City Minute: A When Opposites Attract Romance

by Liz Peters

  When he walked into the ranch foreman’s office and asked for a couple of weeks off, he thought the older man was about to reach out to check and see if he had a fever. Reid had never asked for time off, not a single time in the five years he’d worked here. He hadn’t taken a sick day or a vacation in all that time. Getting the time off wasn’t a problem. Explaining what he was planning to do with it was something else. There was no way he was going to get out of Rob’s office without some kind of explanation. He could hear the conversation like it was happening right now.

  “Well, I mean, yeah. You can have the time off. It’s the slow season around here, so we won’t be shorthanded. But,” the older man rested his chin in his hand, scratching at his beard as he studied the younger man across the desk from him, “you know I’m going to ask what in the world you need two weeks off work for.”

  If it had been anyone else, Reid would have shuffled them off with some made up excuse or another, but Rob had been like a father to him since he’d shown up at the ranch five years before. He wasn’t going to be able to push him off with some excuse about family emergencies. Rob knew that Reid didn’t have much of anything like family left in the world. His mother had died when he was a teenager, and his father had run off long before Reid was old enough to remember him. Reid’s grandfather had been the one who’d been responsible for making sure the young man wasn’t left completely alone in the world, but the two of them had a falling out when Reid decided to set out on his own. They hadn’t spoken since before Reid ever set foot on the Flying Eagle Ranch.

  Evenings spent out by the campfire, sipping whiskey had a tendency to get people talking, and all those details had come up more than once between the two men in the years since they’d met. That and more. There was no use in trying to write any of this off for anything but what it was.

  “You’re going to call me crazy, and then you’ll probably yell at me for doing something stupid. But there’s no point in denying it. I’m going off after a woman, and there’s no telling how she’s going to react when I show up at her doorstep unannounced, but I really don’t give a damn.” Reid felt a pang of guilt for leaving out the details about exactly who he was going after, but he didn’t need to burden Rob with something that was going to require him to have to do something about him breaking the rules at work.

  “So, that pair of legs that walked out of here last Sunday, then?” Rob didn’t even look up from the desk as he grabbed a folder from the bottom drawer of the desk in front of him. He could only grin at the younger man as he let his gaze travel up to catch the surprised expression Reid couldn’t keep off his face. “Don’t think I didn’t notice, Reid. I just wasn’t going to say anything when she looked like she was enjoying herself as much as you were. Not my place.” He chuckled and pulled some forms out of the folder, dropping them on the desk in front of Reid who’d been struck speechless.

  “Go on, and fill those out. You can have your time. God knows you’ve saved up enough days since you got here that you won’t have to miss a paycheck. I just hope you know what you’re doing and don’t wind up slinking back here in a day or two with your tail between your legs. Or worse.” His voice fell a little as he passed Reid a pen. “I hope she’s worth it, son.”

  “She’s worth it, Rob. I just hope I am.” Reid grabbed the pen and filled in the necessary details on the paper with his heart in his throat. He had no idea what he was doing here. There was just as much likelihood that she was going to slam the door in his face than that she was going to say she felt the same way about him. Maybe he’d just been a good time. He couldn’t blame her for that. He’d had more than his share of good times. That’s what all of this had started out as. What it was turning into was something else entirely.

  He hadn’t known what he was going to say when she opened that door but telling her he loved her had been the last thing on his mind. He hadn’t even thought that to himself. It had just come flying out when he’d opened his mouth. He could have kicked himself in the moments between his confession and the time she stood up on her toes to plant a kiss on his lips. The admission that she loved him too was more than he’d expected, and probably more than he’d deserved.

  And here he was the next morning, alone in her apartment listening to the sounds of the city beyond the window. He could have amused himself by watching television, but that had never really been his thing. He was far more active than that. Sitting in front of a screen for the entire day was far from his idea of fun or relaxing. He’d been pacing the floor since she said goodbye and walked out the door, leaving the extra key on the coffee table in case he decided to go somewhere along with a note that held the door code so he could get back inside without any problems.

  He’d waited until he was going stir crazy sitting around the apartment and glancing out the windows before he pocketed the keys and the small piece of paper with the code on it and headed out the front door. Reid had no idea where he was going, but he at least needed to get some fresh air and not have spent his entire day indoors.

  He had two options when he hit the hallway. The stairs were just to the left, and he could head up towards the roof or down to the street below to get out of here. One led him to the world below and the other to look out onto it all from a distance. He wasn’t sure which one appealed to him more, being outside with all the people who were in a hurry to get somewhere or out on the roof where maybe he could get a breath of fresh air and a quiet enough spot to think.

  He reckoned he was going to have plenty of time to do both during the days he was planning to be here. He hadn’t exactly given Sam a chance to ask for any time off work, and seeing as she’d just gotten a promotion, he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be able to take off at the last minute. That just meant he was going to have to entertain himself during the day. This time, he was heading down the stairs to see what the world below held for him.

  It was everything he expected. Loud, busy, people moving back and forth to get from one place to another without much thought for the things in between. He wasn’t impressed, but he did spy a diner on the corner a couple of blocks from her place that looked promising. At least it was going to have the cup of coffee he’d been craving since the sun came up this morning.

  He pushed open the door, taking a seat at the bar and ordering a cup of black coffee and nothing else once the girl behind the counter came over to ask what he wanted. Coffee was one of his addictions. One of the few he had, but he wasn’t used to starting the day without it. It seemed like Samantha was the opposite. He hadn’t even seen a coffee pot in her kitchen. It was alright, though. He couldn’t expect her to be completely perfect, no matter how in love with her he was.

  Love…

  That was a funny word for him. He hadn’t said he loved someone since his mother had died. It tasted odd in his mouth when he’d said it to Samantha, but he’d meant it. He knew that much, and he hoped she knew the same thing. There were a lot of things to figure out between the two of them, but the way he felt about her wasn’t one of them.

  There was the issue of how far apart the two of them lived. It didn’t matter for the rest of the time he had here, but after that it was going to be a different story. He didn’t really want to think about that. It made his chest ache a little to think about going back to the way things had been before, even after just one night with her here in the city. But the thought of living here wasn’t something he was certain he was ever going to be able to do. Just looking out the window and watching the crowds of people go back and forth, the cars buzzing by on the street and the buildings all crowded so close together was enough to make him feel claustrophobic even from inside the diner.

  “Want a refill?”

  He was so lost in his thoughts that Reid hadn’t even noticed the waitress come up with a fresh pot of coffee perched in her right hand and a raised eyebrow. The sound of it had startled him into almost jumping out of his seat.

  “Whoa there, Cowboy.” She laughed and held the coff
ee pot over the cup, filling it back up to the brim. “You clearly need more of this. And looks like you need an ear too. What’s on your mind?”

  He should have known he’d be pegged as not from around here the minute he’d walked out of the apartment. It was habit to pull on a pair of jeans and his boots along with a plaid shirt before he’d left for the morning, but it wasn’t exactly like that was the way anyone else out on the street was dressed here either. It made him stand out like a sore thumb.

  “Not much and a whole damned lot at the same time.” Reid brought the cup to his lips and took a long drink of the dark liquid, feeling the warmth melt into his chest when he swallowed.

  “So a woman, then?” The waitress laughed and put the coffee pot back on the warmer behind her. The diner was more or less empty this time of day. It was too late for breakfast and too early for dinner, so things were slow. “Stop me if I’m wrong.”

  “Nah, you’re right on the money. It’s not a problem, just me thinking too much.” He shrugged and rested the cup back in the saucer.

  “Not a problem, yet. Sometimes you have to listen to your gut though, and just decide if whatever you have going is worth whatever it costs to keep. And don’t tell me that I’m wrong. Everything costs something to keep. You just have to figure out if something’s worth what it costs you.” She nodded and slid her hands back into the pockets on her apron, fishing out a pen and the pad of paper she wrote orders on. “Now excuse me for being opinionated and nosy. I’ll be around if you need anything, and that cup of coffee is on me.” She stuck the pen behind her ear and walked around from behind the bar to take the order of a table that had just settled into place after walking in from the street.

  She was right. Reid had to admit that to himself, even if he hadn’t told her when she’d been talking. Maybe that’s what this time was about. This relationship was going to cost them both something in the long run, and this was their chance to figure out if it was all worth it.

  Reid finished up the rest of the coffee without having the chance to talk to the waitress again and headed back out into the street to find his way back to Sam’s apartment building. He had some thinking to do, and something told him the roof was just the spot for all of it.

  Chapter Three

  Sam’s first day at a new job was over, and she could breathe a sigh of relief as she walked out the front door of the office building the firm was located in and onto the street beyond. Home wasn’t far. Ten blocks in the city seemed like almost nothing, and she’d told Reid what time to expect her home this evening. At this rate, she was going to be there right on time, and she was already planning out the rest of their evening in her head.

  She’d come up with the idea of showing Reid around the city when she got up this morning. He mentioned that he’d never been here before last night while they were talking like they’d spent most of the night doing before she pulled him off to bed to get not nearly enough sleep. In fact, he’d only been in a city once before in his life, so she was certain anything she could have taken him to do would have been more or less new.

  The same was true of the country for Samantha. She wouldn’t have known her head from a hole in the ground, and she was excited to be able to show him around. She’d already pulled a few strings to get reservations at her favorite restaurant and a car service to drive them around for the evening. She just needed to head back to the apartment and change out of her work clothes. At least dressing casually was going to work for everything she had planned, because she wasn’t certain that Reid had brought anything dressier than that for the week. She wasn’t even certain he owned any dress clothes.

  It didn’t matter because she preferred him out of his clothes anyway, but she didn’t want him to think he was just there for one thing. He’d shown up at her door with an ‘I love you’ and she’d returned it. I love you was a little terrifying for her. She’d said it a few times in the past, but it never felt the way it did when she’d said it to Reid. It felt a little foolish and wild to admit to having feelings for someone she’d known for a couple of weeks and spent only a few days around, but foolish was the thing she needed.

  Sam had always been so careful to have everything planned out. The one thing she never could have planned out was Reid and the way she felt about him. She’d tried to plan it out, tried to turn it into nothing more than a fling and forget about him when she returned to the real world. That had been entirely unsuccessful. The only thing she could come up with doing was giving up control over the whole thing and owning how she felt without trying to fight it any more.

  She couldn’t entirely give up that element of control, though. Her plans for this evening were evidence of that. She could be free enough to let Reid into her life unplanned, but she wasn’t going to be able to let everything go and just be completely spontaneous. She was running through the time table for everything as she made her way home on auto-pilot, not even really needing to pay attention to her path after she’d taken it so many times.

  “Drinks at Murphy’s at 6:45. Dinner at Saint Jacques at 8:00. A carriage ride through Grove Park after dinner. After that, we could go back to the apartment to watch a movie or go to bed or just hang out.” Samantha only realized she was talking to herself when the young girl waiting at the crosswalk with her for the light to change giggled.

  “Sounds like someone’s got a date tonight.”

  Sam smiled and fought back the embarrassment that rose at being caught talking to herself.

  “Yeah, my boyfriend is in town for a while, and I kind of just want to make sure everything’s perfect.” She smiled over at the younger woman who nodded.

  “Good luck.” The younger woman set off walking as soon as the light changed without waiting for Sam to catch up, not that she wanted to. It was just a quick walk to her apartment from here, and she needed to turn at the next corner. There wasn’t much time to strike up a conversation with a stranger even if she’d been inclined to.

  Sam found herself staring at the front door of her apartment by 5:30, plenty of time to head upstairs and get ready for the evening. She wasn’t used to heading home to someone. It had been far too long since anyone had been sleeping in that apartment other than her. She could feel her heart in her chest as she let herself in the door and headed up the stairs straight to her apartment door, twisting the key in the lock to find Reid standing in the kitchen with a dish towel draped over his shoulder.

  “Umm, hi.” Sam’s face broke into a genuine grin when she saw him there, dressed like he’d spent a day at the ranch down to the boots that adorned his feet.

  He returned the smile, finishing up the last dish he was working on before he dried it and returned it to its rightful place. The dish towel went back to its place, draped over the edge of the sink when he moved to pull her into his arms and planted a long kiss on her lips without saying a single word until he came up to draw in a soft breath against her lips.

  “Hello there, Legs,” he whispered without taking his body an inch away from hers. She didn’t realize how much she’d missed him until he was right there with his arms around her body. She could feel the tension of the entire day melt away as he stole another kiss, and she allowed her body to mold itself into his.

  “God, I missed you.” Her arms snaked their way over his shoulders, fingers linking behind his neck when she kissed him again.

  “I missed you too, Beautiful. It’s been boring around here without you.”

  Sam felt a pang of guilt at having to leave him alone all day long, though there wasn’t much she could do about it. She was going to have to work, especially now more than ever. Getting any time off without notice was going to require her to be in the hospital or in a coffin. Even then, she might have a hard time clearing it through the office manager.

  “Sorry that I couldn’t be here with you. Did you find a way to entertain yourself?” She could only hope that his answer was yes. It would make her feel a little less bad about leaving him alone.

 
“I’m a big boy, Legs. I can take care of myself. I walked around the neighborhood, got a cup of coffee, went up to the roof to get some fresh air, cleaned your kitchen after I made myself lunch. It wasn’t too boring all in all. I just have to figure out what to do for all the other days when you’re at work.” He grinned at her, dropping a final kiss on her nose before he let his grip on her loosen. “Now, tell me you’ve got plans for tonight or I’m just going to haul you off into the bedroom for the rest of the night and forget completely about dinner.”

  She laughed, stepping back reluctantly when he asked about plans. Reid’s arms around her had a way of making her want to forget all about plans and just spend the night in the bedroom with him like he’d suggested. If she hadn’t made reservations, she would have been hard to talk out of that mindset.

  “I made some reservations for dinner tonight at my favorite place. I thought I’d show you the town. There’s a car coming for us in about an hour if that’s alright with you.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me, Legs. Why don’t we go get changed and see what kind of trouble we can get into?”

  An hour later, they somehow managed to make it into the car that was waiting for them downstairs, but it had been a struggle. Reid wasn’t going to let her get undressed without at least putting his hands on her, and every time he put his hands on her she turned into a pile of goo. Half of her wanted to give up on the plans, cancel the car and just spend the rest of the night being jelly in his arms.