“Hang on a minute,” I frowned at him as I took a sip of my cocktail through the fancy straw, “your cousin is Lenny Roblinski?” Fuck. That guy was supposedly a pimp...
He shrugged and nodded, “Someone’s gotta be related to him,” he muttered, “Guess I just got really fucking unlucky.”
I nodded, “And so your brother was...?”
He raised his massive blue eyes to mine and nodded again, “Yeah.” He said, “We weren’t really what you’d call close – what with him only having a relationship with heroin and crystal meth in the end but he was still a buffer, you know...?” he went red. Clearly thinking he’d said too much he changed the subject, “So, what do you do?”
I smiled shyly at him. I really wasn’t one for talking about myself. I’d always kind of thought that I had nothing to tell anyone worth listening to, “Well, I live up at Northcote farm on the east side.
He nodded, “Oh, yeah.” He said, “I know the place.”
I rolled my eyes, “Mum wants me to take over the running of the place when she retires...” But I wanted more... I wanted to go places. Travel the world, get my degree in art and be an artist...
Hendrix (I know – who has a name like that? So fucking cool) looked at me with interest, “Oh, wow.” He murmured, “What sort of farm is it?”
I blinked, “Well, you know – we do potatoes and carrots and swedes and beetroots – we supply the markets and we have a couple of lines of the ‘posh’ veg in the supermarket in the town. Cavalo Nero and Pak Choi among others.”
His eyes widened, “Oh, wow.” He breathed, “That sounds amazing.”
Amazing? It was hard work and pretty damned boring as far as I was concerned. But I guess I’d grown up with it. He was looking at it with fresh eyes – and through a pair of (very heavily tinted) rose-tinted glasses... I shrugged, “Yeah, I guess it’s pretty cool – but getting up at five in the morning soon starts to piss you off.” I grinned. It was no joke getting up that early to go around the farm checking everything before heading off to college.
It had been nice when we were kids. My sister was two years older than me and she’d left for university two years ago. She was doing really well and she really didn’t want to come back for anything more than a visit these days, having met the man of her dreams.
Sadly, Dad died a year ago – leaving us financially quite well off – but still with the working farm to manage between me and Mum.
Mum was passionate about the place but I really wasn’t. My passions lay in the beauty of the place. I couldn’t deny that. I could spend hours sitting in the fields, sketching the landscape and watching the birds in the trees and the hedgerows going about their business. It was an idyllic place to grow up but it wasn’t really where I wanted to spend the rest of my life – just me and Mum. I wanted to spread my wings and fly. And meet the man of my dreams... But hello! I think I just had...
He was looking back at me with a little smile on that gorgeous rose-bud mouth of his. I really wanted to kiss those beautiful lips. They were so red in his pale face. He was like a model. All golden haired and massive blue eyes. He looked like a doll. “Yeah,” he agreed, “I can see how that could become a little wearing. I’m usually just getting in at that time.”
I chuckled, “Party animal.” I joked.
He sighed and shook his head, “Well, not really.” He muttered, “I’m just trying to survive.”
I frowned, “Want to come back to the farm?” I offered, “I could show you around?” It was lame but hell, what else did I have to offer?
I was convinced he’d tell me to fuck off but he didn’t. He nodded his head, “I’d love that.” He said enthusiastically, scrambling off his barstool. “Now?”
His eyes were sparkling and he suddenly looked like a little kid at Christmas. My heart melted, “Sure.” I agreed. I reached for his hand but he snatched it away from me, “Not in here.” He muttered. “I’ll go to the bathroom – you head out and wait for me.”
I blinked, “Oh, okay...”
He nodded and disappeared to the bathroom.
I headed for the doors. Buzz looked at me in surprise, “Going already, mate?” he asked.
I shrugged and nodded, “early start tomorrow.” I said.
He nodded, “Say hi to your Mum for me.”
I nodded and grinned. Mum was quite well known around the community. She did farmers markets on the first Saturday of every month in the town square and I helped her out for most of them. Buzz was a regular customer along with his cute little boyfriend and Mum adored the pair of them. She often told me I should look for a guy like Buzz. But there was only one Buzz and he already had his happy ever after...
Well, now I might have found mine – but there were things about my mystery man that I needed to figure out before I allowed myself to fall in love...Ahh, who the hell was I kidding? I was halfway there already.
Short Stories by Heather Mar-Gerrison
Friends
Zoe’s First Date with Fate
Save The Last Dance (Dance #1)
Can We Dance (Dance #2)
Inevitable…
Seven
Something Stupid
Maybe Never…
Kiss The Boy (Boy Next Door #1)
Are We Good...? (Boy Next Door #2)
Equal Measures (Boy Next Door #3)
Some Kind of Paradise (Boy Next Door #4)
Without You... (Boy Next Door #5)
Looking for Trouble (Boy Next Door #6)
Best Boyfriend Ever... (Boy Next Door #7)
Racing Hearts... (Boy Next Door #8)
I need a little time... (Boy Next Door #9)
What If... I Belonged to You? (What If? #1)
Coming Soon
What If... I want commitment? (What If #2)
What If... I Remember? (What If? #3)
Contemporary Romance by
Heather Mar-Gerrison
The One That Got Away
If I Can’t Have You
Like No Other
Summer Break (Summer Break series #1)
Too Easy to Pretend
Operation Boyfriend (Operation Boyfriend #1)
All Kinds of Trouble (Operation Boyfriend #2)
The Trouble with Tyler (Operation Boyfriend #3)
What Happens with Vegas (Operation Boyfriend #4)
True… Love (Riverside #1)
Tomas… Enchanted (Riverside #2)
Tatum… Undercover (Riverside #3)
Toby… Captivated (Riverside #4)
Trey… Unbelievable (Riverside #5)
Sam… Distracted (Riverside #6)
Peyton... Protected (Studs & Steel #1)
River... Redeemed (Studs & Steel #2)
Alfie... Abused (Studs & Steel #3)
Buzz... Bedazzled (Studs & Steel #4)
Looking out for Lorenzo
(A Studs & Steel Novella)
A Shoulder To Cry On
(A Studs & Steel Novella)
Coming Soon
Emilio… Enraptured (Riverside #7)
Riverside… The Weddings (Riverside #8)
Simon... Spellbound (Studs & Steel #6)
Seth... Saved (Studs & Steel #7)
Thai... Troubled (Studs & Steel #8)
Dangerous Love (A Studs & Steel Novella)
Summer Dreams (Summer Break #2)
Clean Break (Summer Break #3)
When Deanna Met Lincoln (Operation Boyfriend #5)
Misunderstood… Theo’s Fight For Love (Operation Boyfriend #6)
Heather also writes historical romance eBooks
The Duchess of Chittenden (Duchess #1)
Highway to Society (Duchess #2)
The Real Duke of Circhester (Brunswick #1)
Philip Brunswick is getting married (Brunswick #2)
Coming Soon
Matilda’s Escape (Brunswick #3)
An Unlikely Hero
The Lady and the Blacksmith
Rosy’s leap year
Gab
riella’s unexpected proposal
The Other Son… (Duchess #3)
Check out my blog at https://www.heathermar-gerrison.blogspot.com for news of my upcoming books.
Follow me on Twitter: @hmgwriting
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heather.margerrison.5
Follow me on Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/heathemg
About the Author
I live in Nottingham, England with my lovely, long suffering and incredibly patient husband and my two beautiful daughters. We also have two cats that we adopted from the RSPCA, Bella and Romeo... and a brand new member of the family – Enzo, our Border Terrier puppy...
When I’m not looking after a wayward puppy – I’m generally writing a book, any spare time I get between these two pursuits, you can either find me curled up with a good book that someone else wrote and a cat or a dog on my knee in place of the laptop, or I’ll be pottering about in the greenhouse, whilst plotting my next storyline in my head, muttering to myself like a crazy woman.... It’s not easy living with all the voices of my characters in my head!
Stake Out... (Studs & Steel Book 5) Page 16