Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
S omething was going through Granger’s head. Shiloh could practically see the wheels turning and his mind trying to work its way through her accusation. It wasn’t really meant to be an accusation, but she supposed it had kind of been said that way.
Granger had disliked her on sight…all because she and his ex-wife had similar personalities.
Yeah…that was just wrong.
Granger coughed and rubbed the back of his neck, then looked at his grassy hand and grimaced. “Zane and I got you all dirty. Sorry about that.”
“Clothes wash,” Shiloh said easily. “I’m not that concerned about it.” She stopped talking and waited him out. Either he was about to get ticked and defend himself, or he’d admit she was right.
Shiloh wasn’t sure which way he’d go.
“I’m sorry.”
Oh. What a nice surprise.
“I shouldn’t compare you to her,” he said slowly and carefully. “And I’m sorry I kissed you without permission.”
Shiloh smiled and gave a little laugh. “Both of those apologies are welcome, thank you. And to be honest…I didn’t exactly hate the kiss, so perhaps I should be thanking you.”
A short, hard laugh burst through Granger’s lips. “You’re a hard woman to read, Shiloh Baxter.”
“And you’re a hard man to get to know.” Shiloh clapped her hands. “Speaking of which, we really need to decide what we’re doing now. Zane heard everything. Do you want to have a formal break up?”
Granger’s head shook quickly. “No…I think we should keep things as they are.”
Shiloh frowned. Surely he didn’t mean that. “Employer and employee?”
“Boyfriend and girlfriend,” he clarified.
Shiloh leaned back, studying him. “Do you really want to take that on? You realize that all our friends will hear about it, as well as most of the town, and what about Zane? We can just explain that you were saving me, but if we keep pretending, he’ll believe it’s real. And while you might be able to walk away intact, if I’m being honest, it’s gonna hurt when Zane’s out of my life…and I’m pretty sure it’ll hurt him too.” There. That was about as honest as she could be.
Shiloh completely understood how having another man in her life would help keep Arthur at bay, but she didn’t want Zane to hurt the way she was going to hurt. It went against everything she stood for.
Grange was quiet for a few moments. “I’ll handle Zane,” Granger finally responded. “I think he’ll understand what’s going on if I explain it correctly.”
“So, he’ll know this is fake?” Shiloh waggled a finger between them.
Granger nodded.
“Do we need to set ground rules? Things about PDA, or are we just going to trust each other?”
Granger tugged on his collar, and Shiloh had to hide a grin.
“I’ve been told I’m a bit blunt at times,” she said with a small laugh.
“I can’t say I’ve ever had to talk about whether or not I was going to hold a woman’s hand,” Granger muttered.
Shiloh had to work very hard not to bring up the idea of kisses. The poor man was about to melt as it was.
It was actually kind of adorable.
“Then, I suppose we should just trust each other,” Shiloh announced. “If the situation calls for it, we’ll handle it like the adults we are.”
“I think I can do that.”
“Great.” Shiloh reached for the doorknob behind her. “Then I suppose it’s time to get back to work. I’m taking down wallpaper today.” She grinned too-wide. “My favorite.”
Granger gave a dramatic shiver. “Good luck. I hate wallpaper.”
“So does every normal person in this world.” She pulled open the door and headed into the hallway.
“Are you saying the old owners weren’t normal?” Granger asked.
She loved it when he flirted, even if it was just barely. “Maybe,” Shiloh said over her shoulder. “They did put puke green in the master bath, so…”
Granger chuckled. “That does make their sense of style a bit suspect. Hey, bud.”
Granger crouched next to his son, who had basically finished his frozen treat.
“Ready to get working again?”
Zane shook his head, his eyes still glued to the screen.
Granger took the phone and turned it off.
“Hey!” Zane cried.
Standing, Granger held it out to Shiloh, who took the device and put it in her pocket.
“Screen time’s fun,” Granger said in a low tone. “But only as an extra. Right now we have work to finish.”
“Dad…” Zane whined.
Shiloh opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. This wasn’t her argument. As much as Zane was slipping into her heart, she had no right to interfere with Zane’s actual parenting.
Ouch.
She hadn’t expected that thought to hurt the way it did. But truth was truth, and Shiloh forced herself to stay back, no matter how much it stung.
“Come on.” Granger took Zane’s hand and began pulling him toward the front door.
When Zane looked over his shoulder, pleading silently for help, Shiloh waved and smiled, then nearly collapsed when the door shut behind them. “Dang…being a parent is hard,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Serenity will never make it.”
Forcing herself to forget puppy dog eyes and enticing kisses, Shiloh turned on her music and grabbed her bag of clothes that she’d dropped by the front door. She needed to get out of these heels and skirt and into something more practical.
It was time to work her way into a good attitude. Her brain was full of conflicting emotions, plenty of which had to do with her new fake boyfriend outside, and too many that had to do with a man who was beginning to resemble a real stalker.
Shiloh didn’t really know what to do with it all, though she’d tried to appear put together when she spoke to Granger. Her stomach was still trembling, her breathing was still shallow, and her blouse was stuck to her back with a heavy sheen of sweat.
“Doesn’t matter,” she told herself. “You don’t have to know what to do about men…but you know how to work. And work will get you through just about anything.”
Time to crank the music and pull out the wallpaper scrapers. Hard work was easy, and right now, it was also Shiloh’s salvation.
“So…you’re just pretending?” Zane asked, scrunching up his nose.
Granger sighed and ran a hand over his grass-filled hair. “Yeah. Just so we can keep that mean guy away from her, okay?”
Zane hugged his cast. “I guess.”
“But remember,” Granger emphasized, “we need to keep this secret to ourselves.”
“I thought we weren’t supposed to lie.” Zane raised his eyebrows. “This feels like lying, Dad.”
“You’re right, it does,” Granger agreed, desperately trying to come up with a way to handle this. He’d really dug himself in a pit now. One stupid, impulsive act and now he had a fake girlfriend and was going against life lessons he’d taught his son.
This was just one good example for why he never should have let a woman in his life.
“Then why are we doing it?”
Granger nodded, trying to buy more time. “Because…because…” He cleared his throat. “Look, Zane. I was worried about Shiloh. That guy who came over isn’t a good guy, and I made up a fib in order to protect her. It might not have been the right thing to do, but it was the only thing I could think of in the moment and we’ve decided to keep saying we’re dating until that guy leaves her alone.”
Zane frowned but didn’t speak for several moments.
Granger felt as if he might puke a little. He’d just spilled his heart to a six-year-old. It felt wrong, but also…a little freeing. Maybe Zane was old enough to understand that life wasn’t always so black and white?
“So it’s okay to lie sometimes?” Zane asked.
Granger pinched his lips between his teeth. His hope had obviously been in too much. “No, not really?—”
“But we’re lying.”
“Yes, I get that?—”
“So why are we doing it?”
Granger snapped his mouth shut. “You know what? It’s time to get some work done. We can talk about it later.” This was getting him nowhere, and Granger still couldn’t figure out a different way to tell the story.
If he was lucky, Zane would just forget about it.
Several hours later, Granger was packing to head home. Zane had lost his energy about two hours ago and was whining enough to give Granger a headache, not to mention that Granger, himself, was worn out.
The yard was actually starting to resemble a yard now, which was good. But the weeds in the flower beds were going to take forever.
He could send his crew over, but he wanted them on the bigger jobs. This one was as a supplementary income, and Granger needed it to pay for the upcoming medical bills.
Which meant it was his own back he was breaking this time, rather than his employees.
Granger stretched and groaned. He needed to say “thank you” to his crew more often. This stuff was brutal.
“Ready to call it quits?”
Dang it. The woman was like a ninja. How did she always manage to show up without being heard?
“Shiloh!” Zane raced from his spot under a large tree where he’d been kicking the trunk and complaining.
Amazing how the little boy suddenly had a new burst of energy.
“Dad says we’re lying about you two, but I can’t lie about anything,” Zane quickly explained. “Is Dad going to kiss you again? Is that a lie too? It was kind of gross.”
Shiloh turned wide eyes to Granger, and he shrugged.
He didn’t have a way to control Zane either.
“I don’t think he quite understood what I tried to tell him,” Granger said uncomfortably.
Shiloh closed her eyes and laughed a little. “Okay, Zane?”
The boy grew quiet.
“For right now, we’re not going to worry about your dad and me, okay? He’s helping me with a scary man, and that’s all that’s important.”
“But—”
Shiloh shook her head again. “What we need to worry about right now is dinner. And the fact that it’s at my house.” She smiled and ruffled Zane’s hair. “I’ve got a bunch of people coming over for a buffet, and I need to shower. You and your dad are coming.”
“Wait—” Granger began.
Shiloh looked up, her stunning smile in place. “We have a kind of club of entrepreneurs from Main Street.” She made a face. “It’s supposed to be a neighborhood watch, but it kinda ended up being both. We have a network now, but we also discovered a lot of people our age who ran businesses from there.” One shoulder lifted and dropped daintily. “We haven’t met in a while since there haven’t been more break-ins, so we’re getting together tonight. I think Ivory’s sister, Pearl, has arrived.”
“We’re not part of the group,” Granger responded.
“You own a business,” Shiloh argued. “Your office might not be on Main, but still…it’s just a potluck. No pressure. But you should totally come.” She picked a piece of weed out of Zane’s hair. “Maybe after a shower, huh?”
Granger chuckled. “Zane…I think she’s saying we’re dirty.”
Zane scowled and rubbed at his head. “I’m not dirty.”
Shiloh was obviously working to keep a straight face. “Of course. You’re slick as a whistle.”
“What?”
Granger’s laugh grew. It actually felt good to laugh. He didn’t do it very often any more. “Come on, Pigpen. Let’s do as the lady says.”
“Don’t wash up on my account,” Shiloh teased. She stepped forward, crowding Granger’s space and he froze. “But you might do it on your fake girlfriend’s account,” she whispered.
Granger’s heart was clogging his throat. If he thought his kissing was out of practice, he hadn’t even thought about his flirting skills. Right now, he was positive they were utterly and completely gone. “Uh…”
To be fair, it didn’t appear that Shiloh was truly trying to stop from showing her enjoyment of his discomfort, but ultimately she lost the battle. Patting his chest while smiling ear to ear, she winked. “See you two in a bit.” With one last hug for Zane, Shiloh sashayed around to the front of the house, her baggy work clothes doing nothing to hide the feminine figure beneath.
It had shot up ten degrees in the last two minutes, Granger was sure of it.
“Dad?”
Shaking himself from his stupor, Granger looked down. “Hm?”
“Do we really have to shower?” Zane asked.
Thank heaven for small miracles. If Zane had asked anything about Shiloh’s behavior, Granger might have melted from embarrassment. He tugged on his too-tight collar. “Yeah…I think we do.”
Zane didn’t stop grumbling the entire way home, but Granger barely heard it. His mind was on other things…or just one other thing…and it wasn’t supposed to be on that thing at all!
But the more time he spent with Shiloh, the harder it was to curb his attraction. What red-blooded male could resist a confident, gorgeous woman, even if her flirting and teasing was just for fun?
Their relationship might be fake, but Granger realized something harsh when he was washing up. The real lie wasn’t about them being boyfriend and girlfriend. The real lie was the fact that he thought he could walk away when it was over.