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Between the terrifying encounter with Janet and the much more pleasant interaction with Axel, Brendan was starting to understand the scope and culture of the place just a little bit more.Communityseemed like a trite word to use, but it was the right one. A perfect stranger had told him to call if he needed anything at all. Nicole’s own father apparently drove off at the drop of a hat to go help if it was needed. Brendan couldn’t imagine that sort of thing happening back in Houston, certainly not in any of the circles he’d ever moved in. Brendan had lived in the same building for five years and couldn’t actually recall having a conversation with any of his neighbors, and he was certain that if he’d gone and knocked on their door asking for help with something, they’d have thought he’d lost his mind and would have said no.
This was better, there was no doubt about that. This was an unexpected side effect of moving here that Brendan would have no trouble getting used to.
“Did you want to go to the diner for lunch?” he asked. He could see pies and pastries through the window, as well as a few people eating burgers and other things.
Nicole shook her head. “Uh, no. I’d rather just go home, if that’s okay?”
“Yeah, sure.”
She’d said no so fast and then scurried off ahead of him to the truck that Brendan wondered if she had some sort of beef with whoever worked there. Considering he now had firsthand experience that everybody really did know everybody here, that wouldn’t be all that surprising.
If he went to the diner in the future, then, he supposed he was going alone.
CHAPTER11
BRENDAN
The warmth around them was almost foreign, like landing in a different country, in a different time zone, and feeling off-kilter until you adjusted to your new surroundings. It made working easier than the bitter cold that Brendan had experienced so far, but just this little bit of warmth had him dreading the summer months to come. That wasn’t going to be fun.
He ushered the last of the herd into the pasture and swung the gate shut, hooking the latch over and looking over at Nicole to ask a question — which was promptly forgotten. She had her face turned up to the sun, like some sort of flower, soaking it all in with closed eyes and a perfectly relaxed expression. Whatever he had been about to ask withered away, all of his attention on her. She must have felt him staring, felt his eyes locking onto her with the intensity of a missile target, and looked over at him, the spell broken. Brendan fiddled uselessly with the gate latch, aiming to look casual and probably failing miserably. He didn’t have Nicole’s talent for keeping his expressions to himself.
Speaking of which… Nicole was staring at him with a small smile on her face, knowing full well that she’d caught him watching her soak in the sunlight.
“Finally some nice weather, huh?” he said, feeling awkward enough that he just needed to saysomething.
Nicole’s little smile grew into a smirk. “You’re making small talk about the weather?” she said. “Really? Is that how you win over all your fancy clients?”
“Uh, no,” said Brendan, staring back at her directly. He’d gotten used to her sparring by now, and he wasn’t going to let her enjoy pushing him around too much. His competitive streak had been kicked into gear and he couldn’t let her get too cocky…
“Usually that involves taking them out to dinner,” he said with a shrug. “Or lunch. Somewhere where it’s socially acceptable to drink a lot of wine in public.”
Nicole nodded, putting on a full performance of being unimpressed. Brendan couldn’t help himself and matched her smirk.
“You’ve not takenmeout to dinner,” she said. “Rude.”
“You’renot a client,” he quipped, trying not to picture her sitting across from him, a glass of wine in hand, candlelight flickering across her face.
“I suppose,” she said. “I’m just a humble employee.”
“I wouldn’t sayhumble.”
She tossed her hair off her shoulder, unbothered.
“Isn’t confidence like a key part of success?” she said with raised eyebrows.
“Absolutely,” Brendan agreed. “Which is why I think that one of these days you’re going to conquer the world.”
It hadn’t come out as a joke, and Brendan realized that he had meant it, all of it. Nicole could rule this whole planet if she put her mind to it. Her expression had quickly reverted back to that unreadable mask of hers as she watched him, analyzing him like a curious bird.
“Well,” she said, voice soft and just as serious as his had become after the comfort of the joking atmosphere had vanished. “I haven’t done a great job of it so far, have I?”
She was looking out at the herd in the field.
“What happened to all that confidence you were just boasting about?”
“Yeah, that’s a really good question.”
