“I won’t…and thanks,” he said, gratitude brightening his expression, making the excited woman inside her dance on her toes.
Calm down, she scolded. He may not even be interested. Besides, he’s your employee, not your boyfriend. You need his help, so don’t screw this up!
Chapter 4
As soon as he set the parking brake, Cade hopped out of his broken-down truck and jogged around the front to remove the towrope from the frame. Addie backed up about a foot to give him slack and, once he had the neon-yellow, nylon strap disconnected from both vehicles, he placed it in her truck’s bed and she pulled off to the side to park near her house.
He took a moment to glance around the dooryard, and he could see right away that the place had been neglected for some time. Weeds clogged the flowerbeds by the house and the vegetable garden he’d spied out back on the way in seemed to need tending as well. The house and garage needed painting, as did the barn, which—by the shafts of light he could see through the open door—also needed to have the roof repaired.
She hadn’t been kidding about needing help.
The engine of her truck cut off and he turned just in time to see her hop out of the four-by-four. She seemed so tiny beside the big truck, but her size wasn’t what made his mouth go dry. Oh, no. Seeing how her ample breasts bounced inside her loose tank top as she landed on her booted feet did that. Once that vision met his eyes, he couldn’t help but notice how her blue jeans hugged her hips and thighs as she approached him with a smile that struck him like a blow to the gut.
Damn, she’s adorable. With the messy bun of blonde hair sagging off the back of her head and a blush of sun and fresh air on her cheeks, she looked downright kissable. Little wisps curled against the elegant line of her neck and longer strands brushed her shoulders. All that bare skin glowed in the afternoon sunlight and looked soft as silk. His fingers itched to test the smooth expanse and the rest of her supple curves, too. He could almost feel his hands dive into her hair and loosen it from its confines, could picture it unfurling down her back in a cascade of golden waves.
“Well, we made it,” she said, stopping in front of him and lifting a hand to pull a stray curl from her cheek.
Damn if he hadn’t wanted to do that for her. His hands clenched and he pushed them into his pockets to keep them to himself. But his mind stampeded into dangerous territory, envisioning this cute bundle of beautiful wearing nothing but her devastating smile.
“Yeah, we did,” he said, stifling the groan of lust that flooded through his veins. “I’m impressed.”
Her brows drew down. “How so?”
“Well,” he said, rocking on his heels, “most women would’ve been nervous to do something like that, especially with a manual transmission. A lot wouldn’t have even tried. But you jumped right in and were phenomenal. You’re a natural.”
His gut clenched when her face lit up at the compliment. He liked seeing her smile a little too much.
“I’ve done it a few times and it is a little nerve-wracking,” she said, “but the truck wasn’t going to move itself.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose not.”
“Now that we’re here, though, I can give you the grand tour.”
“Lead the way.”
“All righty.” She pointed at the large, round, squat metal structures across the wide dooryard from where they stood. “Those are conventional silos and hold corn and grain. They’re about two-thirds full right now, and I plan to sell about half of each before winter.”
She started strolling toward the barn and he joined her.
“Over there,” she pointed at a Quonset hut to the right of the barn, “is the machine shed. That’s where all the big equipment goes, like the tractor and the combine.”
Stepping through the barn doors, she turned to face him.
“I’d like to keep more hay in here but, as you can see,” she said, waving a hand at the shafts of sunlight streaming in through open holes, “the roof is less than sound. There are three covered areas in the fields near the cattle, but only one of those has a decent roof. The other two were supposed to be repaired by my last crew, but I checked earlier this morning and found only one had been half done. The other has the shingles torn off and some of the boards removed, but that’s it. Except for the huge mess they left on the ground.”
“How long have you been here?” he asked, glancing around the less than tidy barn.
“Only about three months,” she said. “Why?”
“It looks like this place has been neglected for a lot longer than that.” He frowned. “You said you have a harvest coming up. Did you do the planting?”
“No, the previous owner did that, but he was getting on in years and slowing down. I don’t think he could keep up with everything anymore.”
She strolled back out into the sunlight and Cade followed.
“When he had a heart attack, it was time to quit, but he’d already put in the crops.” She turned to face Cade. “I offered to give him a percentage of the profits on hay and grain for the next three years, and he agreed to a discounted price.”
“That’s very generous of you.”
“There’s a little more to it than that.” She tilted her head. “Remember the ladies at the coffee shop?”
He nodded, wondering what they had to do with anything.
“Well, Pete—the farmer who sold me this land—is a friend of theirs, and Veta’s husband helped Pete out on occasion. They’re the ones who told me about this place, and Pete left me detailed directions on how to proceed. He’s a nice man and was in
