17. Rose #2
That’s strangely heartbreaking. I thought house flips were purely business transactions, using cheap materials to maximize profit when selling. There’s so much love in this house. It feels like a home.
“But it’s so beautiful.”
I’d guessed the house might be expensive. We’re within walking distance of downtown Rios, and a six-bedroom house with a massive backyard and a gorgeous porch can’t be cheap, even if it’s in a small town in Iowa.
He scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, that’s just the way things are.”
That doesn’t sound like someone eager to sell.
“When are you putting it on the market?” I ask.
“Not sure yet. Just as soon as we get the work done.”
“And then?”
He shrugs. “Look for somewhere cheaper, I guess.”
“Oh.” It’s truly soul-crushing to think of this beautiful home belonging to someone else. “Um, I should leave you to get back to work, but I wanted to say thanks.”
He cocks his head. “For?”
“Ben. You don’t have to keep him occupied in the mornings.”
He shrugs. “It’s no hardship. My days don’t usually start until 8 or 9.” He gives me a pointed look. “And if it wasn’t obvious, I like spending time with Ben. No one can make me do something I don’t want to. Spending time with Ben is a pleasure.”
“He likes spending time with you, too,” I admit, and there’s no missing Murph’s happiness. “But he’s high-energy. He tires everyone out with his endless enthusiasm.” Me included.
“He reminds me of myself,” Murph says, smiling slightly.
I try to imagine this big, gruff alpha as a high-energy five-year-old running wild. Joel, maybe. Win, definitely. But Murph? “I don’t see it.”
He snorts. “You should speak to my mom. I grew up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, and the only time I stopped was when I was eating or sleeping. I spent the rest of the day running as wild as my parents would let me. Was wilder than a mustang sometimes. My brothers can attest to that.”
He said he had two brothers. Rowan and Wes. “Were your brothers like you?”
His amusement grows, and he shakes his head. “I was the rebel.”
The same man who sat on the living room floor to play Lego with my son and, more nights than not, heads up to bed by 11 p.m.
I grin. “I call bullshit, Murph Owens.”
He chuckles. “My older brother, Rowan, knew he’d take over the ranch one day, and the responsibility suited him.
Wes is the youngest. I don’t know that our parents spoiled him or he was so damned good at convincing people to give him things, but he never had any interest in doing anything but ranching. ”
I uncross my arms, enjoying this peek into Murph as a kid. “But you, the middle child, swung from rebel to the gruff, se—” I choke back the word I almost say. Sexy. “Serious one.”
A glimmer of amusement softens the hard angles of his face. “Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that wasn’t what you were about to say?”
I lift my chin. “You’re paranoid.”
He takes a small step toward me, dipping his head and crossing his arms. “I might have believed you if I didn’t see the way you were watching me working at that doorway, blushing so prettily when I caught you that I stopped caring about painting walls and started thinking about pulling you into my arms for the kiss I’ve been aching to give you. ”
Lord, I’ve always had a thing for honest men, and when this man tells me what he wants to do to me, it’s hotter than hell.
The breath sticks in my throat, and it takes a whole heap of throat-clearing to unblock the obstruction enough to speak. “I thought you didn’t know how to talk to me.”
Those words, and the stomach-clenching, thigh-tightening effect they just had on my body, prove he knows exactly how to talk to me.
He takes another step toward me, closing the distance between us to a few inches. “I’m a fast learner.”
I give the open doorway a quick glance. Escape is that way. The door is wide open; all I’ve gotta do is walk right out of it. Ben is quiet, probably still napping, and I have laundry I abandoned that I should be getting back to.
But I don’t leave.
Murph is watching me. I feel the weight of his focused attention. His body loosens, tension melting away from his shoulders when I turn back to face him instead of walking out.
Hesitantly, I twist my fingers together as I brace myself to admit something I’d been reluctant to. When I first moved in, Joel said that Murph told him that if we had feelings for each other, he wouldn’t stand in the way if we wanted to act on them. But I’m still nervous.
“I kissed Joel yesterday. Um, and Win before that. There was this thing with Ben making me pancakes, and…” I trail off, not expecting a boyish grin after admitting I kissed two other men. Especially before I kissed him. That dimple alone is beyond gorgeous. It’s also hella distracting.
“What?” I ask, as confused by his grin as I am delighted by it.