AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shook out his hand, snapping his fingers together to relieve some pressure. There wasn’t any reason for him to be nervous. He wasn’t here to ask for a handout. The fact that he was asking Faye for help only meant he didn’t have to make a fool of himself in front of the multitude of cowboys in this town. The last thing he wanted was to have it get back to Dahlia that he was learning how to ride to impress her. That was one surefire way to have her lose any interest in him whatsoever.
Adam emerged from the truck and headed for the front door. This was a simple offering. Nothing more. He wasn’t pitying her, and he definitely wasn’t offering anything for free.
So why couldn’t he shake this feeling that he should have stepped back and thought this through before coming here?
The door swung open before he had a chance to climb the stairs. Adam froze, his hand on the smooth wood railing as he stared up at the one person he’d come here to see. Faye seemed to be in just as much shock as he was. Her hand remained on the doorknob as if doing so would offer her some semblance of quick escape.
He couldn’t blame her. They’d only interacted just the one time, and she’d left in such a hurry that he didn’t think they’d be seeing each other again any time soon.
The door behind her clicked closed and she took a step away from it. “Mr. Cullen? What are you doing here? Is there something else wrong with the truck? Because I already told you, I can’t—”
“Oh! No, there’s nothing else. I did a thorough workup on it.” He let out a nervous chuckle and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “But, to be fair, the workup was pretty bad as it was. Your truck isn’t going to be running much longer without those fixes. And the more you drive it, the worse everything is going to become.”
Her brows lowered and her lips thinned into a straight line. “So you came here to tell me that my truck is a lost cause unless I ask you to fix it?”
Adam shook his head again. This all sounded so ridiculous in his head. Why couldn’t he just get the words out? It hadn’t been hard at all to discuss his idea with his father. He would have expected that Bridget would be all over something like this—especially since it was her idea in the first place. But he only got a noncommittal grunt when he announced he was going to take her advice.
“Hello?” Faye’s voice broke through his thoughts and he focused on her once more.
“What?”
“Did you come here to rub it in or something? I already told you I can’t afford to pay the labor costs.”
“Right. Well, I came up with an idea—actually, it was Bridget’s idea—but I thought we could work out an arrangement.”
She didn’t say anything, but the look of pure suspicion on her face was enough to tell him she wasn’t one to trust easily. From what he’d heard, she came by it honestly. Zeke was the exact same way.
“Anyway, do you think we could discuss a few options?”
Faye crossed her arms over her chest, still eyeing him. “No one has stopped you so far.”
He forced a chuckle. He’d never been intimidated by anyone who had brought in a car to get worked on. And Faye had seemed sweet yesterday. But this sensation he had building in his chest was enough to have him throw his hands in the air and tell her to forget it.
The only movement from Faye was the slow lift of her left eyebrow.
“How about a trade,” he blurted.
“A trade.”
Adam nodded. “You need your truck worked on. And I would still expect you to help out since I can’t have Bridget take time out of her schedule to do it. We could work on it in the evenings or on the weekends, whenever fits your schedule.”
“And?” Faye’s arms dropped to her sides and she moved to the edge of the porch. They stood only a few feet apart now.
“And… I want to learn how to handle a horse.”
Both brows lifted this time. “You don’t know how to ride a horse?”
He fought the heat that crept up his neck. He shouldn’t feel embarrassed about this. “A lot of people don’t know how to ride.”
Faye snorted. “Not in Copper Creek.”
Adam sighed. “Fine, not in Copper Creek. But it’s more than learning to ride. I want to get good enough to enter a competition or the rodeo.”
She took one step down closer to him and her lips quirked up at the corners. “Why do you want to learn how to compete? You have a good-paying job. You don’t need to be like those rodeo nerds. You realize it’s dangerous, don’t you?” Her voice was tight, as if his answer would dictate how she felt about him.
He felt the frustration growing. He’d come here to make her an offer and all he got was pushback. “Do you want your truck fixed or not?”
Faye’s whole body stiffened and the amusement left her face. “Of course I do.”
