20
Noah
I propup the hood of the Mustang. It’s been two weeks since Kate and I first had sex. Two weeks since her cousin—who is fortunately staying at the hotel in town—showed up in Copper Creek.
It’s also the first time in over two weeks that I’ve had a chance to work on my car. Kate is with Violet, Sophie, and Aubrey in Golden Falls, having a girls’ day out. Troy drove to Billings to order supplies from the home renovation store there. Which means I have the day off from working on the house.
“So what exactly is going on between you and Kate?” Jake asks behind me. The crunch of his boots against the gravel outside the barn gave away his approach long before he asked the question.
“Hi to you, too.” I grab the oil rag from the tool bench and turn around while wiping my hands. “Is there any particular reason you’re asking me this? Or are you going all estrogen on me and need your daily gossip fix?”
“Real cute. I’m just curious. You can’t fault me for that. You’ve made it clear to TJ and me that you’re not interested in dating. And history certainly supports that. Yet you’re spending all your free time with her—which I might add, most people would consider that dating.”
“I’m helping her and her cousin with the renovations. You know that.” Surprisingly, Kate has actually been doing some of the physical labor.
And let me tell you, Kate in a tight tank top while swinging a sledgehammer is both scary and a turn-on.
“Didn’t they hire some men to do that?”
“They employed four men to work full-time on the house, but given their deadline, they need all the extra help they can get. Besides, it’s not like I’m working there full-time. The ranch is still my first priority.” Which he knows.
He also knows that I’m getting paid, and the money will be going toward restoring the Thunderbird.
“So nothing’s going on between you and Kate?”
“We’re just friends.” Who fuck.
“That’s too bad. She’s good for you—any idiot can see that. You know there’s nothing wrong with having more in your life than just the ranch. I should know.”
Before he and Sophie finally ended up on the same page about how they felt for each other, the ranch was his life. He didn’t even have a hobby until several months ago—when he took up leather crafting.
I toss the oil rag onto the bench. “Thanks for the advice, but Kate and I are just having fun. She’s only here for a few months, and in the meantime, we’re working hard—the whole team is working hard—so she can return to Beverly Hills and put Charlotte’s house on the market.”
“You lived in LA for a short time, didn’t you?”
“Yes, before I moved to Seattle.” I grab a wrench from the toolbox.
“Would you consider moving back there?”
“What? Seattle or LA?”
“LA.”
I shake my head. “The place didn’t appeal to me. I might have craved living in a big city when I left here after high school, but that desire has long since gone. I prefer small-town life.”
“Even if you fall in love and the woman lives in a big city?”
It takes a second for his meaning to sink in and I burst out laughing. “Your falling in love with Sophie has fried some of your brain cells, bro. One, I’m not in love. I’m as far from being in love as you can get. Kate and I are just having fun. That’s all. Two, she and I come from very different worlds. She’d probably have an allergic reaction if she even tried to wear clothes with nondesigner labels.”
With the exception of when she was wearing Charlotte’s clothes to clean the stable. And even then, she no doubt spends an hour in the shower afterward, scrubbing off any remaining molecules of regular-people clothing.
“The woman can’t stand living in a small town,” I remind him.
“Yet she’s here for the next two and a half months.”
“That’s because her cousin is very persuasive and because she knows there’s a ticking clock. She’s not expecting to live here for the rest of her life.”
I could tell him about my misadventures with dating a woman whose world revolved around expensive clothing, bags, shoes, and cars, but I don’t feel like getting into that right now. Or at all.
