A Broken Cowboy (BWWM Interracial Romance) (5 page)

I’ll gladly double his fee if he’ll do the work shirtless,
Mimi thought before feeling her cheeks turn warm and looking around to see if Sarah caught her guilty look at such a thought. But guilty though it might make her feel, it was true, too, if the way his worn-through t-shirts and hip-slung jeans fit was any sign of what was hidden underneath.

Mimi managed to finish her errands without any more completely inappropriate thoughts about Gabriel, deciding the best time for those images was when she could be alone and let her own fantasies play out as she pictured him in her bed.

CHAPTER SIX

It was another three days before Mimi had a chance to test Sarah’s theory about Gabriel. The guy just seemed to show up when needed and stay away when he didn’t feel like being around people. But he appeared out of nowhere when the team came to dig the well, watching them carefully as they backed up an enormous truck with what looked like the world’s largest drill bit on the back. Gabriel stood by and didn’t interfere, but glared with his enormous arms crossed in front of his chest in a way that made his biceps take shape in front of him.

He looks like he’s standing watch while they dig,
Mimi thought sourly. What right did he have to show up on her property whenever he pleased, ignoring her completely while she tried to place pots under leaks in the roof, then standing there practically supervising the professional crew doing the digging?
Oh, right. He’s the caretaker. He has to make sure they don’t do any additional damage.

Mimi softened her attitude towards Gabriel somewhat. Whatever issues made him “quirky,” as Sarah had called him, at least he was doing his job. She stepped out to join him, and ask about how things were coming along with the roof.

“I looked at some supplies in town, and the hardware store is ready to deliver whatever you need when you give the go ahead,” she suggested. Gabriel only nodded. “Well?”

“Well what?” he asked without looking at her.

“When do you want to get started?”

“When the materials arrive.”

“Yes, obviously you can’t start until the materials arrive, but I don’t need to have them delivered until you’re ready to work.” Mimi tried to control her voice and keep a patient tone, considering this man stood between her and the rain.

“I’ll work whenever they arrive.”

“Okay, then!” Mimi said, forcing herself to smile. This man was putting the roof on, and irritating though he could be, she had to at least be grateful. “I’ll call them and have them bring the stuff. We never did discuss your fee. It’s so loud out here with that truck working. Do you want to come in and talk about it?”

“No.”

“What?”

“No,” he repeated, his expression not changing. Sarah had been right after all.

“Okay then. Does that mean you want to stand right here and talk about it?”

“Sure.”

Mimi turned away slightly and rolled her eyes, balling her fists and releasing them several times. It was a coping mechanism she’d taught herself during her years working as an IRS agent, one that she had to rely on several times a day when working for the bureaucracy. But she hadn’t needed the small gesture once out here, not even while chasing bats, rats, and snakes literally out of her bedroom. Somehow, just trying to talk to Gabriel made her involuntarily revert to her old ways of dealing with extreme stress.

“Fine. Why don’t you tell me your fee?”

“I don’t know how much it will cost. Won’t know until I get finished.”

“But how am I supposed to pay you if I don’t know how much it will cost?” Fist flex.

“I don’t know.”

Deep breath, fist flex, then try to speak
. “I have an idea. What if I just pick a number, and that’s what I decide to pay you?”

“How much is that?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet.” Mimi smiled, turning Gabriel’s own logic back on him. Her buoyancy was short lived when she saw that his expression hadn’t turned even the slightest bit amused through the entire agonizing conversation.

“That won’t work,” he finally said.

“Well, it’s what you’re expecting me to agree to. You want me to agree to pay you whatever you decide to charge me after the fact, but you’re not willing to agree to just let me decide how much to pay you. That’s hardly fair, is it?” she demanded.

“Nope. But I’m not the one who needs a roof.”

Fist flex. Fist flex. Fist flex. Deep breath. Fist…oh, never mind.
Mimi was about to tell Gabriel to forget the whole thing and hitch a ride back into town with the digging crew, hoping to find a roofer who wasn’t a complete whack-job, when he instead turned and stared at her with his intense green eyes.

“Let’s eat dinner.”

“What?”

“After the crew leaves. Let’s eat dinner.”

Mimi shot him a sarcastic smirk. “Well, I fully intended to eat dinner sometime after the crew leaves. Or were you suggesting that we both eat dinner at the same time, in the same place?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. Come back after they leave and I’ll cook for us.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Mimi sighed, already more tired of his antics than she cared to think about. “Okay. What is your suggestion?”

“I’ll make dinner. And I’ll bring it here.”

“Oh. Okay then. I would say I’ll bring the drinks, but if this crew doesn’t hurry, I won’t be bringing any liquids in the near future.”

Gabriel turned and walked away, not even cracking a smile at her joke. He spoke to the foreman in charge of the dig for just a few minutes, then started running back to somewhere in the woods, wherever it was he goes. Mimi watched the crew work for a little while longer, then went into the house to do some cleaning up. It took her a moment to realize what had just happened, but when the reality of it hit her, she dropped her cleaning rag and stood frozen in place.

Holy shit, I have a date tonight,
she thought numbly. Her mouth fell open in surprise as she realized this hadn’t happened in the longest time. If she’d been back in DC—a thought that was occurring to her more and more often as one surprise after another kept popping up—she would have called on Krystal and maybe a few other girlfriends for advice. They would probably have come over and brought outfit ideas, helped her fix her hair, do something about her makeup, definitely had a few laughs over wine…the works.

But out here, she was on her own. Mimi could probably have called Sarah, but the girl was busy working on a large ranch herself. On top of that, she was practically a kid herself, and besides, Mimi wasn’t ready to go announcing that she was having dinner with the crazy caretaker, no matter how gorgeous and ripped he might be.

The rest of the day passed far too quickly, but the noise coming from the giant truck all day left Mimi with a splitting headache. By the time the truck stopped its work and the foreman knocked on the door frame of her open front door to get the payment, Mimi was exhausted. She thanked the men for the job and handed over the check, already recorded in her household register like a good accountant.

The foreman turned and left and before Mimi could even close the door, Gabriel appeared, fidgeting in the doorway. She watched in surprise as he twitched uncomfortably and moved his neck ever so slightly, almost like he was bracing for the old overhanging wooden awning to come crashing down on him.

Mimi instantly felt bad for her previous thoughts about Gabriel. He was so obviously uncomfortable standing there, way outside his comfort zone. And if what Sarah had said was really true, standing even this close and up under the porch eaves was taking all of his effort. Ever the peacemaker, Mimi spoke up.

“I thought we could eat in the yard. Kind of picnic style. Sound good?” she asked, pointing Gabriel to the safety of the open sky. He didn’t speak, but only nodded. It was so out of character for him to not have something confidently irritating to say that Mimi’s heart broke a little. She smiled, and said, “Just let me grab some dishes and I’ll be right out.”

When she came out of the cabin with some plates and utensils, she saw that Gabriel had already arranged the heavy stumps from around the yard into a sort of dining area. They would sit on the grass, but use the smooth pieces of fallen trees as their own tables. She sat directly across from him and put a plate on each of their tables, then waited while Gabriel rooted in his bag and produced two raw chickens, a cooking spit running through them. Mimi turned away slightly as easily as she could without wincing at the thought of salmonella poisoning.
Where did he get those chickens and low long had they been out unrefrigerated?
She forced a smile at Gabriel when he went to work on building a small fire in the ring of stones set out in her yard for that purpose.

He worked in silence while Mimi watched him, noticing the very purposeful way he moved, as if every tiny decision had been weighed and calculated. It was much like the way Mimi made important decisions of her own, weighing the costs and benefits of each as well as the potential downfalls, only his process extended to even which arm to use to reach for his box of matches. Everything he did looked intentional and planned.

She watched the sun start to touch the horizon while Gabriel turned their dinner over the low flames, adding some foil wrapped boiled potatoes and carrots around the coals. Finally, he began slicing the meat off with an oversized knife. He placed the meat first on her plate, then on his, then added some vegetables to each plate. She began to eat and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor, actually enjoying the meal instead of just having to be polite as she’d feared. She nearly choked, though, when Gabriel finally spoke.

“How old are you?” he asked in a voice that sounded like he was filling out a form.

“Um, well…honesty’s the best policy, so I’m twenty,” she answered in a dead pan voice. Gabriel didn’t smile.

“No you’re not. How old are you?”

“Fine, I’m thirty-one.” Mimi shot him a perturbed look that clearly said they were on the edge of an off-limits conversation. She wondered how fast he would tuck his tail between his legs and run this time.

“Okay, so why would you say you’re twenty?” he asked before slicing off another large strip of chicken and putting it on his plate.

“It was a joke. You’re not supposed to ask a woman how old she is.”

“Why not?” he asked, a very serious sound in his question.

“I don’t know. You just don’t. It’s like asking her how much she weighs,” Mimi added before taking another bite of her dinner.

“How much do you weigh?” he asked, but somehow this time Mimi knew to expect a crazy question and she managed to not cough. She finished chewing and waited, kind of hoping he would tell her he was only kidding. He didn’t.

“I’m not telling you how much I weigh.”

“Why not? It’s a simple fact. It’s just a number. Besides, I could find out by lifting you up. So why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“It’s just not something people talk about,” she said, laughing nervously at having to explain to a grown man what the social niceties of a pleasant dinner were all about. He put down his knife and fork and looked down at his hands, placing them on either side of his plate and pressing them flat against the wood.

“What do people talk about at dinner then?” he asked in a subdued way. Mimi looked to see if he was kidding or not, and decided he was more serious then than he ever had been. A little piece of her heart softened, watching him struggle to have a normal conversation with a woman.

“Well, they talk about each other. They ask each other questions—not about their age or weight, or blood pressure or cholesterol level, or anything like that—and then they talk about themselves a little bit. They get to know each other a little better, maybe share a little bit of personal stuff. For instance...” Mimi hesitated, not wanting to upset Gabriel but deciding she wanted to know, “why don’t you ever go inside?”

She waited through Gabriel’s long pause. Several times she thought about telling him to forget it, that he didn’t have to talk about it. She finally opened her mouth to say something but he spoke before she got the chance.

“I was a soldier,” he said matter-of-factly. “I served three tours in Afghanistan. And I just don’t like being inside buildings. When you see enough buildings get hit by rockets with the people still inside, and when you know that sniper fire comes from the roofs and the open windows, you start to know that being outside in the open is better. Safer.”

“Wouldn’t it be safer to be inside, though? Where you couldn’t get hit? Out in the open, you’re just…right there.”

“Exactly. If someone’s going to get me, let ‘em. Just do it right the first time. I don’t want to get crushed when the building collapses or bleed out slowly from a bullet. Let ‘em get me with a clean shot, the very first time.” He speared some more meat and ate it slowly, effectively ending the conversation.

“Don’t move,” Mimi said slowly. “I’m coming over there.” She got up and walked over to Gabriel, sitting down next to him and putting both arms around him. She felt him instantly stiffen from the contact, relaxing little by little as she held him. She was intrigued when she felt him turn his head slightly and breathe in the scent of her hair, causing him to loosen up a tiny bit more. Then, after an eternity, he placed one hand on her forearm and held it there, slowly sliding his other hand up her back to return her embrace.