by Cat Johnson
He held his hand up to stop her protest. “Stop. I’m doing it.”
“Then you have to let me pay you for your time.”
“Nope. I won’t hear another word about it. It’s a little oil and some grease. Maybe I’ll have to change the blades. That’s all. Nothing to it.”
She sighed. “I don’t like that you won’t let me give you anything.”
“Well, I didn’t say I wouldn’t let you give me something.” The tone of his voice was as suggestive as the look he shot her.
Janie opened her mouth but wasn’t sure what to say.
“I might be convinced to let you cook me dinner again some night.” Tyler saved her from the embarrassment she felt. He grinned and held up a spoon overflowing with chili. “This is really good.”
“Thank you.”
Her heart beat faster at the thought of cooking for him. Of Tyler being her dinner companion. The scene formed in her overactive imagination . . . the dining room table set with her good dishes and linens. The sunset visible through the lace curtains. Tyler, filling the dining room with his mere presence. Janie, unable to eat a bite of food as her stomach roiled with all the nerves she hadn’t felt around a man since her first date with Tom all those many years ago.
How the hell much longer was this microwave going to take? She needed something to do with her hands and she needed to change the subject. As the timer ticked down to the final thirty seconds, she decided the chili had heated for long enough. She punched the door release with one finger and grabbed the bowl. Heated through or not, the food was done as far as she was concerned. Turning back to the table, she put the bowl down at her place and sat opposite him.
Feeling the need to make conversation, she said, “So, you have any plans for tonight? Any visits to the lumberyard?”
“Nope.” He raised his eyes to hers but then glanced down to concentrate on his food.
He seemed embarrassed. Janie liked this side of him, though she liked the confident, flirty side of him, too.
“That’s probably better, since I’m home. My truck won’t be in the parking lot for you to hide in.” She couldn’t resist teasing him.
He rolled his eyes, but he was taking the teasing in stride, judging by the crooked smile that lifted one corner of his mouth. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Well, if you keep helping me out around here, I’ll really owe you. I suppose I’ll have to stop teasing about finding you under the tarp in the back of my truck.” Out of deference to the fact that he was going to do her a huge favor by helping with the hay harvest, she left off the part about the compromising state she’d found him in, with his belt and jeans hanging wide open.
“If that’s the case, then I’m starting work here tomorrow.”
“Don’t you have to work at Rohn’s?”
“I do. Don’t worry. I’m good at juggling multiple things.”
She didn’t doubt that. She’d bet multiple women were sometimes what he was juggling.
“Just please, don’t get fired on my account.” If that were to happen, she couldn’t afford to hire him on full-time to make up for the loss of the job.
He let out a laugh. “If I get fired, it’ll be my own doing, not yours.”
Somehow, she believed him.
“But don’t worry,” Tyler continued. “I’ll tune up your equipment in my off hours.”
Janie’s mind went to a bad place at the thought of the many things in her life that had been neglected and could use a tune-up, and the thought had nothing to do with farm machinery. She yanked her mind out of the gutter. “Okay.”
“I can take a look at it tonight and see what I’ll need. That way I can pick up any lube or oil on my way home and get started bright and early in the morning.” Unaware of the turbulence within her, Tyler chattered on.
Lube and oil. Her insides warmed, while Janie had to wonder when those perfectly innocent farm machinery terms had taken on such sexual connotations in her mind. Since a hot-as-hell cowboy had decided to take her on as a charity case, apparently.
“All right. Tell me what I owe you for all that stuff. I’ll reimburse you for whatever you lay out.”
He dismissed her with a flick of his wrist and Janie realized it was going to be a struggle to get him to take any payment from her, even for expenses he laid out on her behalf. There wasn’t enough chili in the world to repay him for all the help he was promising.
Strangely, she believed he’d do it all, too. Unlike her first impression of him, when she’d doubted he’d show to help with the fence, he’d proven himself reliable. He’d gone above and beyond, handling the fence repair before she even woke up, and recruiting help to do it. And tonight, taking the initiative regarding her hay harvest. She wasn’t exactly in a position to not accept his help.
“Thank you.” The words didn’t seem nearly enough to express her gratitude.
“Don’t mention it.” His gaze captured and held hers for a moment before he broke away and went back to poking his spoon into the ever-lowering level of chili in the bowl. She remembered she had yet to start on hers and took a bite herself.
“So, anyway, when the equipment is ready to go, I’ll start harvesting.”
“On top of your regular work at Rohn’s.”
He glanced at what Janie knew was a look of doubt on her face. “It’s not a big deal. Really. We take a breakfast and a lunch break during the day. I’ll just skip one or both. Work straight through, get done early, and head over here to work until dark. The sun sets later and later every night.”
“You can’t—”
“Sure I can. I’ll get to Rohn’s early and put in my day’s worth of work over there. Then I can pop over here to your place in the afternoon. I like to wait until after the sun’s dried the dew on the fields before mowing, anyway.”
She let out a sigh. Who was she to argue? Tyler sure seemed capable enough and seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing. Better than she did, she supposed, even after having spent so much time here with her grandfather growing up.
“All right. It sounds like a good plan.” As Janie spooned another mouthful between her lips, she formulated a plan of her own.
She’d have to run out and go food shopping tomorrow and figure out a schedule of meals to make for the week. If Tyler really was going to skip his meal breaks at Rohn’s just to help her out, the least she could do was make sure there was a good meal ready and waiting in case he showed up hungry at her back door.
The worst part was, now that she’d anticipated his being around, she really liked the idea. Making plans about a wild cowboy based on not much knowledge and an association of only twenty-four hours was bound to end badly. Even given that, she couldn’t hold down her mood as it lifted, simply from the thought of having his company.
She needed to get out more if the prospect of one visitor did this to her. But for the near future, she wouldn’t worry about forcing herself out of the comfort of her home. Tyler would be coming to her, at least until the haying was complete.
God help her, just the thought of Tyler being around had her heart beating faster. She was surely doomed.
A glance at Tyler’s bowl told Janie he was way ahead of her in the eating department. Then again, Tom and the hands always had wolfed down their food. She’d never known if it was because they had worked up such a big appetite during the day or if all men ate like that.
“I can heat up some more if you’re still hungry.”
“Nah. I’m good. Thanks.” He leaned back from the table. “Gotta watch my girlish figure. Your chili’s so good I’ll eat until I bust if I don’t stop now.”
Wearing a grin, he ran a hand over his stomach. His abdomen was so flat, she doubted he had anything to worry about, but she accepted the compliment. “Thank you. I’m glad you like it.”
“More than like it. If you keep feeding me like this, I’ll be like a stray dog hanging around your back door day and night, waiting for table scraps.”
Tyler sure had the charmer role down pat. Almost everything out of his mouth seemed to be a compliment—not that she was complaining. “Lucky for you, I’m a big softy. As a teenager, I never could resist a stray. Dogs. Cats. Once I adopted a baby raccoon.”
“Raccoon?” He cringed. “I’m afraid I’d have to draw the line there.”
She laughed. “Yeah. My grandfather wasn’t too happy about it either. It was a good thing the animal moved on once it got a little older and could feed itself.”
His bowl empty, Tyler braced his bulging forearms on the edge of the table and leaned forward a bit. “So, you’ve got family around here?”
“No.” If she had, she wouldn’t feel so alone. “My mom died of MS when I was in high school. Multiple sclerosis,” she elaborated for him, just in case.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thanks. Anyway, her illness was a strain on my dad. More than he could handle, I guess. He got married six months after Mom died. The woman had young kids from another marriage, so he moved away and made a new family with her.” Janie tried to keep the bitterness from her voice. She wasn’t sure if she had succeeded or not.
As an only child, the task of tending to her ailing mother had fallen to her. At fifteen years old, when other girls were hanging out with their friends, she’d gone directly home to take care of her mother. Right up until things had gotten so bad they’d had to get a nurse in. Meanwhile, judging by the speed with which her father remarried, she had no doubt he’d been seeing the woman before her mother died.
Tyler’s eyes widened. “What about you?”
“I suppose I could have moved with him, if I’d wanted to. He wouldn’t have abandoned me, but I moved in here with my grandfather instead.”
“So this was your grandfather’s place?”
“Yeah. My mother had grown up on this ranch. This is where I’d spent summers my whole life. It was better for everyone that I came here, believe me. Gramps was getting up in years, so it was good for him to have the company. And I’d always loved this place. There’s history. He and my grandmother bought this ranch right after they got married. They built this house and added the outbuildings as they could afford them. There are good memories here.” She realized she was getting sentimental and long-winded, and cut herself short.
Tyler had let her go on talking, and probably would have for as long as she wanted to continue. He paid attention, but didn’t interrupt. Once she’d stopped, he nodded. “It sounds like it was good you were here.”
This conversation had Janie thinking about the past she rarely revisited. She didn’t mind so much. It was better to remember than to forget. “Yeah. I think so, too. Anyway, the answer to your question is no. No family around here. I have a close girlfriend in town, but she’s got her hands full with a daughter who keeps her busy, as well as a husband, so we don’t see each other as much as we used to. The people at the church are supportive, but . . .”
“You don’t want to impose on them,” he finished for her.
“Yeah.” She let out a short laugh. “There’s that, and I can’t picture most of them helping me harvest my hay.”
He smiled. “I’m thinking you’re right. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’ll handle it.”
She still felt his generosity was too much. “I’m going to give you a percentage of whatever money that hay brings in.”
“Janie. Stop.”
“No, I’m serious.”
“All right.” He held up a hand to end her protest.
“We’ll revisit this subject later. Let’s get it cut and sold before we debate any more about it. Okay?”
“Okay.” That she would agree to.
She still wasn’t sure that field was the gold mine Tyler predicted it would be. Then again, what did she know? Tom had always handled the finances, and as she’d told Tyler earlier, they’d never sold their hay before. It had always been for their own winter feedings.
“Anyway, not to eat and run, but I need to get out there and check on the machines. See what you’ve got and what I’ll need to pick up.”
“I’ll show you where the equipment shed is.” She pushed her chair back from the table. If he was really going to do her this enormous favor, she needed to at least help in any way she could.
“Stay and finish your meal. I’ll find it on my own.”
“No, don’t be silly. I can show you where we keep the tools and oil. Maybe we’ve got everything you need already.” Janie realized she was still saying we even though, as they’d just discussed, she was completely alone here. She moved past that thought. “Besides, I’m a grazer when it comes to eating. I’ll probably wrap that back up for later.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he dipped his head. “All right. I’d appreciate a tour. Then, once I have the lay of the land, I won’t need to bother you anymore. I can just start work when I get here.”
“It would be no bother. Believe me.”
What was funny was that she suspected she’d like nothing better than having Tyler come knocking to ask her something or another. Maybe she’d omit a few key places on her tour so he’d have to come and find her. As she led the way out the back door, she realized she’d most likely lost her mind. Or maybe she was just lonely.
Their conversation had only reinforced the truth of her new reality. She had no close family and only one good friend who was as busy as a beaver. Janie would have to rectify that situation, because counting on this wild young cowboy as a substitute for the companionship missing in her life was sure to be a bad idea.
She supposed she could open one of those online dating accounts. That thought left her feeling as cold as Tyler made her hot. Crap.
Chapter Nine
Tyler had already put in a good bit of work at Janie’s before he pulled into Rohn’s driveway to start his day there. Slowing on the gravel drive, he saw Colton’s truck was already parked by the feed shed.
It was no surprise that Colton had arrived first. Tyler had tried to get there on time, but it took him longer to finish up than he’d anticipated. Not to mention the time spent scrubbing his hands to get the grease off in the slop sink in her barn. He couldn’t arrive at work looking as if he’d already been to work. Colton would be sure to notice and ask questions. Questions Tyler didn’t feel like answering.
“Morning.” Tyler nodded and moved toward the buckets Colton had already filled with horse feed.
“Hey.” Colton returned his greeting. “Where were you last night?”
“What do you mean?” He had hoped that if he kept his head down and concentrated on work, there would be less time for chatter. He wasn’t so lucky. Colton was the inquisitive type.
Tyler had woken way too damn early that morning. He was tired, and trying to come up with an excuse on the fly was beyond him at the moment. Stalling and playing dumb seemed the best option. He sure as hell didn’t want Colton to know he’d been at Janie’s house until after dark last night working in her equipment shed. Or that he’d been back there by sunrise this morning to finish the job.
“I called your cell and you didn’t answer.”
“You called me? Why? What’s up?”
“Justin and I ended up going out.”
“Good to hear. He must be feeling better.” Another topic of conversation was exactly what Tyler needed to avoid answering Colton’s question. “When’s he coming back to work? He say?”
“He has to go to the medical center this week. If the doc clears him, he’ll be back to work.”
“Good.” Still stalling and not answering Colton’s original question, Tyler nodded. “That’s real good. Three guys are surely better than two.”
The three of them working at Rohn’s place would mean Tyler could sneak over to Janie’s earlier each day. Though how the hell he was going to get out from under Colton and Justin’s scrutiny was still a mystery to him. They’d want to know where he was going, and he didn’t want to tell.
This idea—helping
her to spend time with her—belonged to him. He was helping Janie alone, without their assistance or their questions. She was the most interesting woman he’d met in a long time. Maybe because she was just that—a woman and not a girl. The girls his age he met at bars were starting to wear on him. Cookie-cutter women. Sure, sometimes there were a few distinguishing factors, such as a pissed-off fiancé who wanted to kill him. But besides a few instances like that, Tyler’s dating life seemed to consist of a revolving door of almost interchangeable females.
Until Janie.
Tyler dumped the bucket of feed into the bowl, patting the gelding’s flank after he did. “Good boy.” He came out and secured the stall door, about to grab the next bucket when he saw Colton was watching him.
“You never answered me. What were you doing last night that you weren’t answering your cell?” Colton’s brows rose. “Or should I ask who were you doing?”
That particular question was easy to answer—Tyler didn’t even have to lie—but Colton’s insinuation was still pretty insulting. “I wasn’t doing anyone. I was in bed by ten o’clock. Alone in bed.”
“Then why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“I didn’t hear it, I guess. I forgot it in my truck.” What he didn’t add was that he’d left the cell in the console on purpose, but still, it wasn’t a lie, either.
Over the years, he’d learned there were a few gray areas when it came to telling fibs. As a good churchgoing boy, Tyler had investigated, and become well versed, in pretty much all of them.
Feed bucket in hand, Colton paused in front of the stall where the stallion they still needed to saddle break was kicking the back wall. He glanced at Tyler. “Well, you missed a good time.”
Thinking Colton would be better served paying attention to the horse and not Tyler’s social life, he tipped his head toward the stallion. “We gonna work with him any today?”
“Yeah. That’s the plan. God, I hate Arabians.” Colton scowled at the sleek young horse. The whites of the horse’s eyes were showing as he eyed Colton back. Against the midnight black of his coat, his wild eyes made the horse look a little bit crazy.