She smiled like I’d just guessed her favorite flavor of ice cream. “The very tippy top.”
That was no place for a city girl like her. How would she even get herself up there? She looked like she drove a Mercedes, not a four-wheeler. I knew that cabin, or rather that dilapidated pile of wood. It was just above my plot and accessible by four-wheel drive only. Windy as hell, and had the absolute best view of the valley.
I looked her up and down, studying her, trying to decide whether she was a liability or not. Attractive, I’d give her that, but she was an outsider. Playing at living a simple life. In reality, she probably loved the tabloids and some ripe gossip. Someone for me to stay far away from.
Walk away, dumbass. I leaned in. “That cabin isn’t far from me. What are your plans for it?”
“I want to fix it up and make it a sustainable, beautiful space to get away from it all.” She sighed and I could practically see her mountain cabin fantasy floating around her head. “I’m hoping to use local and reclaimed wood as much as possible and make it energy efficient. Maybe get some solar panels in and?—”
Had she even seen the place? And why wasn’t I walking fast and far from this whole conversation? My head yelled run, but everything else below the neck, and especially below the waist, said stay awhile. See where this goes. “What kind of features you planning?”
“Well, I want to have a big fireplace, for the cold nights.” She got this adorable, dreamy look on her face that had me imagining things too. Although, my fantasies were more about what I could do with her in front of that fireplace on a chilly night.
“I also want to have a big kitchen, for entertaining, and a big porch to enjoy the views and the fresh air. Ooh, and also a green roof, a place where I can grow plants and maybe attract some animal friends.”
I’d be her animal friend.
Gah. No. I wouldn’t. Getting involved with a woman like this was the absolute last thing I needed. She was high maintenance and I barely maintained myself these days. Being with her would draw a lot of attention. I just wanted the world to leave me the fuck alone.
The cabin she’d bought was no bigger than a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty square feet. It was one room with a loft. She wasn’t getting her big kitchen or entertaining space. So, not sure why I didn’t bring that up. “That sounds like a big project, have you thought about the insulation, or the roofing?”
Shut up, Kingman. Shut the fuck up and walk away.
Tex poked his head into the aisle where we were standing, and I was absolutely using him to escape. “Hey, April. Lumber’s ready. Come on up to check out. Kingman, you leave my customers alone, you grump.”
Hmm. Yeah. The way Tex was all casual with her, he knew her. I gave him the bird.
“Thanks, Tanner. Yay.” She gave him a sparkling smile and I glared at him.
April. That suited her. She was like springtime come to life. All sunshiny and gonna make a big muddy mess of my life. I’d be smart to freeze her out right now.
Instead, I was fucking thawing from the stone cold winter of the soul I’d sunk into. Hell.
She picked up her basket and I bent and grabbed the duct tape that was trying to roll away. “I think you’re gonna need more than duct tape to fix up that old cabin.”
April took the tape from me and lingered a long time with her fingers on mine. “If you can’t fix it with duct tape, it can’t be fixed.”
Now if that wasn’t the hottest thing I’d ever fucking heard, I don’t know what was. I watched her walk away, partly to see that ass sway and mostly because I needed a minute to talk my hard-on down so I didn’t embarrass myself in front of the entire town.
That was press I didn’t need.
I waited until I heard the jingle of the door, all the while thinking of baseball, the Queen of England, and how Henry David Thoreau had madeWaldenso dang boring when it could have been great. All of that cooled my raging lust for a woman I’d barely talked to enough that I could go grill Tex about her.
He was already back to flipping through his dog-eared power tool catalog.
“You sold April the top of the Bear Claw, didn’t you?” They were probably from the same small hometown back in Texas or something. How else would a Texan like her find out about a piece of property that wasn’t for sale unless you knew who to talk to, sixteen hundred miles away.
Colorado was going to be a culture shock.
“Yep.” He flipped another page and wasn’t going to say another damn word. I could wait him out.
I stood there for a good three minutes while he flipped the pages. Dammit. His silence broke me like a rookie looking for praise from his coach. Tex didn’t even look up.
“She can’t fix that place up herself. You saw her shoes.” She’d break her ankle the minute she walked out the front door. Probably while walking to the door. Then I’d have to go on up there and...
Page flip. “You gonna help her?”
Me? No. What? No. “Not a fucking chance. She’ll sell it and never come back soon enough when she realizes she doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
