Pants on Fire #2
Demetri smoothed the tip of his tongue over his upper lip.
His ego chaffed, and temptation loomed great.
Right then and there, he almost announced that both the flock—and Mary—belonged to him now.
The primordial laws of nature took precedence over those of humanity.
As both ram and man, he’d claimed and would guard them against any threat even at the cost of his life.
He stopped himself just in the nick of time.
Somehow, he doubted Mary would appreciate the observation.
“I was just doing my job.”
“I never hired you!”
A slow smile split the corners of his mouth. “And here I had the impression that I’d slept my way into the position.”
Mary’s jaw dropped, and then a thunderous scowl crossed her lovely features. She sputtered, struggling for words. “I can’t—”
“Too soon?” Demetri grinned.
“Way too soon.” She waved him off with a short, sharp gesture more like a timeout than a dismissal.
Demetri cleared his throat. All right, enough joking—time to get serious. “Mary, I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot this morning. I apologize if I overstepped. I didn’t do it on purpose. Please believe I only had good intentions.”
Pensive silence settled while Mary gnawed her lower lip and considered. “I believe you,” she said eventually, “and I’m sorry, too.”
“For what?” Tension eased from Demetri’s back. Belatedly, he understood how much stress he’d been under, and it astonished him. He and Mary had only met last night, but her approval meant more to him than any other woman he’d ever known.
“For overreacting. For assuming the worst about you.” Mary rolled her shoulders in a guilty shrug. “As you may’ve guessed, Quentin isn’t the nicest guy.”
“It sounds like he hurt you.” Demetri regretted not having killed the coyote-shifter when he had the chance.
“He always made decisions without consulting me. Mostly bad or selfish ones,” Mary explained in a voice thin with strain. “I’m only telling you this so you’ll understand why I reacted the way I did. I apologize for that.”
“Thank you. Now that I understand that it upsets you, I’ll try not to do it again.
” In his gut, he understood it’d be a challenge.
Demetri knew himself well, and he’d be lying if he tried to deny his authoritarian nature.
He felt confident, however, that a determined effort could overcome any obstacle.
Her brow furrowed and her lips twitched. He assumed Mary meant to scold him for having made another assumption regarding their future together even as he promised not to do it.
Demetri chuckled at the irony. Yeah, he had a lot of work to do, but then so did Mary when it came to the trust department.
It should prove interesting. “Look,” he said, “about that. I believe we can help each other. You need a qualified ranch hand. Colleen and I need a place to stay. We’re a good match. ”
“I do need help.” A small smile quirked Mary’s mouth despite her obvious misgivings. “And you were the only job applicant.”
“There you go. Besides, you don’t want to be the reason Colleen winds up living out of my truck, do you?”
“No, I wouldn’t want that.” Mary laughed, a carefree expression that was good to hear. “Yes, you can both stay, but there are stipulations.”
“Okay.” Demetri nodded. Stipulations—he didn’t like the sound of that, but he was happy to be past the major obstacle.
Anything else counted as a minor bump in the road by comparison.
As soon as he had a chance to regroup and consider, he would formulate a new plan, this time making sure to consult with Mary.
“You might want to hear the terms before you agree. The pay isn’t great, but it does include room and board.” She swallowed, and rubbed her sweaty palms together. Anxiety soured her scent.
“All right.” For the sake of tact, Demetri curbed his innate bluntness. Normally, he’d have stated upfront that he didn’t give one feck about money. Based on the few subtle hints Mary had dropped, though, he grasped the ranch’s precarious financial state.
“You’ll have to stay in the barn. There’s an old tack room converted to a bunkhouse. It has an attached bathroom with a shower,” she blurted in a rush.
He frowned in aggravation, although probably not for the reason she might assume.
A brief stint of celibacy wouldn’t hurt him.
His objection stemmed from the actual physical distance she seemed determined to put between them.
With the threat of her ex-husband hanging over them, Demetri would’ve preferred to keep her close so he could protect her.
Mary continued speed talking at Demetri rather than to him.
“If you’re going to work for me, I can’t sleep with you anymore.
I’m sorry, but last night was only meant to be a one-time thing for me.
Right now, I can’t afford to get involved with anyone.
So we’d have to maintain a professional working relationship from here on out. I hope you understand.”
She ran out of breath. Panting, she watched him like a fox in the hen house, waiting for the moment he’d strike. He got the distinct impression she expected him to refuse, but wasn’t sure what she actually wanted.