Gone Country (6 page)

This year she might actually get to harvest everything before the first frost. Over the past three years she’d tripled the size of her gardens. Specializing in organic vegetables had tripled her income. But she was too cheap to hire extra help, so she’d rigged up a generator and the light allowed her to harvest at night.

Gavin constantly commented about her working too hard, but the irony was he ran two businesses and she knew he worked late into the night. He wasn’t exactly a stuffed shirt either; he acted more relaxed now than he had when she first met him. But he was very matter of fact. Very methodical.

Isn’t that what you like about him? He doesn’t pussyfoot around an issue? He comes right out and tells you what he thinks and then gives you a chance to agree or disagree?

That was a refreshing trait. Most men tried to charm or cajole her, acting offended when their bravado didn’t have the desired effect, either in business or personally. Which is probably why she didn’t date. Too much bullshit.

How had the subject of dating and Gavin come up together?

Because face it, you’re attracted to him.

Yes, they flirted constantly. But it didn’t mean anything because they were… What exactly were they?

Roommates. Friends. Tied together by a business deal that each of them regretted on some level. The potential for more was there. The question was: Would either of them act on it? Or would they just keep it comfortable and remain at the friendly, teasing stage?

Pushing those thoughts aside, she got back to work.

Sometime later, she heard, “Hey, Rielle.”

She glanced up to see Chet and Remy West hanging over the fence on the far side of the tomato garden.

“What can I do for the West boys today?”

“Gavin suggested we come talk to you,” Chet said.

She dropped her gloves by the tomato plant so she’d remember where to pick up. “There are benches down here.” She could use a break. Standing slowly, she set her hands on her lower back, then arched back to ease the strain.

Since her hands were full with two baskets of tomatoes, Remy opened the gate for her. He wasn’t a tall man, but his bulked-up body made him seem bigger. With his curly dark brown hair, warm hazel-colored eyes and sweet smile, Rielle wondered why she’d always turned him down whenever he’d asked her out over the years.

“Plants look great, Ree.”

“No blight this year, thank heaven.”

Chet peered in the basket of tomatoes. “Ma wants to know if you’ll be at the farmer’s market or if you’ll be selling directly from here.”

“Some of both. Next Saturday I’ll be at Spearfish Park. She can always call me or stop by. I’m here most days.” Rielle sat on the slate bench. “Why does Gavin think I need to talk to you guys? The house and the front section of property are his now and he can do whatever he wants with it.” Including building a big damn garage. Would he fill it with boy’s toys? A sports car? She tried to picture it, but Gavin didn’t seem the flashy type.

Chet stared off into the distance. His height topped his brother’s by an inch or two, but his physique was identical to Remy’s—brawny and muscle bound. His gaze met hers. His eyes were deep brown, almost black. His blond hair also held a hint of curl. If their eye color and hair color weren’t complete opposites, Rielle would swear the men were twins. “Everything is finalized on the addition and we’ll start next week since we had a three-week hole in our schedule.”

“Seems…coincidental the opening just happens to be the same time Gavin needs a project finished.”

Remy shrugged. “Sometimes things just work out like they’re supposed to. But that’s not why we’re here.”

Rielle twisted the top off the gallon jug of water and took a long drink before she answered. “What’s up?”

“After we got the phone call from Gavin, we revisited the building plans for your place since we hadn’t looked at them in a while.”

“And?”

“And the design is solid. We’re able to design all the eco features you’ve asked for. However…”

Chet and Remy exchanged a look, then Chet said, “It’ll be very labor intensive, which we all knew going into this project. So we updated materials costs and reworked our original estimate…”

She held her breath because this wouldn’t be good news.

“The cost has gone up twenty percent.”

“Shit.”

“We refigured it a couple different ways,” Remy said, almost apologetically, “but the price didn’t change.”

Due to her miserly ways, she could afford to pay additional costs, but she was kicking herself for putting this off. “Thank you guys. The cost of everything has gone up.” She offered a wan smile. “Not happy, but not surprised. So that’s the worst of it?”

Chet leaned forward. “Nope. With the building site location, and the time of year, and what’s already on our plate, there’s no way we can get to the project until next spring.”

“And that doesn’t have anything to do with us takin’ on Gavin’s garage,” Remy added. “Colby and Channing hafta wait for spring for the addition on their house too.”

“I should’ve set a firm date for the start date.”

“Well, we don’t blame ya for waiting. You were already taking care of a house, even if technically it wasn’t yours.”

“Did you tell Gavin about my building delay?”

“Nope. It’s between us, Ree, you have our word,” Chet said. “And no matter what you decide, whether or not to proceed in the spring, and why or why not, it’ll stay strictly between us.”

Her sharp gaze moved between the brothers. “Why would you think I’d back out?” She bristled. “I assure you, I may have had some rough times in the past, but I do have the money now—”

“Whoa, there, that wasn’t what I was insinuating at all.” Chet blushed and looked at Remy.

“You’re insinuating something…worse?”

“Let’s just back up,” Remy said. “One of Gavin’s main stipulations for hiring us was to keep this project in line with your original plans for the B&B outbuildings you didn’t get to implement due to your financial situation at the time.”

“Gavin respects you. It’s there every time your name comes up,” Chet assured her. “And we’re to defer all the dirt work changes and landscaping to you. You have total control.”

“Our whole point is…even before we talked to Gavin, we believed you’d be better off waiting until after calving season to break ground. A lot of things could change between now and then.”

“What kind of things could change?” she asked Remy suspiciously.

Remy gave an embarrassed laugh. “Now, Rielle, darlin’, don’t take this the wrong way. You are a damn attractive woman, but you don’t date. We know you’ve said no to all guys who’ve asked you out, not just us. Now you’re living with a man who saved your bacon a few years back?”

“You think I’m interested in Gavin because he’s rich?” Goddammit. Was that what everyone in the area would think? She’d assured Gavin it wouldn’t bother her…but faced with assumptions, she wasn’t so sure.

Both Chet and Remy burst out laughing.

“No, but the man sure is interested in you.”

She stared at them blankly.

Remy nudged Chet. “Told ya she hadn’t even freakin’ noticed.”

She had noticed how Gavin acted around her—she’d have to be blind not to see how he looked at her sometimes, stupid not to recognize the familiar way he touched her and a complete idiot to pretend to be unaffected by his attention. It just surprised her that Chet and Remy West had picked up on the undercurrent so quickly.

Or had Gavin said something to them?

No. Gavin wasn’t like that. But as far as she was concerned, that topic was off limits. “The only thing I’m interested in is you guys taking some of these tomatoes off my hands. You can swing by your mama’s house and earn major brownie points.”

“That’d be great. You’re a doll,” Remy said.

“And just for that, I’ll send a loaf of bread home with you guys too.”

Chet groaned. “Man, I love your homemade bread. Don’t suppose you’ve got any extra honey lying around?”

“Jesus, Chet,” Remy said and smacked him in the back of the head. “Don’t be such a fuckin’ mooch.”

“I’m not a mooch, asshole. I was gonna buy it.”

Remy dodged Chet’s retaliatory swat.

“Boys. There’s enough to go around. Let’s head up to the house.” She purposely didn’t say
my
house.

Gavin didn’t appear until Chet and Remy were gone. He leaned against the porch support. “I see you take pity on poor bachelors and send them home with food.”

She hadn’t shaken off the disappointing news yet. “The bachelors I like, yes. Why? You jealous?”

“A little.” Gavin started down the steps. “But since you feed me on occasion, I get the better deal, since I’m living with you and all. That seemed to interest them more than it should have.” He stopped in front of her. “Is everything all right?”

The man had no concept of personal space. She considered saying something flip, but a soft, “No,” slipped out and she dropped her gaze to the empty basket still clutched in her hands.

He took the basket from her. When she looked up, he curled his hands around her arms, moving closer yet. “Rielle. What’s going on?”

“West Construction can’t start on my house until next spring.”

“Because of the garage addition? Dammit, I told them I could wait if it would affect—”

“No, it has nothing to do with that.”

A calculating look entered his eyes. “If you need—”

Lightning fast Rielle placed her fingers over his lips. “Don’t you assume anything and offer me money or I swear to God I will scream or…do something equally horrible to you.”

His lips curled into a smile and he lightly nipped her fingers before she pulled her hand away. “I like it when you get feisty. But if money isn’t the issue, what is?”

“Time. If they can’t get started until spring, then that means I’ll have to move into the cabin because I’m sure you don’t want me living with you and Sierra indefinitely.”

The immediate fierceness in his eyes made it hard to breathe. “Now who’s making assumptions?”

There wasn’t any sign of mild-mannered Gavin. In fact, she’d begun to wonder if that easy-going man had just been a figment of her imagination—a pencil-pushing pushover she’d never be attracted to, therefore she could keep him at arm’s length. But this Gavin? No pushover. All man. All the time. And her attraction to him kept getting stronger every day.

“Listen to me. You are
not
staying in that cabin unless living with me is so heinous that you want to kill me in my sleep.”

“It’s not, I mean, you’re not,” she assured him.

“Good. So we’ll stick to the original plan. Because I think it’s been working great.” He grinned. “So, pity a poor bachelor. What’s for lunch?”

Rielle growled and smacked him playfully with the basket. “You’re such a mooch.”

But she made him lunch anyway.

Chapter Seven

Gavin strolled into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of iced tea. Then he peered over Rielle’s shoulder, waiting for her to acknowledge him.

In the past few weeks he’d gone out of his way to pester her—not that she considered the attention of a smart, funny, sexy man a chore. Gavin was interested in everything she did workwise and asked a million questions. So Rielle returned the favor whenever possible. Showing up in his office to chat. Since the man lived on the phone, she got to hear him acting all professional and business tycoon-y. But he hadn’t complained about her impromptu interruptions either.

“What’re you doing?” he finally asked.

He stood so close the deep timbre of his voice vibrated against her skin and she fought a shiver. “Updating my notes on the new vegetable varieties I planted this year.”

“Bad year for squash?”

“Which one? There are four genuses of squash:
C maxima
,
C mixta
,
C moschata
and
C pepo.
”

“That’s what I get for trying to be funny.”

“Squash is no laughing matter. So what’s up?”

“Have you ever done something under…duress and wished you hadn’t?”

That was random. But typical for Gavin. She kept typing. “Like telling a stranger she can live in your house until spring?”

“Funny, Ree. But I’m serious.”

“All right. What did you say under duress? And who’d you say it to?”

“Sierra. And I kinda, sorta, maybe promised…to buy her a car.”

Rielle looked up from her laptop. “Are you kidding me?”

“Ah. No.”

“And you’re telling me this…why? Because you want the parent-to-parent lecture on
not
rewarding your child’s bad behavior? The girl gets herself arrested and you’re buying her a car?”

“Yeah.” Gavin distractedly scrubbed his hands over the razor stubble on his face.

She squinted at him. He always bounded down in the morning dressed and clean shaven. It was afternoon and he looked like a bum—a hot bum, but nowhere near his usual put together self. “Gavin. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed. “This whole buying her a car business might seem sudden, but I had planned on buying her one in Arizona, I just hadn’t told her. Then all that shit happened with her arrest. So as we’re driving across country, I’m encouraging her to talk to me, and she broke down completely. Crying about her mom leaving and how abandoned she felt, how stupid she felt that her new friends avoided her and her old friends dumped her, and berating herself for letting her grades drop. We were finally really talking about that long overdue emotional stuff…and it just slipped out.”