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She turned on the water in the shower in the claw foot tub and pulled the curtain on the metal hangers around it. She locked the door and slowly undressed, dropping all her clothes onto the floor in one pile. Some days she felt barely there and others she felt so alive that she couldn’t contain it.
The hot water seeped into her tired muscles. Sarah reached up to her shoulders and rubbed them hard, easing as much tension as she could. She didn’t realize just how tight she had been the entire night. It had certainly eased when she’d met Ginger, but a new kind of tension had risen when she’d seen Eli walk into the kitchen and completely ignore her.
If she was the owner of a bed-and-breakfast, she should pay first and foremost special care and attention to her guests before anyone else. And then Eli had been so gruff with her the rest of the night. She couldn’t put her finger on why. Surely she hadn’t done anything to set Eli off. But what else could she say? What else could she do?
Maybe she wouldn’t stay the entire time. She’d need to text Kara and work it out. Her heart stopped, and she bit her lip, closing her eyes and cursing as she kicked up some of the water on the bottom of the tub. Her phone. The damn device she normally couldn’t get out of her hand on a good day was still sitting in the cup holder in her rental car a thirty minute drive from where she was at, and she had no idea when she’d get it back if ever.
“Fuck me.”
The front door opened and closed, and she stiffened. Sarah listened carefully as footsteps echoed downstairs and then up the stairs. Nothing was said. There was no knock. Sighing out her relief, Sarah closed her eyes and focused on the water and her weary muscles. She needed this break. That had been the entire point of taking two weeks before she went on tour. She needed to relax and rest her mind and body before she spent the next six months running herself ragged.
She could do this. She could stay here for two weeks, she could figure out how to relax—something she had never fully accomplished—and she could work her best at figuring out what she needed to do to prepare for the tour. She wasn’t a famous singer by any means. There were plenty of people in the world who didn’t know her. There were more who knew her songs, but she had wanted anonymity for just once. She wanted not to deal with work related things, and she wanted to connect with herself for the briefest of times before she had to put on the mask again of Sadie Bade, mid-list indie-folk singer with a flair for rock.
With her music flowing back into her mind, Sarah turned off the water and dried her body. She wrapped the robe that had been placed on the back of the door around her shoulders and tied it tight around her waist. As she was just about to leave the bathroom, she heard footsteps again. Pressing her ear to the door, she took a risk.
Sarah opened the door and stepped out of the steamy bathroom right when the footsteps were close enough that they would run into each other. She cocked her head at Eli, her face remaining lax, and raised an eyebrow at her. Eli stopped short in her tracks and shook her head suddenly.
“Everything okay? Need something?”
“No,” Sarah answered, her voice on a whisper and nearly breaking. “Just cleaning off the grime from travel.”
Eli smiled, genuinely. It reached her eyes, turning those light brown orbs into something else entirely. “I get that. I always shower first thing, too. Lot of my guests do in fact.”
“You have many guests?”
“In the summer, yes. I’m sorry to cut this short, but it’s nearing five, and I need to get some sleep before morning chores.”
“Chores? Aren’t you a bit old for chores?” Sarah teased, finally feeling slightly more like herself. Her heart hammered, but it wasn’t because she was nervous or anxious. Well, she was, but it was mostly because she was excited. Excited for what, she had no idea, but she was glad to grasp onto that emotion and ride it.
Mimicking Eli’s stance from earlier, Sarah pressed her shoulder into the door frame and crossed one ankle over the other. She wondered briefly if Eli gawked at all her guests like she was currently doing, or if Eli even realized what she was doing. She was so young, so innocent in some ways.
“How old are you?” Sarah asked, her voice clear and concise.
“Excuse me?” Eli stated, shock ringing through both words as her gaze flicked straight back to Sarah’s eyes.
“You just seem so young to own all of this.”
“Ah, well, I don’t own much of it. My parents still do.”
Sarah nodded. “Inheritance.”
“Maybe, if I can prove I can get it running enough to earn a decent income. Look, I’m sorry to cut this short, but I’m beat, and I’ve got to get up in a few hours.”
Sarah’s tongue dashed out against her bottom lip as her gaze skimmed up and down Eli’s body. The warmth from her shower was vanishing quickly, and she wanted to jump under the blankets as fast as she could. “Good night then.”
“Night.”
Eli walked off, and Sarah watched her go, her gaze not moving from Eli’s ass. Humming in pleasure to herself, she chuckled before heading to her room.
Chapter 5
Dawn crackedover the eastern plains as Eli parked her old farm truck near the barn. Her boots were so covered in mud that she couldn’t imagine how long it would take to get it off if she let them dry that way.
Heading to the back of the barn, Eli took the hose and turned the water on, spraying it forcefully against the bottom of her boots. Her cows were fine. Two more babies born that night, both had done well and were nursing on their mothers. She’d have to catch them later at some point and tag them, but she’d do that in one big roundup in the next month or so when the babies were done being born.
It took her probably ten minutes to get most of the mud off her work boots, but it would be worth it when she had to go out again. Trudging through the grass over to her back deck by the kitchen door, she slipped her boots off and walked through to the coffee pot in her socks. She’d forgotten to start it. Groaning, she hit the button to get it percolating and the grabbed what she needed to make breakfast that morning.
She’d asked Sarah if she didn’t like anything, but she was left helpless on that front with no answer, so she just made what she wanted and figured Sarah would eat what she got. The cast iron skillet was her favorite, so Eli pulled it out and set it on top of the gas burner before washing her hands. Cooking had never been her strongest suit, but she was decent at it. She could make a mean few recipes here and there, but outside of that, she avoided cooking. It had been her biggest hesitation in starting the bed-and-breakfast...the breakfast part.
