CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ezekiel
“You’re kind of a dork,” he said, lowering his lips to hers. He felt powerless under the weight of her sincerity; audacity; sensuality.
She leaned into him and kissed him a second time before pulling away and kneeling down to pick up Chupa who was now standing at Sierra’s feet.
“My dorkiness is an aspect of my personality that only surfaces when I feel safe, so consider yourself one of the privileged few,” she said, resuming their trek toward the pond.
From behind she was a mess of dirt and foliage and untamed hair. And she was still the most intriguing woman he’d ever met.
Her keep me safe. He snorted.
He was the one people steered clear of.
But he couldn’t deny it; she was a threat to his control.
A control he’d fought hard to maintain over the last year.
If she had the power to threaten that...
he wouldn’t be safe around anyone. Did he really want to have to fight for peace just because this woman smelled, tasted, and felt right?
Was he ready to allow another woman in when he just said he’d be focusing on his dream of building up the farm? It was something to consider.
Maybe his sister, Anna, could find Sierra a new place to live, one where she wasn’t so easy to access; a place far enough away that distance would be a measure of control in itself.
Odin limped passed him, stopped, and turned; waiting for him follow.
“I can’t shake the feeling this is all your fault. If you hadn’t killed the vixen we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Odin snorted and continued walking.
Zeek trailed behind the trio planning to redirect them if Sierra moved in the wrong direction. But like a moth to flame, she found the water as if she knew exactly where to go.
Hell, maybe she’s taking direction from Chupa. The kit probably knew the land better than Odin.
Needing to maintain the safety of distance, Zeek stopped and watched Sierra and the animals as they approached the water’s edge.
She placed ear buds in her ears and walked along the water’s edge.
When she made it back to him, Odin still at her side and the kit still in her arms, he could hear her talking on the phone.
“Okay, I’ll head to the office for the equipment.
No, the owner has already cordoned off the contaminated area, said he put up security cameras earlier.
If my suspicions are correct there was a chemical reaction to dumping at least two different chemicals that caused the smell.
If it was just the one, we probably wouldn’t have caught it until after the land had been extremely compromised.
No, I think there have been at least two separate dumpings.
I have pictures of the tire tracks leading to and away from the site and pictures to provide to the authorities if needed. ”
She laughed, turned to look back at Zeek, and winked. “Definitely jumping right in, ma’am.”
He wanted to fight the feeling her attention created in him. Because it felt too easy. Like maybe she was meant to be his; like maybe the four of them were meant for each other. A feeling like that just couldn’t be trusted when you’d only known the person a few hours.
Sierra put away her phone and walked over to him. Did the woman never stop smiling? Did he ever want her to?
No, not ever.
“I know people call you Zeek, but during my walkabout I decided my special name for you is going to be EZ; because you’re easy to talk to, easy to get along with once you peel back the barbs and thorns—” Another plant analogy.
What was it with this woman and plant analogies?
“You’re more than easy on the eyes. And if recent experience holds true, you’ll be easy to ride.
” He laughed. “Most important of all, you, Ezekiel Evers, feel like you’d be easy to love. ”
He blanched as if slapped.
“Not that I love you or anything,” she rushed to say.
“We don’t even know each other like that, but it’s like you just so...
You know what, it’s getting late and I’ve got a lot of work to do before I get back home and prepare for tonight.
It’ll be my first real social outing since moving here and I haven’t decided whether I’m going to read something I wrote or sing something.
Plus I’m curious to meet this guy who’s supposed to be a lot of fun. ”
Fuck that.
Unless he was the guy she was supposed to meet, that meeting wasn’t happening. And no one ever described him as a lot of fun. But what if it was Montel or some other good-looking smooth-talking son of a bitch she met up with at open mic karaoke night? How would he handle that?
Not well, that’s for damn sure.
He began to paw the ground with one foot. He wanted distance, he wanted control. They kept the world organized. Safe.
But if he saw Sierra with another man, if he saw another man kissing her, another man making her smile, another man who she discovered was easy to love and was willing to accept her love without hesitation, would he stay in control then?
The possibility was slim to none.
So, wouldn’t it be better if he lost control with her beside him?
“Despite what you believe,” he told Sierra.
“I know I’m not easy to love. Every woman I’ve ever dated said so.
Loudly. With expletives.” She snorted, rubbing her chin over Chupa’s crown.
Zeek bent down and tossed a rock in the water.
“Life feels easier with you around. Not calmer, far from predictable, but easier. Better.” He looked at her.
“I like that I make things easy for you.”
“Just to be clear, I’m calling you EZ, the first two letters of your name, not easy,” she said, her gaze daring him to do something.
What, he didn’t know, so he kissed her, accepted the intimacy she offered, kissing her so deeply he no longer felt confused about his willingness to see where things went.
“Easy or EZ,” he said, pulling away when his body demanded more. “It’s the same thing.”
“It literally is not, and because I’m the one who created it, I’m the only one who defines it. So there’s that.”
“Has anyone ever accused you of being controlling?”
“All the time.” She smirked as he rested his hand on her waist, guiding her back in the direction they’d come. “But just because someone says it has nothing to do with whether it’s true or not.”
“It is true.”
“I know,” she said, a sassy twinkle in her eyes.
Enchanting. She was enchanting.
He looked away.
Each second in her presence made not following this attraction to conclusion feel ridiculous. Extracting himself from Sierra’s life felt like he’d be letting go of an essential part of his existence.
Bending down, he picked Odin up and carried him. His pup’s limp had become more pronounced the more they walked and Zeek didn’t want the injury to worsen, though a part of Zeek half believed Odin just wanted to be carried because Chupa was being carried.
Chupa wasn’t damn near a hundred and fifty pounds.
Remembering the day the vixen died, Zeek had felt the weight of her death, could still feel her spirit on his land. He couldn’t help believing the vixen had somehow entangled its fate with the woman beside him, maybe using her to somehow bring about his end.
He looked at Sierra to see if he could discern the skin of the vixen superimposed over her. Instead he found the kit staring at him, its gaze assessing, unwavering.
“I guess it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be then,” he said.
“What?” Sierra asked, interrupting her stream of conscious about what would happen once they returned with all her gadgets and equipment to collect the samples.
He kissed her briefly. “Just talking to the kit.”
When they approached the area where they’d nearly had sex, Ezekiel lowered Odin to the ground and began gathering fist-sized rocks. He placed them in a circle around the area where he’d nearly fucked her into the ground.
“What are you doing?”
He sidestepped her as he retrieved a thick branch and placed it in the center of the stones. Last, he gathered a handful of honeysuckle blooms and scattered them like pearls on and around the branch.
“A marker,” he said. “I’m going to come back and make a memorial to our first intimate moment.”
“You are insane,” she smiled, eyes alight with a surprised kind of joy.
He dusted off his hands and kissed her again. “Mostly just for you.”
When they continued on to the truck a strange silence settled between them. Zeek wondered if he’d just made an ass out of himself because Sierra kept casting wary looks at him then avoiding his gaze. He wanted to know what she was thinking. Had he done something wrong, been too weird?
He wouldn’t ask. She’d eventually say what was on her mind or not.
She was silent the entire ride to her office.
When they drove back out to the site, she suited up and began to take coring samples of the soil; cataloged it; stored it securely; wrote stuff on her laptop.
She obviously loved doing this work. And she was fucking mesmerizing to watch.
She was using her intelligence, her intensity, and her physical strength to help the land. His land.
Then he recalled the gifts she had brought him, the gifts he’d forgot about because of the scuffle between Chupa and Odin.
No woman had ever bought him gifts that would mean something to him; gifts that recognized the things he valued.
She belonged here. With him and Odin. He felt it.
But did she?
When Sierra was done, she gathered her things, stored them, and hopped in the truck.
Uncomfortable silence continued to fill the space as he drove her back to the office.
He waited outside with the animals for over half an hour as she did whatever she had to do, and when she returned, the tension had risen, not lessened.
Zeek pulled up to her house and she didn’t even look at him as she got out of the truck.
“Thanks for driving me home,” she said, walking toward the house.
His heart beat a little faster when she stopped and turned.
“Do you mind picking me up this evening on your way to open mic karaoke night?”
He nodded. “See you in about an hour.”
“See you then,” she called out, never looking back as she walked into the house with Chupa, the door shutting firmly behind them once they were inside.