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It would be worth the walk over to the machinery shed….
Jane went that way, glancing at each cabin she passed, almost like she expected a cowboy to spot her and stop her. No one did, and Jane entered the shed, whose doors stood open.
Cord looked up from the engine of an old truck, surprise registering on his face for a couple of heartbeats before a smile took over.
That so wasn’t fair, and Jane tucked her hands into her shorts pockets and waited as he picked up a gray rag and started wiping his hands. “Well,” he said with plenty of teasing in his voice. The man really was a flirt, even when he tried not to be. “What are you doin’ here?”
Jane had never been particularly tongue-tied around boys, but something about him made her lose her wits for a few moments. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
He came closer, a touch of swagger in his step. “About what?”
“Nothing.” She didn’t wear her hair up in a ponytail in the accounting office, so she actually had something to tuck behind her ear right now.
“You came out here to talk about nothing?”
“I just….” Jane sighed, because she was who she was. “I wondered if you’d talked to my daddy yet.”
Cord’s face changed in a moment, moving from open and flirtatious to hard and closed off. “No,” he said. “Not yet.” He turned around and returned to the truck.
Jane watched him, her mouth shut but her mind moving faster than ever before. “I just—”
“You just want me to operate on your timetable,” he said, throwing her a dirty look. “I’m not like you, Jane.”
She snapped her mouth closed and blinked. “I don’t want you to be like me.”
“I need my job,” he said, a hint of desperation in his voice now, hiding there behind the anger. “This farm is the only thing I know, and your father took….” He shook his head, his dark blue eyes flashing with danger. “I’ve been busy this week.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Seems like it.” She lifted her eyebrows and looked pointedly at the truck.
He straightened and glared, one sexy hip cocked out. “Why can’t you just let me handle this the way I want to?”
“I—” She had no answer, and therefore couldn’t say anything.
“I’ll talk to him when I feel ready,” Cord said. “I just need some time to organize my thoughts.”
Jane moved closer to him. “And what are those?”
He softened slightly. “I don’t quite know yet. Like I said, I’m not like you, Jane.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re quick, and I’m not.”
“You’re a smart guy, Cord.”
He scoffed and shook his head. “I didn’t even graduate from high school, so you’re wrong there.”
Jane straightened, not even realizing she’d been leaning toward him. “You didn’t graduate from high school?”
“I got a GED,” he said, bending over the engine again.
She watched him work for a few seconds. “I remember you getting this certificate.”
“Yeah,” he said to the inner workings of the truck. He sighed and stood up straight and tall again. He met her gaze, and wow, Jane would wait a long time for him to ask her out.
Patience.
It had never been her strongest suit, but she was willing to try. For Cord, she could wait.
