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She raised her eyebrow at my use of her turn of phrase, a half-smile on her lips that I returned. I missed this. I missed all of it:Jeopardy!And tacos. The smell of roses that would linger on my skin after I was with her. Watching the dogs run and play while we laughed at their antics.
“Can’t do it. My trailer is busted,” Willie said.
“Get dressed. I’ll be at your place with a trailer in a half hour to get them.” I hung up to Big Willie’s grumbling about having to fucking work on fucking Saturday.
Rae’s mouth hung open. Her astonished expression reminded me of a freshly caught fish gasping for breath at the bottom of a boat.
“Don’t want to catch any flies, darling.” I used my knuckles to close her gaping mouth. The small touch sent a bolt of desire shooting from my head to my toes. I cupped her cheek andtrailed my hand down her neck over the fluttering pulse at the base of her throat before breaking contact. If I lingered longer, I’d pull her to me and kiss her until she begged me to stop… or to keep going.
We stared at each other for three insanely long seconds, our eyes searching for answers neither of us had to give. The squelch of the air brakes on the port-a-potty delivery truck broke up our charged staring contest.
“How did you? Never mind.” She shook her head to clear out her confusion. “Go get my portable toilets. The food trucks are already caravanning this way, and the arts and crafts sellers will be here to set up in an hour. That one toilet will not handle that much action for long.”
“Aye aye, Captain.” I gave her a mocking salute.
The not-so-subtle beep-beep of a truck horn pulled my eyes off her. My crew in two Blue Star pickups were behind Rae’s minivan. She got in her vehicle and pulled out of their way, whipped a U-turn, and headed out. Going home, I assumed to get dressed. The crew was here to handle last-minute setup. Like cones in the parking lot and blowing off dead leaves on the dancehall’s porches.
They parked and jumped out, grabbing leaf blowers and extra garbage cans.
“Jameson, you’re with me. Leroy, keep the rest of these jackasses on task. And Manny, drive the big tractor with the forks on it over here.” I motioned that Jameson should follow me to my truck. Manny got back in one pickup and took off. The tractor would make unloading the port-a-potties easy as pie.
“What’s up, boss?” Jameson asked as we bumped down the ranch road to the storage building where Blue Star’s large flatbed trailer was parked.
“We’re going to get some shitters.”
“Well, now I want to trade jobs with Leroy or Manny.”
“Too late.” I pulled into the lot and turned around so I could back my truck up and connect to the trailer. “Hop out and drop my tailgate.”
It was the work of a few minutes to get the truck connected to the trailer and be on our way. As we drove, I explained the shitter situation to Jameson.
“You know, most men buy flowers to impress a girl.”
“I’m not—” I snapped my jaw shut. Maybe I was. Fuck if I knew my own mind. “You ever think about leaving Texas?”
“I’m not even thinking of leaving Blue Star. I’m waiting for you to retire, old man.”
“I’m not that old.”
“Yeah, but the way I see it, a man with the kind of money you’re rumored to have in the bank won’t waste his whole life working for someone else. You’ll get that itch to have your own place. Put that Rivers Ranch sign up somewhere new. Maybe up in Montana, where your mom is.” Jameson tried to make Montana sound appealing, but something in me rebelled. I was a Texan to the bone. But hanging up the Rivers Ranch sign had some attraction. I wasn’t ready, not yet. I had more time than a young guy like Jameson thought. Didn’t I?
“I forgot how much you know about my family. It’s a little like you’re my stalker.”
“Nah, not a stalker. I care. My dad was already retired when I came to work at Blue Star. He told me you’d be a fine mentor. Your stepdad and him go way back, and he said the best had taught you how to run a ranch. He wasn’t wrong.”
Our eyes met for a few seconds as I rolled through a stop sign on a country road.
That right there was about as close as two cowboys got to braiding each other’s hair and singing kumbaya.
“You finish that online MBA yet?” I asked as we accelerated away from our touching moment.
“One more semester.”
“Well, I guess I can’t go anywhere for another semester. Now, can I?”
Chapter 25
Rae
