Single Mom's Protector - Complete Series

by Nella Tyler

  Tuck grinned. “Not yet, anyway,” he said, before pulling away from me and ducking back under the clothesline to head out to the fields. I shook my head to myself and watched him until he disappeared into the tall, growing corn, beyond the fence that separated the yard from the acres of cultivated land.

  I thought about what Tuck had said. He was right in the fact that I didn’t know for sure what reasons Cade had for suddenly not wanting to hang out with me, for avoiding me. I didn’t actually know for sure that he’d lost interest.

  If I were a more patient woman, I might have been tempted to wait it out, and see what happened once Cade didn’t have a job riding on whether or not he dated me. Why did Dad even make that a condition in the first place? It’s so silly. It’s not like it would actually distract anyone all that much to be in love with me.

  Even as I thought that, though, I realized that it would; after all, I was around all the time. For a lot of people, it would be distracting to work out in the fields, only yards away from the woman they were interested in.

  But even after we’d had sex, I hadn’t noticed any sign of Cade losing focus on his work. When he was working, that was all he was doing, and when he’d been with me, that was all he was doing in those moments.

  But I knew my dad. It wasn’t just that he was worried about Cade getting distracted from his work; he had given the farm hand that ultimatum because he was worried about me—about how vulnerable I was, and how lonely, and how much it would break my heart to fall for a guy only to be abandoned again. It was kind of him, but at the same time I couldn’t help but resent my own father, even if just a little bit, for trying to coddle me that way.

  No matter the reason why Cade had given up and started avoiding me, I decided that it was best for me to do like I’d told my brother I would: let it go and move on with my life.

  I had gotten my fill of bullshit from Titan, and I didn’t see any need to put myself through the ringer yet again for someone who might not even be interested in me.

  If Cade tried to come onto me once again after the season was over, I’d have reason to believe that he’d only backed off because he didn’t want to lose his job. Then at least I’d have a choice as to whether that explanation satisfied me.

  But if he’d lost interest in me, and I’d waited to find out from him that he had for sure, then I’d be wasting months of my life when I could possibly find someone I liked just as well, if not better than him. If Cade wanted me, really wanted me, then he would make an effort to convince me of that once he was free to once more; of course, by then it might be too late.

  I finished up hanging the laundry out on the line, and told myself that if Cade came onto me once more after his contract with my dad had ended, I would decide how I felt about him and whether I was willing to try things with him, at that point—and no sooner. Maybe I’d meet someone in the meantime who hadn’t made such a promise to my dad. And if I did, it would just be Cade’s bad luck that I wasn’t available when he finally had a real, true chance at winning my heart.

  But even as I thought that, I couldn’t help but think that I would really, truly prefer to know whether or not Cade had lost interest. Whether I should even hope that there might have been something more to what was between us than a one-night stand. I went back into the house and pushed the idea out of my head; there was no point in making myself miserable over someone who probably wasn’t even interested in me.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Cade

  “You staying for dinner tonight, Cade?” I looked up from the nozzle of the pesticide sprayer at the sound of Bob Nelson’s voice.

  “I didn’t know that was on the agenda,” I told the farmer. He grinned.

  “Well, I figured, it’s a Friday night,” he said. “I don’t know what Autumn’s making for dinner, but we’d love to have you.”

  I thought about it; Bob seemed to be relaxing, finally. It looked like he didn’t have any real suspicions that I was doing anything inappropriate with his daughter, at least not anymore. Autumn was distancing herself as much from me as I was from her, and Tuck had calmed down on the aggressiveness.

  “I’d love to stay for dinner. Thanks for inviting me.”

  “Finish up this last row, and then come back to the house,” he instructed.

  “Can do, boss,” I agreed. Bob turned away as I pumped the pesticide canister and loaded it onto the motorized cart that carried it. I continued along the rest of the row, spraying the soybeans down, thinking about the dinner to come.

  I hadn’t had a bad dinner at the Nelson house since I’d started working for them; on top of that, it wasn’t as though I had anything planned for myself after work. It’d be as well to have dinner before heading home for the weekend.

  I finished up and brought the pesticide cart back towards the house, stopping at the shed where Bob kept all the tools and machinery. I put the cart away, took off the jumpsuit I’d put on to keep the pesticide off of my clothes, and headed to the house itself. There was no sign of Autumn or her mother; Tuck had just finished up, by the sight of him. “You staying for dinner?”

  “Your dad invited me,” I told him. “Who am I to turn down a free meal?”

  Mrs. Nelson came to the door and smiled at me. “You remember where to wash up?” I nodded. “Autumn is just finishing up dinner. You’ll have just enough time to get cleaned up.”

  “Thanks,” I said, returning her smile. I went into the house and sniffed the air; it smelled familiar—and not all that appetizing. The meals I’d had at the Nelson house ever since I had started working for Bob had all been so good and most of them had been made by Autumn. I shook off the impression, reminding myself that there could be several reasons for the off smell, and went into the bathroom to clean up.

  I washed my face and hands and neck, combed through my hair and pulled it back, and made sure I looked presentable. I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard—didn’t want to set Bob on the alert again—but I also didn’t want to look like a total scrub when I sat down at the family dinner table.

  “What are we having for dinner?” I stepped into the kitchen, and saw that Bob, Tuck, and Mrs. Nelson were already there; Bob had arrived just ahead of me, to ask Autumn.

  “We’re having salmon croquettes, with peas and carrots,” Autumn announced.

  I barely restrained myself from grimacing at the news. I had hated salmon croquettes ever since the first time my mom had made them for me—and I’d told Autumn as much during one of our conversations. There is no way that she made them by chance. I started to smile to myself.

  “Is that a problem, Cade?”

  “Not at all,” I replied. I smiled at Autumn; an unpleasant dinner wouldn’t kill me, and I wasn’t about to let anyone see that her little ploy had had any effect on me. I met her gaze and saw the challenging look in her eyes. “Sounds like a fine meal.”

  I sat down at the table in my usual spot and listened to the rest of the Nelson family chatting as they put the food out and passed it around. Addie was looking more and more like a toddler every day. She was going to be one soon, and I thought—briefly, very privately, to myself—that it would be a shame indeed if Autumn had to deal with throwing her daughter a first birthday party without a father to share the responsibilities.

  That’s none of your business. She told you about Titan; obviously he’s not interested in being a father. And if she wants help… I pushed the thought aside.

  I helped myself to two salmon croquettes to start with, some peas and carrots, a little of the tomato rice. I was definitely going to eat enough of the dinner to avoid looking like the contents of it bothered me, but I wasn’t going to punish myself. I felt Autumn watching me fix my plate, and gave her a quick smile.

  “We’re going to have some trouble in the next couple of weeks,” Bob said. “We’re supposed to be getting a dry spell. We’ll have to stay on top of the irrigation more heavily.”

  “We can keep a watch on everything,” Tuc
k said matter-of-factly. “It’ll be fine. We’ve been through worse dry spells.”

  I listened to the members of the family chattering, throwing in my own comments here and there, where it was relevant. Addie apparently felt much better about salmon croquettes than I did. She scarfed down the bites that Autumn gave her with eager hunger.

  “This is absolutely amazing, Autumn,” I said, looking at her with a little grin.

  “I’m glad you like it,” she said tartly.

  “Oh, I more than like it,” I told her. “It’s absolutely delicious.”

  I held her gaze as I ate a bite of the croquette. It was better than my mom’s had always been, but it wasn’t anything I’d actually eat by choice nonetheless. I saw the anger flare up on Autumn’s face at my praise, and saw her fight with herself not to react to it. “You’ll have to give me the recipe,” I added.

  “Oh, just a little of this and that,” she said, her voice a little tight. “Canned salmon, of course. Some onion, garlic, bell pepper…” she pressed her lips together. “I’ll write it all up for you before you go home, so you can make them whenever you want.”

  I almost laughed at the irritable look in her eyes. She couldn’t say what was on her mind—that she’d only made the meal to annoy me. If she did that, it would only get her a mountain of questions.

  “I’d appreciate it,” I said. “These are the best salmon croquettes I’ve ever had.” It was the truth, they were the best I had had, but that didn’t make them something I liked.

  “Since you like them so much, you should have another,” she said, holding out the plate. She raised one eyebrow a little bit, and I all but smirked at her.

  “Love to,” I said. It only made her angrier. She looked for a second like she wanted to slam the plate down, but she couldn’t do that any more than she could come clean about the real reason she’d made a meal she knew I would hate.

  “Autumn’s a great cook,” Tuck said. “I can’t think of anything she’s ever made that I haven’t liked.”

  “There are plenty of things I’ve made that suck,” she said, determinedly looking away from me. “I just have managed not to have anyone actually eat them other than a few tastes from me.”

  “What gave you the idea for salmon croquettes?” I ate another bite of the third one I had taken from her, and looked at her with a grin.

  “Just popped into my mind. I haven’t made them in a while, and we had that salmon in the pantry that was going to waste.” She was flushed, she looked well and truly angry. I almost laughed at the sight.

  “Peas and carrots are such a classic combination,” I said, before eating a forkful. Autumn knew for a fact—because I’d told her—that I had hated that particular combination, as well. Mom had made it probably two hundred times when I’d been growing up, and I had mentioned to Autumn that if I never saw another bowl of the two combined ever again, it would be too soon.

  “They do go well together,” she agreed, struggling to keep her composure.

  “You know, if we get a surplus on those soybeans, we should maybe consider blanching them and keeping them on hand,” Tuck was saying. “Then, too, of course there are a lot of folks that eat them…call it eda-something.”

  “Edamame,” Autumn said. “We don’t have the right kind of soybeans to do that. We could make soy milk or tofu, but the ones you want for edamame are a little different than the ones we have.”

  “Besides, there’d be no point in wasting good crops selling to restaurants when we can get money just fine from the folks we’re already selling to,” Bob Nelson added. “No point at all. Although, I like that you’re thinking of the future, son.”

  I felt the tension in Tuck, and wondered if, between his irritability and Autumn’s annoyance at my refusal to show any sign of hating her food, there might not be a fight at the table.

  “Just thinking about different ways we could get more money out of the farm,” Tuck said defensively.

  “You know,” I said, turning my attention away from Autumn for a moment, “there’s that patch on the new part of the property where it’s not really great for either soy or corn. You could do test crops there—maybe see if you could find something that would take.”

  “That’s what I’ve been talking to dad about,” Tuck said, nodding. “We need to make sure every bit of land that can be put to use is being put to use.”

  “I don’t disagree,” Bob said.

  They started talking about ideas, and I turned my attention back onto Autumn. It was as obvious as the sun at noon that she wasn’t getting any less irritated at me, and I was tempted to give her another little prod to see what she would do, but the last thing I needed was to be a source of a fight in the house. Better by still to let her stew in her own disappointment, brought on by her immature little ploy.

  I had to wonder why she’d gone to so much trouble to try and make a meal that she knew I would hate and not want to eat. She’d been avoiding me like the plague for a week or more, ever since I’d rejected her most recent invitation to go out and do something with her.

  I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the fact that she was obviously feeling rejected, but I would have thought that she’d have more to do with herself than take some petty revenge on me for turning her down. Apparently, I had been wrong about that.

  I got through the rest of the dinner, even managing to get down the banana pudding—another food I’d told Autumn I didn’t like—without a single complaint. I could see that she was only getting more annoyed and tried not to goad her into an actual fight, but it was gratifying to see the look on her face as she struggled to keep her irritability a secret from everyone else seated at the table.

  I wanted to get away as early as possible; if I stayed, I was pretty sure she’d just try something else to irritate me, in the hopes of pushing one of my buttons.

  I helped Mrs. Nelson clear the table after dinner and said my goodbyes, trying to make sure that I gave everyone the same kind and level of attention. I didn’t need Bob Nelson getting suspicious about me falling for his daughter again, even if it was marginally the truth.

  I didn’t hug Autumn, but then the look on her face told me that if I had tried, she would have done her level best to try and do something cruel or painful to me without being seen doing it. I shook Bob’s hand, thanked him for inviting me to dinner, and started out to my car.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Autumn

  As Cade said goodbye and started to leave, I felt the anger and irritation rising up inside me, beyond what I could take.

  I’d made a meal I knew that he would hate, not necessarily to keep him from eating dinner with my family, but at least to get a reaction out of him. The fact that he’d spent the whole meal complimenting my cooking, telling me how delicious it was, just made me more irritable.

  “Mom,” I said, as Dad and Tuck left the kitchen to go do whatever other things they had in mind—probably watching TV for Dad and some video game for Tuck—and Mom finished loading the dishwasher. “I’ll be right back, okay?” She raised an eyebrow and I thought that she might say something, since she was smiling at the same time.

  “See you in a bit, then,” she simply said. I hurried out of the kitchen and around to the front of the house and spotted Cade taking the last few steps to his car.

  “Cade!” I tried not to call out loudly enough for my brother or my dad to hear me, but loud enough that Cade would. “Cade!”

  He turned round and looked until he saw me. “Hey, what’s up?” I crossed the yard to catch up to him and shook my head, boiling in anger.

  “What’s up? What’s up is you making fun of me!” I poked him in the chest. “I know for a fact that you hate salmon croquettes and peas and carrots, and I know I am not nearly a good enough cook to be the one person to make either of those things well enough to make you like them!” I scowled up at him.

  “I wasn’t making fun of you,” Cade he, holding up his hands to block me from poking him agai
n. “I figured you’d probably made the dinner on purpose, and I also figured that it wouldn’t be good manners to make a stink about it.”

  “You could at least have just acted neutral,” I insisted. “You made me feel like…” I took a slow, deep breath and exhaled sharply.

  “Made you feel like what?” He leaned against his car and looked at me steadily.

  “I don’t even know why my parents invited you for dinner in the first place,” I said.

  “Because your dad likes me,” Cade said, and the playful tone in his voice only made me angrier.

  “He wouldn’t like you very much if he knew you’d had sex with me and then lost interest in me completely,” I told him tartly. “He wouldn’t like you very much if he knew how much of an asshole you’re being.”

  “How am I being an asshole?” Cade scowled at me.

  “How?” I stepped away from him and moved towards him again. I didn’t know if I wanted to punch him or kiss him. “How are you being an asshole?” I looked back at the house, hoping that no one heard me other than Cade.

  “You slept with me. You-you made me think you were interested in me, and then as soon as you got what you wanted…” I felt my eyes stinging and swallowed against the tight feeling in my throat.

  “You think that a one-night stand is all I wanted from you?” His voice was low, cutting right through the blood roaring in my ears. “Autumn.” He smiled slightly, shaking his head. “Why would any man on the planet only want one night with you?”

  “Titan…” I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. “It’s not important. What is important is the fact that you suddenly stopped paying attention to me and started avoiding me.”

  “Autumn.” Cade put his hands on my shoulder and I felt a rush of heat that had nothing at all to do with anger. He took a quick breath, and I felt myself taking a breath right there with him. “I’m still interested in you. I’m torturing myself over it.”