Should we go join the girls now?”
“Put a goddamn shirt on first, Magic Mike.”
“Was that a stripper joke?” I ask while grabbing my shirt. Shaking it in the air, I clear it of dirt before slipping it on. “Poppy would flick you in the nose for making that.”
“No, she wouldn’t. She loves that movie.”
I burst out in laughter. Garrison curses beneath his breath and shoves me enough to have me stumbling forward.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Sorry, I’m just picturing you sitting down watching Magic Mike ,” I wheeze.
“You can stay here while I go to the house, actually. Keep stacking bales. Preferably until your arms fall off,” he grunts, leaving me behind.
I chase after him, laughing loud enough to grab the attention of the construction crew. They watch us until Garrison pins them with a dark look, and they busy themselves again .
“Oh, don’t act all tough and mean, Garry. I’m sorry. I’ve watched Magic Mike before, and it wasn’t half-bad,” I say.
“It was terrible. But Poppy wanted to watch it, so I sat my ass down and kept my mouth shut.”
“Good man,” I tell him, reaching his side once we both cross the road.
The ranch house is exactly what you’d expect. Old but well-kept, with a large porch, screen door, and endless flowerpots outside. The windows are big, with wood shutters on either side of each one that are solely for decoration. It was the biggest house on the land until Brody and Anna built theirs last year further out, away from everyone else but still close enough to pop up every day.
Eliza, Poppy, and Anna are sitting on the porch when we get close enough to grab a view of them. The oldest woman of them all is rocking on her chair, its yellow cushions bright against the soft pink of her shirt. Poppy’s dyed her hair again, this time to a deep brown a few shades darker than Anna’s. It’s a habit of hers that I often take bets on with Eliza. From the brown today, I know I’ve just won twenty bucks.
Eliza looks over at Garrison and me as we approach and smiles. “Hello, boys. You’re just on time.”
“For what?” I ask at the same time the sound of gravel crunching becomes audible.
“For our guest,” Eliza sings.
Closer and closer, an old sedan crawls toward us. My heart gallops, excitement having me damn near bouncing on my toes when I make out the driver.
“The show makes sense now,” Garrison mumbles.
Yeah, it does.
I’m the scheduled performer, and I’m not the least bit ashamed of that.
Tucking my hands in my pockets, I let my lips tug into a grin and wink when Aurora spots me, her eyes bugging out. The curse she so obviously mutters before parking in front of the house is adorable. I want her to say it again for me to hear this time.
Garrison barks a laugh, and I flip him the bird over my shoulder, not bothering to tear my eyes from Aurora to look at him.
“You did this on purpose, Eliza,” I say while we wait for the ranch guest to step out of her car.
“Me? Would I do that?”
Both the girls answer for me. “Yes.”
Eliza laughs her loud, warm laugh, and I take a few steps closer to the porch. Aurora opens the car door, and it creaks so damn loud she cringes, her cheeks flaming red. When she darts her stare from her door to the house and then to Garrison behind me, it’s obvious she’s purposefully avoiding me.
“How long has your door been creaking like that? I’m going to have Brody take a look before he heads off again. He’ll get it all right as rain,” Eliza says, a firm nod following her words.
Aurora stares at her, cheeks still pink. I roll my lips to hide my amusement. She doesn’t know what to do with the offer, and fuck me if that doesn’t make me wanna give her another one. Like an offer to help fix up that shack of a rental she’s gotten herself.
It should be wrapped in caution tape and demolished. There’s no way there was an inspection done prior to her moving in, and if there was, it definitely didn’t pass.
After learning that that’s where she’s been living, I’ve had to fight the urge to get to work on it every time I drive by. The only thing that’s kept me from doing so this far is knowing that she’d take my own hammer and hit me upside the head with it if she caught me there.
I know better than to spook her further. Not if I want to get anywhere with her in the near future. And I do. Badly.
Still, I don’t know the exact reason why. The romantic in me calls it love at first sight, but the realist laughs at that reasoning. It’s obvious that I’m curious about her. I felt something that night, and I want to learn more about it. Figure out why her touch sparked along my skin and her voice made my toes curl in my boots.
Aurora softly presses her door shut. “I don’t need that.”
“I wouldn’t bother arguing. There’s no stopping her now,” Anna says.
Eliza nods in agreement. “Come inside, and we’ll get him over right now. By the time we’re done talking, that door will be as silent as a summer breeze.”
Aurora still hasn’t looked at me since pulling up, and I’m itching to call for her attention. She looks beautiful today, all flushed skin and loose, wavy hair. The deep, dark blue T-shirt she’s wearing brings out the colour of her eyes, as if she purposefully bought it for that reason. The colour draws me in further than I already was, and now I’m more than itching for her attention. I’m desperate for it.
“Let me take care of it, Eliza. There’s no need to get Brody out here when he’s already working,” I say, my long legs eating the space between me and Aurora’s car as my pulse thumps.
My attention is laser focused on her and her alone, and I know she feels the weight of it. Her posture straightens, shoulders pushing back before she turns her head and finally meets my stare.
My jeans tighten at the crotch at the annoyance in those pretty blues. “That okay with you, Rory?”
“Does it matter?”
“’Course it does, darlin’. I won’t touch it unless you give the okay.”
Her tongue darts across her berry-tinted lips, and fuck me if it isn’t one the world’s worst distractions. I hardly notice the way her chest heaves before she replies.
“And I’m supposed to believe you? Who’s to say you don’t actually rip it from its hinges the minute I leave you alone out here? ”
I shrug, the corner of my mouth ticking up. “Guess you’ll have to give me a try. Let me prove that I’m serious.”
“Do you know anything about cars?” she asks bluntly despite the slightly higher octave of her voice.
“Enough to know where the door hinges are so I can oil ’em for you.”
“You’re such a smartass,” she blurts out before clamping her lips shut and glancing guiltily at everyone watching on the porch.
Poppy’s the one to reply. “Don’t look so guilty. You’re not wrong. He is a smartass.”
“Worse than that sometimes,” Garrison adds.
I turn to him and lift my hand in a silent question. What happened to loyalty? He’ll be hearing about this later.
“Is everyone joining us for the meeting?” Aurora asks suddenly, eyes trained on Eliza.
I return my gaze to her and watch as she scurries right past me toward the house, a small purse over her shoulder and sandals slapping against the soles of her feet. My smirk appears of its own accord. She has so much to learn about this group of people if she thought they’d care about her calling me such a ridiculous name.
“No, sweet girl. Just you and me. These hang-arounds just wanted to say hi,” Eliza replies.
It’s unclear whether Rory believes her or not, but I don’t have a chance to find out before she’s escaping into the group of women and giving me her back.
My moms raised me better than to let my eyes drop to her ass, regardless of how badly I want to look. Blindly ogling a woman’s body isn’t my specialty, but with Aurora, I’ve wanted to do so from the moment I saw her in Peakside.
I force myself to stay focused on the curves of her waist and the way I can see the imprint of her bra from beneath her shirt instead. It’s a fucking great distraction, and that in itself is a bit alarming. It’s probably creepy to get hard from staring at someone’s bra strap, and I’m already halfway there.
As if sensing where my mind’s wandered, Garrison slaps me on the back. The pain from the hit shakes me from my thoughts.
His laugh is low and gruff. “Fuck me. You’re screwed.”
“You’re just learning that now?”
Aurora doesn’t pay me a second glance before letting Eliza lead her inside the house. I don’t let her lack of attention deter me, though. There’s something there between us. A crackle of flame that I’m dead set on drowning in gasoline.
Our conversation just now has confirmed that she feels that something too. Even slightly. And whatever it is that’s in the way of her exploring it, I’m prepared to tear it down.