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I cleared my throat, and she glanced at me.
“Sorry, I’m later than I meant to be.” She gave me an apologetic smile. “The bank took more time than I thought.” She withdrew a sheet of paper from her pocket. “They said this would get you started for the direct deposits.”
“I can do that now, starting with today’s pay and the first half of the month.” I ran my fingers along the crisp edge of the folded document. The smell of rose petals rose up. Mama used to grow roses, but once she was gone, I didn’t bother with them. Seeing them die was a small vindication for what she’d done. This was the first time since then that I smelled the flowers and didn’t get resentful. “Let me show you around before I duck into the office.”
Ivy hadn’t let go of Tova’s hand, and Grayson grabbed the other. She grinned. “I think they’re ready.”
I led the troop through the square living room, the floor groaning in places I’d learned to block out. In the kitchen, a hallway branched off to a half bathroom and my office. I pointed them out. “Down the other hallway is the cleaning closet and small pantry. The furnace room is the farthest back, and the door goes to the basement, but we don’t use that space.”
“It smells like a lake,” Grayson said.
“No musty basement. Check.” Tova’s tinkling laughter went straight to my chest. She was a breath of cool air in the heat of summer.
I gestured up the flight of stairs that landed between the two hallways. “Upstairs are the bedrooms. The kids can show you that after we go outside.” I lifted my chin toward the light filtering in through the back door by the stairs to the basement.
The kids dragged her out the squeaking screen door and into the backyard.
I stepped out just as a gusty gasp left Tova. “This is gorgeous. Look at those trees.”
I hadn’t thought about the backyard other than it was shaded, so I didn’t have to worry about letting the kids play too long and bake in the sun. Towering weeping birch trees hugged the back fence. An old swing set with swings that creaked in the wind was on the left, and the rest was open and grassy.
Tova ran her hands over the wooden railing of the square deck, onto which the back door opened. “This must be such a nice place to sit in the evenings and watch the kids play.”
It must be. “We haven’t done that yet.”
“Daddy works a lot,” Grayson said.
Hearing that phrase was like tiny needles pricking my skin and getting left there. “The company’s focused on expanding.” And without the company, neither I nor my siblings would earn an income. Our supposed inheritance would go to keeping everything afloat, and I couldn’t allow that. Aggie was the only Knight exempt. She’d built her life free of Barns’s control, thanks to Mama.
Tova nodded, and her gaze was carefully neutral, like she was withholding judgment about a workaholic dad who hired a nanny so he could work more.
Speaking of which, I had to get to the office. “The kids just had sandwiches. They can have a snack between two and three. We’ll have dinner at six.” Shit. I hadn’t planned that far ahead. “Would you be able to throw something in the oven?”
“You’re paying me for evenings and weekends.”
I was also paying her double today, but I didn’t want to feel like I was taking advantage of her. She’d said she left a bad relationship, and I believed her. She likely needed a place to land for a while until she straightened out her life. The kids liked her, and she’d been open enough to ease any worries.
She was also fucking gorgeous, but that had nothing to do with my decision. I was supposed to be in mourning. I wasn’t supposed to be lusting after another woman.
“I’ll be in my office,” I said abruptly.
Tova dragged her admiring gaze off the yard and lifted a brow toward me. “Dinner at six.”
The hint of a tease in her tone should’ve had me on defense, not bordering on hard. Fuck, I needed space.
I gave a curt nod and marched inside. I wasn’t used to hanging around women. That had to be it. I had girlfriends in high school, went to college, sowed some oats, and then met Meg. I’d supported her through law school and gotten some outside experience with a financial firm before we moved home. Other than my sister, who’d fled right before her wedding, I worked with my brothers and the guys Eliot hired to work the ranch. I was in board meetings, mostly online, sometimes in person, but there weren’t a ton of women in the oil industry, and I’d been a married man.
I flexed my hand and stared at the wedding ring I hadn’t yet removed. I didn’t give a shit about rings, and Meg had known it, but I thought it was best for the kids to maintain some semblance of what used to be.
Squeezing my hand closed, I shut myself in my office. My kids’ laughter mingled with Tova’s and drifted in around the old windows. It was nice to hear them so carefree. This was good. I could get my work done and be more present when I was off the clock. Whenever that happened.
I leaned back and peeked outside. She was doing some version of a hoedown while twangy country music emanated from her phone. The move should be silly, but I let my gaze brush over her body. That shirt she tied at her waist only highlighted the flare of her hips and teased about her breasts underneath.
Pasties and tassels.
Did she wear one or both at the same time?
The question had consumed me since she’d told me. Did her breasts perk out so the tassels hung straight down? Were they like two big, creamy raindrops? Would I get a glimpse of her areolas and learn if they were a rich pink or a dusky red?
