Maybe I just needed a fuckin’ beer.
“Hey, sweaty man! You ready for some lunch?” Amelia’s voice rang out just when I was ready to put my ax down for the day.
There she stood on the sidewalk in her little pencil skirt, turquoise blouse, and chunky heels. She also held a picnic basket in front of her, a broad smile on her beautiful face.
“Tell me you have beer in there and I’ll find all the gold prophesied to be in these cliffs for you.” I pulled off my gloves and walked over.
“Does apple cider count?” She tilted her head, that dark, shiny hair picking up the light from the sun.
“Fuck yes, it does.” I leaned in and kissed her, careful to keep my sweaty, dirt-streaked self away from her.
“Tailgate?”
I nodded and moved to put the tailgate down on my pickup truck. I kept a blanket in my toolbox just for these types of situations. Never knew when a tailgating party would break out around Hell and you’d need a cushioned seat.
Once I had it spread out, Amelia hopped up, and despite the differences between us at the moment, I peeked at the skirt that started riding higher as she sat with her legs crossed. I could be mad at her and still find her damn attractive.
My insides did that thing again where I ached just to look at her. I’d wanted Amelia for so long it didn’t seem possible to feel any other way about her. Maybe Rip was right. Maybe I needed to put aside my little bitch of an ego and look at things from her perspective.
“You gonna eat or just stand there lookin’ at me?” Amelia smiled, an eyebrow lifted in challenge.
“Not sure yet,” I grumbled back.
She laughed and handed me a plate with a sandwich—no mayo and extra pickles, just the way I liked it—and a huge cupcake with white frosting and a messy red slash through it like she’d taken a swipe at it with her finger.
My growling stomach got the better of my eyes and I sat down next to her to dig in. “What happened to the cupcake?”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “I asked Lukas to put a heart on it and the boy can’t seem to frost a cake worth a damn. It turned out looking more like an upside-down poop emoji, so I tried to fix it. Now it just looks like a murdered cupcake.”
“Well, I appreciate the cupcake, murdered or not. What’s the occasion?”
Amelia chewed a bite of sandwich before answering. “I just feel like since we agreed to disagree, we haven’t really seen each other very much. I wanted to apologize for worrying you. That certainly was not my intention.” She put her sandwich down and moved her plate behind her. “It’s just I learned a lot from the whole mess with Daire and it made me feel empowered to handle things on my own. Please don’t be mad at me for that.”
I pushed my plate aside too. To hell with my empty stomach. I reached for her hand, no longer caring if I got her dirty. I had to touch her.
“I’m sorry too. I guess I have a hero complex I need to take a look at.”
She giggled and snuggled in closer. “I quite like a dashing hero. Even if he does stink to high heaven.”
I recoiled, realizing I did, in fact, smell like I’d been toiling all morning in the warm sun and nary a breeze. “Sorry. Just working hard on my new project.”
Amelia squeezed my hands with a warm smile that let me know she still loved me, smell and all. She let go and grabbed her plate. “Better eat up then so you can keep going all afternoon. What are you working on here?”
I shrugged, even though I was on high alert. We were eating lunch in front of my little secret. “Just a little house build. That’s all.” Time to change the subject before she started asking questions I couldn’t answer quite yet. “So tell me, how did you get the mayor to back off on Daire’s hotel proposal?”
Amelia coughed, nearly choking on her sandwich. I patted her back and then handed her a bottle of cider. “You okay?”
She took it gratefully and swallowed half the bottle before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. I snorted. Her skirt said Miss Priss, but her manners said “one of the guys” sometimes.
“Wow, sorry. That went down the wrong pipe. Uh, I just told the mayor I had a better proposal coming and he should hold off on things with Daire.”
I frowned, feeling like I missed part of the conversation somewhere along the line. “And do you? Have a better proposal?”
Her cheeks went pink and she’d no longer meet my gaze. “Well, yeah. Sort of. Working on it.”
As if she’d been prodded with a lightning bolt, she tossed the rest of her sandwich in the basket and hopped off the tailgate.
“Well, gotta go! Hotel guests beckon. Bring back the basket later, huh?”
She beamed up at me, and as much as I loved that smile, something was very off.
“Okay.” I nodded and leaned down to kiss her.
A quick peck on the lips and she was speed walking down the sidewalk away from me.
“What the hell, Amelia?” I muttered to the empty air.
That girl was up to something and I’d bet my new plot of land I wouldn’t like it. Which really sucked because this plot of land I’d just dumped my savings into was supposed to be for her.
I sighed and tossed my empty paper plate into the basket and cracked open the cider. Lord knew I’d need plenty of alcohol to get through dating Amelia. I loved her, but damn, did she keep a man on his toes. Surveying the huge plot of dirt with planks of wood waiting for the concrete pour in just a few days’ time and
