8. Delilah #2
“On the hook just inside the door.” My cheeks flushed as I climbed into the cab of his truck and watched him go back inside.
I should be able to handle a few bugs. It’s not like I needed a man to rescue me from a couple of crickets.
As the ridiculousness of the situation settled around me, I debated whether to go back in and relieve Jasper of his bug-fighting duties.
But then I pulled the collar of his shirt up to my cheeks.
My heart warmed as I imagined his arms wrapped around me instead of his shirtsleeves.
My desire to stand up for myself and prove I could take care of myself warred with my need to sit in the warm cab of his truck and let someone take care of a problem for me for a change.
As I sank even deeper into the passenger seat, his shirt drawn up around my ears, I decided I’d let someone else look out for me. Just this once. And if he happened to be a buff, hazel-eyed cowboy who looked like a Greek god, well what was the harm in that?
Jasper
A change of clothes. I pulled open a drawer of the built-in dresser.
Surely, she had a pair of jeans and a T-shirt sitting around.
Faced with a draw full of ladies’ unmentionables in a rainbow of colors, I slammed the drawer shut.
Fuck. Seeing Delilah’s panties folded up in neat little squares shouldn’t send a bolt of heat straight to my dick. But it did.
I could only imagine what seeing one of the lacy thongs on her actual backside would do to me. On second thought, it would be a really bad idea to imagine that. I’d shoved the drawer closed but it did nothing to wipe the image out of my head.
Great, now I was snooping around her private things with a raging hard-on. Frustrated by my lack of self-control, I grabbed a handful of items from each drawer and shoved them in a plastic shopping bag I’d found under the sink. I flipped off the lights and grabbed the keys from the hook.
Taking in a few deep breaths, I tried to clamp down on the budding attraction to the disheveled beauty queen.
I didn’t need any more complications in my life.
And adding a woman to the mix would definitely constitute a complication.
After my relationship with Adeline imploded, I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t get played by a woman again.
Not even if she looked like an angel who’d come straight down from heaven.
Satisfied I’d gotten myself under control enough to face her again, I locked the trailer and stalked back to my truck. “I didn’t know what to grab, so I just threw some of your stuff into a bag.”
She held it in her lap, tight against her stomach. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’m sorry about tonight. My mother shouldn’t have called you. I could have taken care of things myself.”
I eyed her across the dimly lit cab. “Your manager is your mother?”
“Yes.” She let out a breathy sigh.
“That’s got to be interesting.” I shifted into gear, eager to get her back to my place so I could get her settled and put a little distance between us.
Her arms tightened around her middle. “Don’t you work with your family?”
Damn, I’d gone and pissed her off . . . again. “Sure, but that’s different.”
“How so?” Her back pressed against the door like she wanted to get as far away from me as possible in the small space we shared.
“I don’t know. We work the land. Everyone does an equal share. We’re building something we can leave behind for future generations.”
“Oh, I get it.” Her head rolled back against the headrest.
“What?” I’d barely said anything. What could she possibly “get”?
“Sounds like you don’t respect my vocation.”
Whoa. “Come again?” I sensed dangerous territory ahead. Not to mention, her mom’s call had dragged me out of a deep sleep, so I wasn’t operating at 100 percent.
“You think working the land is more meaningful than what I’m doing.” She turned her head and gazed out the window.
“I never said anything like that.” I’d been around enough women to know there was no easy way out of this kind of conversation. “I’m sure what you’re doing is an admirable use of your time.”
“That’s right. A portion of the money we raise on the cosmetics line is going to my mentor’s nonprofit and will help young girls.”
“That’s great.”
“It is.” She nodded to herself.
I wanted to laugh at the stubborn set of her shoulders, but that would only get her all riled up again. Best to focus on things I had control of. “I’ll head back to the trailer tomorrow and see what I can do about your cricket problem.”
“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”
“In the meantime, I think it might be best if you stayed at the big house with my parents.” That was the best option. The safest option based on how my body seemed to react to her.
She swiveled her head to face me. “Just for tonight though, right?”
“Maybe a few nights. If I have to do a bug bomb, you’ll probably want to stay out of the trailer for a few days.”
“Okay.”
Her acceptance surprised me. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who agreed to anything easily. “You have any brothers or sisters?”
“No, just me and my mom. My dad left when I was three.”
“It’s been just you two the whole time?”
“Not exactly. I’ve had a few stepfathers along the way. But none of them had kids, so I’ve never had any stepsiblings. How about you?”
I paused, wondering how best to answer. Should I tell her the truth or try to downplay the number of Taylors she’d wake up to in the morning? “I’ve got a handful of them.”
“What, like five?” Her eyes widened.
“Yeah, plus two.” I shifted my gaze back and forth between her and the dark road ahead.
“Seven? You have seven brothers and sisters?” Her palm splayed over her heart.
“It is what it is.”
“Where do you fall in the lineup?”
“I’m second.”
“From the top or the bottom?”
“From the top. My older brother took off a couple of years ago. We don’t talk about him much.” Even saying the words out loud made my heart squeeze tight.
“I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is with that, too. Colin’s the oldest. Then I’ve got five younger brothers and one sister.”
“Your poor mother. Where does everyone live?”
“Some still live at home. Some in town. My youngest brother, Noah, is away at college.” It would take too long to run through the details. I pulled the truck around the gravel drive and eased it to a stop in front of my parents’ place. “We’re here.”
Delilah peered through the windshield at the two-story white farmhouse where generations of Taylors had been born and raised. “I can’t go in there now and wake everyone up.”
“They’re used to it. Everyone comes and goes at all hours.”
“But I don’t want their first impression of me to be like this.” She glanced down.
“I’ve got a place down the road if you want to stay there instead.” Say no. It would be safer for her to stay with my parents. Not that I worried about stepping out of line, but having her that close, that vulnerable, might threaten the fragile hold I had on my attraction.
“What would people think?” Her eyes betrayed her nerves.
“Honestly? I don’t know that anyone would find out. And even if they did, it’s not like we’d have anything to hide.”
“I really don’t want to disturb your family. It’s late, and I’m in no kind of shape for a proper introduction.”
I didn’t bother to waste breath telling her the idea of “proper” didn’t fit in with my family in any way, shape, or form. “It’s settled then. We’re going back to my place.”
“If you think that’s best.”
“I do.” But best for whom? If someone did catch sight of us, would I risk having Ido disqualified? I shook my head. It was late. Her trailer was uninhabitable. No one could argue with me over that. Being around Delilah was making me paranoid.
Ten minutes later I’d introduced her to Buster and given her the tour of my one-bedroom cabin, which sat on the edge of my family’s land. She padded behind me on bare feet since I hadn’t thought to grab her a pair of shoes.
“Why don’t you take the bedroom? You’ll have more privacy, and I wouldn’t feel right with you sleeping out here on the couch.” I moved to the linen closet and grabbed a set of clean sheets.
“I’m so sorry about all of this.” She hadn’t loosened her grip on the front of the shirt I’d given her since we’d walked in the door except to give Buster a scratch on the head. And she looked damn good with my favorite flannel button-down wrapped around her.
“It’s fine. Let me go remake the bed so you can get—”
Her fingers wrapped around my arm and a burst of heat stunned me into silence at the contact.
“Don’t worry about the sheets. I’ve been enough of a nuisance. Thank you for your hospitality.” Those green eyes peered up at me through long, thick lashes.
I felt dangerously close to doing something I shouldn’t. I wanted to pull her against me, brush her tousled blond waves away from her face, and find out if she tasted as sweet as she looked.
Instead, I cleared my throat. “My room’s probably a bit of a mess.”
“I’m sure it’s fine. I appreciate it. Thank you.” She stood on tiptoe to press a kiss against my cheek.
I closed my eyes as her lips met that day’s scruff. Clenching my hands into fists, I held the stack of sheets to the side, afraid to move. My cheek burned where she’d kissed me, like she’d seared me with her lips.
Every cell in my body ached for more.
She dropped back onto her feet, lowering herself by a few inches. I opened my eyes, meeting her gaze. What I saw there made me want to throw caution to the brush pile and let it burn. The heat racing through my limbs ignited parts of me that had been numb for years.
“Delilah.” Her name drifted from my lips on a whisper, like a prayer.
She rose back onto her tiptoes, her lips inches from mine.
I held myself in check, fighting the urge to claim her with every ounce of my self-control.
Then she pressed her lips to mine. My control shattered like the empty beer bottles Colin and I used to use as target practice when we were kids. I dropped the sheets, wrapped my arms around her, tangled my hands in her hair, and gave in.