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“Right. I’m Hudson. I live…” I wave indistinctly behind me.
“I remember,” she tells me flirtatiously, but I’m not in the mood.
“Do you know where he is?”
“He usually goes to Mrs. Winterbourne’s after he’s finished with the morning chores around here—or at least he’s been doing that the past couple of weeks,” she explains.
“Shit, right. Katherine.” I’d almost forgotten about all that. “Hey, did anyone show up here today with an envelope for Connor?”
“Not today, but a few weeks back,” she replies. “They left an envelope. Connor wasn’t overly impressed.”
“Right.” I remember how bent out of shape Connor was that day, and now I understand why. It’s a violation, MVP just wandering onto our property whenever they feel like it.
We’re going to need to make them feel a little less welcome.
“All right, thanks,” I tell her.
“Anytime.” She bats her eyes at me again, but I’m already spinning around to head to Katherine’s. “And if you need your house cleaned, just take my number from Connor.”
I wave without turning, but I have no intention of ever calling her—for housekeeping or anything else. My mind has only been focused on one particular woman lately.
Sauntering across the fields that separate Connor’s property from Katherine’s, I pause at the top of the hill, stunned to see how much has changed since I’ve last been here.
The two crumbling barns that had stood there have been razed to the ground entirely, most of the plank boards hauled into a pile on the driveway. Several skeletal pieces of fresh plywood stand in their place now, the outline for new buildings.
I can see Connor working diligently to load a trailer of the junk, his dogs nearby keeping watch. Eli hammers more into the new build as Rose hands him tools. For half a second, my gaze lingers on her svelte frame, bending and moving in silent rhythm.
But her sexiness doesn’t impress me as much as the steadfastness of her movements, her pace never breaking.
I’m in awe, despite my desire to stay as far away as possible from the renovation. They’re taking this project entirely by the horns.
I amble down the hill, my fury toward MVP diminishing in the view before me.
“Where have you been, fucker?” Connor calls out, pausing to wipe his own sweating brow with the back of his gloved hand.
Eli also stops his work and raises his palm over his eyes to shield the sun before returning to his task, Rose following suit. She offers me a timid smile from the distance, and this time, I return it.
“Well, shit,” I laugh. “Look at what you guys have done.”
“This is all Rose,” Connor says as Bounce comes over to lick my palms. I scratch the dog’s head absently, eyes still scanning the property in amazement. “She’s a hard taskmaster, but she gets things done.”
My eyebrows rise. “Really?”
“Look around you.” Connor reaches down to throw more of the debris in the trailer. “We only got to ground about a week ago, after shopping for supplies and getting organized. She wants to get this done for her grandma.”
A spark of appreciation ignites in my soul as I stare across the yard, and Rose turns at exactly that moment to catch my eye. She raises a hand tentatively to wave but drops her palm just as quickly, as if she worries that I might rebuke her.
I don’t. I wave back at her and reach for the trash pile to assist Connor, much to his surprise.
He whoops. “You’re helping?”
“It’s for Miss Katherine,” I breathe, suddenly very ashamed that I haven’t been in it from the start.
“She’ll appreciate the help,” Connor assures me.
I nod. “MVP dropped by again today.”
Connor freezes and then glowers. “Those sons of bitches.” He throws down his gloves and exhales deeply. “Rose thinks we should hire a lawyer and serve them with a threat of a civil harassment claim.” He pauses. “What did they offer this time?”
