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“Pricilla said there was a winch to lower it down outside the building by the AC unit. But after that, we’re on our own. So as a local expert, any thoughts on how I get this thing back to Blue Star?”
“I’ve got one idea.” Her sly smile should have warned me what was coming.
Chapter 14
Atley
I wasn’t a warmand friendly guy, and that was fine with me. Gruff was the most common description people used. But today I passed gruff some ways back and left it in my grumpy-ass dust. The reality of my poor attitude was driven home when Jameson sent me to the cooler for a pack of steaks he’d sold to some vacationers and mumbled “stay there” to me as I walked away.
So yeah, I’d crossed into asshole territory. Working at the Blue Star Ranch booth at the Arts and Oddities Fest might not be the best idea.
I headed back to get the steaks and listened to Jameson sweet-talk the couple. He had them signing up for the Blue Star email list and was telling them all about The Stomp next month to celebrate the opening of the tasting room.
He was decidedly better with people than me.
I cracked my neck and jerked open the cooler to grab the damn steaks. I let the cooler door slam closed in my wake and brought Jameson the beef. He didn’t pause his conversation with the customers he was upselling on a bottle of wine to go with their meat when I gave him the package.
I gritted my teeth at the way he jutted his chin at the cooler when we made brief eye contact. At this rate, my molars would be dust by the end of the day and Jameson would have a black eye.
I turned on my heel and headed to the cooler to do inventory. After the steaks, I’d count the wine and honey. By the time I finished, the others should be back from lunch break. I’d think up a good excuse and leave my crew to man the booth without me.
I stubbed my toe as I stepped inside the walk-in cooler and cursed loudly in the isolation of the cold box. It made me feel mildly better. I wasn’t fit for company and shouldn’t have come. Had I been thinking clearly this morning, I’d have invented an emergency and stayed at the ranch with Major. I could have been digging fencepost holes by hand or galloping Jet across a field and working this shit out of my system.
Since I woke up alone this morning, I’d been an asshole. I wasn’t ready to admit that it had to do with Rae, but I wasn’t ruling it out, either. I didn’t like the choice she made last night to bolt, but I understood it.
Grabbing a clipboard off the peg on the wall, I flipped to the page for the ribeyes. I started counting the open box in front of me.
It was smart she left last night. She’d been thinking hard about every little thing. Hard thinking meant long conversations, and I sucked at those. So, I let her blame it on the winery shit. Maybeleaving her hanging before inviting her to stay for dinner had been a bad move.
I looked at the boxes of steaks I’d been pawing through and realized I’d lost count. I started over after a few more curses.
Next time I’d make her come, then invite her to stay. Next time, yeah right. That was pretty fucking optimistic on my part. She ran out of my house like it was on fire.
I held a steak in my numb hand. Number thirteen or fourteen? Shit. I’d lost count again. Hopefully, the cold from the walk-in would sink into my bones and chill me the fuck out if I stayed in here long enough.
It was supposed to be just sex. I had to stop letting last night’s abrupt ending affect my mood.
I laughed sadly at myself and restarted counting the steaks for the third time.
“Hey boss.” Leroy stood in the cooler doorway with a big grin on his face that annoyed me on principle.
“Twenty-three, twenty-four.” I held up the steaks as I counted the last two and marked the number on the clipboard. “What?”
“You’ve got visitors.”
I chucked the clipboard down on top of the box and followed him out. The idea of pasting a pleasant expression on my face made my lip curl, so I didn’t try. My scowl was as good as it got today.
Shit. I stuttered to a stop and drank in the sight of Rae.
Any lingering cold from my exile in the walk-in burned off instantly, and it had nothing to do with the July heat. She was wearing the boots I gave her. I didn’t stop walking until I was right in front of her.
“Hi, Atley.” Her shy smile unwound a knot that had been twisting up my insides all morning.
“Ma’am.” I rasped out the only word I could and tipped my hat. All my focus was on her. Every detail, from the slick oflipstick staining her lips the color of berries to the gauzy blouse that hinted at her cleavage, burned into my mind.
Her eyes widened and goosebumps rose on her arms. I grazed my knuckle over her pebbled skin in awe at her visible response to my voice. Her sharp inhalation pushed my pulse into overdrive. It was the same electricity as the first time we touched back in Dallas.
My bad day just turned around.
