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Reece just grinned, a mouthful of straight, white teeth, though one of his front teeth was just ever so slightly crooked. It made him look even more charming than he already did. My mind told me anyone so good looking could only be a heapful of trouble, but again, I wouldn’t be here long enough for it to matter.
So I smiled back and basked in the moment. Just a woman, enjoying a man smiling at her. No past, no future. Just here in this moment.
“I’d shake your hand, but well…” He looked down at his dirty hand and we both laughed.
“Yeah, better not.”
I had a brief out-of-body experience in that moment. Who the hell had body-snatched my life? Who was this person easily laughing with a stranger on a ranch in the middle of nowhere Texas?
It certainly wasn’t Penelope Chambers, socialite and trophy wife extraordinaire. I blinked and took a step back from the fence. “So, um. The kitchen?”
“Right.” Reece nodded and looked down, the smile dropping from his face as if he was embarrassed to have gotten so lost in the moment, too.
Oh God, had we just been having a moment?
I felt like a teenager again. I didn’t know how real humans acted in the actual world. I’d grown too used to a plastic world of fake interactions, so busy keeping my secret that I didn’t even know how genuine people interacted anymore.
I followed Reece across a wide yard to the big, two story house I’d seen when I first walked up the road. “You can head inside,” he said. “I’m almost as new here as you are, so feel free to eat and drink whatever you find. If you could make me a sandwich if there’s anything to make a sandwich of, that’d be great. I’ll stay out here on the porch to wash up and keep an eye on the mom and calf.”
He kept a respectful distance as he said it, and I wasn’t sure, but I wondered if it was more than him being dirty that kept him outside while I went in. Was he remembering my first reaction to him? But still, was he really so trusting? I was a stranger and he was just going to let me wander around in his house?
“Are people around here always so trusting?” I asked before I could think better of it.
He barked out a laugh. “You gonna rip us off?”
I was glad it was dark because I could feel my face warm up and knew I was probably blushing. “I don’t know. It’s just where I come from people lock their doors and don’t just let anyone inside.”
But Reece just waved a hand. “It’s the good part about living in the country. We aren’t as paranoid. Also,” he grinned, “It’s not my house. That’s Ruth’s shi— I mean stuff, in there. So it’ll be her you’re robbing blind if you’re of a mind to.”
“Ha!” I said. “I’ll have to tell this Ruth when I meet her you were so free with her belongings.”
He rolled his eyes. “Serves her right. She sold this ranch to my boss but had her lawyers write in some crazy loopholes his lawyers didn’t catch so instead of selling all the land, he only gets to lease the land with all the buildings on it from her. And she gets to keep this tiny plot with the house. Don’t know why anyone would want to stay and be a landlady when they don’t even own the land around them anymore, but that’s Ruth for ya.”
I felt my eyebrows lift. “Really? Well, was the land in her family for a long time or something?”
“Apparently so. Four generations. Seems stubborn to hang on by a thread when you’ve sold off everything else, but what do I know? My mama wasn’t exactly big on passing down…” he paused, then shrugged, “well, anything, come to think of it.”
That perked my interest. I probably had an unhealthy fascination with people’s screwed up family dynamics. But getting into it in the middle of the night with a complete stranger was probably far too random, even for this new body-snatched version of myself.
So I punched a thumb over my shoulder. “Well, I better get to the food and coffee.”
Reece smirked. “And all that ransacking.”
I let out a surprised laugh. “Can’t forget the ransacking.”
I hurried up the stairs into the house, and so bad wanted to take one last look over my shoulder to see if he was watching me go. I stopped myself at the last second, because, dear God, what would I do if he was? And I didn’t want to be disappointed if he wasn’t.
Then I shook my head at myself for being ridiculous and went inside to make some damn sandwiches and brew some damn coffee.
By the time I got back outside, it was midnight. I was exhausted, but it wasn’t like I’d exactly figured out my sleeping arrangements. Plus, I was starving, and the simple ham sandwiches I’d made had my mouth watering.
