Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Jasper
Why the hell did I invite Sheridan over?
I careened through my rental house, making sure I didn’t have underwear lying around or that my towels weren’t draped over random chairs from my showers.
I’m a guy who likes to air dry. I finished the firepit area sooner than expected, going in early the last two days just so I could clean myself up before she got here.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to myself all night, but I shouldn’t have her to myself.
I wasn’t on the market. If I wanted to mess around, I did.
Sheridan wasn’t a messing-around type. She was strong and sensitive.
Sweet and hardworking. Sexy and determined.
She was a complete package. And when those eyes had me in their soft-brown tractor beams, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make her smile.
Until she had moaned over the chicken. Now there was nothing I wouldn’t do to hear that again.
Was that how she sounded when she—
I groaned. I couldn’t think about it. She would be here soon.
The doorbell rang. I almost sprinted to answer.
Play it cool. Play it cool.
I had jumped to a woman’s bidding before, and it was not appreciated. Not at all.
I pushed a hand through my hair and straightened the clean KCC shirt I had tossed on and crossed to the front door.
I opened it to Sheridan on the stoop. She’d still pulled her dark hair back but changed into linen shorts instead of her cargo-type ones.
Her V-neck shirt was a fucking tease that pooled at her hips.
She held a six-pack in her hands. “I figured I brought you enough water.”
“Hey, it’s from Isla’s place.” I stepped back to let her in.
She slid inside like she was afraid to touch me. “Isla? Barron?”
“Yeah, it’s Cunningham now, but Reservoir Barrel is hers. She runs it with her husband, McCoy.”
“I’ve heard it’s close, but I haven’t been out there.”
“We’ll have to remedy that after we eat.”
Her eyes widened in that innocent way, like I caught her the most off guard with the simplest invite. “Tonight?”
“Why not? I’ve been accused of being boring, so I’m sure you won’t want to sit here all night.” Unless she thought I was asking her out, but I wasn’t. Just as buds. To introduce her to the area. That was all.
“You are not boring, Jasper Duke.”
The mended part of my heart got a little stronger from her words, but she didn’t know. She hadn’t backed out of marrying me because hiking the Appalachian Trail was better than one more night with me. Definitely ambitious, and I hadn’t been accused of being that.
“If you’re boring,” she continued, “then I’m a downright snoozefest.”
“You don’t plan to throw big parties at the firepit?” I led her toward the kitchen where there was a small island for us to sit at.
“I haven’t planned a party ever. Maybe that was the first red flag that I shouldn’t run a whole business based on fun, extracurricular time.” She smiled sheepishly, but her transparency was on brand. She played it off like she was joking, but she wasn’t.
I gestured to a stool and took two bottles of beer out of the carrier. I set the rest by a small piece of wood and a rolled-up leather pad. “There are two types of people—those who plan parties, and those who only go to parties other people planned.”
She tapped her chin while she thought about that. “Three types. You always have the ones who do both.”
I opened each bottle and slid one in front of her. “I attend parties, and you do too. Thankfully, I have plenty of siblings who plan them.”
She laughed, and it was a much better sound than listening to her worry about her ability to run the resort. “I don’t have a big social network, and my best friend has kids now, so she doesn’t get away much.”
Damn, this woman. She loved being around people, but the hesitation was constant.
I saw it before she met my family, and I saw each day that she wanted to connect with her employees.
She was all heart, cradled in one shapely package with hips that flared and pink lips I was waiting to see wrapped around the beer bottle.
“But thanks to you,” she said brightly, “the resort has a firepit that people can plan gatherings around.”
“Or small weddings.”
Another laugh, and the sound wrapped around me like a soft glove. “Yes. The bride was quite impressed by the way.”
“Yeah?” I did my best to make the area around the pit and pavers look sculpted and less like the sod had been ripped up.
A nice partition blocked the north wind and could be removed for the windless nights.
It ended up looking modern and chic, and I managed to get the grass around it to look like it hadn’t just been turned up.
I wasn’t as concerned about the bride’s reaction as I was Sheridan’s.
“Delighted. She can’t wait for tomorrow. Thank you for saving the day again.”
That soft, grateful tone was exactly what I’d been after. “You can repay me by not having me dig and lay pavers for a while. Give my back a break.” I grabbed my beer and walked to the sliding door. I opened it and cocked my head toward the opening. “Check out my yard.”
She stopped by a roll of leather on my counter and trailed her finger over it. “What is this?”
The awareness that tingled over me was utterly inappropriate. But the kit was my hobby. Something to do in my downtime that brought joy to others. “I carve sometimes. That’s my kit.”
A brow ticked up. “Sometimes? What do you make?” This time, she walked her fingertips over the piece of pine sitting next to it.
“Whatever inspires me.” I picked up the wood and turned it this way and that. “I’ve carved something for each niece and nephew, and now I don’t know what to make.” I wasn’t inspired.
“Do you have anything I can see?”
I mentally played through the floor plan of the house. “I’ve given them all away.”
“That’s generous of you.”
I was going to say it was boring of me, but she’d argue. I carved when I had nothing else going on, but the intrigue on her face was something I’d keep for myself for a while. “Thanks,” was all I said. “Now I have to show you the backyard.”
She followed me out. “Oh, this is small.”
“Exactly. Some people say you need more skill when you don’t have the size.”
She rolled her lips in and cut her gaze toward me. “Actually, you still need skill. Otherwise, it can be underwhelming.”
My lips quirked. The apples of her cheeks dusted with pink, but she didn’t say anything more. When else would she blush like that?
I couldn’t wonder those things about my boss.
She walked down the stairs and looked around at the tidy, small, fenced-off space. “It’s cute. Have you had everyone here before?”
“I’m the only Duke who hasn’t hosted everyone at their home.” I shrugged. “And really, this isn’t my home. It’s just a rental.”
“You aren’t putting down roots?”
“Maybe someday. I figured I’d have a job first.” Now I did. How did that change things?
“My mom’s house is on the beach access side of the resort.”
I knew Sheridan lived there, but she hadn’t talked about it, and she was always at work. “Do you actually spend time there?”
Her expression tightened. “Not a lot. It’s full of Mom’s stuff, and I have to clean it out.”
“It can wait,” I said gently. There was too much self-recrimination in her tone. She came to save the resort, and she had her mom’s place to clean out, and she was blaming herself that it wasn’t done by now. “All that will be there when you’re ready.”
She loosely held her beer. “Yes. It will be. I needed to hear it, though.”
What was it about this girl that made me want to jump to her aid?
She toiled on her own, weathering complications and doubt, but she kept going.
No one saw her drive, her talent, or her ambition.
I’d been able to tell from that first conversation, but seeing her efficient style of management confirmed it.
She didn’t lord over her employees, and when she corrected them, it was with care without being demeaning.
Everything about Sheridan Bishop was crystal clear. She cared. No one else would care about that place as much as her. “And whenever you are ready, you know where to find me. I have a pickup.”
Her sweet smile curled right through me. I hadn’t done a thing, but I wanted to puff my chest out.
Watching her wander around my yard, seeing her in my home, it created a picture that I wanted to hang on my fridge and look at every day.
No, I didn’t want to go to the brewery with her tonight.
This was too nice to disrupt, and it gave me another reason to get her out with me again. To reintroduce her to the area.
“Next Friday,” I said, “we’ll stretch out our wild sides and visit my cousin’s brewery.”
I described it as my cousin’s on purpose. Would it sway her? Make it seem more familiar and less like she was going on a date with the handyman? Neither of us wanted that. I hadn’t moved to town to meet someone, and she had an entirely different reason to be here.
She tucked a curl behind her ear. “I really do work too much.”
I grinned. Gotcha.
Sheridan
After the most delicious burger that brought back memories of my childhood, Jasper and I sat on his porch once again. He was going through his carving kit, showing me all the pieces.
“So the leather is for sharpening your knife?” I asked.
“My whittling knife, yes.” He set that to the side and dug out a short, rectangular cut of wood. “This is basswood. It’s good for beginners, but I use it all the time.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “I want a relaxing hobby.”
“I don’t blame you.” My hobby was now the resort, and at the moment, it wasn’t the most relaxing.
I picked up the piece. “How do you keep from getting splinters?”
“I use the grain to tell me where to carve.”
He held up another small chunk that had a knob-like part carved out of the end. “Here’s an Arabian horse that I messed up.”
“How?” I tried to picture a horse from what he was holding.
“I made the head too small and it won’t do for a horse muzzle.” He set it down. “I can carve while enjoying the weather or when it’s cold out and I’m watching TV.”
“I bet your nieces and nephews would love those. They seemed like a fun crowd.” I hated to get called away.
I had wanted to soak in their energy. Their acceptance.
I had quit going to my brothers’ for holiday gatherings.
Their spouses and kids put me on edge, waiting for the next I don’t mean anything by it insult, and I didn’t like that feeling around family.
“They are.” He replaced all his carving supplies and rolled the leather mat back up. “I came here to be close to them and figure out my next move, but I’m afraid it’ll take me farther away.”
“An IT job? Or more ranching?”
“Anything that has a paycheck and retirement. Unless I want to go into mining or oil, and I don’t.”
“Why not?”
He didn’t answer right away, but he didn’t brush off my question. My appreciation for him grew. Thanks to how he was with me at work—respectful—the rest of the staff seemed to follow his lead. Even Constance was less snide, like she wanted his approval. Whatever. I’d take it.
“If I got a job at the refinery, I’d be working for my brother. Violet doesn’t mind, but I’d like to get work without nepotism.”
He was a man with pride. I respected that. Yet he was limiting himself a lot.
“As for the ranching, I don’t know. Gets tiring making money for someone else.” When I started nodding, he tipped his head toward me. “Unless it’s a distraught resort owner who wants to save her family’s legacy to keep everyone employed and bring tourists out to enjoy our gem of a state.”
Warmth flowed through me, soft and seductive. How did he plainly state my reality without making me feel like “less than”? I liked that. Almost as much as I enjoyed this night. Which was a lot.
It was getting to be too much. The sun was sinking, and if I stayed longer, it would look more like I was here for something other than an appreciation meal. Jasper might think I wanted more, and like he said, we were each in town for our own specific reasons.
“I should get going.” I pushed out of the chair before he said anything to change my mind.
“Sounds good.” He rose too.
Oh. He wasn’t going to talk me into staying. Why would I think he would? This wasn’t a date. He felt like he owed me. “Okay. Um, thanks for everything.”
I made my way to the door. Act casual. Instead of looking back, I breezed out onto the front stoop and onto the walk. Only then did I turn. He was on the step, the screen door closed to keep bugs from getting into the house.
He aimed the nicest smile my way. “Good night, boss.”
I needed the reminder. “Good night, Jasper.”