Page 14 of Bailey

Reeves’ eyelashes fluttered, but he didn’t blink fully. “Me either,” he said, the words followed by him clearing his throat and shuffling the blankets around as if he couldn’t quite get them where he wanted them.

Bailey recognized his tell of nerves, and while she wanted to reassure him, she also couldn’t quite believe they were having this conversation at all. An idea bloomed in her mind.

“I’m sure I’ll have more help than I need to clean up the farm once the rain and flooding subsides,” she said. “I could send my friends and family over here to help you.”

Her voice pitched up on the last word, almost making it a question, and she raised her eyebrows, clearly asking Reeves if he would be comfortable with that.

His jaw hardened, and his eyes seemed to grow darker. The transformation only lasted a moment, and then he softened again. “Maybe,” he said, and Bailey knew that was more than he normally agreed to.

“You have a lot more land than I do,” Bailey said. “And we have no idea what condition it will be in once this storm passes.”

He stroked one hand down the side of his face. “You’re right about that,” he said.

“Getting help doesn’t mean you can’t do the job yourself.”

Reeves picked up the remote. “Well, let’s see how it goes.”

Bailey noted that he still hadn’t committed to anything, but he also hadn’t shot her down outright. She hadn’t confirmed the wedding date with him, but something told her to leave it for now, that they had time to come back to this conversation later. After all, Boston and Cora’s wedding wasn’t for another couple of weeks.

As Reeves found a movie and set it to play, Bailey once again relaxed and closed her eyes. She couldn’t quite believe she was even considering dating again, but she drifted to sleep with that happy idea in her mind.

She woke when Reeves picked her up, and she gasped, startled.

“I got you,” he whispered, his voice immediately at her ear and sending pleasant rumbles through her neck. “Just relax, I’ll get you to bed.”

His voice sounded husky and loud, though he’d spoken in a whisper. Bailey let her body curl into his chest as he walked her down the hall and laid her in bed. He tucked her in, and Bailey kept her eyes closed as she hummed and murmured, “Thank you.”

“Sure thing, wildflower,” Reeves whispered, and then the lightest touch came against her forehead. In the semi-conscious state Bailey was in, it took her several long moments to realize he’d kissed her. Then the soft click of her door sounded, and Bailey lost the battle to unconsciousness once again.

CHAPTER

SEVEN

Reeves pushed the snow shovel through the mud, slicking it off the sidewalk at the bottom of his back deck. The rain had stopped sometime in the night, and Bailey had left that morning before breakfast. He frowned just thinking about the way she’d turned him down for bacon and eggs. Heck, she hadn’t even stayed for so much as a cup of coffee.

He’d skipped the bacon and made himself two over-easy eggs, a stack of sourdough toast, and plenty of coffee after her departure. He’d been working outside for about an hour now, having hosed off the deck and driveway already. They hadn’t been covered with floodwaters, and just had blown-on debris to clear away.

He’d taken the four-wheeler around to see the extent of the flooding damage, and he’d found a lot of mud and sediment left behind. Thankfully, it had not snowed for long, and the late spring sun would have melted it by now anyway. Reeves needed to be able to get out to his shed, where he parked his ATVs and stored his camera equipment, and he needed to get to his chickens and goats as well. Anything beyond that could stay muddy for a while, though Reeves probably wouldn’t let it.

He never felt more masculine than he did with a power washer in his hand, spraying away muck to reveal beauty underneath, and as soon as he got the thick mud off the sidewalk, he’d get to wield that power.

He thought about the things Bailey had said yesterday about her previous life in Montana. He’d never been one to turn to substances of any kind for relief, as he’d been on the receiving end of someone who abused them. And though he’d prayed for a way to talk to Bailey, all he’d been able to do was tell her he’d attend the wedding with her. The conversation had flowed naturally after that, and it never came back to what he did for a living, his childhood, his family, or why he’d come to Coral Canyon. Bailey was probably being kind to him by keeping her questions to herself, and Reeves decided that wasn’t such a bad thing.

As he tried to lift the snow shovel full of mud into a wheelbarrow, his muscles strained, and he grunted against the effort because, “Wow, mud weighs a lot.”

Something twinged in his back, and he rested the shovel on the blade and leaned his weight into it, stretching forward to try to find some relief. He wasn’t as young as he’d once been, and Reeves reminded himself that he didn’t need to clean the entire farm in one day. That would be impossible anyway, as the majority of his eleven acres had flooded, and as the water had receded, it left behind muck that now needed to be mitigated.

He already had a list of chores to do around the property, and once he’d cleared his way to his chickens and goats so he could take care of them, he’d get on the four-wheeler and tour the rest of the property, making notes the way he’d done for the spring cleanup already.

He worked until noon, and then went inside and washed his hands up to his elbows. He rinsed out a rag and wetted it with cool water, and washed his face, ears, and the back of his neck. He fed the dogs, poured himself a cup of cold coffee, and opened the fridge to find something to eat for lunch.

He’d no sooner pulled out a piece of fresh salmon he’d caught last summer, which he’d put in the fridge to thaw last night, than his doorbell sing-songed through his house. He had two panels and an app that would show him video footage of all the cameras around the property.

Carrying the fish fillet, he moved over to the panel on the wall in the corner of the kitchen. Bailey stood there, looking freshly showered and surrounded by at least a half-dozen cowboys. Reeves’s heartbeat accelerated at the sight of her, only pumping harder at the multitude of men around her.

She looked straight into the camera and raised her pretty mouth into a smile. To his surprise, he’d started to grow attached to her, though they’d spent just a hint of time together. He’d had girlfriends in the past, albeit not for a while, and he recognized the attraction and growing feelings for her.

“I brought some help,” she said into the camera, but Reeves had already rounded the corner and was walking past his office to the front door. He pulled it open a moment later and smiled at the woman standing there.