Chapter Seven
Cash
The Following Morning
I didn’t rest easily, and so let myself sleep in a little the next morning, considering it was Sunday. I hauled myself out of bed just before 6, my muscles aching from the work I’d been doing all week. I stripped off my shorts and jumped into a hot shower, letting the water soothe the sore parts of me while I stood underneath it with my eyes closed and hair dripping onto my face.
I cut off the water, dried myself, wrapped the towel around my waist, and stepped out onto the bathmat. Now that the water was off, I could hear someone caterwauling from the kitchen. It was a terrible sound, like the howl of an animal that needed to be put out of its misery. I tensed, calculating the time it would take me to get to the loaded pistol I kept in the top drawer of my nightstand before I remembered that I was renting a room to some Northeasterner who might not appreciate having a gun put in her face. Shit. Now that I remembered she was here, that meant I probably shouldn’t wander into the kitchen to get my coffee started like I did every morning after my shower. I needed to get dressed first and, to be honest, I had no desire to talk to her first thing in the morning. I just wasn’t sociable this early in the day and distrusted people who were.
It rubbed me every which way but right to get dressed before making my coffee—I had a schedule, and I wanted to stick to it—but what else was I supposed to do? Mosey into the kitchen half-naked in front of a woman I didn’t even know existed a day ago? I cursed Eric under my breath as I finished drying off and began to pull the day’s clothes out of my dresser and lay them on the bed. This was all his goddamned fault. I shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable and out of place in my own damned home.
My eyes fell on the manila envelope full of the $3,000 cash that Hailey had given me yesterday after we left the library room. I planned to take it right to the bank on Monday morning after I fed the horses and put them out to pasture. And I did need this money, but I didn’t know that I needed it so badly that I should allow this woman to stay in my house. Eric seemed to hope I’d find a way to take her to bed, and even though he was right about the fact that I hadn’t dated in a while, I had no interest in starting right now, with this stranger. Still, I was a red-blooded American man, wasn’t I? And I couldn’t pretend Hailey wasn’t attractive, with her curly blonde hair and light blue eyes she kept safe behind her wire-rimmed glasses. I couldn’t help but take note of the soft curves of her body that were accentuated by her tight jeans and clinging T-shirt. She didn’t even seem to realize the effect she had, walking around the ranch all casual, like she didn’t notice the swell of her breasts or how cute she looked in her glasses, as though she could teach you some things both inside and outside the bedroom.
Her being here was nothing but a great big distraction. And right now was the worst time for me not to be focused. I could lose the ranch if I wasn’t careful. It didn’t matter how blue her eyes were or how tight her little ass looked in those jeans…
I shook my head, trying to shuffle thoughts of her bending over to pick up a book she’d dropped in the library room out of my mind. I was getting hard right now just thinking about it, which was its own kind of problem. I ran my hand down the front of the towel tightly wrapped around my waist, my fingers hesitating over the solid shape of my cock. I could do something about this right now to let off a little steam. I let the towel fall into a puddle at my feet and took myself in hand.
I shook my head again and purposely redirected myself towards the clothes I piled neatly on the bed, forcing my mind away from my throbbing cock. I couldn’t be doing this shit right now, or ever. I had to live with this woman for at least the next three months, though she’d casually mentioned how she might stay until mid-October. I couldn’t start off her first full day here by jacking off to sexy fantasies of her. If I let that get started now, things were going to get out of hand in a hurry.
I pushed her all the way out of my mind, focusing hard on the chores that needed doing around here, and there were a lot of them between caring for the animals, general maintenance for the barns and fences, and tilling the land itself. I ran through the day, planning the order I’d use to tackle the seemingly endless tasks that I faced at the beginning of every new morning. I finished getting dressed but kept up with the mental planning as I went back into the bathroom to hang up my towel and brush my teeth. I combed my hair straight back so I could just lay my hat on top of it once it dried.
I hesitated at the closed door of my room, listening hard for singing or any other signs of movement that would indicate Hailey was still roaming around the kitchen. She mentioned keeping odd hours because of her writing—her schedule sounded like it was all over the place, which was perplexing. How did you ever manage to get work done without a consistent schedule? But she claimed that was what it was like to work for yourself in the most exciting city in the world. I never planned to find out, as I was just fine sticking to my measured life out West, where things were simple and straightforward.
I didn’t hear any noises and cursed Eric’s name again for putting me in a situation where I felt the need to tiptoe around my own house. This was just day one. I prayed things wouldn’t get worse from here. Still, I couldn’t deny the relief I felt when I opened the door to my bedroom to find the door to the guest room closed. I could hear the faint sound of music playing in there too. It was off-putting to have a stranger holed up in my place, carrying on with her own business while I stood idly by. I could only hope that I’d get used to the feeling sooner rather than later. If not, I really was going to find a way to end Eric’s life that the sheriff wouldn’t be able to trace back to me.
I went to the kitchen to start my coffee and was instantly annoyed by what I found in the sink. A plate and fork, not even rinsed off.
Grumbling under my breath, I turned on the water, soaped the plate and fork, and then rinsed them. I had a dish rack, but would never use it for so few dishes. I dried them with the towel hanging on a hook on one of the cabinets and put them away. Then I got my coffee started and pulled out a few eggs to fry up for breakfast. But the sight of those dishes left in the sink kept pulling at me. I couldn’t have that happening every damned day. I’d made it pretty clear to Hailey that I kept my house spotlessly clean and wouldn’t suffer a mess, big or small. She’d claimed to understand that, but clearly, that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t sure if I should confront her with this or just let the first time go. I didn’t like the thought of that, as it set up a bad pattern for what was acceptable in the future. Better to just nip it in the bud right now, so I didn’t have to keep cleaning up after her every morning before I made my own breakfast. She was an adult. She should be able to clean up her messes like one.
While the coffee was brewing, I strode over to her room, going over what I would say. I’d keep it polite, but firm. I couldn’t live comfortably with all kinds of disorder in my house. That was just how I was. I tidied up daily and performed a deep cleaning once a week on Sundays. I planned to do that until the day I died. If that was a problem for her, she could go live with Eric in town.
I rapped on her door twice.
“Hold on!” she called out, like I might suddenly choose to kick the door in. She opened the door, wearing a robe tightly pulled around herself, her blonde hair a mess of wild curls around her face, and her glasses balancing at the end of her nose. She pushed them back with a single finger and stared up at me with a friendly shine in her clear blue eyes.
“Good morning!” she said, her voice louder than it really needed to be considering the space. That was another thing I’d noticed about her—she seemed to fill whatever space she was in way more than was necessary, be it with her voice or her personality. Maybe it came from living in such a busy place.
“Mornin’,” I said, tipping my head to her. “I noticed you left your dishes behind in the sink this morning.”
Her eyes widened, her full lips curving into a smile. “Yeah, I was going to take care of those as soon as I finished getting dressed.”
But I could plainly see by the way her face changed that she hadn’t even remembered the damned things were in the sink. I shook my head.
“My policy where dishes are concerned is to always do them immediately. I don’t have a fancy dishwasher, and I don’t want dishes piling up in the sink.”
She gave a high laugh that echoed in the hallway and was much louder than her voice had just been. I couldn’t help the frown that slid over my face.
“You’re joking, right?” she asked, eyes shining.
“Not even a little.”
At the sound of my reply, the smile faltered on her face, and her eyes widened again, the seriousness of the situation altering the rest of her expression. She pushed back some of her crazy yellow curls, but they only bounced back to how they were before she’d messed with them.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice much lower than it had been a second ago. “I’ll take care of them right now.”
“I already washed, dried, and put them away. I just don’t want dishes left in the sink or a mess left anywhere at all in the house. I need things left the way you find them. That’s all.”
She nodded once, her big eyes shiny. “Okay.”
I nodded back at her and turned head back to the kitchen, hoping that would be enough to cut down any further problems at the root before they had a chance to flourish. But I wasn’t sure how secure I felt in that, given the mess I’d glimpsed in the guestroom. Yesterday, it had been immaculate. Now, it looked like several of her bags had exploded all over the room.
I gritted my teeth at the thought of the chaos spreading through my house with the appearance of this woman, but forced my mind away from it as I cracked the eggs I’d set out into the skillet and officially started my day.