Chapter Five #2
She hadn’t exactly been caught in a lie, because she hadn’t told him that she was still staying in a motel. She might have let him make assumptions, but guessing his thoughts was above her pay grade.
“Rooms are expensive, Trev. Especially with pets.”
He pushed his hands into his pockets. “You don’t have to camp.”
“Pretty much I do. I need to save every penny and besides that, I’m used to sleeping in my truck from when I went to clinics and such.”
Trev frowned his confusion. “You had a trailer with living quarters.”
“And then Frank came along.”
“The embezzler?”
“The same. Once I get my final paycheck from Sweet Grass Ranch, I’ll see about something else.” She looked around her. “Something less rustic.”
“Good plan.” Trev shifted his feet, leaving marks on the damp soil and she couldn’t say she liked the expression he wore because she couldn’t read it.
“Well …” She clutched the shirt more tightly around her, wanting to get back into her relatively warm truck. More than that, wanting him to be gone. “If you don’t mind me trespassing …”
“I do, actually.”
Maclyn was getting a little tired of gut punches.
Trev took a couple slow steps forward, causing her to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact.
“Are you married to this situation?”
“Why?” she asked cautiously.
“You could stay in the foreman’s house on the Tree Fork.
Hayes isn’t using it right now.” He held up his hand before she could spit out a no.
“We all have our things to deal with, but there comes a point where not wanting to owe anybody anything becomes kind of, well …” he met her eyes with his clear blue gaze “… stupid.”
“Thanks.”
He cocked an eyebrow. It was hard to argue that what she was doing, camping in a truck in the early Montana spring, eating granola bars, and drinking lukewarm coffee from a thermos, was a sustainable practice.
“You can take a turn doing a cow check at night, which would give Wade a break.”
That sounded reasonable.
“Also, if Wade finds out about your living situation, he’ll have kittens.”
Too bad.
“And lastly”—he put a hand on her shoulder, the touch obviously meant to drive home a point, but it felt more intimate than that—“it’s impossible to go through life without ever owing anyone.”
Yes, but she could keep those circumstances to a minimum by toughing things out when necessary. “Is there a number four?” she asked, feeling a stab of disappointment as his hand fell away.
Watch yourself.
“Yes. How would it feel if you wanted to help someone, with no skin off your nose, and they wouldn’t let you?”
“I don’t need a white knight.”
“I’m not talking about you needing anything. If the situation was reversed, if someone was in a jam and you could help them, what would you do?”
“Trev.” She folded her arms over her chest. “You helped. You gave me a job,” despite her lack of experience. “You’re housing my horses, undercharging for hay. I think that’s enough for now.” He didn’t answer, so she asked, “Why are you pushing to rescue me?”
He tilted his hat back. “Isn’t that obvious?”
Maclyn narrowed her eyes. He owed her an apology for not believing her years ago. She could get behind that, but anything else … no. “We’ve been over that,” she said coolly.
Silence stretched between them, punctuated by the sound of Raisin snuffling through the bushes.
Nothing like trying to sleep in a small space that smelled of wet dog.
Yay. She didn’t want to sleep in the truck.
She’d been offered an out. What was stopping her short of her fear of obligation?
And the ever-increasing tug of attraction?
“You need help at night,” she finally stated, cringing inwardly at the unanticipated double meaning.
“Gotta monitor the herd. Wade and I take shifts every two hours, but with his leg, it’d be better if he just stayed in bed.”
“You think he’ll do that?”
“No. But having you there will give me extra leverage.”
“You trust me with the cows? Alone?”
“I think you know what you’re up against and all you have to do is sound the alarm. Wade or I will do the rest.”
Maclyn looked around the stark landscape, at the budding branches still in a skeletal state and the snow near the truck that had been stomped into a muddy mess as she’d gotten in and out.
This meadow would be a great place to trespass during the summer when the grass was high, and the trees leafed out. The early spring, not so much.
“You’ll charge me rent?”
He rolled his eyes and Maclyn got the message. Rein in the defenses. The guy was trying to help.
“The house is part of your pay.”
In that case, it really wasn’t charity, was it?
“I’ll work your ass off if it makes you feel better.”
His blue eyes lit with unexpected amusement as he spoke, which in turn stirred a plume of warmth in her midsection. And lower.
Don’t go down this path.
Why was it that hormones never listened?
She cleared her expression in an effort to look, well, normal. “I accept your offer.”
There wasn’t much else she could do, other than find a different parking spot and sleep in her truck.
Trev waited a beat before nodding agreement, as if expecting a caveat. She had none. She’d been beaten by logic and being stubborn about the situation was, as he’d pointed out earlier, kind of stupid.
“Look.” His voice softened. “I don’t like being beholden either.”
It was the sincerity that got to her. He understood. It felt safer when he didn’t.
“Maybe I’m just paying it forward,” he added. “You never know what life might bring.”
“Amen to that,” she murmured before meeting his gaze and wishing she hadn’t. His expression was edged with something beyond concern. Something more primal, closer to what she was feeling.
He wants to kiss you.
Her heart stuttered as their gazes held. Hadn’t she wondered what it would be like to kiss Trev Matthews?
She swallowed, hoping he didn’t notice. Nothing was clear, so Mac did the sanest thing she could think of and forced herself to pretend that she was not dealing with a smoldering-hot cowboy. Just a man. With an amazing mouth.
Trev was her boss. Her landlord.
The guy who saved your ass. Twice.
The guy who didn’t believe you.
Unfortunately, that argument had lost its relevance now that he did.
“I appreciate the roof,” she finally said, before glancing toward her truck where Raisin was now patiently waiting near the door. The breath she released was audible and shaky, making her color rise.
She cleared her throat, then found her business voice. “Maybe we should get going before I think of a reason to change my mind.”
Trev’s gorgeous mouth curved into a half-smile that did her equilibrium no good whatsoever.
“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe so.”
He waited until she reached her truck and opened the door to let Raisin jump in before heading to his own rig.
Mac’s nerves were humming when she settled behind the wheel, and she noticed that her hand was shaking as she turned the key in the ignition.
Mac rolled her eyes heavenward before putting the truck in gear.
Really?
She needed to get a grip, take control. Stop behaving like flotsam caught up in storm waters.
Her mouth tightened grimly as she pulled onto the road behind Trev’s truck, taking an odd comfort in the sight of his silhouette through the back window of the Dodge.
He’d driven to her campsite not because he had an issue with her trespassing, but because he wanted to help, which felt both threatening and gratifying.
The question now was how to deal with living and working in close proximity to a man she found dangerously attractive?
Put her head down, do her job, and pretend he was just another boss?
That was the sane answer.
Address the issue?
That was the dangerous answer.
She didn’t know whether it was exhaustion from being homeless or frustration with her continued lack of autonomy, but she found herself leaning toward danger.
It felt kinda good.