I got the point of vitamins in general, but I thought people put far too much faith in them. I didn’t believe a person could go pick a weed, eat it, and suddenly their memory would improve. Tea was for drinking, and maybe it’d help with a sore throat, but that was the extent of its ‘medicinal powers.’
“New Age fluff,” I said with a sigh. I pushed myself off the truck, shaking my head. The things people would believe.
That glint of light came again, and this time, I recognized it as the sunlight reflecting off the chain holding up the open / closed sign. Someone was flipping it over to say it was closed. I caught a glimpse of a flowered skirt, but nothing else. I supposed it was the young woman who owned the place. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen her before, or if I’d even heard her name, but I didn’t really care.
Someone like her, into all that flower power free love shit, wasn’t someone I’d be interested in talking to, so there was no point in meeting her.
Six
Brea
Lamb Woodall.
Her name was actually Lamb. Not a nickname. Not short for something. Her parents had named her Lamb.
I made a mental note to thank my parents for giving me the sort of unique name that I had. I supposed Lamb could like her name, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be named after an animal, and certainly not an animal that was known for being fuzzy and timid.
I raised my head to watch her for a bit. I’d been looking over her résumé while she acquainted herself with the store so that when we sat down to the interview, both of us could ask questions. The last thing I wanted to do was hire someone who thought this was a florist shop. When I’d first opened, I’d had a lot of people come in, thinking that’s what the shop was. I needed someone who understood that, while I did sell plants, the point of Grow ‘n Heal was a function beyond simple beauty. Though many of my plants were beautiful.
Lamb took the lid off one of the jars and sniffed delicately. Fitting, I supposed since she was delicate. Barely over five feet and with fine features, she was the definition of the word. I felt huge next to her.
Damn. She even sneezed delicately.
“Lamb,” I said. When she didn’t respond, I tried again. “Lamb!”
She turned around, those long henna-red curls knocking a tin of tea to the floor. She flushed, pale skin going blotchy, and immediately bent to pick up the tea…and bumped into a display, nearly knocking it over.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Just leave it. We can pick it up later.”
She gave me a concerned look, and I smiled at her. I’d been a little worried about possibly hiring someone more than a decade older than me, but Lamb not only looked like she was younger, she acted like it too. Not immature, necessarily, but rather…inexperienced in some way.
“Miss Chaise, I’m sorry. I just get clumsy when I’m nervous.”
“It’s okay,” I said again. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. And it’s just Brea, not Miss Chaise.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Miss–I mean, Brea.”
I gestured to the chair across from me. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me a little about yourself, and why you want to work here. And be honest. It’s all right to say that this is the only place hiring right now.”
She let loose an odd giggle that made her seem even younger. The strange thing was, I didn’t get the impression from her that it was something she put on. Whoever she was right now was who she was all the time.
“That’s not why I want to work here,” she said. “I don’t even know who else is hiring. I just walked by here and saw that you were looking for someone and I had to come in because I just love this place.”
I leaned back in my seat. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here before.”
“No.” She shook her head, blood rushing to her cheeks again. “I’ve been going through the website and trying to learn as much as I can…so I can impress you…fudge-icicle.”
I blinked. An inventive take on that pseudo-curse that I’d never heard before.
“Lamb,” I said, “why don’t you just tell me about why you want to work here and why you think you’d be a good employee.”
Not like I had much in the way of other options since the only other applicant I’d gotten was Adam Freeman who’d ogled me the entire time, but I still wasn’t going to hire someone who didn’t have a clue about what I did here. The fact that she’d been looking at the website gave me a little hope at least.
“I’ve always been interested in plants and healing and how they can offer all sorts of benefits that people don’t realize. I’ve done a lot of research. Like all the ways mint is useful, like aiding in digestion, and how willow bark can help lower fevers and is a natural painkiller. I’ve read tons of books about homeopathic remedies and supplements.”
She did her homework. That was good.
“I don’t require you to actually make any of the salves or blends, but you’d be welcome to watch me and learn,” I said. “Most of the time, you’d be here by yourself, selling the things that are ready-made. If someone came in with a specific question, I’d expect you to call me if you didn’t know something with one hundred percent certainty.”
“Of course.” Her head bobbed up and down. “I really want to learn.”
“Good,” I said with a smile. “Do you mind if I ask a couple questions?”
“Please.” She folded her hands on her lap.
“What would Ranunculus ficaria be used for?” I went with something obscure to see just how deep she’d gone with her research.
She frowned. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that one.”
“It’s usually called pilewort.”
Her forehead furrowed as she thought. “I don’t know it.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “It’s a bit of an obscure one. When you look at a lot of the labels, I’ll have the Latin name, as well as the common name.”
“What does pilewort do?”
Good, she was curious about the answer rather than remaining ignorant about it.
“It can be made into a salve to help with hemorrhoids.”
“Oh.” She blushed.
“Any of the books you see, you’re more than welcome to read. I encourage you to at least look through some of the remedy ones to familiarize yourself as much as possible. Things in here are usually slow. That’s a good way to stay busy but still be doing something work-related. And if you want to buy any of them, you get a thirty-five percent discount.”
“That’s wonderful,” she said.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
She nodded. “What about rituals?”
And there it was. The other common misconception about my store. I tried not to sigh.
Her blue-green eyes widened. “I know there are all sorts of plants used in cleansing rituals, protection, things like that. I know you wouldn’t do anything dark. I’m very interested in learning how to cleanse auras.”
I forced a smile. “That’s not what I do here. If someone wants to buy plants to use in something like that, they’re more than welcome to, but I don’t put together anything for rituals. What a person believes is their business, and I make a point to stay neutral. The supplements and homeopathic remedies I offer are science based.”
“Of course,” she said, color leaving her face as quickly as it had rushed in before. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You didn’t,” I said honestly. “I want you to ask questions. It’s how I learned, and if you’re interested in more than simply running a cash register, it’s how you’ll learn too.”
“Does this mean I have the job?”
She wasn’t a bad sort of person. I could handle a little dotty. I had lived with Blair and Kevin, after all. For nearly a full month when I was thirteen, Blair had color-coded her wardrobe to influence the weather by sending positive color vibrations out into the universe, and around the same time, Kevin had started off each morning standing on his head to encourage toxins to
leave his body.
“It does.” I held out my hand, but Lamb squealed and ran around the table to hug me.
“Thank you so much,” she gushed. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”
I hoped not. “Why don’t you come in Monday morning and we’ll start going over things.”
She nodded, hugged me again, and then practically danced out of the shop. I stood at the door and watched her go, unable to stop a smile. She really was a sweet person.
As I started to turn away, movement caught my eye. The man’s back was to me, but even from across the street, I could sense how much power was in that body. At five-and-a-half feet tall, I was a little over average height, but the man I saw was easily three or four inches above six feet, with broad shoulders and muscles that his flannel shirt couldn’t disguise. He had light brown hair that looked like it could use a trim, and as he turned to get into his truck, I saw enough scruff to tell me that he hadn’t shaved in a day or two.
Then I recognized the strong jaw and scowl. Blake Hunter. He’d already been living on a ranch outside the town when I arrived here, but I’d only seen him a handful of times since then, and I’d never spoken to him. The people in Rawlins talked about him on occasion, but I’d gotten the impression that other than the fact that he kept to himself, there really wasn’t much in the way of gossip when it came to him. Most of what I’d heard was about how he was gruff and sometimes rude, but that most people wrote it off as him just being eccentric and anti-social. There was, however, some talk among people of the female persuasion that he’d occasionally hook up with someone in town. He must’ve picked discreet women because no one I’d ever heard talking about it had been with him, but the rumors were there.
He was handsome enough, I supposed, but I didn’t understand people who seemed so angry all the time. I couldn’t imagine allowing that much negative energy into my life. I might not have been into auras and that sort of thing, but I believe that every person has an energy about them that comes from how they see the world and what they put out into it.
It was sad, I thought, that someone who appeared to have so much to give was so angry at life. I almost wished that I did believe that I could make him a tea or a salve that would open his eyes to the beauty of the world and all it had to offer.
I sighed and flipped my sign back to open before returning to my work. I had enough on my mind with this new shop and my parents being here. I didn’t need to take on the burden of someone I didn’t even know.
Seven
Blake
Rannell’s Feed was my last stop on my way home, and I was glad to get there. I had enough in the way of supplies to keep me for at least a few weeks, which meant I wouldn’t have to interact with anyone but Shane and Annie until I ran out. I rarely even saw the delivery people since I spent so much of my time in my workshop and at the forge. That much peace and isolation was exactly what I needed after the time I’d spent in Boston, and after my interaction with my new neighbors.
I placed my order with the cashier and then headed out to pull my truck around back to be loaded. Rannell’s had changed their insurance last year, and now I couldn’t load up my own feed bags either. Marcel opened the back of the truck and started loading the bags of feed into the back. I stayed in the driver’s seat, checking my email and mentally preparing for what I had to do when I got back to my place.
A knock at my window startled me, but when I looked up, what I saw kept me from snapping. The woman was tall, slender, and probably in her early twenties. She had honey-blonde hair and blue eyes, the sort of features that a model would have envied.
Where the hell had she come from?
I rolled down my window. “Can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Mindy.” She smiled, dimples forming at the corners of her mouth.
“Blake.”
She paused, apparently waiting for me to say something, but when I didn’t, she put her hand on my door and leaned forward slightly. “I’m here visiting my brother, Desmond, and I’ve been bored out of my mind. Today’s my last day before I head back home, and I was looking for something…memorable. You look memorable.”
“Where’s home?”
I wasn’t making small talk. I needed to know if ‘home’ was close by. I didn’t want to risk her being close enough to come back if she wanted more than what she was angling for right now.
“Miami. You actually live here?”
I gave her a slow, lingering look that ran from the top of her head down to her knees, which was as far as I could see without getting out of the truck. When I reached her eyes again, she tapped the top of my door with one manicured nail.
“Like what you see?”
“I do.” It’d been a while since I’d been with anyone. I hadn’t really been looking, but she was here, and if she was willing, I wasn’t going to turn her down.
“Are you interested in being my only fun memory of Wyoming?” She winked at me.
Just to be on the safe side, I asked, “How old are you?”
She laughed. “Twenty-five. And, no, I’m not looking for a relationship or romance or anything like that. I’m not married. I don’t have any kids. I just want a good, hard fuck. Does that hit all your questions?”
I shrugged. “Good enough for me.”
She walked around the front of the truck and got into the passenger’s side. I saw Marcel give her a look when he came around to tell me I was good, but I ignored it.
She, on the other hand, waved at him. “Nice to see you again, Marcel.”
“Damn. That girl don’t change a bit,” Marcel muttered. He looked at me. “Be careful, Blake. That girl could chew you up and spit you out.”
That was good to know. Meant she could take what I dished out.
I nodded at him, and we pulled away from the store.
“You got a place in town?” she asked.
“Nope.” I took the next right.
There was another long pause between us where I knew she was waiting for me to say something more.
“You don’t talk much, do you?”
“Nope.” I took another right.
“Okay then,” she said. She slid across the seat and put her hand on my thigh. When I didn’t protest, it moved higher, and by the time she had it on my crotch, I was half-hard. I should’ve told her to wait until we stopped somewhere, but I let her unbuckle my pants and pull down the zipper.
“Commando,” she said. “Should’ve guessed.”
She sounded pleased, but all I cared about was the hand wrapped around my cock. Two firm strokes and then her mouth was there, hot and wet around the tip before moving farther down. Holy fuck, her mouth was scorching. And the suction…fuck!
I jerked the wheel to the left a little harder than necessary, but I figured it was better to get someplace where we could get down to it than to crash because a stranger was sucking my brain out through my dick.
I pulled into the train yard and made my way behind a series of cars that were parked on one of the rails. I slammed on the brakes and put the truck into park, the vibrations from her laughter making me curse.
I grabbed her hair and tugged, far from gentle. She was still laughing as she came up. “I thought you’d like it rough. Good. Me too.”
I gave her a hard look, needing to see if she was telling the truth. She ran her tongue along her bottom lip, the challenge in her eyes clear.
“Get out.”
The smile faded. “What?”
“Get out. Drop the pants.”
She grinned again and moved away, opening the passenger door. I figured she would go around the back, climb up into the bed of the truck where I had a couple blankets tied over my supplies. Instead, she went to the front of the truck. By the time I was out and over to where she was, she had her pants around her knees, and she was bent over the hood.
I pulled a condom out of my wallet and rolled it on. “Tell me if it’s too much.”
She looked over her shoulder at me. “Fuck me.”
I grabbed her hips and drove into her hard and deep. She let out a yelp as she went up on her toes, those fancy nails scratching at my hood. Good thing I hadn’t taken her face to face. She would’ve torn the shit out of my back and shoulders.
And probably deafened me.
“Yes! Yes! Fuck, yes! Harder!”
I reached around and slapped my hand over her mouth. The last thing I needed was someone at the train yard hearing us and thinking some woman was in trouble. I didn’t need to add pervert to my reputation as a recluse, and public indecency was almost as bad as the rough sex I liked.
Mindy’s body bucked and writhed, the gush of liquid and spasming muscles telling me she was coming. Two more strokes and I came too, forgetting for several white-hot seconds about everything else but how good I felt.
Eight
Brea
I had to admit, my parents had chosen a beautiful place to build their retreat. The house was big, but still had room to expand if they wanted to add on. Trees had been planted around the property, offering areas of shade where benches and rock gardens had been set up. They’d gone all out with landscaping and interior decorating, more than I would’ve expected.
They’d put a decent amount of thought into this, which made me wonder if, for the first time, they’d make it a year or two before taking off again. I had to admit, I didn’t hate the idea.
“What do you think?” Blair asked as she followed me around the space they’d designed for me.
“Large windows, an open space.” I turned around to face her. “It’s wonderful.”
“Have you ordered the display cases yet?”
“I did. And I ordered more supplies. They should get here next week.”
“Is that when you think you’ll be moving in here?”
The look on her face was so hopeful that I almost wanted to lie to her. “I’m not moving here. You know that, right? I’ll keep some things here for any time I don’t want to drive home, but I love my apartment.”
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