Neither of us said another word for a long minute, our gazes locked together in the middle of the cool living room as the very air between us crackled. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him, to hold this beautiful, confident man who apparently had a lot more to him than I would’ve given him credit for.
I wanted to press my lips to his and feel if they were as soft as they looked, but also to find out if he kissed with the same tenderness he’d just displayed or with the passion he had when he spoke about his job.
Taydom Gaines was known to be a dick, I’d learned, but the man standing in front of me now couldn’t have been further away from that. It felt like the mottled sunlight had peeled away several of his layers and was giving me a glimpse of what lay underneath, and I really liked what I saw.
Nothing would happen between us romantically, I was sure, despite how the air seemed to zap and crack between us. But maybe he would become a friend.
The gesture he’d just made certainly made me want him in my life in some capacity, and honestly, the house he’d offered me really was like a dream come true. I might have to get over this attraction I felt toward him. With the pool between our houses, getting over it might also require batteries and some me time if I ever saw him in swimming trunks, but I was confident I could manage it.
There was no way I was allowing something as silly as attraction to put me off this house. It would be like living in a fairy tale without the prince, but I’d always believed those girls hadn’t needed the princes anyway.
“Okay,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll take it.”
Chapter 14
Taydom
The men sitting around my conference table had steely gazes and tight jaws. Each and every one of them was used to getting what he wanted, and right now, none of them felt like they were getting it.
I raked my hands through my hair and shook my head. “The capitalization rate on this property is excellent. The net operating income could be better, but it’s high, and the area is becoming more popular by the day.”
“Sure, Gaines.” Cold, calculating blue eyes met mine from the left-hand side of the table, the potential-tenant side. “But not all commercial properties were created equal, as you know. The operational management expenses alone justify—”
A balled-up fist hit the table as the representative for the owners pushed back his chair and jumped to his feet. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“Gentlemen,” I warned and pushed my fingers together on the table. “This is a negotiation, not fight night. Sit down, Ben.”
He cut me a look, but he was in no position to argue. As it was, he should have been thanking me instead of making this more difficult. Without me, the deal we were in the process of negotiating wouldn’t have been on the table at all, and he couldn’t afford for it not to be.
The last time we’d met with these people, Ben had come close to blowing the entire deal. Then he’d had the balls to come crying to me about his problems after. I’d promised him one more bite at the cherry and this was it.
If he fucked it up, I couldn’t help him. He glowered at me but did as I asked.
“Right. Let’s look at what it’s going to take to get a yes from both sides of the table.” I unbuttoned my jacket, took it off, and rolled up my sleeves. Time to earn my money.
Two and a half hours later, I had a signed contract in my hand. Mr. Sandler, the one with the cold blue eyes and the sharp tongue, was the last to leave the conference room.
“Thank you for your help, Gaines. We’re happy to have worked with you. I’ve heard the rumors about why you’re the best, and I have to say, I agree. You’ll definitely be hearing from us again in the future.”
“That’s excellent news,” I said. This deal had been hard as fuck to get down on paper, and three of my agents had failed before I’d stepped in, but it had been worth the time and effort.
The firm was getting a decent chunk of change and, more importantly, had gained another big corporate client. “I’d be happy to help you anytime. Just let me know what you need.”
“We’re looking into a Southern expansion within the next month or two. I’ll give you a call with the details sometime.”
“Sure thing.” I grinned as he said his goodbyes. Then I collapsed into my chair and fist-pumped the air as I leaned my head back. What a fucking day.
Andrew sauntered into my office a minute later and released a low whistle between his teeth. “I just saw Sandler and his crew leaving. How’d that go for you?”
“We closed the motherfucking deal, baby.” I lifted my hand for a high-five.
His brows rose, but he indulged my unspoken request and slapped his palm against mine. “Congratulations. I didn’t think that was going to happen, if I’m being honest. Even with you at the helm, it was a long shot.” He shrugged before his lips formed a smirk. “But you know, I could have done it, too.”
I shot him a look and he laughed, holding both his hands up. “Yeah, yeah. Okay. Maybe you were the better guy for the job.”
“Don’t you know it?” I rubbed my palms over the stubble on my jaw and sat up straight again. “What’s up? Did you need something?”
He shook his head. “Not really. I was curious when I saw those guys come in earlier, so I thought I’d check in with you this afternoon. Since you had a big win today, how about we go celebrate tomorrow afternoon? We can hang out at my place or we can go somewhere? It’ll be Friday, so there should be a lot happening we can join in on.”
“It might have been fun, but I can’t. I already have plans.”
“So cancel them,” he said with his brows pulling together in a confused frown. “Just reschedule your meeting and we’ll be good to go. Come on, man. Just this once, don’t give me any shit about coming out. The Sandler deal is huge. It deserves to be toasted.”
“I agree, it does deserve to be toasted, but it can’t be tomorrow.” I set my elbows down on the armrests of the chair and linked my fingers in front of my stomach, bracing myself for telling him the truth. “Unfortunately, these plans can’t be rescheduled. I’m helping Elsie move.”
He stilled, then shoved his hands in his pockets and arched a blond eyebrow at me. “Good on you for finding a client a place so fast, but since when do we help them move?”
“I’m making an exception for her.”
“Why?” His head dropped to the side, his eyes curious on mine. “How did you find her a place so fast? Last I checked, we didn’t exactly have many smaller places on our books.”
Right, I’d told him after we’d run into her at the food truck that she’d said the place from the open house had been way too much. It was a conversation I was regretting now, but it was too late to take it back.
In any event, there was no reason not to be honest with him. I just wasn’t particularly in the mood to take the shit I was going to get about it.
I lifted my chin. “She’s moving into my guest house.”
Andrew’s jaw slackened as he absorbed my words. “Your guest house? As in the place you renovated and got ready for your mother when she visited?”
“That’s the one.” I sighed. “Obviously, she hasn’t been using it much. It’s just been standing empty, and now there’s someone who can occupy it.”
“I remember giving you shit about being a Momma’s boy when you were doing it, but this is so much worse.”
I laughed as I remembered just how much shit he’d given me for painstakingly fixing up the place. “It can’t possibly be worse. You were all but convinced I was going to move her in with me permanently.”
“Dude, you’re the only grown-ass man I know who went through so much effort to make sure your mom would have somewhere comfortable to stay.”
“True, but it’s not like she can come through to Dallas for the day. If she ever left the farm, she’d have to come for at least a few days to make it worth her while. You don’t know my mom, but she’d never come st
ay with me for days if she had to stay in the house. She’d think it’s too inconvenient for me.”
He nodded sagely. “Yeah, that’s because it would be inconvenient. For all concerned. Could you imagine your mother running into the girl you were with the night before when she’s doing the walk of shame?”
“No.” I scrunched my face up in disgust. “If my mother ever was to come out here, I wouldn’t be bringing any women home with me. Even if she stayed in the cottage.”
Andrew’s head tipped back as he laughed. “Yep. Absolutely still a Momma’s boy.”
“Nope. Again, you don’t know my mother. If she ran into a woman on her way out of my house in the morning, she’d flag her down, make her some coffee, and start planning the wedding.”
His eyes widened. “No shit? Then what are you doing moving a woman in with you?”
“It’s not like my family has made the trip very often, obviously,” I said drily. “Even Riley’s only been out here once or twice, and it’s been years since the last time. If any of them do come to visit by some miracle, I’ll just tell them I’m renting the place out. It’s not like she’s moving in with me.”
He tapped the corner of his mouth. “I didn’t realize it had been that long since your brother came to town. Man, we had a fucking blast when he was here. You should invite him out again.”
“He has a standing invitation and he knows it.” My whole family did, but they hardly ever took me up on it.
My father hadn’t been to visit me at all. My mother and brother came out the first few times I sent them tickets but had started refusing that I send them tickets at all these last few years. No doubt dear ol’ Dad had instructed them to turn me down.
I could practically hear his voice in my head. No Gaines needs charity, not even from another Gaines.
Andrew tossed his hands out to his sides. “Maybe Riley will come if I tell him I need his help. We do need to get your head on straight, after all. You’ve invited a random stranger to live with you. That’s serious.”
“I didn’t invite her to live with me,” I growled, my mood darkening from all the talk about my family. “She’s renting a place that happens to be on my property. My head has never been straighter.”
The corners of his lips tilted down, but there was a spark of humor in his eyes. “Keep telling yourself that. I, for one, guess this is the beginning of the end of our friendship.”
“Don’t be dramatic. We’ve rented out places to thousands of people. This isn’t any different.”
His brows lifted to his hairline. “How is it not any different? It’s fucking different, dude. Very fucking different.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree then.” I stood up and walked to the wall of windows behind my desk, turning my back on my friend.
Undeterred, he came to stand next to me. “We can do that, but I feel like I should still tell you that if she takes over your house and you need a place to stay, my door is always open.”
“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary.” Hands sliding into my pockets, I surveyed the cloudless blue sky outside. It was the same sky that my parents were under, but I felt planets removed from them as I stood there on the top story of my high rise in downtown Dallas.
There were more people in the buildings all around me than in the entire town I’d come from. Pedestrians were making the best of the warm summer day on the sidewalks below, but none were just strolling. Everyone had someplace to be and people to see. It was another reminder that I wasn’t in small-town Illinois anymore.
The pace of life in Dallas might not be as rushed as it was in some other cities, but it sure was a lot faster than back in Woodstock. I enjoyed it, but I knew my mother got overwhelmed, and my brother? Well, he could never wait to leave the city lights behind.
Andrew noticed that my mood had turned melancholic and clapped me on the shoulder. “Whether or not you think it’s necessary, my offer stands. I’ll let you get back to it.”
He disappeared from my side and I heard the light slap of his shoes against the floor. Then the door closed behind him with a soft click. Finally turning away from the window about a minute or so later, I succumbed to checking in on my family without their knowledge.
I hadn’t done anything creepy, like install cameras on the farm without them knowing—though I had been tempted once or twice. All I did was sign up for a few alerts on farming in Illinois and, more specifically, soybean farms.
My stomach dropped to my shoes at the first headline that came up after bringing up the alerts on my laptop. It was not good news.
Soybean farms in Illinois will not prosper this year. Definite profit losses ahead.
Well, fuck me. Looks like I might have to stop making up excuses about going home after all.
Chapter 15
Elsie
“Are you really sure about this?” Beth asked as she taped up another box.
It was moving day tomorrow, and like the angel she was, my best friend was at my side helping me get packed.
I wrestled with the flap of a box containing nothing but scarves. “I’m sure. I needed a move. This will be good for me.”
She let out a soft sigh and sat down on the box she’d just packed. Her gaze swept across my living room. “You’re sure this is really what you want? It’s not too soon, is it?”
“You encouraged this move,” I pointed out as I looked up at her. “In fact, you were more excited about it than I was.”
“Yeah, but now that it’s actually happening, I just wanted to check in with you. You’ve lived here for a long time and your—”
“My mom helped me pick it out. I know.” I brought my ponytail forward over my shoulder and absently braided the lower half of it. “That’s one of the reasons why I need to move. There are too many memories of her here. Hanging onto those is making it harder not to imagine that she’s going to be the next person knocking on my door.”
Beth’s eyes moved to the hooks behind said door. “I can see how that could make things harder. Remember the day she put those up?”
“Yeah.” A fond smile spread across my lips. “She said we couldn’t just be throwing our coats down on the couches when we came in.”
“To be fair, we didn’t just throw them down.” Her smile matched mine. “We gently hung them over the back of the couch.”
My eyebrows rose. “The way I remember it, we came in one night after one too many cocktails to celebrate the loan you got to start the truck, and we ended up shedding our winter garments as soon as we came in the door.”
“Yeah.” She chuckled. “But we didn’t know she was going to come by to make a celebratory breakfast the next morning.”
“I told her you were staying over.” I shrugged but felt that familiar ache of missing her expanding in my chest. “We should have known she was going to come to make us blueberry and choc-chip pancakes. It was just her way.”
“It was,” Beth agreed.
Silence fell between us for several minutes after that. Both of us resumed with the packing, but while I didn’t know what Beth was thinking about for sure, my mind stayed on my mother. I suspected hers did, too.
My suspicion was confirmed when she suddenly burst out in a fit of giggles. “Oh my God. Do you remember that time she sat us down and gave us that lecture about dust bunnies? She said bunnies are cute in petting zoos but gross in the home.”
“You only got that lecture once,” I said, grinning. “I got it all the time. That one and the one about making your bed even though you’re just going to be getting back into it later.”
“Giving credit where credit is due, all those little pearls of wisdom still play in my mind when I’m too lazy to clean the truck right away. I keep imagining her walking in and getting that indulgent smile on her face before she would gently start reminding me why it’s so important to keep your space clean.”
“Yeah, at least she was good about not making someone feel berated after one of her lectures.” Tears stung the backs of
my eyes and I dragged in a deep breath to keep them at bay. “I guess that’s why her students loved her so much as well.”
Beth must have noticed the crack in my voice. Suddenly, she looked at me over her shoulder from where she’d been folding clothes coming off hangers in my closet. “Are you still getting messages from them?”
I nodded. “Occasionally. They’re slowing down, though.”
Mom’s employer had contacted me not long after her death to ask if it was okay for them to give out my email to some of her students. She had been loved among them and they’d asked if they could reach out to me to commiserate.
I’d appreciated it, and I loved hearing some of their memories of her and knowing what an impact she’d made on so many lives. Just like me, they’d be carrying what she’d taught them in their hearts and minds forever.
It was a way for her to live on, I supposed. It had also been comforting to know I wouldn’t be the only one who would miss her.
Unfortunately, just like with everything else in this lonely journey, the messages of support had become less frequent and it felt like everyone else was moving on. I was too, in a way, but it didn’t make me feel any less guilty about it.
Beth turned away from the closet and walked over to me, pulling me in for a big hug. “Just because they’re not emailing you so often anymore doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten her. Just like you and I haven’t.”
“I know.” I returned her hug and held her tight before letting her go. “It’s just hard sometimes, you know?” After wiping moisture from underneath my eyes, I took a deep breath. “But this isn’t a pity party. Moving is a good thing. Let’s not get wrapped up in memories right now.”
“You got it.” She moved back to my closet and carried on taking clothes off the hangers to fold, placing each item gently in the box behind her once she was satisfied. “So, since we’re back on the topic of the move, what do you think Taydom is going to be like as a landlord?”
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