Chapter 5 Seemed To Get Her
SEEMED TO GET HER
Saylor sat on the bed composing herself.
It wasn’t the first holiday she’d be without family.
That wasn’t the big deal.
Not even that she was in this gorgeous house she’d never be able to afford or even rent.
It’s who she was with for the time they were stuck here.
And she thought of the word stuck because there was nowhere to go.
Which was a lie since the house was big enough for her hormones to have space so they didn’t reach out and yank Rowan close.
You know, to just run her fingers through his hair and see if it was as velvety soft as it looked.
Or the beard on his face—was it as silky as his hair or rough and would leave marks on her body?
She jumped up quickly and ran her hand across her face.
Those thoughts needed to escape her brain immediately.
She unzipped her bag and removed her clothing. What little there was.
Traveling light was easier since she had extra clothes or shoes at her grandmother’s.
Now she only had two pairs of underwear and bras, not counting what she was wearing. Another pair of jeans, leggings, and three shirts, with socks. Nothing to sleep in other than one of her long-sleeved shirts.
She was positive there was a washing machine and dryer here so she could do laundry tomorrow if she had to.
The clothing she was wearing had been covered in anxiety-driven perspiration, sweat from running around the airport in her fleece jacket and lugging two bags the whole time, and now the heat of being alone with a sexy man who actually seemed to get her.
Had that happened to her much in her life? Nada!
Why did it have to be under these circumstances?
She grabbed what she needed to change into after her shower, put the rest of her clothes in a drawer, then brought her bag into the bathroom and unloaded her toothbrush and toothpaste, lotion, and makeup bag, which contained nothing more than face cream, foundation, blush and eyeliner that she barely wore.
She set her bag on the floor in her room, then opened the bathroom closet to get a towel. Thank God there was a hair dryer there and everything else a woman might need, including razors!
Not that she’d grab it now, but hairy legs and arms drove her nuts.
She opened the shower door, saw the shampoo and conditioner, along with a bar of soap and body gel. Jackpot. Expensive shit too.
Once the water was hot enough, she stripped and climbed in, letting the spray wash away her tension-filled day.
Twenty minutes later, she was walking down the stairs, the TV still on, and Rowan sitting on the couch with his feet up on the lounge section, a roaring fire licking the surrounding bricks, and a bag of chips next to him.
“I feel so much better,” she said.
He jumped as if he hadn’t heard her. His back had been to the stairs and she only had socks on her feet. She worried that the wood floors might be cold, but she should have realized they were heated.
Every luxury imaginable was at her fingertips.
“Good,” he said.
His eyes roamed over her in black leggings, the cotton shirt she had on that rested on her hips. There was no hiding her body or the insulin pump on her thigh.
She tried not to be embarrassed about it.
At least not with someone who knew what it was all about.
It wasn’t just an extension of her body; it was an extension of her life.
“I’ll check the beef. It’s got to be thawed enough to cook.”
“Do you want some help?” he asked.
“I’ve got it. I’ll let you know if I can’t find anything.
” She walked to the kitchen but could still see him and could talk.
Even if she had to raise her voice some.
“I’m glad there was everything I needed in that bathroom.
I packed little, but enough if I had to stay somewhere for a night.
You just don’t know when you’re traveling. ”
“Nope,” he said. “That room you’re in is my mother’s. But West makes sure all the bathrooms and rooms are stocked. I was coming back here for a few days after the holidays. I can work here just as easily, but my staff knew I was out anyway. Cleaners will come when I’m gone.”
“Since you brought it up, what do you do for a living?”
“You didn’t look me up?” he asked.
She turned and saw the smirk on his face.
“No. That’s rude.”
His lips pursed and she bit back the laugh. She’d bet anything he was used to women throwing themselves at him left and right for his looks alone. Then, once they discovered his identity, the attention would intensify.
That wasn’t her.
“Then I guess there are a lot of rude people in this world.”
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” she said. She pulled the beef out of the water and opened it. It was thawed enough to break apart into chunks and start cooking. Meat sauce over pasta was a good enough meal. “Try dealing with people in the ER on a Friday and Saturday night.”
“That’s where you work?” he asked. “The ER?”
“That was my last assignment. I’m normally in a hospital, as that is where it’s needed the most. The ER is not my preference but makes the time go by faster.”
“It has to be hard to manage your diabetes if you’re running like that.”
“Yes and no,” she said. She turned and he was in the kitchen now.
She hadn’t heard him move either, but he was pulling out a stool and sitting at the island.
“I’ve got my pump set at different cycles for when I’m working to deliver less insulin to counter my activity levels.
It’s a closed loop thing. Like an artificial pancreas.
So if I’m raising or lowering, it can adjust the insulin delivery, but it’s not fast enough to catch a rapidly dropping low. ”
“Seems like you’ve got everything under control.”
“I do now,” she said. “I didn’t for years.”
She turned the gas stovetop on and dropped the beef in the pan, then found the spice cabinet and added a few things.
She’d never used a pot filler before, but got the water going for the pasta while the meat cooked.
“It had to be hard,” he said. “Feeling as if you were different.”
“Yeah,” she said, turning to the meat and breaking it up with a wooden spoon. “Unless you experience being different, you just don’t know.”
He laughed. “I’m the sixth of eight kids. I was different from them. I think we were all different, but I was the one that never said no to a dare and lived with more of a free spirit. Half the time I did it for the laugh, the other half, I did it to get in trouble and be sent to my room.”
She frowned. “That’s odd. Why?”
He sighed. “Because there was no peace in my family with that many kids in a small house. My brothers couldn’t enter my room during my punishment if I was in trouble and sent there.”
Her jaw dropped. “That’s almost brilliant, in a way. Except for the part about being punished.”
She could only imagine the things he did if he was being dared.
He shrugged. “It was fine. I went to college in California so I could breathe some and learn to be my own person without family underfoot. I loved it and never left.”
And since she hadn’t looked into him, now was a chance to ask him more.
“Part of that free spirit then. What did you go to college for?”
“Art,” he said. “More like digital design. I fell in love with surfing and thought it’d be neat to design my surfboard. It was a big hit with my friends and the next thing I know, I’m doing it for others.”
“That’s cool,” she said. “Do you still do it?”
He laughed. “I own Sixth Surf.”
She paused. “Ahhh, sixth kid. Got it. So you design surfboards?”
“I manufacture and design them. I’ve got several professional surfers using them, and a line with one female pro. I’m working on getting a male on board soon.”
“Damn,” she said. “I thought you looked like a surfer dude. It’s your laid back personality mixed in with the sun-kissed hair.”
“Sun-kissed hair?” he asked. If he didn’t look so appalled, she’d burst out laughing.
“The lighter colors streaked in. Sorry. Guess that isn’t a manly enough description.”
“As long as you think I’m manly I don’t care how you describe me.”
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. Yeah, the attraction nob cranked to the right. This could be trouble.
She cleared her throat. “You look in a mirror, so you know how women view you.”
He snorted. “You’re not quite like most women I’m around.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment because I know there aren’t that many like me.”
In more than one aspect.
She walked to the fridge to get some water while she cooked and noticed a lot of beer in there. He had said he’d been here prior. She’d never seen the cans before, but read Fifth Kid Brewing on it.
The design was funny to her, and she pulled it out to look at it closer.
“Do you like beer?”
“Not really. The can is very colorful and I wanted to look at it closer. The brewery name caught my eye. Fifth and you’re sixth. So you know, kind of ironic with what we are talking about.” He burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“That’s my brother Elias’s brewery. He’s the fifth kid.”
“Oh, my God. Do you all own businesses and put your birth order number in the name?”
“You really know nothing about our family, do you?”
“Nope. Why would I?”
She heard pinging sounds and looked past Rowan to the glass doors. Ice was not only forming on the deck, but it was dropping from the sky at an accelerated pace.
“Since we’ve got so much time on our hands, I’ll fill you in.”