“No wife.”
Her nipples pebbled at the deep, rumbling promise in his voice.
“Girlfriend?” she echoed his earlier question, needing his answer before she’d let anything develop between them. If he had no entanglements, all bets were off. She was a curvy girl, and although a lot of women lacked self confidence, she wasn’t one of them. Men either liked what she had to offer, or they didn’t. His erection had been impressive—and all for her.
“Nope,” he offered with a panty-melting grin.
“Good to know. So, tell me, what do you do when you’re not delivering fridges, fixing faucets, or lifting women off the hoods of their cars?”
The smoldering heat shining in his eyes when he glanced at her had Maple squirming in her seat, trying to ease the throbbing pulse between her legs. The man was sex on two legs, and he knew it.
He stared ahead at the road and, for a moment, she wondered if he would answer. “I’m an enforcer of sorts. I keep people in line and make sure they don’t get into trouble. Luckily, this is a law-abiding community, so I’m left with plenty of time to do all the superhero stuff.”
Maple stifled a giggle, she’d bet he’d even look good in a superman leotard. She glanced out the window and into the forest. If she kept staring at him, she’d unbuckle her seat belt and launch herself at him as he drove.
With the sun streaming through the trees and the lush vegetation on the forest floor, it was as she remembered. Peaceful. Once, when she’d been no more than six or seven, her grandpa had taken her with him to insert the spiles into the trees at the beginning of the season, and she’d wandered away. He’d found her a short while later with tears streaming down her face, and made her promise never to wander away again. Grandma had been furious.
“What do you do when you’re not playing the part of a gorgeous hood ornament?” he asked, pulling her back to the present.
“As much as I’d like to be a full-time car accessory, it’s surprisingly not as lucrative of a career choice as you might think. I’ve had to resort to working as an accountant for the better part of the last ten years. Just to pay the bills, you know. Until I get my big break.”
He glanced at her again, scrunching his nose. “Sounds riveting.”
She snorted, then wished she hadn’t. The sound wasn’t pretty or feminine. “Hardly.”
He pulled the truck into the drive and came to a stop. “So why do it if you hate it?”
“I never said I hated it.”
“You didn’t deny it, either,” he said before hopping out of the truck to come to her side.
Working for Harper, Marrick, and Clark wasn’t fun or exciting in the least, but that wasn’t the real problem. Not everyone had exciting jobs, and that was okay. It was her personal life that needed resurrecting. “I don’t particularly love it, but I don’t hate it, either. When I was a kid, I never imagined I’d do anything other than run the Sugar Shack when I grew up. Even when I went to college, it was with the idea of coming back to run the family business.”
“So, why didn’t you?”
She gave a little shrug. “Life happened. Priorities changed. You know how it is. Grown up responsibilities start piling up, and those childhood dreams tend to fade away.”
***
Jaxon ignored the tightness squeezing the air from his lungs. It sure as hell didn’t sound like she was planning to stay. “Let’s get your groceries in out of the sun,” he said, unwilling to explore that possibility even in his own mind.
“I can’t thank you enough for all you’re doing. I would have hated to have to turn around and leave again so soon after I’d gotten here,” she said as she led him inside.
“It’s no trouble at all. I’m happy to help.”
She smiled at him and nibbled on her lower lip. “I guess you could leave the groceries on the table for now until we get the fridge in,” she suggested.
“Sure thing. Can I borrow your phone?” he asked, trying to distract himself from the urge to pin her against her kitchen wall and suck on that lip she’d been torturing.
“Yeah, sure. It’s right there.” She pointed to a spot on the wall next to the fridge.
His chuckle slipped out before he could think to hold it back. “Does that thing work? I didn’t know rotary phones even existed anymore.”
“It works. I was going to replace it, but since I’m only here for a couple of weeks, I thought I’d save my money and take my chances with that one.”
Shaking his head, he grabbed the receiver and tugged to get the cord untangled enough to hold it to his ear before dialing. He turned to face her, watching as she took dry goods out of the bags he’d brought in and put the stuff away. Damn, she was easy on the eyes. He’d been in a semi-hard state since he’d first seen her yesterday, with no end in sight. Not that he cared. He’d rather have blue balls than live with the constant agony of not knowing where she was like he’d done for the last two decades.
“Hey Emmet, I have a favor to ask you,” he said when his brother finally picked up on the third ring. “I was driving down to the old Hudson place when I had to stop for a pretty lady with car trouble on the road coming up to the cabin. Would you have time to bring it to the shop and have a look at it for me?” Static came through the phone, and for a second, he thought he’d lost the connection.
“You there with her now?” Emmet finally asked.
“Yeah. I’ll be here for a while.” If he had his way, he’d be spending the day. And if he was really lucky, maybe even the
