I shimmied out of the dress and put my clothes back on, grabbing it and stepping out of the room.
“How did it fit?”
“Great, thanks!” I smiled and made my way over to the shoes. There were so many there. My eyes widened as I looked at them all. I wanted sandals, that much I knew. I reached for a pair of black stilettos.
“Those would look adorable with your dress,” the sales woman said.
I turned and gave her a smile. “That’s what I was thinking.”
Her head tilted to the left. “Would you like to try them on?”
“Yes, please. Size seven.”
She nodded and walked into the back room. I kept looking around. What else do I want? I knew I should feel bad for blowing his money. I knew I should be trying to be careful with it. I crossed over to a necklace stand. I didn’t feel bad. Not in the least.
I couldn’t have cared less, to be honest. I reached for a necklace. It was simple, but it had a little tear drop charm. It would look really nice with the dress, too. I glanced up as I heard the woman come back into the room with the shoes. I grabbed the necklace off the shelf and headed for a bench so I could try the sandals on.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I took the box from her and slipped out of my shoes.
“Are you going on a date?”
“No. I’m not really sure what it is. I was told I needed a dress.” I shrugged. I didn’t care much. I slipped one shoe on. Oh yes. I didn’t even bother trying on the other one. I took the one off my foot, put it back in the box, and stood.
Together, the woman and I headed over to the counter. Truth be told, I didn’t care much what the cost was. I kinda tuned it out. I handed the card over to her when she gave me the total and that was that. I grabbed my bag with my new outfit, and then I thanked the woman and left, heading out to the dirty grey truck where Shane was waiting for me.
I climbed into the cab and tossed the card back at him, although I had been kinda tempted to keep it and see if he noticed. I could rack up some damn nice charges on there with a little online shopping, I thought.
He didn’t say anything as he gunned the engine and we headed down the street. “You should have changed in there.”
“You mean we’re going there now?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.” I sighed and reached into the bag. It wouldn’t be the first time I did this. “Okay, fine.” I really didn’t care if he saw my bra and panties. I pulled my shirt over my head and glanced over to him.
He didn’t take his eyes off the road as he kept driving. I had to give him a little credit. I pulled the dress over my head and then ditched the work boots and dirty jeans. I slipped into the new shoes I’d just purchased and put the necklace on. As the car pulled up to a red light, I reached into my oversized wallet and pulled out a tube of lip glass I always kept in there. Just because I was a bit of a hillbilly didn’t mean I didn’t know how to be girly.
As we waited for the light to turn green, I applied the lip gloss and I was ready. Now what the fuck is going on?
We pulled up to a restaurant and came to a stop. My jaw dropped. I’d heard about this place. It was a little French bistro that had kinda blown up overnight.
Is he for real about this?
I couldn’t believe this was the place he wanted to have lunch. No wonder he said I couldn’t wear my work clothes. I understood it, but I still didn’t like it.
~~~~
Okay, the dress was worth it. I was willing to admit that, but I didn’t dare tell him. I slipped my work boots back on as we headed up the dirt driveway of the ranch. I’d put my jeans and t-shirt on, too. I loved the dress, actually. I didn’t want to get it dirty. Even if I hadn’t paid for it, I wasn’t going to take the chance.
I carefully packed the dress back into the bag as we parked in front of our rooms and hopped out of the truck, circling around to the back. I was amazed with how well I had done with my initial packing. I’d only come up with a few things I needed to pick up at the store. I grabbed my other two bags and headed for my room. I stepped into my place, not closing the door just yet, and dropped my bags on the couch.
“Hey, where do you want your flowers?”
“Flowers? I didn’t get flow –” I turned to see him holding a bouquet in his hand. He grinned. I stared at Shane, processing everything. Holy shit. “Did you get those?”
“Well, yeah. If it wasn’t you, who else would it be?”
“But –”
“I mean, every first date needs flowers, right?”
I thought my jaw was going to hit the fucking floor when he said it. First date? I felt my knees get weak as I replayed his words in my head again and again. Was he for real?
“First date?”
Shane crossed the distance between us. “I figured if I told you it was a date, you might not be into it. But after last night, I figured this was at least worth a shot. Even if you don’t want it to be a date … I owe you for being such a dick the first day you came here.”
I stared at the man in front of me, unsure what I was supposed to say. “Thank you” is what I settled on. It was kinda lame, but it’s what came out and it’s what he was getting.
A smile touched his lips. “So … could we have a second date?”
I mulled it over. Yes. I wanted another date with him. But he was my boss, wasn’t he? I sighed.
“Shane … I work with you.”
“So what?”
His question left me confused. It was a big deal, wasn’t it? Everyone made it out to be when you dated someone you worked with, and he ranked higher than me, so it should be an even bigger deal.
“Isn’t it wrong?”
It was, wasn’t it? I mean, girls got blasted all the time for dating someone who was higher up the chain than them at work. Oh god. My cheeks went bright pink. Will everyone think I’m trying to sleep my way to the top of they find out? I felt fear tug at my stomach.
“Not in my books.” Shane shrugged, totally dismissing my question. He looked me up and down and smiled softly. “How about we give it one more try? If you still feel freaked out by it, we’ll call it quits and forget a third date.”
I nibbled my lower lip as I tried to decide what to do. I wanted to say yes, but I didn’t know what was going to come from it, and it really scared me.
“Okay.” I forced myself to say yes to the thing that frightened me. I forced myself to give it a shot, and if it didn’t work, then we wouldn’t go on a third date. If I still felt like it was wrong, we’d just stop. That’s what most people did in relationships, wasn’t it?
“Okay, good. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bright and early. Sound all right?”
I nodded.
“If you’re not out by five, I’ll come banging on the door.”
I smirked. “I’ll be there.” I’d be out by five easily. I watched as he headed out of my room, leaving the flowers on the small table by the door and closing the door behind him. I stared at the flowers, then crossed over to them and picked them up. I did the thing every girl does when they get flowers from a guy. I smelled them.
I couldn’t help smiling as I shook my head and walked into the bathroom. I grabbed the toothbrush holder and filled with water. I made my way into the kitchen and set it down on the mini fridge. I lay the flowers on what little space was still on the top of the fridge and pulled my knife out of my pocket. It was a rough cut, but I got all the flowers down to a size where they could fit in my makeshift vase. I arranged them and smiled as I stared at them. I thought about what he had said.
“Hey, where do you want your flowers?”
“Flowers? I didn’t get flow – Did you get those?”
“Well, yeah. If it wasn’t you, who else would it be?”
“But –”
“I mean, every first date needs flowers, right?”
A first date. I couldn’t believe I had actually been on a first date today. It was amazing. I hadn’t been on a first date in a lon
g time, and this one had knocked it out of the ballpark for sure. I felt my smile get wider. I couldn’t help it. Butterflies filled my stomach. For the first time in a while a man made me excited. But not just that. There was another emotion he made me feel that I hadn’t in a very, very long time.
I mentally shook myself and padded into my bedroom. The second I was inside, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and tossed it onto the bed before pulling my shirt over my head and unbuttoning my jeans. I slipped out of my pants and grabbed my sweats off the bed. I looked down at my phone, my brow furrowing as I stared at the small symbol that told me I had a text.
After getting my pants on, my bra off, and a tank top on, I grabbed my cell phone and looked down at it. Karly.
She was my best friend. Instead of replying to her text asking how things were going, I decided to give her a call. I hit the button and lifted the phone to my ear. It rang twice before she answered it.
“Hey! Did you get my text? How’s it going? Have you been up to much? Are they working you to the bone?”
So many questions all at once. I laughed. “It’s fine. How are you doing?”
“I’m good! You’ll never guess what happened.” I opened my mouth to guess. It was too late. “Angela and Matt started dating.”
My brow creased. Matt? I’d been crushing on him before I left. I mean, nothing crazy, but I thought we had something going on. A flirty banter kinda thing. I didn’t think he was in love with me or anything like that, but I thought he had some feelings for me. “O-oh,” I finally said, realizing I hadn’t replied to my friend.
“I know, right?” This time I realized just how mad she sounded. “I told her, too. I told her you had a thing for him and you’d be pissed.”
“Actually, I’m not.” It was the truth. I wasn’t pissed. I mean, I thought what Angela did was tacky, but I didn’t care much about the fact she had gone after him.
“You’re not? Really?”
“Yeah, really,” I said as I dropped down on my bed. I pulled the blankets over my toes.
“So … you’re okay?”
“Totally.”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed. There was a short silence. “Well, I’m not. I think it’s crappy she did that to you. What if you and Matt had … I don’t know. It’s just not something you do to a friend.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like I was waiting around for him to come see me. I went on a date today, actually.”
“Really? Why the hell did you wait so long to tell me? Details!”
I laughed. I waited because you hardly gave me a chance to say a word. But I didn’t voice my thoughts. I took a deep breath and started my story with my first day of work. When I stopped talking, I had told my best friend everything there was to tell, including the kiss and that we had agreed to go on a second date. And the price of the dress he had bought me.
“Wow.” Kayla sounded breathless.
“Yeah. It’s been … crazy.”
“No shit. I just … wow. So when do we get to meet him?”
“What do you mean?” I laughed. “We don’t even know if it’s going to go past a second date. I don’t think either of us are thinking about meeting friends and family.” Although it sounds like I’ve already met a lot of his friends. “Anyways, it’s complicated. Like I said earlier, he’s pretty much my boss.”
“So?”
“So … isn’t that wrong?”
“He doesn’t seem to care. Do you care, or are you just worried?”
I sighed. I knew I couldn’t lie to my friend. “I don’t know. I think I’m just worried about it being wrong more than anything. It’s not like I’d try to purposely sleep my way up to the top, so it’s not like I’m taking advantage of him. But I guess … if I break up with him he could, like, fire me or something.”
“Do you think he’d do that?”
“I have no clue.” Honestly, I didn’t know Shane well enough to know if he would or not.
~~~~
I spent a couple hours talking to Kayla. She gave me all the details about what I had missed and by the sounds of it, it wasn’t anything too interesting. Before hanging up she made me promise to go on third date, and she told me I should give him at least a fourth. I told her I’d think about it, but that was it. After we hung up, I fell asleep. I didn’t even bother to get up and turn the lights out.
Thankfully, I had my alarm set for four o’clock and it woke me on time.
I sat up, shocked. I hadn’t even realized I’d fallen asleep. What the hell? I looked around. The sun wasn’t up yet. That was good. It looked like it was just starting to rise. I pushed the blankets off and slipped out of bed as I glanced at the clock. He wanted me outside within an hour, which meant I actually had a fair amount of time to get ready. Maybe not a shower, though. That would wait until later.
I dressed quickly, checked my emails, and had something to eat before I headed outside. There was no sign of Shane yet, which made me a little happy. Although I didn’t have to wait long for him to come out of his room. “Morning,” he said as he pulled a sweatshirt over his head.
“Morning.” I nodded. I waited to hear what our game plan was.
“It’s going to be a short day.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t watch the weather, do you?”
“No,” I admitted. I glanced up at the sky. It was clear. “I just look up and see what it’s like.”
He laughed. It was an old joke, but I was glad it had made him chuckle. “Well, there is supposed to be a bad storm, so we have to get the horses in. We have to get some stuff tarped up, and we’re going to secure a couple of things. Then we’re going to call it a day.”
“How bad of a storm?”
“Well, it’s hitting either side of us right now and some of the places are at risk of flooding.”
Shit. “So bad.” I nodded. It wouldn’t be the first time this had happened. At least we had warning. “Okay, let’s get to work.”
Without another word to Shane, I turned around and headed for the ATV we’d been using.
Shane
The girl worked fast and I had to give her credit for that. Actually, she worked almost as fast as I did.
Today we were all out doing the same thing. We had so much crap laying around waiting for the crews to arrive and do the expansion. It all needed to be covered, otherwise we risked having to buy it again, and that wasn’t something we wanted to waste our money on.
No one talked unless it was necessary. By the time the sun was up, we were all sweating.
“Ken!” I shouted. “Come give me a hand.”
He nodded, crossing over to me. The sky had clouded over and it was starting to get dark.
“I hate this time of year,” he said as we grabbed a tarp.
“You’d think by now we’d be used to it.” This time of year was always bad. Despite the fact it was warm, it was common for us to get hail storms, which sucked for the farmers around here more than it did for us.
That was the end of our conversation for the next hour until everything was done and we were in the rec building.
“So, what now?” Gabby asked after taking a long swig of water.
“Now … we wait,” Alex said as he sat down on one of the couches. I followed him over to it and dropped down.
“We just had a bad storm not that long ago,” I groaned. This was the thing I hated most about living out here. The storms were often strong, and we could never work through them.
Gabby looked around. She didn’t make eye contact with me as she paced around the room, no matter how hard I tried to make eye contact with her. “I guess it’s a day off, then?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. You’ll get paid,” Ken said.
She turned and looked at him. “Really? But … it’s a day off.”
Ken shrugged. “You were supposed to work today, and you did work. You just did a days’ worth in a couple hours.”
She stopped in front of the window.
“Wow,” she whispered.
I glanced out the window, too. With the lights on inside the rec building, I hadn’t realized how dark it was outside. Shit. It was a good thing we got everything taken care of. I knew the three brothers always argued over whether or not to be safe when it came to storm warnings, but over the past few years the warnings had gotten more accurate.
I guess I could try and make the most of it. I mean, she did agree to a second date, right? And if we weren’t going to be working today … well, why not have a little fun?
I stood and walked into the kitchen. I glanced behind me just in time to see her follow.
“Is this normal?” she asked.
“Yes. It happens a few times a year.” Last time it had happened it seemed to work really well for Ken. I was hoping this time it would work out in my favor. I grabbed a bag of popcorn and tossed it into the microwave. “But it’s always a good time to watch a movie, if the power doesn’t cut out.” Then again, even if it did, we have a backup generator. Normally we didn’t use it if it was just us workers here.
Gabby nodded. “All right, then.” That seemed to be all she needed to know.
I stared at the popcorn bag slowly getting bigger for a couple of seconds. Then I turned to her. “You know, I was wondering if you’d like to ...” I didn’t want to be too forward.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I’d love to do something today. I mean, that is what you were going to ask, right?”
I smirked. “Yes. It was.” My heart raced as I realized she had just said she wanted to do something with me. My head tilted. “I have a bunch of movies at my place. Want to watch one there? It could get nice and cozy.”
“Sure.” She grinned.
I nodded and motioned for her to follow me. I made my way out of the building. As I passed the seating room, I caught Ken’s eye. A wide grin spread over his face and he gave me a quick nod.
The Billionaire's Fake Marriage: A Single Dad Next Door Romance Page 42