I grin. “Something like that.”
She huffs. “Still sounds like something you’d name a feral cat with trust issues.”
I lean in, voice low. “You didn’t seem too worried about trust issues when you were screaming my name.”
Her cheeks flush, but she doesn’t look away. “That was before I knew you’d end up here.”
“And now we're working together.” I can't help the satisfaction in my voice. “Looks like you're stuck with me, Georgina.”
The look she gives me could melt steel. “Don't call me that.”
“What should I call you?” I ask, lips twitching. “Chewie? General Lucas? Or are you more of a ‘May the torque be with you’ kind of girl?”
She groans, dragging a hand down her face. “Seriously?”
I grin. “Come on, you had to know I’d go there eventually.”
“I’ve heard every Star Wars joke known to humankind. You’re not the first.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” I say, stepping close enough to invade her space without touching. “I absolutely was the first. The first man inside you. The first man to make you come on my mouth. And the last, if I have anything to say about it.”
Her breath catches. For a moment, I think she might throw the wrench at me. Instead, she sets it down with deliberate care.
“This?” She gestures between us. “Isn't happening again. I work here. You work here. That's it.”
I smile slowly. “If you say so.”
“I do say so.” But her voice wavers.
“All right.” I back toward the door, hands raised in mock surrender. “Just work. Nothing else.”
She eyes me suspiciously. “Really?”
“Really.” I pause in the doorway. “But George?”
“What?”
“You bite your lip when you're lying.”
The wrench clatters to the floor. I grin as I walk away, counting down in my head.
Three. Two. One.
The sound of metal hitting metal tells me she just kicked something.
I smile wider. Oh, this is going to be fun.
Cheese Puff trots past with Angus’s mangled hat in her mouth.
I scratch her head as she passes. “Good goat.”
Time to do that perimeter check. Get the lay of the land. Set up surveillance. All the things I came here to do.
But as I walk toward the barn, my mind keeps drifting to blue eyes and engine grease. To the way she gasped when I kissed her neck. To how she'll react when she realizes I'm not letting this go.
I didn’t come here looking for complications. I thought I’d be passing the time at Havenridge Ranch until something better came along, but I have a new mission. To figure out what makes George tick. But more importantly, what made her want to run in the first place.
Because watching George fight this attraction? That’s worth complicating things for.
