Chapter 3 #2
“Not unless I’m called in. I have the next three off. I might come out to the ranch and go for a ride on Saffron.”
“She’d love that,” I reply as I lean over and shoot a ball into the corner pocket. “Hell, come stay for a couple of days if you want.”
“We’ll see. I should do some work around the house. Spring cleanup is upon us.”
“Yeah, don’t I know it.”
“You know, I understand that you wanted the ranch and the house, but that’s a big house to take care of by yourself with all of the other shit you deal with. Hire someone for the landscaping.”
“I don’t need to. I don’t do anything fancy.”
“Still, it would open up some of your time.” He sips his beer. “Hey, how’s the intern?”
“Fine.” I cross my arms over my chest, watching him.
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
“It’s true. She’s . . . fine.”
He blinks slowly, and then smiles, his usual cocky personality shining through. “A she intern. Is she hot?”
I’m going to punch my brother, the cop.
“She’s an employee.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Fuck yes, she’s hot, and I want to fuck her six ways to Sunday.
“She’s . . . attractive.”
“Tuck?”
I lift an eyebrow in question.
“Does she have a nice ass?”
“You’re an idiot.”
It’s after dark when I get home. I walk into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and glance out the back window toward Darby’s cabin, and notice light flickering behind it. She must have started a fire in the firepit that Scott left out there.
I should not go out and join her. I wasn’t invited. Darby seems like the kind of woman who likes her space and doesn’t need me hanging around like a lovesick puppy.
But I open the back door and walk right out there anyway.
When I circle around the cabin, I see her right away, sitting in a folding chair by the fire. The light dances over her face and hair. Her legs are drawn up to her chest, and her arms are wrapped around them.
She’s watching the flames, deep in thought, and I absolutely should not be here.
But before I can turn to walk away, she says, “Come sit.”
I pause and tilt my head to the side. “You sure?”
“I bought two chairs on my way back after dinner,” she says, indicating the spare one next to her. “Come sit in it. The fire’s nice.”
I suspect that I’m incapable of telling her no. I don’t want to tell her no.
So, I sit next to her and gaze into the fire.
“How was dinner with your family?” I ask her.
“It’s always fun and noisy. It gets more so now that two of my sisters are married and Dani has kids. I love it. And then it’s nice to be in the quiet like this.”
I nod because I know all about loud family gatherings.
“Did you know that you have natural arnica growing on your property?” Her voice is quiet. Relaxed.
“I don’t know what that is,” I admit as I watch her peel her sweatshirt off her arms and drape it over the back of her chair. Her pink T-shirt molds perfectly over her tits, and I have to look into the fire so I don’t do something stupid. Like kiss the fuck out of her.
“The little yellow flowers,” she replies.
“Is it a good thing?”
“Yeah. Arnica is great for bruises and soreness. If you don’t mind, I’ll pick some and eventually make a salve out of it.”
Surprised, I turn to face her and lift an eyebrow. “You’ll make a salve?”
“And oil,” she confirms, and then smiles hesitantly. “Why do I feel like you’re judging me again?”
“I’m not, I’m just surprised. You’re a doctor—”
“Almost a doctor.”
“—and that seems unscientific.”
“It’s nature, Tucker. Where do you think we get medicine from?
Nature is science. And if I make it myself, I know what the ingredients are and where they came from.
I don’t have many hobbies, but this is one I enjoy.
I don’t make much, I don’t sell anything on Etsy, but I keep it for myself and share with my family. ”
This woman fascinates me.
“What else do you make?”
She wrinkles her perfect nose. “You don’t really want to know this.”
“Yeah, Duchess, I really want to know.”
She rubs her lips together as she stares at the fire. “It’s not much. Just a couple of salves and oils. I do make a great parsley oil.”
“What’s that for?”
“It can knock out an ear infection,” she says with a grin. “What are your hobbies, Tucker?”
Staring at you, Darby.
Yeah, that doesn’t sound creepy at all. Jesus.
“I run a ranch, I don’t have time for hobbies.”
“Do you read?”
“Articles, yes.”
“Do you like movies?”
“Sure. Speaking of, I need to get you a TV.”
She blinks at me in confusion. “Why?”
“Because Scott took his with him, so there isn’t one in there.”
Darby shakes her head and leans forward to drop another log on the fire. “I don’t need a TV. I read more than I watch anything.”
“What do you read?”
“Mostly romance novels.”
My lips twitch. Both of my sisters love those books and belong to a book club in Bitterroot Valley.
“Yes, I belong to the same book club as your sisters.”
I chuckle and have to physically hold myself back from reaching out to run my knuckles down her cheek. It’s like she’s a magnet and I can’t stay away.
“Are you a mind reader as well as a sorceress who makes potions?”
“No.” She smiles over at me, and it feels intimate, here in the dark with the fire.
“That last time I saw you at the diner, had you already given your notice?”
Her face sobers and she slowly shakes her head.
“No. Charlie had some wedding emergencies come up, and she needed my help. I couldn’t be two places at once, and my sister needed me.
She trumps anything else, even excellent tips.
Even a handsome stranger that I enjoyed flirting with on Tuesday afternoons at one o’clock. ”
“I went in there the following week, ready to ask you out.”
Her eyes widen. “No way.”
I smirk. “That shouldn’t surprise you, Duchess.”
“It only took you a year to get up the nerve to ask me out?”
I drag my thumb over my lower lip and watch her. “I was taking my time.”
“Clearly.”
“And now—”
“Now I work for you.”
With a nod, I push my hand through my hair and then stand and shove my hands in my pockets. “You’re right. Thanks for the fire. And the conversation.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
I saunter away because if I stay by that fire with that woman, I’ll tug her into my lap and kiss the hell out of her, and I’m not allowed to do that.