Chapter 5
By the time the last mop bucket was emptied, and the fans were humming in the corners, I could barely lift my arms. My body ached, but it was the good kind of ache—the kind that said we saved something worth keeping.
Something worth fighting for.
Cedar Bluff showed up for me big time. People I barely knew had brought towels and coffee, hammers and trash bags, good humor and tender care. Jasper kept everyone moving like a drill sergeant, wearing pink sequins on his rain boots and tossing out jokes and insults like confetti.
And Rhea—she had stayed the whole day.
I hadn’t expected to see her at all after she left with the fire department in the middle of the night.
Then, like an illusion in a dream, she was there, standing in the doorway with all of her steady strength and tempting stares.
At first, she had been quiet, methodical, sleeves rolled up and her hair in a messy bun on top of her head as she ripped drywall out with the carpenters from Travis Hayes’s construction company that he sent over to help.
But then it morphed into something else.
Every time I looked over at her, it was as if she sensed my stare and would look at me.
When she smiled at me over the ruined counter at which I served our community at, something fluttered low in my stomach that I pretended not to notice.
But I did notice it.
I obsessed over it internally.
I was so incredibly attracted to Rhea; she was exactly the type of woman I’d go for if I were dating. Strong, confident, with an effortless ability to lead, paired with a tender gentleness that only women could master.
Believe me, I’d dated my fair share of people over the years. And there were things about all sexes that I craved to find together in one partner. I just hadn’t found someone who could do it all.
With Rhea, she came close.
Closer than I’d ever found in anyone else.
But then there was Tanner.
He arrived that afternoon with a new lock for the door that the fire department broke to get inside in the middle of the night and a couple boxes of pizza to fuel everyone still working.
Besides one pointed glare in Rhea’s direction, he didn’t say anything about her presence at my side, working on the last of the demolition of my hopes and dreams. He just started working beside us as if he belonged there.
The two of them in the same room had felt like opposites pulling me in differing directions—steel and fire—and somehow, I was caught in the middle, drawn to both so intensely, without understanding why.
I’d been attracted to Tanner for a long time, almost as long as I had been in Cedar Bluff.
He made it hard not to be with his charisma and tender, caring attention.
But that tenderness only went so far, given that he was a man, and that was why I found myself looking from him to Rhea, wondering which one of them would be the ideal partner if I chose one.
Not that they were asking; God, that would have been a dream, but not my reality. I was too busy to date anyway.
Though by the end of the day, I was tired from my lack of sleep and intense physical labor, and wired tight from working side by side with them until everyone else had left, leaving it just the three of us.
Reality didn’t matter, because I was deep in my fantasy-filled mind by the time I forced us all to stop for the night.
“I can’t do another moment of physical labor,” I huffed, pulling my gloves off and tossing them on the metal table in the center of the room. “And I can’t ask either of you for more either, you’ve both far exceeded anything I could have hoped for today. I appreciate you both so much.”
Rhea took her gloves off, wiping her wrist across her forehead with a sigh. “You deserve a break. You’ve been at this all day.”
“Yeah,” Tanner agreed, dumping the last mop bucket down the drain, “You should get some rest, we all know you’ll be back here at dawn for another long day.”
I grinned, with a slight shrug, caught in his suspicion as we headed toward the front door as a group.
“There’s no way I would have gotten this much done without the two of you here beside me.
” I locked the front door and then awkwardly turned to them, feeling very unsteady under their intense stares. “Again, thank you. Both.”
“Don’t mention it,” Rhea put her hands in her jean pockets, “Do you need a ride home?” She asked, glancing at the empty parking spaces on the street.
Her jeep was parked next to Tanner’s big truck, the only two left at the late hour.
“Uh—” I chuckled, scratching my forehead, embarrassed.
“I got her.” Tanner replied for me with a nod toward his truck. “I know the way.”
Rhea snorted slightly with an eye-roll. “Maple Street isn’t that hard to find.”
My stomach flipped with butterflies as she named the street I lived on without me ever telling her.
But more so from the little tug of war they were having about driving me home. “It’s okay—” I tried, breaking the stare-off between them. “I can get home on my own.”
Tanner scowled down at me, and I knew instantly that he would not back down on it. “I’m taking you home.”
I smiled gently at Rhea, and she rolled her eyes with a smirk, muttering under her breath. “Caveman.”
I giggled, the noise bubbling up out of nowhere, and Tanner’s scowl deepened as he stared at me, which made the giggles build bigger until I was clutching my sides, laughing my head off, with tears welling in my eyes.
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head and covered my face.
“I think I’m delusional from all the physical labor. ”
“Let’s get you home.” Tanner said with a relaxed smile as he led the way to his truck. “Before you really lose it and do something like snort.”
“Probably for the best.” I said and then paused at the curb as Rhea got into her jeep and rolled the window down. “Thanks for your help today.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow.” She said with a wink, glancing over at Tanner as she started the engine. “See you then.”
“Bye.” I gave her a little wave and then jumped up, and I mean all the way up, into his massive truck and chanced a look at him. “I’m sorry for laughing at you.”
He grinned, all pretense of his discontent gone as he shut the door and leaned on the open window frame, resting his forearms on it. “Tell me something, Goldie.” He said, my body nearly broke out in hives from the intensity of his gaze and the pressure those words put on my shoulders.
“That sounds ominous.” I whispered, tilting my head to the side.
“Did I ever have a chance with you?” He asked softly, “At all?”
My heart stuttered, “What?”
“I’ve liked you for a long time,” His eyes met mine, steady and searching.
“Since the day you hung up that sign on your front door, telling the world you were putting down roots here. But you were building something special, and I could see that. I didn’t want to get in the way, I figured you needed your space to make your dream happen. So, I waited.”
My throat tightened, “What changed?”
He chuckled softly and blew out a breath, “It seems like the whole damn town is lining up, trying to get your attention. And now I’m worried that I waited too long.”
“I don’t understand,” I looked down at my hands, then forced myself to meet his stare.
“Rhea.” He replied firmly, “She’s interested, and I’m not sure if you have any feelings back for her, or someone else, but I need to know if I’m stepping in the way of something you want, by shooting my shot.”
“I’m bisexual.” I admitted, nerves fluttering under my skin.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever said that out loud here, but I love, love.
Gender—it doesn’t matter. It’s about the person.
I love people for who they are, not what they are.
” I forced myself to keep talking even though I was about to puke from how nervous it was making me.
“And you’re not too late, I am interested in you too, Tanner. ”
“And Rhea?” He asked pointedly.
I snorted with a chuckle. “I’m drawn to her, but I don’t think it’s mutual. I think you’re wrong there.”
He smiled, slow and easy. “You really don’t see yourself the way everyone else does, do you?”
I didn’t reply right away as he walked around the truck to his side and got in, and then he was driving down the street toward my house, so I let it be.
When we pulled into my driveway, his headlights lit up my porch in the dark evening.
As he opened my door to help me out, he paused, with his gigantic body in the opening, keeping me corralled.
“Rhea’s interested in you, Goldie. Trust me.
I can read a competitor when I meet one.
But that’s okay, because now that I know you’re interested in me, it doesn’t matter.
You can be interested in whoever else you want to be, Goldie, but now I’m going to make it my goal to win you over. ”
My laugh came out softer than I had meant it to. “And you don’t care about the competition, not that I agree there is any, but just in general?”
“Nah,” He shook his head confidently. “I’m not afraid of a little hard work to win the prize.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed him back with a hand on his chest as I stepped around him. I tried to ignore the way his rock-solid body felt under my palm. “You know what, I like a good game too, Officer Brooks.”
His grin deepened as he followed me up the steps and hung back on the porch as I unlocked my door, turning back to look at him.
If he had asked to come in, I probably would have let him. Even if I stunk like moldy sprinkler water, because I was too curious to know what he looked like under his uniform to turn down an opportunity.
“Game on, Goldie.” He replied confidently, stepping back down the first step now that I was standing in the doorway. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
“I think I will, too.” I said with a little wave before ducking into my house and closing the door before I could do something else embarrassing.
Like beg him to come in and fuck me.
Unless he was offering…