by Layla Hagen
If everything went according to plan, I’d be able to hire people full-time in eighteen months.
But for a one-person company, I was proud of how fast I’d made a name for myself in this business. For two years in a row, I won the Best Garden award granted by one of the most prestigious LA design magazines.
“Hey, Maddie!” they greeted in unison. I waved back, heading up to the house to drop my backpack in the foyer as usual.
“Good morning! How’s your ankle?” I jumped at the sound of Landon’s voice. He stepped through the open front door into the foyer. My God, was he gorgeous or what? He was wearing jogging pants and a shirt that molded perfectly to his chest. The short sleeves confirmed what I’d guessed on Friday when he’d held me to him—his arms were corded with lean muscles. Judging by the sheen of sweat on his skin, he must have just finished his run.
“Morning, Landon. My ankle is as good as new. Is Val here too?”
“Already left.”
“Oh, okay. I wanted to explain why I’m late. Someone broke my windshield, and I had to take it to the mechanic.”
“How did that happen?”
I shrugged. “Vandals, I suppose.”
“Did you already file a police report?”
“No, that takes too much time and usually leads nowhere.”
“Will is a detective. I’ll call him up and ask him to look into it for you.”
A warm feeling sprouted in my chest and I smiled up at him, remembering how he’d offered his help to Val on Friday. Landon Connor had a white-knight complex, and it was totally doing it for me. Not that I was a damsel in distress. I didn’t need saving, and even if I did, I could be my own knight. But it was sure good to know that chivalry wasn’t dead.
“Thanks, Landon, but I don’t want to waste your brother’s time. These things usually don’t lead anywhere.”
Landon stepped closer. So close, in fact, that I could see the contours of his six-pack. I snapped my gaze up to his face, praying that by some miracle he hadn’t realized I was perving at him. Landon was gazing down at me with an intensity that made my entire body strum.
He studied me, and being on the receiving end of his attention was making me squirm. “Does this happen often?”
The concern in his voice endeared him to me.
“This is LA. My neighborhood is okay, but these things happen from time to time. No biggie.”
His shirt was becoming more transparent by the second as he continued to sweat. And even though I usually found sweaty men unappealing, everything about Landon was beckoning to me, even his smell—a clean, manly deodorant scent.
Maybe the testosterone oozing off him was simply messing with my senses. I really had to quit staring. When I met his eyes again, I realized this time he’d caught me staring.
“I’ll give Will a call,” he insisted.
“You’re not used to being told no, are you?”
He grinned. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah. And I am saying no. I appreciate the concern, Landon, but I don’t have time to file complaints and whatnot. I should get started on work,” I said, finally remembering I was here to work on Val’s yard. Landon kept those beautiful green eyes trained on me until he took my breath away. Eventually, he relented.
“I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to hop in the shower.”
I tried very hard to push away any thoughts of a naked Landon only feet away while I started my workday. It was no small feat. I barely knew the man and he already had a spell on me, but I was determined to fight it. He was here on vacation, and I was here to work, nothing more.
I still had some scars from my failed engagement, even though it had been eight months since Owen and I broke up. I’d followed him to LA and didn’t regret moving because I loved the city. But when the relationship imploded, it shook me to my bones. I’d come to LA with dreams of building a life together, and after the breakup, I’d felt as if my life plan had been erased and I was standing in front of a whiteboard. I was still working on drawing up a new life plan. I had the professional part figured out, but my personal life needed work.
I focused on scooping the earth out of the first terrace level for the better part of the morning, only stopping when I saw Lori enter the yard with her son, Milo.
They both greeted me, and Lori said, “He’ll hang out with Landon for a few hours. Soccer practice.” Turning to her son, she added, “Come on, Milo. I think Landon’s waiting for us in the backyard.”
The fact that Landon liked spending his vacation training his nephew endeared him to me even more. Lori and Milo disappeared inside the house, and a short while later, Lori left.
I started laying the foundation for the makeshift wooden trail that would serve as the main path for the next couple of weeks. Transforming the slope into terraced levels involved dislodging bits of earth, and the old path up to the house would be caught up in the process. At the end of the project, I’d bring in a specialist in masonry to build stone steps, but for the moment, the makeshift trail would do.
By noon, I was halfway done with it when I heard an ear-splitting cry echo through the yard. Milo. Heart leaping in my throat, I sprinted up to the house.
My glutes and thighs were burning in protest by the time I nearly bumped into Landon.
“Do you know where Val keeps the first-aid kit?” he asked.
“I’ve got one in the car. What happened?”
***
Landon
“Minor cut under his knee.”
“Minor, huh? I heard him scream from the front.” She gave me a stern look I found adorable. “I’ll bring the first-aid kit from my car and wash my hands.”
“Okay, come directly to the backyard afterward.”
I soothed Milo until Maddie arrived, her hands clean, carrying the first-aid kit. Milo was sitting in the hammock, closely inspecting his leg.
“Hey, Milo, let me take a look at that.” She crouched over him, splaying her palm just under his cut. “Okay, that’s not a big deal. We’ll just clean it up and put a Band-Aid on it.”
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, and I didn’t hide my smile.
“But I’ll need stitches,” Milo muttered. “It splits open, look.”
Maddie flinched as Milo proceeded to pull at both sides of his leg and the wound parted.
“It’s not as deep as you think, Milo.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am sure. It’s going to pinch a little when I clean it, but you’re brave, aren’t you?”
Milo nodded solemnly and gritted his teeth as Maddie worked on the cut. The tenderness in her gestures stirred something inside me. She kept talking to him, distracting him, her voice calm and soothing.
Milo only loosened up after the Band-Aid was in place. He stepped down from the hammock, placed his foot tentatively on the ground.
“Hey, it doesn’t hurt at all. Let’s get back to playing.”
I laughed. “We’re done for today, buddy. We’re meeting your mom in two hours. We should go if you want that ice cream.”
“Okay, I’ll go change.”
After he went inside, Maddie asked, “How come you can play soccer?”
“Wanted to play pro. Even got a college scholarship for it.”
“Nice. So how come you didn’t go pro?”
“Moved back here after my parents passed away and focused on other things. I still play as a hobby.”
“Wow, aren’t you full of surprises?”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Her eyes widened and she sighed, a cute little sound I wanted to eat up. Her lips were perfect: pink, plump, with a sweet bow in the middle. This woman was seven levels of tempting, and I hadn’t been tempted in years. I didn’t want to be tempted. But Maddie had been in my thoughts all morning. The broken windshield still bothered me. She didn’t seem to need or want my protection, but I wanted to give it to her anyway.
“Well, I’d better get back to work,” she sai
d.
She went past me inside the house and I caught a whiff of her body wash, sweetly floral but fresh somehow. She smelled delicious. With a shake of my head, I resolved to put Maddie out of my mind.
I managed to keep my resolve for about twenty-four hours. Since I’d grown up in LA, my oldest friends were all here, but they only had time to meet after work. I’d arranged for some breakfast get-togethers next week, but this week, I’d reserved my mornings for Milo. Since it was the end of June, he was on his summer vacation, so he had as much time to fill as I did.
The next day, Lori dropped off Milo for practice at eight o’clock and picked him up at ten. I went for a run afterward and finished my tour at the front of the house. Maddie was a few feet lower on the slope, bending over, securing one of the logs. Her ass was sticking up in the air, and the sight was glorious. When she finally straightened up, her breasts bounced with the movement, and her face was flushed; half her blonde hair had fallen out of her bun. She looked a little wild, and that prompted an image in my mind—a flash of Maddie’s entire body reacting on a thrust, calling my name. I’d fist her hair while burying myself in her to the hilt.
She met my eyes and smiled sheepishly, smoothing one hand over her hair. Her smile was amazing. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her, and I kept her gaze, watching the flush extend to her chest, her teeth gnawing at her lower lip. Still, I didn’t break eye contact. She did, but I looked at her long after she averted her gaze.
Distraction. I needed a distraction from Maddie. Luckily, distraction was always one phone call away.
Chapter Five
Maddie
My cheeks were burning. Could he tell? I hoped he couldn’t. My blood had rushed to my face earlier anyway from staying crouched for so long. How could I get so flustered just because he was looking at me? I redid my bun for the hundredth time today. Damn hair! I went to get a haircut yesterday. My ends were split, and I told her I just wanted a trim.
“Oh, honey, of course. I’ll just shave off a few,” the hairdresser had assured me.
No clue what she was referring to by few, but clearly not inches, because she cut off a lot from the front. Now the front was at that weird length between bangs and random strands, and it fell out of my bun. It was the last time I’d trust anyone with her roots died blue and her ends pink to come near my hair with scissors. I liked wearing a bun on top of my head, not at the base, but I’d have to use pins until my hair grew back, and I didn’t like feeling scraps of metal or plastic on my scalp.
I spent half the day with my ass up in the air, walking along the horizontal base the guys dug for the timber pole, checking it was the right width and depth. The smell of freshly turned earth filled my nostrils. I stopped and took out my earbuds around midday, when Sevi and Jacob went on their lunch break. My ears popped a little. In the eerie silence, Landon’s voice echoed through the yard.
“No, we agreed on the KPI targets already. There’s no negotiating now.”
I groaned. It was my second day on my spy job, and I was already failing. How long had he been working?
I laid down my hand trowel and skittered to the porch to police Landon. He was sitting at the wooden picnic table, deep lines marring his forehead, his jaw set. I moved until I was right in front of him, placed my hands on my hips, and narrowed my eyes, giving him my most stern, no-nonsense look, which had the unexpected effect of making him grin.
“I’ll call you back later,” he said into the phone, then clicked off.
“What do you mean, I’ll call you later? I believe you meant ‘I will not be calling you over the next two weeks. Forget I exist.’”
Landon shrugged, his grin still in place. “I relaxed all morning. I thought I’d take a break from taking a break during lunch.”
“Val was right. You really don’t know how to vacation, do you?”
“I’m out of practice, that’s all. I have a competent team, and an acting CEO I’d trust with my life, but it’s hard to disconnect.”
“Well, I suppose business empires aren’t built by taking vacations often. When’s the last time you had a proper vacation?”
“Four years ago.”
His answer tugged at a memory. Val had told me Landon’s wife died four years ago. Now I understood Val’s determination to make sure he relaxed. I was determined not to fail at my spy job again.
“Are you eating lunch with your crew?” he asked.
“No, I don’t eat lunch.”
He drummed his finger on the wooden table. “Why not?”
“I mostly forget. It’s inconvenient eating on site. My hands are dirty, and packing lunch is a drag.”
My stomach churned loudly at that exact moment.
“Your stomach seems to disagree,” he said.
“It usually does.”
“Have lunch with me today. Come on, you’re starving.”
“The work won’t finish itself.”
“Maddie, you need to have lunch. And I’d love your company.”
Ah, his tone held that polite bossiness from the first day again, and poof, my resolve vanished.
“Oh, I don’t know. Even though, if I do eat with you, I might distract you from calling back your business partner.”
The corners of his lips twitched, as if he were laughing at a private joke.
Landon rose from the bench and motioned with his head toward the house. “By all means, go ahead and... distract me.”
The way he said it, in a lower, huskier tone, made it sound dirty. I parted my lips, exhaling. Was Landon flirting with me? Or was my mind playing tricks on me because I’d been perving at him since he arrived? That look he gave me earlier, though... I thought he’d been doing some perving too. In any case, the smart course of action was to remain outside, work through lunch.
Instead, I wanted to follow him inside. Everything about him beckoned to me; the pull I felt toward him was almost magnetic.
“You win. What are you feeding me?” I asked.
“Something delicious.”
He wasn’t lying. We ate heated-up roast beef leftovers at the kitchen table, and it was the best thing I’d eaten in a while. The meat was tender, and I thought I tasted a hint of cinnamon in the gravy. I’d somehow managed to get gravy on my fingers too.
“Val is an excellent cook,” I exclaimed.
“Always has been. She picked up the best tricks from Mom.”
“I can’t imagine how hard that must have been, raising your brothers and sisters.”
“It wasn’t easy. We knew how to be their oldest siblings, but parenting them was an entirely different thing. You should’ve seen Val and me giving them an earful when we caught them sneaking out of the house. Guess who’d taught them the trick?” He pointed with both thumbs at himself, laughing.
“Did you ever regret giving up college and soccer? I think you were at Harvard, right? Val mentioned it once.”
“Yes, it was Harvard. I never regretted it. I was needed here,” he said simply, and I believed him. Nothing in his body language contradicted his words. I admired him for not shunning responsibility and commitment.
“How did you manage financially?” I asked.
“Val and I ran Dad’s pub for a couple of years while we took classes at a local college. We gave it up as soon as we got decent job offers. We wanted to keep it because it reminded us of our parents, but it wasn’t feasible. Dad opened it when he came over from Ireland,” he said with a melancholy smile.
“Wait, are you lot Irish?”
“Half Irish. The Connor part didn’t tip you off?”
“Not really. Neither of you has that Irish brogue.”
Thank God he didn’t. One thing Landon didn’t need was more help being sexy as hell, and the brogue was hot.
“That we don’t. But we did inherit a solid work ethic, an interminable list of oddball sayings my dad insisted were Irish—though I’ve never found proof of that—and a tradition for Friday night dinners. Dad always told us he got together with h
is folks every Friday before moving across the ocean, and we adopted that tradition. My siblings get together every week. I was part of it before moving to San Jose.” The melancholy was mirrored in his eyes.
“And you miss it.”
“A lot. I think coming here reminded me just how much. But enough about me. Tell me about your business,” Landon said. “Why landscaping?”
“I studied architecture, but after I got my degree, I realized that I like transforming outdoor spaces. So I branched into landscaping, and also took courses about plants and flowers. I mostly work on people’s personal yards. I like putting together beautiful spaces where they can come home and relax, you know?”
Landon had drawn his chair nearer to mine, and our thighs were touching under the table, which sent my senses into a tailspin.
“That’s great thinking. Everyone needs a place to disconnect and recharge.”
“Exactly. And I love it when I have a huge space to work with, like here. There’s so much I can do. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, and since my parents knew we wouldn’t permanently live there, we rented small spaces. During summer holidays, we traveled in a trailer. It was very claustrophobic, and the outdoor space was always a parking lot.”
“Why were you moving around?”
“My parents traveled to music gigs across the country, and there was no one they could leave me and my sister with.” That nomadic existence had been exhausting. It had been hard to strike any meaningful relationships at school since we moved so often.
“Do they live in LA now?”
“No, they’re still traveling around. But I set up roots here. My sister’s in town too.”
I wasn’t sure how much he wanted to know or if he was just being polite, but suddenly I was feeling very chatty. Usually I was the exact opposite, especially around men I’d just met. But Landon made me lower my guard.