Chapter 25
Hadley
She huffs an amused laugh. “Guess that’s my fault, since I didn’t call and all.”
“I can take the sofa if—”
“No, you won’t.” She tries to take the bag, and I snatch her grabby little hand, fingers closing around her elegant wrist.
“Come on, inside. Before Nia finds her binoculars.”
“Oh, I wanted to meet them. Sorry, I was a little flustered before . . .” The words die out.
“You will. Mom will be making supper tonight.”
“I don’t want her to think I rocked up and expected room and board. I want to help, Hadley. I’m here to help, please.”
She’s sweet when she begs.
“Sure, Sunshine, you can help me. Done much ranch work?”
“Only a little.”
“Inside, before I send you back home.”
“So bossy, cowboy.”
She has no idea.
We walk through the front screen door, and it snaps shut behind us. The entryway is small but it opens up to the living room on the right and the kitchen on the left. It’s all still a work in progress. At least now I have the plumbing sorted. So we’re good for showers and washing, etc.
I wave a hand in front of us. “Down the hall on the left is the bedroom.”
“Thanks,” she says, going to pull the bag from my shoulder.
I hobble down the hallway and she follows.
Padding over the threshold to my bedroom, I cross the large room and set her bag down by the big bay window facing the east. I turn back to find her leaning on the doorframe, looking around, hands clasped in front of her.
The only thing between us is the big old wooden bed I’ve had since I was seventeen.
Bought it off trade, swap, and sell for peanuts.
Still love it to this day. It’s a grand old king bed, rustic wood design.
“Your home is lovely, Hadley.”
I smile, hobbling my way back to the other side of the room. I rest the crutch against the wall and tug the wet shirt from my back with one hand as I balance myself with the other on the ancient relic of a wardrobe. It rises but sticks.
Maggie pushes off the doorframe and wanders to where I stand. “Here, arms up.”
I lift my arms the best I can while balancing on one weight-bearing foot. She peels the wet shirt up and off my body.
My breaths stutter out as she traces a finger between the muscles of my chest and down my hard stomach and murmurs, “Still wet.”
Lungs on fire, I manage with a gravelly tone, “Towels in the bathroom across the hall.”
“Stay put.” She leaves the room.
I hang my head, bracing both hands on the wardrobe.
I try taking slow, languid breaths to calm my racing heart.
She reappears with a towel in her hands, and I straighten.
Taking the towel to my hair and down my neck, she moves it over my shoulders before drying my chest. The towel moves to my stomach, and I close my hand over her wrist, tugging her closer.
She rises up on her tiptoes, hand sliding behind my neck.
I drop my forehead to hers. “Fuck, I missed you.”
“Back at you. Driving all by myself isn’t the same. Betsy feels empty without you beside me.”
“Sunshine, it’s barely been three days.” I chuckle.
“It feels much longer, Hadley.”
I smash my mouth to hers.
Fine fingers fist the back of my hair, and I can’t get close enough. Her back meets the wardrobe, and she moans.
I steal the sound, gripping her waist and hauling her onto my hips.
Hands press against my shoulders. “No, put me down. Your knee.”
“Not a fucking chance,” I growl.
The knee takes its time to stabilize as I press her into the wardrobe and devour her.
Exploring every inch of her. Tasting like it’s the first time.
Fuck, the way my body responds to her . .
. It may as well be. I’m rock-hard and hardening further with every inch I take in of her.
The cap falls from her head as I send my free hand through her dark locks and grip her chin, tilting it up.
Green eyes, darkening to the color of the forest she adores, study my face as her chest heaves. “I have till Friday, then I have to leave for the next event,” she breathes.
Three days.
I’ll fucking take it.
“Sunshine, any amount of time with you is a gift.”
She swallows. Some of that expression I saw over the video call passes over her face. Indecision? Worry?
I let her down, and she drops her gaze to the floor. I hitch a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes back up to me. “What was that?”
“I—you . . .” Her eyes fall closed. “I wanted to—no, I needed to take this slow, like glacial. But . . .” Her eyes open.
Now they are brimmed with a tangle of something warring and intense.
“It’s like this thing between us has a life of its own.
I’m barely hanging onto this runaway freight train, Hadley.
It scares the hell out of me because I’m not sure what happens after this year. ”
“Me either, but we can spend the time together while we have it. You think?”
“I do.”
Two little words I shouldn’t even be thinking about . . . but they sink their claws in deep, fucking my insides up.
She leans into my chest, her hand sliding over my jaw as she pushes up on her toes and kisses my mouth.
As she drops back to her feet, I dust a kiss onto her forehead. “Right, these jeans are gonna chafe if I don’t lose them soon. You want to see some of the ranch?”
“I would love to.” That bottom lip disappears between her teeth again.
“Help yourself to anything you need here. What’s mine is yours. Grab me a snack while you’re out there, hey?”
Rolling her eyes, she wanders from my bedroom and down the hallway.
I tug the wet jeans from my body and towel off before sliding on a clean pair of Wranglers and a button-down work shirt.
I pull on socks and do up the buttons on the shirt before padding back down the hall and into the kitchen to find Maggie making sandwiches.
She looks good in my kitchen.
I’m running a hand through my hair at the slightly disturbing thought. For many reasons. But hell, what I wouldn’t do to keep this woman in my life.
I know she has plans.
I know they didn’t include me before.
Maybe things changed?
“Hungr—” She looks up from slicing a tomato, the word going unfinished when she sees me in my work clothes. Lettuce, ham, and cheese are out beside the cutting board.
I drop onto a stool at the counter, taking the cutting board from her hands. The knife, too.
“Hey! I was doing that.”
“Exactly. You’re my guest. I’m doing it.”
She leans against the counter as I finish constructing two sandwiches. I slide one across to her on the plate she has out.
“Thank you.” Biting into the sandwich, her eyes flutter closed.
I pat the stool beside me. “I don’t bite.”
Opening her eyes, she smiles around her mouthful. After a beat, she rounds the counter and sits by me.
Better.
We eat in silence as Maggie looks around, taking in the old house and mostly renovated kitchen. I wonder what’s going through her head.
She pops her last bite into her mouth, and I take her plate, sliding it over mine. I rise and make my way to the sink, placing them in the bottom for later.
“Got to make my way around the cows and calves. You want to come?”
She eyes me with worry before standing and pushing the stools back under the counter. “You’re supposed to be resting, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but it’s in the truck, so.”
“Where is your truck?”
“Oh shoot, it’s back at the homestead.”
“I can go. You sit down.”
“Now who’s bossy?” I give her a wink, and she flips me off before disappearing through the front door to walk back to the big house.
Instead of resting, I tidy up a little. It’s not that I’m a slob, but I wasn’t expecting company. When it comes to Maggie, perfect isn’t near good enough. I want her to feel like my home is hers.
Hell.
I stand and run a hand through my hair, processing that one.
After hobbling the entirety of my living room until I’m satisfied it’s up to par, I make sure the bathroom is clean. There’s a spare room, but that’s currently my office for doing the ranch books and paying bills. It’s . . . a mess. I shut the door.
A moment later, my truck rolls up to the front steps and idles. Maggie walks inside, meeting me in the kitchen as I lean on the crutch. “Ready?”
“Yeah. Let me pull on my boots and grab my hat.”
“Oh, I’ll get mine.”
The walk up to the house must have been warm. A light sheen of sweat covers her neck and chest. She heads down the hallway and turns into my room. A heartbeat later, she’s back, cap on her head, sunglasses in her hand.
Shuffling to the front door, I lean on the wall to slide my boots on, one after the other. Grabbing my old hat from the hook, I shove it on my head.
Maggie walks for the front door and slides her hand into mine. “Show me this ranch you love so much, cowboy.”
Those words pretty much guarantee the ranch is forgotten as I slide a hand behind her neck, pulling her mouth to mine.
The crutch hits the floor as my hands cup her face.
She chuckles against my lips as I falter to stand tall.
Nipping her bottom lip, I draw back. Damn this fucking busted knee.
“Ranch, Hadley.” Green eyes implore me before studying my face. “Want me to drive?” she whispers but then clears her throat. “Actually, sorry, that wasn’t meant to be a question. I’m driving. Show me your ranch while you show me where to go.”
I teeter on one foot and swipe up the crutch. We head outside. Down the stairs is tricky, but I make it, Maggie leading me to the passenger side of my own truck.
“In you hop, mister.” She holds the door open, one hip cocked, a hand resting on it.
I’m not stupid enough to argue with a woman who takes that stance.
Three sisters and a mother teaches you valuable life lessons.
Lessons I’m always glad for when I’m working with or hanging out with women any time.
I slide the crutch into the footwell and pull myself up with my hands.
Sliding onto the seat, I get settled as Maggie shuts the door and walks around to the driver’s side.
Once she’s behind the wheel, she looks at me with anticipation. “Right, where to?”
“Follow the road past the barn and toward the gate down by those big old trees. It’s a way.”
She shifts the old girl into drive, and we’re bumping along the dirt road.
“What do you want to know about the ranch?”
“Anything. Everything.”
We roll to a slow stop as we reach the gate. I grab for the door handle and my crutch simultaneously.
“Ah, don’t you dare.” Maggie’s out of the truck and closing in on the gate faster than I could even hope to make it out of the seat.
Fuck, I hate feeling useless.
She looks around as she opens the gate and pushes it all the way back. Hopping back in, she drives us through before leaving to shut the gate.
My head hits the headrest as my eyes close on a groan.
The last thing I wanted was to be an invalid when—if she ever came out here. Now she’s practically my caretaker. Christ.
The truck jostles and the door shuts. “Straight ahead, boss?”
I chuckle and open my eyes. “Now you’re getting it, Sunshine.”
She gives me a deadpan look and shifts the stick into gear. Hell, if anyone is someone’s boss, she’s mine.
The last two words have me needing to set my gaze on the road ahead and remind myself what the damn task is. We rattle along the road, heading west for the back fields of the ranch. After another few gates, we make the cows and calves.
Maggie pulls up short of the herd, and I climb down and grab my crutch. Hobbling over the uneven ground, I wander as far as I can to check them out. Calves are feeding well, most on the udder still. Some attempt the grass.
I should have brought them in closer to the homestead, but Kayley and I couldn’t tee up a time to round them up. Maybe Maggie could help me. Put Gem and Nia on a horse or the truck, we could make it.
My knee won’t be seeing a horse for at least another week.
“They’re amazing, Hadley. Look at that one! It’s so stinking cute.” She scrunches her nose up, pointing to one of the newer calves as he nudges his mother’s udder. Protesting his hunger.
“Just a baby. They really need to be closer to the main house. The fields behind the horses would be better to keep an eye on them.”
“Will wolves get them out here?”
She gets it.
“It’s a possibility. The cows are good at protecting their babies, but the little ones wander off sometimes.”
“Oh.”
“Come on, by the time we head back and do chores, it’ll be almost time for supper.”
“Can’t wait.”
“For chores?” I chuckle, adjusting the hat on my head.
“Here to help, remember?”
“Yeah, Sunshine, I remember.”
I can wait for supper with my nosy sisters. But the fact that I have three whole days with this incredible woman, I’ll be counting my lucky stars the second they grace the evening sky.