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Angel was in cute little khaki shorts and a button-up knit shirt. She tugged on the ends of her clothes, and he hid a smile. She sure did that a lot. Did she have a growth spurt lately? He wasn’t about to complain. He loved her every curve.
Her hand went from cinching her clothes to clutching the strap on the top of his truck’s cab while he drove through the rougher roads to Grey’s place. These roads would need to be fixed when the real guests came to stay, which of course, would turn into another service project that Grey would enlist his help on. Porter groaned at the thought. There was someone else that he wanted to concentrate on right now.
“How’s my flat tire?” Angel asked.
Fixed, but he didn’t want to give up her car just yet. There were a few other things he wanted to work on still. He gave her a smile packed with meaning. “How about I show you on Monday?”
She bit down a smile. “That’s the Fourth of July,” she reminded him. “I’m going to the church barbecue across the street. Lily said that I need to try her famous peanut butter bars. Apparently they’re to die for.”
“I hate to say it, but they are.” His momma had made a basket of goodies to take along on their journey this morning. She’d never done that for Porter and Nash, but clearly she had a soft spot for Angel. Porter wasn’t complaining.
Angel’s mood was visibly improving as she snacked on the treats on the way to Grey’s resort. She glanced down at the basket now. “If these muffins are anything to go by, I believe her.”
“Yeah, those church people get vicious when she brings her peanut butter bars.” He pushed his truck’s gear into four-wheel drive to clear a crumbling hill ahead of them. “Stay safe out there.” If anything, the holiday gave him an extra day to put the finishing touches on her car. He pushed the basket back onto the seat when it tried to fly off. “Tuesday, it is,” he said.
She let out a little gasp when the tires skidded through the muddy tracks scarring these roads. The bed of the truck whipped back and forth. Angel clasped his shoulder with a shout. He hid a grin. Best part about off-roading. She tried to retreat from him with a muffled apology.
“No, no,” he said. “Grab me whenever you feel like it.”
Angel’s eyes slid away from him in embarrassment. “I shouldn’t… uh… and you know, I can pay you for fixing my tire, by the way.”
“Don’t even think about it.” He turned from the steering wheel to study her. “You can pay me in, uh…” his gaze fixated on her lips. “Peanut butter bars.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” she muttered.
“Were you?” He thought that was the tamest thing that he could suggest, considering all the mischief that he’d rather get into with her. “Hmm, how about we figure out something else then?” He had all sorts of ideas, most of them involving getting her into his arms.
“I’m almost afraid of what you have in mind.” He laughed uneasily, glad she couldn’t read his mind right now. “Oh! Oh!” she shouted. “Watch the road. That’s…” her voice cut off as the bump in the road tossed them into the air. Her fingers dug into him now. “That just happened,” she said, wincing. Porter had seriously underestimated what fun this would be. “Maybe you have a little plot of land you’d like me to garden?” she said through clenched teeth.
She was still talking about paying him back. He laughed. “I don’t know. I think you might have your hands full with my momma’s rose garden.”
Angel surprised him with a bright smile. “I’m excited to figure that out. I thought we could at least clear out one pretty area for your mother to sit and enjoy summer before we tackle the rest. That’s the best way to do it, I think. She loves her roses, and I’d hate for her to miss out while they still look so beautiful.”
He was blown away by her thoughtfulness. “Tell me what you need out of me, and I’m at your service, pretty lady.”
She seemed genuinely surprised. Had she expected him to just watch on like a worthless dog while she worked? Her fingers tightened over him as they cleared another crack in the road. The heavy branches of the maples and oaks swayed over the truck. The heavy foliage beat back the heat of the day as they reached the old parking lot that they’d always used to take them to the once-abandoned cabins. Grey had actually paved the lot and had painted lines for parking.
Porter whistled. “Grey has outdone himself.” He stared at the formerly decrepit shelters across the way where they’d bunked at their own risk growing up. Grey and Sky had been hard at work, bringing the cabins back to order. A main building stood a ways off under a canopy of pines. Porter could see that the deluxe three-story cabin served as both an office and a future store specializing in knickknacks. It had a back entranceway leading to a romantic newlywed getaway for Grey and his new wife.
The renovations made Porter realize that maybe he’d been too hasty in rejecting Funches’s offer to buy off more of his land. It was just that it had been so expensive, and yet… glancing at Angel, he wondered if there was a way to scrape up the funds. He’d talk to Funches tonight.
Angel’s fingers loosened over his arm as he met her eyes. “Here’s our waterfall.”
Her forehead knit with confusion. “Where?”
“Well… past the cabins, further down… also,” he squinted as he hurriedly broke the news, “Grey wants us to help him paint his cabins first.”
“Are you… kidding…?” She broke into a laugh and pulled back from him. The leather upholstery of his seat squeaked under her sandals. “Well, that answers my question about paying you back for fixing my flat tire—you’re taking this out of my hide. What are you getting out of this?”
Good point.
“Lots of spiritual points in heaven,” he said. Those were adding up with all these service projects. They subtracted from all his devilish starts.
“Hmm,” she said. “I could use those points, I guess. Anyway, this definitely puts my mind at ease.”
“Yeah, why?”
“You just want free labor,” she quipped. Angel closed the lid back on the basket. “I thought you were trying to put the moves on me.” At that startling statement, that beautiful girl pushed open the door before he could run around the muddy truck to do it himself.
