by Abby Brooks
Heat shimmered off the pavement and a bead of sweat trickled down my spine. Summer had arrived like a prizefighter jumping into the ring, cocky and ready to rumble. After a few steps outside, she paused, turning over her shoulders as I yanked my gaze off her ass. “I have absolutely no idea where I’m going.”
“That depends on what you need.”
Morgan showed me her list as my brother David ambled over to help. I introduced them, surprised by the bolt of jealousy that shot through me when she shook his hand. For one, he’d just proposed to his girlfriend Honey and was madly in love. For two? Why the fuck would I be jealous over something as casual as him shaking Morgan’s hand? I’d just met the woman.
Regardless, the jealousy was there, and David saw it as clearly as I felt it.
He caught my eye and cocked a brow. Fucking hell, I’d never hear the end of it. That was the thing about older brothers. Once they found a weak spot, they exploited it relentlessly.
We gathered the materials on Morgan’s list and loaded them into the back of her beat up truck. David eyed the stack suspiciously, then folded his arms over his chest. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
It was all I could do not to laugh. Instead, I sat back to watch the show.
Morgan planted her hands on her hips and shifted her weight. “You too? What? Do women do nothing but cook and clean in Cherry Falls?”
David blew out a puff of air. “Women do whatever the hell they feel like in Cherry Falls, but I’m just saying, you look a little…”
Morgan lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. “I look a little what?”
He turned to me with a grimace that screamed “help.”
“I’ve already been down this road.” I shook my head. “All I can say is maybe she’ll surprise us.”
“There’s no maybe about it, fellas. I got this.” She shook our hands one more time, thanking us for the help. As her hazel eyes met mine, a spark danced between us. I saw it in the curve of her lips and the flicker of her gaze across my face. I felt it in the twitch of my dick and the sudden urge to pull her into my arms.
What the fuck was that?
“It really was a pleasure to meet you both,” she said, biting her bottom lip, “even if you did completely underestimate me in a mildly misogynistic kind of way.”
I grinned as Morgan slammed the tailgate and climbed into her truck. I was still grinning as she started the engine and grinning even harder as she stuck her hand out the window to wave goodbye. I lifted a hand in return, then watched as she turned out of the lot.
As soon as she disappeared, David let out a hooting laugh. “Hoo boy! Now I’ve seen it all.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You. Her.” He nodded toward the street. “Take it from me. She is not your type, little brother.”
I’d never really been much for relationships. Dating, sure. But after a week or two, I was done. There’d been that one serious girlfriend in high school, which made it clear I was all about the monogamy. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been, but that was so long ago who the fuck cared?
Long story short, I’d never really been in love before. Didn’t really care, either.
“I wasn’t aware I had a type.”
“Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but that?” David wiggled his finger in the direction of Morgan’s truck. “That is not it.”
Something spun in my stomach. I didn’t like him talking about her like that. “Why? What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing. She’s hot—not as hot as Honey, but we can’t all be winners.” He shrugged. “You’re in the market for someone sweet and gentle. Someone who will have your coffee waiting for you when you wake up and dinner on the table when you get home. You don’t need sass, spunk, or fire and I promise you, that’s all you’re gonna get from that one.”
“I don’t need anything at all. I’m perfectly happy with things the way they are.”
And I was. I ran a successful business, and now that David was back in Cherry Falls to stay, he’d taken over the lumberyard and cut my work in half. Our sister Millie was happy, off living her dream, so I didn’t have to worry about them anymore—something I’d done from the moment our parents died.
“I’m not saying you aren’t happy with things.” David ran a hand through his hair. “But if you do find yourself needing something to spice things up, I’d suggest you look anywhere else but that little spitfire. She will eat you alive.”
Eat me alive? I needed a meek and mild woman to play housewife? I couldn’t handle someone with a mind of her own? Who the hell did he think I was?
“I’m seriously questioning the way you see me, right now. When you ride your motorcycle, do you always wear a helmet?” I knocked on his head.
David jerked away. “My head is fine. And what the fuck do I know? Maybe that woman is everything you want.” He coughed into his fist, something that sounded suspiciously like, “Doubt it.”
“Whatever. Don’t you have something work related to do?” I folded my arms over my chest as David walked away, laughing to himself.
He was wrong about Morgan, in a way. People that stood up for themselves and didn’t take shit were my favorite kind of people. I’d put him up as a prime example any day of the week.
But, he was also right, though I’d never tell him that. I didn’t have the energy or desire to devote myself to a relationship. While my siblings had gotten their shit together, I still had a business to run and I liked my life the way it was. Simple. Easy. I could grab drinks at the bar when I wanted, spend my time helping people around town if I so desired…
Speaking of people who needed my help. Morgan would probably find herself in a bind with that chicken coop sooner rather than later. Might be a good idea to stop by in a day or two and see how she was getting along.
She was new to town and didn’t have any friends.
I’d be happy to apply for that position.
What could it hurt?
Pretending I wasn’t excited at the thought of seeing her again, I nodded in satisfaction and headed back into the store.
Chapter Three
Morgan
I’d pounded my finger with a hammer. Dropped a two-by-four on my foot. I’d wrestled plywood and threatened to chop off my hair if it didn’t stop blowing in my face.
I huffed a breath as yet another strand of hair caught in my eyelashes. When it wouldn’t budge, I yanked off a glove and smoothed the lock back into the ponytail it escaped from. The sun blared at me from a cloudless sky and sweat dripped into my eyes. I took a chug of water and eyeballed the…thing…I was building that looked nothing like the pictures I’d found online.
Maybe I’d been wrong to be so confident about my coop building abilities.
Maybe Reuben had been right to think I was biting off more than I could chew.
I just so didn’t want him to be. I needed to succeed, not just because I wanted to make a better life for myself, but also because everyone back home said I couldn’t do this. Mom. Dad. Freaking Elias T. Green, MD of Green and Associates Medical Group. When I told them I wanted to move to a quiet town and grow my own food to rebuild my health, they said I’d fail.
You won’t know anyone, said Mom.
You don’t know the first thing about gardening, said Dad.
Here, try this prescription with a ton of unwanted side effects instead, said Dr. Green.
I didn’t care that I didn’t know anyone—though I’d like to know Reuben Cantal a little better. And I lived in the age of the internet, so what I didn’t know about gardening, I could learn—though gaining the practical knowledge had proven more difficult than I’d expected.
I glanced at the raised garden I’d planted in the spring. My tomato plants were overgrown and covered in blight. My peppers were stunted. My grape vines grew faster than I anticipated and were already out of space, while Japanese beetles were making a mess of my green beans. The cucumbers? Covered in powdery mildew. And who
would have ever guessed watermelon vines grew so big, so fast?
Feeling myself getting overwhelmed with it all, I shook my head and took a deep breath. With time and patience, I’d figure out the garden, just like I’d figure out where I went wrong with the damn chicken coop. I gathered my instructions and flipped through the pages I’d printed off the day I got back from the hardware store. I’d made a mistake somewhere, I just needed to find it, then go back and start over from there.
“Knock knock!” A familiar voice near the gate scared me to death. I shrieked, jumped, and dropped yet another two-by-four onto my foot.
“Oh no!” Reuben opened the gate and hurried into the backyard. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I stifled a curse word as I clutched my foot. “It’s okay. This just evens out the injuries.”
He gave me a funny look. “Do I even want to know?”
“Probably best if you didn’t.” I laughed, then sat in the folding chair I’d set up, crossing my leg so I could look at the bruise already starting to show on my arch. “I’d offer you a seat, but I only have the one. And since both my feet are throbbing, I’m calling dibs.”
“I’d feel like an asshole sitting while you stood anyway.”
Would you look at that. Chivalry? Talk about endearing.
I smiled up at the man, shading my face with my hand. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your injury-inducing company?”
“I stopped by to see if you need help.” He surveyed the disaster that was supposed to be my super cute chicken coop and grimaced. “Looks like I’m just in time.”
“I’m fine. Just lost my way a little, but I’ll find it again.”
“You sure? I—”
“Reuben. I’m fine.”
“I see two bruised feet and a blackened thumbnail that says you aren’t.”
“Yes. There have been difficulties. A few unexpected challenges. But I guess what I’m saying is that I want to do this myself.”
I didn’t just want to. I needed to. I’d had every test my doctor could think of, tried more prescriptions than I could remember. Nothing, and I mean not one thing had worked. The migraines kept coming. The anxiety never faded.
I needed a serious lifestyle change and I needed the win of doing it myself.
This was my last hope at feeling like myself again.
Reuben’s gaze wandered over to my garden…if you could call it that…then to the blueberry bushes I’d planted in pots around the porch. Some guy on a home improvement show had suggested the tactic as a great way to make your landscape functional. While his had grown into perfectly cute bushes with a wealth of blueberries, mine were barely more than sticks poking out of dirt.
“Looks like you’ve earned that black thumb.” He gestured to the bruised nail, compliments of an ill-timed incident with a hammer.
I laughed despite myself. “I genuinely thought all you had to do to grow things was put a seed in the dirt, add water, and poof!” I mimed an explosion with my hands. “Food.”
“It’s both exactly that easy and nowhere that easy.”
“So I’m discovering.”
Reuben’s gaze skated along the back of the house. “You live here alone?”
I nodded, drinking him in while he was distracted. The man wore jeans and a t-shirt the way CEOs wore tailored suits. Confidence poured from his posture and gathered in his smile.
“I was thinking—”
“I swear to God Reuben, if you offer to help one more time…”
“Jesus, woman. I was gonna offer to take you out for drinks. God knows you need one,” he muttered, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck.
“Sorry.” I held up my hands. “Super sorry. I don’t mean to be so defensive. I just…”
“Have a real hard time accepting help.” He smirked. “I’m getting that.”
I skipped over the part where I explained why I needed to do this myself. That I’d been following people’s advice for years and it hadn’t gotten me anywhere but lost. He didn’t need to know that.
Instead, I cocked my head and shaded my eyes with my hand. “Drinks, huh?”
“It sounded like the nice thing to do. You’re new to Cherry Falls and could use a friend. Meanwhile, I’d get to be seen out on the town with the mystery woman.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“See?” I sat back in my chair. “I knew there had to be something in it for you.”
“Of course there’s something in it for me. You’re a beautiful woman, Morgan. I’d love a chance to get to know you better.”
Reuben looked almost as surprised by his directness as I was. A blush flared across my cheeks and a grin quirked my lips. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“Just the ones who catch my interest.”
The way he looked at me…my God, it could set the world on fire. It certainly set me on fire.
“But you do say it to other girls.”
“Not as often as you’d think.”
Anyone else saying stuff like that would be cheesy as hell. Not Reuben Cantal. With that wry twist of his lips and his dark eyes literally sparkling in the sun? I was a goner.
Done for.
He was freaking sex on a stick and I was in the mood for lollipops.
Except…I had too much on my plate right now. There was a garden to learn how to not kill and chickens to learn how to raise. Shit! What if black thumbs extended to other forms of life as well? Best not to think about that, especially because I still had to figure out how to build the coop. Plus, my health could take a turn at any time. I’d moved here to simplify and already, I had more on my plate than was wise. What would happen if I added a relationship to the mix?
Nothing good, of that I was sure.
I dropped my gaze to my lap. “I appreciate the offer. I really do. But I’m not interested in dating right now.”
Reuben frowned, then reapplied his smile. “Then come out with me as friends. There’s this place near the bay—The Reef Beach Bar. We could meet up. Have a drink or two…”
The offer was intriguing. I’d been in Cherry Falls for months now and barely knew anyone. A friend might be exactly what I needed. “You know what? That sounds great, with a capital G.”
We made plans to meet at the bar at seven and Reuben headed for the gate. He paused on his way out. “You know, bumps and bruises aside. You’ve made great progress on this for just one day.” He jerked his thumb at the coop.
“Reuben?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been working on it for three days. But way to raise my spirits. I definitely feel better about the whole thing now.”
He dropped his forehead into his hand. “I’m just gonna get going before I figure out another way to put my foot in my mouth.”
“Sounds like a solid plan.” I cracked open my water bottle and took a swig.
“I’ll see you tonight?”
“I can’t wait to hear how else you plan to make me feel inadequate and underprepared.”
With a shake of his head, Reuben ambled out of the yard, giving me ample opportunity to admire the masterpiece that was his t-shirt hugging his back and shoulders. Not to mention those jeans on that butt.
Chapter Four
Reuben
I was so fucking screwed. Whatever this feeling was, the one that swelled in my chest whenever I saw Morgan, it couldn’t be good. It also couldn’t be ignored. I liked being around her. I liked talking to her. I liked listening to her. I just plain liked her.
The thought of seeing her again later had me swaggering out of her backyard like I’d won the lottery, climbing into my truck like I’d walked on the moon, and driving home like I owned all of Cherry Falls.
I showered, shaved, and dressed—opting for my typical jeans and t-shirt. After all, this wasn’t a date, no matter how excited I was for it. This was me, doing what I did, helping out someone in need, exactly like I did for everyone else in town.
“That’s bullshit and you know
it,” I said to my reflection. Morgan had gotten under my skin. I wanted her. Was it a dick move to take her out for drinks under the guise of friendship? Maybe. Probably.
I just couldn’t help myself.
The drive to Kissme Bay was pleasant. The insane heatwave from last week had broken, so I rolled my windows down and turned my music up, letting my hand dip and dive through the wind as I hummed along. By the time I pulled into the parking lot, I was in a fucking great mood. The Reef Beach Bar was one of my favorite places. With bright colors and chill vibes, Daphne Dawes, owner, proprietor and all-around cool chick had done a great job in creating a space to relax at the end of the day.
“Reuben Cantal!” she called out as I strode in. “Nice seeing you, my friend.”
“Always good to see you.” I lifted a hand then made my way to the bar, where Garrett Blake and his friend Charlie Miller nursed beers.
Garrett glanced up as I leaned on the gleaming oak. “I heard you met the woman who bought the old Crocker place.”
“You heard right.”
“Is she as hot as everyone says she is?”
The door swung open and Morgan stepped through. Her dark hair was pulled back with wisps curling near her face. She wore a sundress with thin straps that made me want to wrap her legs around my hips and carry her out of the bar, grunting ownership and beating my chest to keep the other men away. Her lips were soft pink and curled into an approving smile as she took in the ambience.
“They’re underselling her.” I dropped a hand on the bar and waved Morgan over while Garrett followed my gaze and tried to pick his jaw off the floor.
“Easy now, tiger,” Daphne said to him. “You’ll scare her away.”
Morgan smiled as she headed toward me and I felt like king of the fucking world. Having someone who looked like that walking my way? I could get used to that. Just like I could get used to the way her hair smelled like lemon and her skin felt like velvet when I draped an arm around her shoulder.
