“You don’t have to look at me that way,” she told him, trying to hide her reaction. “I just want to reciprocate.”
That sounded…oddly sexual. Sure enough, his lips curled upwards slightly and his eyes lit up.
She shifted on her feet impatiently. “That wasn’t a sexual reference,” she told him with a small huff.
The guy shrugged, and finally looked away. “If you want to help, why don’t you tie up the tomatoes?”
Carrie looked over at the long line of tomatoes, many with heavy green or almost red fruit hanging from the seemingly delicate branches. “I can do that.” She shifted again, and squinted up at him. “How do I do that?” she asked, feeling foolish, but she’d never had the time for a garden. Although she really liked the idea. Thinking about walking out one’s back door in order to pick one’s salad ingredients seemed…thrilling!
Unfortunately, Carrie didn’t have the longevity for a garden. Oh, she might be able to plant one, but by the time the plants produced fruit, she’d be long gone. The longest she’d allowed herself to stay in one place was six months, and that had been a dangerous mistake.
“Jolene?”
Carrie jerked her attention towards Derick, lifting her eyebrows as her heart pounded heavily. How many times had he said her name? Darn it, that was a stupid mistake! A dangerous one!
“Sorry, I was lost in thought,” she told him. The look in his eyes warned her that he didn’t quite believe her.
He handed her a skein of twine and a pair of scissors. “You really don’t have to help me, Jolene.”
She smiled up at him. “I’d really love to learn more about gardening. I’ve never grown anything. Except basil. I had a basil plant one year. A long time ago. It was…well, I let it flower and then, I don’t know. I read that basil plants shouldn’t flower because it…” she tapered off, realizing that she was rambling. But darn it, he was close. Really close! And he smelled good. Like sunshine and soap. Yum!
He stared at her for another long moment and Carrie refused to fidget under his intent gaze. Fidgeting indicated that she had something to hide and Carrie had plenty of issues to hide, but letting him know that was a bad thing.
“So I just tie the tomatoes to the…,” she glanced at the plants, then up at him. “What? What do you want me to tie the fruit to?’
He looked down at the plants, then took the twine and cut off a piece. “You just tie the fruit to the metal cages so that the branches have more support.”
“Why do they need to be tied? The branches look strong.”
He looked at her, a mysterious expression in those dark eyes of his. “They aren’t. The fruit grows heavy as the sun ripens them. They gain sugar and that makes them heavier. The branches will break with the weight, which means not enough nutrients will reach the fruit, so they won’t fully ripen.” He carefully wrapped the twine and tied the knot so that the wire “cone” held up the fruit. “It also protects the tomatoes from the turtles.”
Derick stood and looked down at her, catching the startled blink. “Turtles?” she echoed, nonplussed.
“Sure. Turtles love tomatoes. They usually go for the smaller ones,” he explained, pointing to the cherry tomato plants on the next row. “But they’ll eat just about any tomato they can reach. They love ‘em.”
She smiled and it transformed her. Jolene, and he didn’t believe that was her name at that point, had a beautiful smile. And even a small dimple on one cheek. She’d looked pretty before, but her smile…it changed her entire face. She looked…excited? Yeah. Sexy and excited. Over tomatoes and turtles?
Shaking his head slightly, he moved away, putting some space between “Jolene” and himself. Why had she lied about her name? Derick moved over to the cucumber vines and started pruning, snipping off the blooms where there was already one fruit growing. The whole time, he contemplated the mystery that was “Jolene”.
Now that he saw her in the sunshine, she truly was a beautiful woman. But he’d already known that. Working with her yesterday, he realized that she might be slim, but she was strong. Stronger than any woman he’d ever met. And stubborn too! Damn, some of those boards had been nearly welded into the porch over time and weather. But she’d gotten every one of them up. It had been easier for him because he was stronger, and also because he was taller. He could get a better grip on the boards.
He admired the hell out of her, and the mystery surrounding her only intrigued him further.
He didn’t believe for a moment that she was a criminal. No, that didn’t make sense. She was a hard worker and, the criminals he knew took the easy route through life. And she was too generous. Coming over here today to help him, to pay him back for his efforts yesterday, wasn’t something a criminal would do.
Nope. The neighborly “Jolene” wasn’t a criminal. Not a chance.
So, who was she? He could find out easily enough. He could just ask Mike to run a check on her. They had the resources and databases in the office to find out just about anything on anyone. It was their job to gather as much data that they could before stepping into a dangerous situation, resolve the problem, then get out. In those situations, knowledge was essential. So, the Army had developed a database that most people didn’t know about.
But Derick didn’t want to use those systems to find out the mystery of “Jolene”. For some reason, he felt that checking into her background would be a violation of her trust. And a violation of her privacy. She hadn’t done anything illegal that he knew of. So, he had no justification, other than curiosity, to delve into her past.
Plus, he wanted her to tell him. She was strong and a damn good carpenter. He’d also seen into her house while pulling up some of those boards yesterday. She was doing a fantastic job on the interior as well. To a casual observer, the house looked ruined. The woodwork was all torn up from a sander, the walls patched up with caulk and drywall plaster. There was dust just about everywhere. But because Derick had done, and was still doing, the same sorts of repairs to his house, he understood the process. He recognized the priming of the walls and wood prior to applying the finishing touches.
In fact, Derick realized that he was anticipating the challenge of getting her to trust him. After years of living out here by himself, the idea of having a neighbor, especially a pretty, mysterious neighbor, was enticing.
Carrie watched as Derick snipped and tied up the cucumber vines, coaxed the bean vines around the poles and cushioned the budding squash plants. His hands were gentle and caring. He never pulled too hard and touched every plant and fruit with…almost reverence.
And he was right to treat the plants that way, she realized. These were life-giving plants. These plants didn’t just provide oxygen, but they brought forth fruit and health and vitality!
She almost fell on her bottom when she realized that he was coaxing her out of her shell as well! Just like a plant! After living next to the man for only a week, he’d coaxed a smile from her. That’s something she hadn’t done in…too long. Carrie hadn’t had a reason to smile. And yet, after only a few conversations with him, he had her smiling like a goofball.
Not to mention, the way he was touching those plants made her think about what it would be like for him to touch her that way. Would he have such reverence when he touched her? Would he look at her with pride and awe when his hands cupped her breasts?