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“I like your place,” he said before he turned and faced me. My heart hammered in my chest at the sight of him. I had been more shocked than anything that morning when I saw him, then angry. Now, well now, I was fighting to ignore the instant pulse between my legs at the cowboy standing in front of me. Baseball Bryson was hot as well, but cowboy Bryson was making my panties wet.
“I like the cowboy look,” I stated as I walked past him to the refrigerator. “Beer?”
“No, thanks, I’m driving. I will take a water, though.”
Reaching in for the pitcher of filtered water, I poured him a glass and one for myself. It hadn’t escaped me that he didn’t deny he had been on a date, which made my stomach feel slightly ill at ease. How could I blame him. What were my words again? Oh yes, I don’t want more from you.
“Thank you for coming over. I wanted to apologize for earlier today.”
He grinned and took the glass from my outstretched hand, and I prayed he hadn’t heard the intake of breath when his fingers touched mine.
“There’s no need to apologize. You were right. I had no right to come into your place of employment and put you in that situation or expect anything more from you.”
No, no, no! I didn’t mean that when I said it.
I motioned for him to sit down. He took a seat in the chair that faced opposite the sofa. I sank down onto the sofa and slid my hands under my legs to keep them from shaking, or from chewing on my thumbnail because I was so nervous.
What is it you freaking want, Rose? You don’t want a relationship, yet you hate the idea of him being with another woman. You don’t want to design his house, but you want to prove something to who? Your old boss who never believed in you?
I was about to apologize for calling him an asshole when he spoke. “I wasn’t on a date, in case you were wondering. I met up with an old friend of mine who lives in Hamilton now.” He grinned. “We were best friends growing up. We both went to the minors, and Howie decided he wanted to be back home with his girlfriend, Ruth. Baseball wasn’t in his heart like Ruth was. They moved to Hamilton, and he works for a large ranching equipment dealer.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Had he bought close to Hamilton because his best friend lived here? How fucking arrogant was I to assume he did it because of me. I felt my cheeks heat, and I looked down at the waters on the coffee table.
With a deep breath in, I looked up at him and word vomited. “First of all, I’m very sorry I called you an asshole in front of all those people…it was uncalled for. Second, I feel like a complete idiot for accusing you of buying property near Hamilton because of me. I don’t normally think so highly of myself, and the idea that you would do that now that I think about it is crazy. I know you have family and friends here in Montana, so forgive me for that blunder. And third, thank you for having enough faith in me to design your house. If you’re still interested, I would very much love to design the house, especially since I also quit my job, then told my old boss I was going to design your house and then shove it down his throat after it was built.”
I pressed my lips together tightly to keep from saying anything else while Bryson let everything sink in.
He nodded. “Okay.”
Drawing my head back in surprise, I asked, “Okay to what? The apologies? Me designing your house?”
“All of it. I accept your apology, and I would be honored to have you design my house. I’d also like to make some updates to a barn that the previous owners had built.”
My mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out. That was it? Why was he being so nonchalant about all of this?
Somehow drawing upon the will to act just as casual, I forced a smile. “Great. Well, I hope you pay well because I’m working at the boutique downstairs that my cousins own, and it doesn’t pay nearly as well as my old job did.”
Bryson laughed. “I’m sure we can come up with a number we both agree on.”
He stood, and I did the same.
“I better get going, I left Howie and Ruth at the bar when you called me, and I’m staying at their house, and I’m their ride.”
“Oh, okay, sure. Um, I appreciate you coming over to see me tonight.”
It suddenly bothered me that he hadn’t corrected me on why he had bought the land in Victor.
