by Amy Star
“Clara makes anything and everything you can imagine, and the portions are generous.”
“I see that. I don’t know if I can finish all this.”
“Clara will be thrilled to hear that.”
No sooner had he said the words than someone appeared to take their food, reappearing with a bag filled with neatly stacked boxes. Eli took the bag and paid for the meal at the register, then led Ava to the door.
“That’s way more food than we had left,” she said, stepping out into the night air and trying not to gasp when the cold air hit her.
“Clara liked you,” he said warmly. “I’m not surprised; you’re easy to like.”
Ava blushed, but the heat wasn’t enough to keep a shudder from passing through her.
“Are you cold?” Eli asked.
“A little. I didn’t exactly pack for this part of New Mexico.”
He chuckled, setting the bag on a nearby bench and taking his light jacket off. “I wondered why you weren’t dressed warmer, but I heard that pregnancy makes you hot, so I wasn’t going to question it.” He held his jacket up, and she slid her arms into the sleeves. “Better?”
She nodded, inhaling the scent of him on the heavy fabric before she realized what she was doing. He smiled, picked the bag up in one hand, then slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close while they walked.
“So, what do you think so far?” he asked.
“I’m still a little bit overwhelmed, but this place is beautiful and peaceful.”
“That’s good enough for now,” he said, giving her a quick squeeze.
“What about Dallas? It’s a major city, and I didn’t really pack for a grand adventure.”
“I’ll take care of that,” he said. “And if you want to live somewhere outside of town, I’ll be happy to make that happen, too.”
“You don’t have to go to all that trouble,” she said. “I can work anywhere.”
“It’s no trouble at all. I want you to be comfortable.” He stopped, standing face to face with her and rubbing his hands on her arms to keep her warm. “If we want this to work, I need you to be honest with me. If something isn’t making you happy, tell me and I’ll do what I can to fix it, alright?”
“Alright.”
“Don’t just let it build until you resent the hell out of me for not being able to read your mind.”
A laugh escaped her. “When you put it that way, I guess I can’t blame you if you’re not psychic.”
“That’s all I’m saying,” he said with a wry grin. “No secrets, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, nodding.
“Good, now let’s get going. Sunrise comes early around here.”
She grimaced as she got into the truck. “I’m not really a morning person.”
He laughed and turned to wink at her. “That’s about to change.”
CHAPTER SIX
Ava squinted against the sunlight that flooded into the room through the bank of windows on two walls. She groaned, rolling over to look at the clock with a scowl on her face. It was only half past six, but the east-facing windows were letting in so much light that it felt like noon. She sat up, blinking away the sleep and trying to get her bearings, the events of the past few days hitting her like it had each morning since she found out she was pregnant.
There we no curtains on the windows, so she gave up the thought of going back to sleep almost as quickly as it had come. Instead, she dragged herself into the bathroom, turned on the water and stepped inside the roomy shower stall. The water fell from a square panel directly above her head, more like a rain shower than a traditional stream. The warm, heavy drops soon had the stiffness worked out of her shoulders and her long hair plastered against her face.
She stood there for a long time, letting the water wash away all the tension that had been hanging around even after she’d gotten through the mess of telling Eli about the baby. So much had changed in the past week, and she was struggling. With each relief came the dreaded feeling that something was going to go wrong. Just like Zoey said, it all seemed too good to be true. The house, the beautiful land that she had already started imagining their child playing on, the fact that she’d unknowingly created a child with a man who had the means to make their wildest dreams come true. It was more than she had dared to dream, and she was afraid it would all come crashing down.
When she finally stepped out of the shower, she dried off with a large, fluffy towel and got dressed. She ran a brush through her hair and quickly braided it, then slipped on her sneakers and made her way downstairs.
She stopped when she saw him in the kitchen, wearing nothing but his plaid pajama pants, pulling biscuits out of the oven. Her breath caught at the sight of him, his smooth, chiseled chest and muscled arms taking her back to that weekend. Heat filled her body, and she felt herself flush as memories came back in little flashes of ecstasy.
He smiled when she came in, turning to look at her over his shoulder. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I made everything.”
“I see that,” she laughed, taking the plate he handed her and serving herself. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he said, then laughed.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just like being right.”
She took a bite of her eggs and shook her head. “It’s not hard to be right when you know there are no curtains on windows that face east. It was blinding.”
“It’s a great way to wake up.”
She stretched and took a sip of her orange juice. “I have to agree with that. Much better than an alarm at least.”
“I haven’t fed the horses yet. Would you like to come with me?”
She nodded. “You have more than one?”
“They’re happier if they have a friend. I have four horses in the barn right now, though it can hold six.”
“Do you have ranch hands that help with the cattle?”
“Sometimes. They have the routine down, so it’s usually an easy move. You don’t have to help if you’re not feeling up to it; I just thought you’d like a tour of the barn.”
“I would love that,” she said.
They fell into an easy silence, enjoying the colors of the morning sky as the sun worked its way over the mountain peaks. When they finished, Eli took her plate and his, loading them into the dishwasher and making sure all the lids were on the pans.
“Do we need to put that away?” she asked.
“No. My housekeeper will be by soon. She brings her son, so I leave enough for them to eat so she doesn’t have to worry about it.”
“Does she come every day?”
“Yes. When I’m not here, she feeds the horses and makes sure they’re taken care of. The rest of the time, she takes care of the house and makes sure it doesn’t look like a bachelor pad.”
“She does an amazing job.”
“I’m surrounded by amazing women,” he said, laughing when she made a face. He handed her a light jacket and put on his own. “Here, it’s a little chilly in the mornings. There are gloves in the pocket if you need them.”
He opened the door that led into the garage, walking right by the truck and opening the smaller garage door with a button on the handlebars of a large ATV. He patted the seat behind him, and she climbed on, her protests dying in her throat. She prepared herself for the roar of the engine, but it was nearly silent when he turned the ignition and pulled smoothly out of the garage.
“I always thought these things were really load,” she said in his ear.
“It’s a new model, completely electric and almost silent.”
He hit a small dip, and she grabbed for his waist, then laughed at herself for overreacting to being jostled a little.
“I think I need to toughen up if I’m going to be out here long.”
“You’ll get the hang of it. If you want, I can teach you how to drive it.”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s pretty easy. Gas is under your right foot, breaks on the handle bars jus
t like a bike.”
He stopped and got off. She slid forward in the seat, and he sat behind her. His strong arms were on her hips, her heart in her throat as she tried to concentrate on anything besides the man behind her. But she was too nervous, and when he leaned forward to point everything out and give her instructions, her hand was shaking with excitement.
“Now gently push the gas down; it has a lot of pow-”
Ava pushed the pedal and the four-wheeler leapt forward, dumping Eli off the back and onto the ground. Ava squeezed the handbrakes and lurched forward, gravel flying as she skidded to a stop and looked over her shoulder. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry,” she said as she watched him dusting himself off.
He jogged the five or so yards between them, a wide grin on his face. “That was something,” he said. “I was saying it has a lot of power for an ATV, so you have to ease into it until you get a feel for it.” She started to dismount, but he stopped her. “Don’t get off. You need to learn, and this is the safest way to learn.”
He climbed back onto the seat behind her.
“Safer for who?”
“Not me,” he laughed. “Now this time, let me finish explaining it all before you push the gas.”
“Alright,” she said.
He put his arms around her and grabbed the handlebars, his mouth so close to her ear that she could feel his warm breath against her skin. “Now, gently put pressure on the pedal until it starts rolling forward and get a really good feel for how much power it has before you accelerate.”
“Got it,” she said, doing as he asked, her hands on his wrists.
Despite the calm in his voice, he had an iron grip on the handlebars as she eased the ATV forward, then gave it a little more juice as he guided it up the hill. When she had a consistent speed going, he put his hands back on her waist and she took control.
“This is so much fun,” she said. “I need to get one of these.”
“Maybe not just yet,” he laughed. “I’m not sure my heart can handle it right now.”
“Are you alright? I didn’t even ask if you got hurt.”
“Nothing hurt except my pride, and that heals rather quickly.”
She laughed, pulling the ATV up to the barn and gliding to a stop. “I wish you could’ve seen your face.”
“You should’ve seen yours.”
He got off the four-wheeler and held his hand out to help her, even though she didn’t need help. She took his hand anyway and smiled. “I could get used to this place. It’s so peaceful, and I’ve always wanted to live on a farm.”
“I guess that answers what I was waiting until later to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
“I was looking at available places near Dallas, and I found a nice little ten-acre place that could use some TLC.”
“Would we be staying long enough to have animals there?”
He shook his head. “Nothing like horses or cattle, but it could use a herd of goats to mow down the place, and a donkey to keep the goats safe.”
“I love goats.”
“I thought you would say that. I’ll only be living there a couple months, but by the time I’m ready to leave, I could flip the place and sell it for quite a bit more than it cost. Or we could keep it as a vacation home.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I thought you were renting a place, not buying one.”
He shrugged. “Six of one, half a dozen of the other. It’s a nice place in its heyday. At the very least, we could clear it, and I’ll lease it to someone that wants to grow hay. There are so many options to make it a good investment, but that’s not why I bought it.”
“Wait, you already bought it?”
“I did, but that doesn’t mean we have to live in it. But when I saw it, I instantly thought of you.”
He pulled out his phone and opened the listing, swiping across the screen to show her the pictures.
“Oh Eli, it’s beautiful. It looks just like the picture of the farmhouse I have in my kitchen.”
“Complete with a wraparound porch. I thought you would like it.”
“I love it,” she said, then the smile slipped off her face. “But what if this doesn’t work out?”
He nodded, taking the phone back from her. “I thought of that,” he said. “And I wondered what you thought about me putting it in your name?”
“What?”
“Unless you find a place in Nebraska that is everything you’ve ever dreamed of. If you do, I’ll buy it for you. But I thought-” he shrugged and trailed off. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”
“No,” she said, reaching out to cup his cheek in her hand. “It was a sweet idea, and I love the place. I just don’t know if I want to be beholden to you for such a large purchase.”
He nodded. “No strings,” he said. “And frankly, it’s a drop in the bucket when you have as much money as I do.”
“I understand that, but what’s expensive is relative. This isn’t something I could buy on a whim.”
“I get what you’re saying. You don’t have to decide now, and if you don’t want it, no harm, no foul.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. I want you to be happy and taken care of. And I thought if you had somewhere to go that was all your own, you might feel a little less pressure than you would living here.”
She smiled, her hand still on his cheek. “This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever tried to do for me,” she said. “I’m not sure how I feel about it right now, but I promise I’ll give it some thought. If nothing else, you can put it in a trust for our child so they always have somewhere to call home.”
He smiled, covering her hand with his large one. “That’s the perfect solution,” he said, taking her hand from his cheek and kissing her palm. “I should have known that you would know just what to do.” When he looked into her eyes, her heart melted. “You’re going to be an amazing mother. Our child is so very lucky.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ava was exhausted by the time they returned to the house. She sat down hard on the bench in the mudroom and leaned against the wall. “Man, that was a lot of work. I don’t know how you do it every day.”
Eli chuckled. “Driving the four-wheeler?”
“I carried a couple buckets,” she shot back, feigning indignation.
“You did. It’s alright, I’ve been told pregnancy is exhausting. Not that I know firsthand, so I’m not going to judge.”
“Thanks,” she said. She stretched her legs out in front of her, looking at her feet and scowling. “I’ve barely got a baby bump, and my feet already feel so far away. What am I going to do when I can’t bend over?”
“I’ll help you,” he said.
Before she could stop him, he was kneeling in front of her, gently removing her shoes, rubbing her feet and her calves to get the circulation going again.
“That feels like heaven,” she said. “I didn’t mean I needed help now, by the way.”
“I know,” he said, looking into her eyes. “But I don’t mind.”
“Thank you.” She shrugged off the jacket he’d loaned her and hung it on the only peg within arm’s reach. “Do you think it’s this cold in Dallas?”
“It was pleasant Monday, but I’m sure once Fall is in full swing, it’s going to be a little chilly.”
“We should take a couple of these jackets, then. Maybe I’ll have Zoey send me some of my things.”
“You can do that, if you want, but there’s no need. We’re leaving earlier in the day tomorrow, and we’ll have plenty of time to hit the shops and get what we need.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“You keep saying that, but I’m going to do it, so you might as well enjoy yourself.” He winked at her. “Your regular clothes aren’t going to fit for too much longer, so I thought we’d hit up a maternity boutique, then head to the grocery store to stock up on all your favorites, because this place is a good distance away from the city.”
“I’m tired just thinki
ng about all that,” she said.
He stood and held out his hand. “Come on, I’ll start a fire in the hearth and we can watch the wildlife walk around the pasture like they own the place.”
She giggled. “They kinda do.”
“I know. That’s one of the things I love about this place.”
She took his hand and let him lead her to the couch, where she sat down and watched him light the fire with quick hands that knew their way around kindling. He crouched down, leaning forward to blow on the tinder until it caught fire, his already tight jeans cupping his round ass and stoking the flames within.
She remembered the feel of his skin beneath her fingers, the way his skin felt hot like he’d just come in from being in the sun. She wanted to touch him like that again, to absorb his heat as she nestled against him, hi strong arms wrapped around her, her heart full, if only for that moment in time.
When he sat back and admired his work, she turned to look out the window, pretending she hadn’t been openly ogling him while his back was turned. “There’s a deer out there in the field with the cows.”
He chuckled. “Cattle,” he corrected. “You’ll blow our cover in Dallas if you walk around calling them cows.”
Ava laughed. “How did they get in there? I thought you had fencing around the property to keep the predators out.”
“I do, but the deer around here are pretty bold. They walk right down the driveway at sunrise, and sometimes they stay out with the cattle all day.”
“I always thought they were crepuscular.”
He smiled. “Your inner nerd is showing,” he teased. “It’s sexy as hell.”
“That doesn’t explain why they’re out when they should be hiding away,” she said, avoiding the fact that he’d called her sexy. Did he realize he was playing with fire?
“Well, animals adapt any way they can.”
“Can’t the predators do the same? I mean, just walk down the driveway and into the pasture? Surely some of them can jump over the fence like the deer.”
He shook his head and sat down beside her, taking one foot on his lap. He started to rub the aching flesh, and she moaned. “No, the predators won’t come down the driveway.”