Chapter 3
Trap felt like he was watching his entire future walk away from him. Lila Mae’s curls bounced with every step she took, and his ire only deepened when she paused next to none other than Jessa, asked her something, and then took the seat beside her.
“That’s bad news,” Colt said under his breath.
“She’s not my ex,” Trap said, but he couldn’t look away from the two women. An internal war started within him. He really needed Lila Mae’s job, as it was the first one he’d found all by himself.
It was a huge, sprawling ranchy mess, and Trap struggled with all the pieces of it. But he wanted the job, and in fact, he and Jason had successfully designed, built, and finished Lila Mae’s tiny house, and he was really proud of it.
His heartbeat pounced at him, and his mind screamed that Thursday was too far away to let Lila Mae’s irritation with him fester. He pulled out his phone to text her, but the afternoon heat made him hesitate.
He looked over to Finn, then met Alex’s eyes. “I’m not usually that salty,” he said. “She just….”
Finn nodded with an encouraging smile. “It’s hot today.”
“We didn’t mean to make things worse,” Alex said.
“You do love her project,” Colt said.
Trap nodded. “Yeah, it’s challenging, but I do want the job.” He really couldn’t lose it, and he had no doubt Lila Mae would pull the rug out from under him. She had particular tastes, and she was used to having her way.
Trap didn’t dislike her, but she confused him. He glanced over to where she still sat with Jessa and Jack Arnold, and he knew he couldn’t wait until Thursday to explain.
“I can’t text her, can I?”
“I wouldn’t,” Colt said. “She does come out to the orchards on Monday. Maybe you could just happen to be there too.”
“Or maybe you can just go talk to her right now,” Nikki said. “Before she leaves.”
Trap focused on her, the only female in earshot of this conversation. “Yeah? You don’t think she’ll slap me?” Part of him wanted that, because then he’d be talking to Lila Mae. The other part didn’t want a public confrontation of any kind.
Nikki shrugged one shoulder and picked up her son’s plate. “You’re done with the chips, Shane. I mean it.” She met Trap’s gaze again. “All you can do is try.”
He exhaled as he nodded, his gaze migrating back to Lila Mae. She sat with her back to him, and the sunlight glinted off her golden hair even in the shade. That voice that had yelled at him to help Mrs. Braithwaite started up again, and Trap’s stomach flipped once, and then again.
Dropping his chin, he looked at the few bites of food still on his plate, his indecision raging through him. He cut a look over to Colt. “What does she buy at the orchards?”
“I’ll ask Marta to pull her purchases.” Colt started texting. “Sounded like cider, but maybe she likes the apple butter or something.”
Trap himself really enjoyed apple butter, and while he didn’t have his calendar sitting right in front of him, he could most likely make a trip to Colt’s orchards tomorrow morning. Then, he could “encounter” Lila Mae and get himself a treat. Win, win.
But something—God, or his conscience—told him he didn’t even have until tomorrow morning. At the very least, he’d be sick the rest of the day and wouldn’t sleep for more than five minutes if he left things like this with Lila Mae.
Sighing, he pushed away from the table. “Can I take anyone’s plate?” He collected them from Finn, Colt, Hank and Shane, and Alex. “I’ll be back.”
“Good luck, brother,” Colt said. “I’d go explain, but Jessa….”
“It’s fine,” Trap said, and he detoured over to the big green garbage can to get rid of the plates before he faced the table where Lila Mae still sat. She’d finished eating too, and perhaps he could go offer to clear her plate too.
He spun out as he took the first step, and Trap couldn’t even think English words as he approached the table. Because he’d worked the line for fifteen minutes, he’d finished eating after many at the linger-longer, and they’d moved away from the tables and into groups in the shade.
That left an empty chair next to Lila Mae, and Trap pulled it out and sat down next to her. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out, glad the words sounded somewhat human.
She turned toward him, those stunning oceanic eyes like blue crystal. They sparkled like sunshine on Caribbean water, and Trap found himself swimming hard against their current.
He drew in a breath, fearing this woman would allow him to drown before she threw him any kind of lifesaving device at all.
“I’m really sorry about teasing you about your cats.
” He nodded, hoping she could hear his sincerity.
“Really. I think it’s fun that you go to Colt’s orchard.
He’s worked really hard to improve it and get more people up there. ”
Lila Mae blinked at him, a hint of surprise moving through her expression.
Trap ground his voice through the back of his throat. “And he was right—I really like working on your place, and I didn’t mean to make it seem otherwise.”
She softened completely then, and she nodded. “Thank you, Mister Walker.”
His stomach started to settle, and he offered her the best smile he could. “Jason and I will have a full walk-through of the veterinary stable ready for you on Thursday.”
Lila Mae nodded and glanced over her shoulder. “Your friends seem nice.”
“They are nice,” he said.
“You’ve talked to them about Feline Friends.”
“Yeah, of course,” he said, reaching up to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He tucked his cowboy hat back into place and glanced down the table. Thankfully, it seemed like Jessa had had her fill of him, and she giggled with her brother and the auburn-haired woman beside him.
“I’ve always wanted to build a tiny house, and I can’t wait to dig into the bigger projects around your ranch.” He’d cleared some land, and she had one usable building right now, but there was plenty of work to do to get the ranch back in truly operational condition.
Lila Mae wanted a fully functional cat sanctuary, with multiple safe houses, a fully functional hospital clinic, and plenty of outdoor play areas.
Those had to be fenced to keep predators out, and they were still working through how to keep the cats safe in harsh weather conditions, both cold and hot.
Speaking of heat….
“Well, I’ll see you—”
“Trap.”
He cringed inwardly and outwardly and dropped his head at the sound of Chelle’s voice.
She slid into the chair across from him, and everything inside Trap stiffened.
It felt like a hundred spotlights had suddenly been turned on, and with the summer afternoon heat already like a blazing inferno, Trap felt like he might combust at any moment.
He swallowed, really needing something to drink.
He prayed someone over at his friends’ table would see the predicament he found himself in and would come rescue him.
He glanced over to Lila Mae, and he had no idea what she saw on his face, but she blinked rapidly a couple of times and pasted a smile on her face that told him she’d been in difficult and tense situations like this before.
She turned her brilliant smile on Chelle. “Hello, I’m Lila Mae. I think you must be Chelle?” She phrased it as a question, and Trap could admire the way she could turn on her corporate charm.
“Uh, yes,” Chelle said.
“Yes, I thought so.” Lila Mae even added a slight Southern twang to her voice now. She linked her arm through Trap’s and leaned into his side. Sparks shot through the right side of his body, fanning out and showering even more heat through him.
He looked at Lila Mae and tried to wipe away the shock coursing through him. He didn’t want Chelle to see that, after all.
“Trap’s told me about you,” she said.
“He has?” Chelle’s eyes came back to Trap, and he really wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.
“I think so.” Lila Mae looked at him with a cute little frown on her face. “She’s the lady you took out just the one time, right?”
Trap had no idea what to say.
“Yeah,” Chelle said, her eyes widening a little bit. “To the….”
“Tulip festival.” Trap blurted out the words in almost a yell.
“Yes, that’s right.” Lila Mae grinned back at Chelle again. “I’ll admit, I was a little jealous. I’ve never been to a tulip festival, and it sounds like the one here is pretty amazing.”
Chelle’s eyes narrowed, and oh, Trap didn’t like that. “Are you two together, then?”
“I mean—”
“Almost,” Lila Mae said over him. She leaned closer to Chelle, really pressing into the table in front of her now. “Our first date is tomorrow morning, but we’ve been working together for what?” She looked at Trap, and it felt like a massive trick question.
He blinked and cleared his throat, his mind working fast. “Six months or so, ma’am.”
“Six months or so.” Lila Mae smiled and focused on Chelle again. “He’s working out on my ranch, you see, and built me a house, and I know he’s good with his tools and hands and all that. I’ve been flirting with him shamelessly since I got here, and he finally asked me to breakfast.”
Trap could barely keep up with the conversation, and he wasn’t sure what was true and what wasn’t.
After Lila Mae had moved here, she had been nothing but nice to him, but Trap had found her to be professional.
Beautiful, yes. Sophisticated, yep. Opinionated, absolutely, but Trap didn’t mind so much.
For the amount of money she was paying to get her ranch in the shape she wanted, she could have some opinions.
But flirty?
Trap wasn’t so sure about that, unless he’d never seen a woman flirt with him before.
And breakfast tomorrow?
Chelle blinked like she had sand in her eyes. “Oh, well, where are you guys going to breakfast?” She looked straight at Trap, as if she knew this date wasn’t really on the calendar.
He suddenly couldn’t even think of a restaurant that would be open on a Monday morning for breakfast. All that ran through his mind was apple cider, and how he’d contemplated showing up at the orchard to intercept Lila Mae.
“The apple orchard.” He cleared his throat and forced a smile to curve his lips. He swung it in the direction of Lila Mae. “Lila Mae loves the apple cider there, and Colt’s got that great bistro now, so.” He smacked his lips together and vowed not to say another word.
“I thought the bistro was only open for brunch on weekends,” Chelle said, frowning.
Trap’s pulse dropped to the soles of his feet as Lila Mae looked at him too. He just needed to get his phone out for fifteen seconds and get Colt to—
“Heya, Trap, I need you for a second.”
Pure relief ran through him at the sound of Colt’s voice. He looked up at his best friend and got to his feet at the same time. “Yeah, of course,” he said, his hand dropping to Lila Mae’s and bringing her with him.
His adrenaline pounded through him as the three of them walked away from the table.
“Dude, what is happening?” Colt hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
“The better question is what took you so long to come over?” Trap whispered back. But he was wrong. The best question was—why hadn’t he let go of Lila Mae’s hand yet?