by JQ Jones
I’m attracted to a control freak. I like it. Let’s get it right, I’m in love with a control freak and I like it. Didn’t see that coming.
Chapter Twelve:
Hard to Say It
They left the hotel midmorning, arriving at the small airport in the same limousine from the night before. Nora was silent on the trip to the airport, using her skills as a botanist to dissect the new feelings she acknowledged for Clint into the smallest of cells. The emotions were new, raw, invigorating, and intoxicating. She’d just be careful not to place herself or Spot into a position where she was too drunk to wiggle them out without either of them getting hurt.
Miguel, bright, open smile and dark sunglasses in place, met them at the jet. Nora returned the smile, enjoying the way the bright sunlight bounced red tints off his dark brown hair. He engulfed Nora in another big hug that she wholeheartedly returned.
“You look great again today, Nora. How are you doing?” Miguel said.
“Really good. Thank you for the compliment. You look just as fine is ever,” Nora said.
Clint physically stepped between them after a minute or two of mutual hellos. “Are we ever going to get into the air this morning?”
“You have to be polite, Cuz. Besides I have no wish to end up buried in a dry wash somewhere out on the ranch,” said Miguel. He disappeared into the plane while Nora and Clint settled themselves into the cabin. Clint sat across from her with his legs stretched out, leaning against the back of the chair with his hands clasped lightly behind his head.
Nora pulled out her computer and began furiously typing away, trying to get in last-minute notes on her meeting and equally trying to deflect any conversation coming from Clint. Now was not the time for a great confession of undying love. She was so engrossed that she didn’t even notice the plane was rolling down the runway until Clint reached over to close her computer. After they established their flying altitude, Clint acted as steward and got juice and water for Miguel and Nora.
“What are you working on?” Clint said.
“I think I’m giving away too much. Offering each one five percent of the business for the amount of investment that I’m asking would make their return on investment astronomically high. I just don’t want to give them that much control. With fifteen percent, they could band together and make my life a living hell. Besides, they don’t deserve it,” Nora said.
“Iona’s projections say that this could be a large part of an estimated $150-billion-a-year business. She also says that she’s low balling it because it’s really in its infancy and nobody knows how it’s going to take off. So there is some risk to this, but not the kind of risk where they should get that kind of return.”
“Let me see your reports and financials. I’ll read it until we get to the ranch and then we can go over some numbers, either later this evening or tomorrow morning,” Clinton said
“If we can look at it tonight that would be great because number crunching is not my forte. I’d much rather start working on some ideas I have for nutrients before I spend time trying to be a financial genius. That way Spot and I can be home earlier than you predicted. I really missed the little monster hanging out with me all day.”
They fell into a pleasant silence, each lost in their own point of interest. Right before they landed, Clint looked up from the report. “I know Iona’s work, and if she’s right then you’re sitting on top of a gold mine. And that means that you are basically giving away an awful lot of money. It also means that if the warlords are smart as you say they are, then they will realize how very lucrative this deal is. There is no way that they are going to allow you to remain head of this company.”
He shifted around in his seat and twisted hers around so that their knees touched. “It also means that you and Sebastian won’t be able to go home for quite awhile.”
“I agree with your assessment of the business but I don’t see what you’re saying about going home. You spent most of this morning preparing for us to stay with you without my buy-in. Not cool, Clint,” she said.
She leaned forward in her seat pressing her knees into his with ever increasing force until he opened his legs and allowed his to slide outside hers as he leaned in. He moved closer to her face and placed his hands on the outside of her armchair.
“If the Carlevaros family in Pennsylvania was willing to threaten to put you on a farm and lock you away for a crop that they get once a year, what do you think they would threaten to do to you if they knew that you could produce crops that could be harvested at least four times a year? Now multiply that threat by three, and you can see the size of the problem. You have to get yourself established, your company up and running, and you have to have some kind of protection until that happens. The best place for you and Sebastian to be right now is my ranch. There are men ready and available to make sure that you don’t get any undue pressure.”
Nora refused to back away from the strength of his argument. As he leaned into her, she leaned into him, and they were practically nose to nose right now. She stared intently into his eyes, checking to see if he was trying to bluff her. She could see the sincerity of his belief of what could or would happen if she and Spot went home.
She knew Mr. Vargas, Mr. Maxwell, and Mr. Carlevaros were very determined men willing to do whatever it took to get what they wanted. They wouldn’t stop until they got what they wanted from her. Although she’d known them most of her life, it didn’t mean that they would respect that fact or accept her ideas of how she and Spot were going to live. It was a tough place to be.
“I’ve not had a chance to think through what you just said, but I can see that it does make sense. I have no intentions of living with you with my brother longer than necessary. However, I am willing to stay with you until I figure out where we can go,” she said. She leaned over and kissed him hard on the lips, then slouched back in her chair with her eyes closed and her hands over her eyes, slowly rubbing her temples.
“Every move I make, I have to remember it’s just not me. It’s also Spot. I can’t pull him into a life that he’ll get used to and then pull him back out. That’s not fair to him. Not fair to me either, but I can get over it.”
“Let’s just take this slowly,” Clint said. He removed her hand from her temples to be replaced by his. He rubbed her temples with two fingers of each hand and talked to her as softly as he could over the roar of the jet engines.
“You and Sebastian stay with me where you can be safe for a couple weeks. In the meantime, both of us can look for somewhere where you guys can be set up,” Clint said. “Can we agree on that?”
“I’ll just have to figure out how to make it work,” she said. He pulled her into his lap and held her for the rest of the flight home.
* * * *
Clint gathered their luggage and swung it into a waiting, old Jeep. He was able to find a battered straw hat from the messy backseat, and he plunked it on Nora’s head before he barreled down the dusty road.
As they pulled up to the Menendez ranch house, Nora could see Spot sitting on the front steps, looking anxiously down the road. He was off the steps and standing in the driveway before the Jeep stopped rolling.
“Nora, are you okay? Ernesto said Clint would ruin you,” Sebastian said.
Ernesto, standing on the porch, looked slightly uncomfortable but did not hesitate to look directly back into Clint’s eyes. The staring contest lasted until Adriana cleared her throat.
Sebastian and Nora clung to each other as if they had not seen each other for over a month. She brushed a tear before she stood up and hugged both Adriana and Ernesto. Her brother looked so happy and so very strong and tall that she knew her baby Spot was gone now to be replaced by the boy, Sebastian.
“I’m not ruined, just slightly undone,” Nora said.
“What does that mean?” Sebastian said. He quickly followed that with another question. “When are we going home?”
Clint decided to ignore the first question and answer the sec
ond. He got down on his knees to look the young man directly in his eyes. “Your sister and I decided that you guys should stay with me for the next few weeks. Is that okay with you?”
“Cool, dude, I got a lot to do around the ranch. I can’t ride very well but Mano is teaching me and I’d really like to get better at that. Besides, nobody seems to take care of the dogs and they like me,” Sebastian said.
Adriana shooed them into the house where she had fixed a light brunch for everyone. After eating, Nora went to the room that Sebastian had made his own and helped him pack up his things. Sebastian hugged knees all around and gave Adriana a big kiss before he joined Clint and Nora in the Jeep.
Clint’s ranch house was a single-story house that stretched out over a large plot of land. Inside, Clint showed them around his six bedrooms and the five and a half bathrooms sprawled into a low-slung one-story ranch house. The outside living space was covered under a patio, with a kitchen and a fire pit with a full bar. His outer buildings had space for at least six horses, although all the stalls were empty. The ranch house was made from huge river rocks and covered in winding ivy that curled up to a green tin roof.
He threw Nora’s bags in a large bedroom with the biggest bed she’d ever seen. A fireplace made from the same river rocks that made the house, only slightly smaller, stood to the left of a huge patio door. With an entertainment center discreetly placed beside the entrance to the bathroom, the room looked decorated but not lived in. Directly across the hall was a not much smaller room. It had a slightly smaller bed and overlooked a pool in the mountains and had the same decorated-but-never-lived-in feeling.
“I have to sleep in here all by myself?” Sebastian said. “Where’s Nora going to sleep?”
“She sleeps with me,” Clint said.
“Are you her boyfriend?”
“Kind of. She likes sleeping with me.”
“She scared at night or something?”
“I can sleep in here on your couch if you like,” Nora said.
“No, but I’d feel better if I had a dog,” Sebastian said.
“No way, but I’ll get you a walkie-talkie so you can call me during the night,” Nora said.
“I can offer a compromise to you both. There are plenty of dogs on the ranch, and I can have one here in ten minutes if your sister says it’s okay. But when you leave he’d have to stay here. Is that okay with you?” Clint said.
“Please, please, please, Nora. What’s his name, Clint?”
“Big Max.”
“Big Max, I know him, he’s huge. Please, Nora, this is a real big house with no people in it and I’ll get lonely here all by myself when you start to work. You know how you get. When I’m out cowboy-ing I still need somebody to hang out with. Big Max would be great. He’s really cool,” Sebastian said.
Clint opened the back door and stepped out onto the open kitchen space and let out a high long whistle. After a few minutes, a dark shape appeared and grew larger and larger until a huge, black Newfoundland dog appeared. Its black eyes went from one person to the next and then looked up at Clint as it sat at his feet. The dog itself came to Clint’s waist, almost to Nora’s chest, and towered over Sebastian just slightly.
“Big Max, this is Nora and Sebastian.” That was all the introduction needed. The dog lumbered toward Sebastian and licked him once and then followed him into the house.
“What if Hound of the Baskervilles eats him during the night or something?” Nora said.
“Big Max been known to eat a rabbit or two, but no kids that I know of. Since we share the dogs between the ranches they pretty much have the run of the place, but they each have a house they prefer and sleep at. Max is the floater. He protects the houses, too, but only sleeps where he wants to. I’ve never given him a specific command, so he might disappear for a few days at a time. I think he likes kids. He can spend time with Sebastian.”
“I have to trust you on this one. I’m just too tired right now to think about what it all means,” she said.
“Take a quick nap, and when you wake up we can go back to your workshop. I don’t make statements lightly. I’m not totally sure what you and I will do in the future, but I plan on protecting you and Sebastian until I feel you can be safe out there without me.”
Nora began to worry her bottom lip with her teeth.
“That could be a very long time,” Clint said.
Chapter Thirteen:
Weep For Yourself
Two weeks went into three without Nora even noticing the time passing. She and Sebastian had become a part of Clint’s house without any issues or problems. Sebastian loved living there. He had the attention of every adult on the ranch complex and the love of a huge dog that never seemed to leave his side. But Nora was slightly uneasy. She spent a lot of time in a converted horse shed, setting up her hydroponic system, but when it was quiet and she had a chance to think she realized that she was a part of Clint’s life but not quite.
Their routine was pleasant, uncomfortably pleasant. Max and Sebastian had the run of the entire 17,000 acres of ranch. The pair could be seen anywhere from the Menendez ranch, to CJ’s main complex, to Clint’s house, and every nook and cranny in between. Even with the addition of two horses and a pony, Nora’s workshop was slowly taking on the look of a real hydroponic system.
She made it a point to have quality time with Sebastian every evening when he finally came home, usually after eating at Adriana’s and again with Manuela. Sometimes she felt that she was smothering him and trying to clutch onto him in response to all of the attention coming from the other women. Sebastian was still his same sweet self, although he did tend to curse just a little bit more because it was the “cowboy way.”
In addition to her work life, Nora and Clint slept together every night. The key word was slept. A week ago, Nora noticed that unless she initiated sex, they didn’t have it. So she just stopped. Since then, they slept nude and in one another’s arms, but no sex. She didn’t really know why that was, but speculation led her to the fact that maybe she was just too damn pushy. The few relationships she’d had in college had been sex-fueled fuck sessions that had ended when the passion did. She had no experience in telling when a relationship had turned the corner into we-live-together territory. She didn’t have enough nerve to ask.
She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and went back to work. Her initial plan was to concentrate on hydroponics, but over the weeks the system had evolved into an aquaponics development, because of a good, cheap and renewable source of tilapia and shrimp hatchlings. Now she devised yet another mixture of nutrients that would be transferable from plants to fish or shrimp. It was a major dilemma. Everything depended on taste. Food that was tasteless was food that would be wasted.
The problem was one she relished, because it kept her mind away from the fact that she shared a bed with a man she wanted every night but who regularly wrapped her in a bear hug, kissed the top of her head and went to sleep.
Both problems made her seek a drink. She stopped working early in frustration more than anything else. She stomped into the kitchen to find Manuela, Clint’s cousin and the housekeeper the main house, there. Manny quietly placed different dishes in the refrigerator. The older woman had been diligent about feeding Clint, Sebastian and Nora every other day. Although to Nora’s eyes she looked a little, not sickly, but not quite well.
“I appreciate you doing this, Manny, but we can eat whatever I can scrounge up, you know,” Nora said.
“I know, but Clint never eats right, and you’re busy and Sebastian is a growing boy, so the least I can do is bring you over leftovers. Iona and CJ rarely eat what I fix. It’s a shame for it to go to waste,” Manuela said.
“Do you have time for a drink?” Nora said. She reached into the upper cabinet and pulled down a large bottle of vodka, a six pack of tonic water and retrieved a bucket of crushed ice to mix herself a drink for the end of the day.
“No, thank you. I’ve got to get back to CJ’s, he’s having gue
sts over tonight,” Manuela said.
“Who is it this time?” Nora said.
“His cousin from England. He’s in town for a visit and should be spending the next couple of days here,” she said. She bustled around the kitchen putting away what looked like Cornish hens and rice.
“At least sit down for a minute, you look like you’re going to pitch over,” Nora said.
“I think I have a stomach virus or something. Nothing agrees with my stomach,” Manuela said. She sat at the bar that separated the kitchen from the family living area.
“Sit down. The least I can do is put the stuff away,” Nora said. She filled a huge tumbler with ice, half a bottle of tonic and an equal amount of vodka before she finished putting the food away and sat down beside Manny.
Manny sat with her chin propped in her hands and looking intently at Nora. For her part, Nora noticed that the older woman had dark circles under her eyes and looked tired and puzzled.
“Trying to drink your troubles away?” Manny said.
“No, just having a very bad day in the lab,” Nora said. “Living with Clint isn’t easy either.”
“You’re very young, I think Clint said you were twenty-eight? Clint is forty and he is very set in his ways. He has an idea in his mind of what he is, and that’s the way he’s lived his life. He is nowhere near as hard core as he thinks he is, but that’s what he thinks,” Manny said.
“I don’t know if I want to do this. I’ve never lived with anybody, I have Sebastian to think about and I’m a long way from home. I don’t want to sound like a wimp, but this is hard.”
“Relationships are hard, sweetie. Clint is my cousin and I love him to pieces, you need to give them a chance before you just throw away somebody that nice,” Manuela said. She heaved herself out of the chair. “I’ve gotta get back and make sure that the guests are taken care of, but if you need me you call me, okay.”