“Nice to meet you. Sadie James.” She shook the woman’s hand. “Great location you’ve got here. When did you buy the house?”
“It was my uncle’s. He left it to my mother in his will when he died, but she doesn’t know what to do with it. I said it would fetch more cash on the market if we fixed it up a little bit. I spoke with Jada at her restaurant, and she said you did this sort of thing back in Dallas?”
“That’s right.” She gave Reagan her professional smile and waved to the front of the house. “It looks a little outdated from the street. One thing that helps is curb appeal.”
Reagan nodded, sending her bleach-blonde Southern girl curls bouncing on her shoulders. “Oh yes, I watch all the home improvement shows on TV. I know about curb appeal.”
She’d heard this before, and while a lot of people had good results from DIY, Reagan asked for a professional the same way she found a surgeon to remove her gall bladder. Bottom line? She could help this seller.
“Okay, let’s have a look around outside and you can share your ideas with me,” she told Reagan.
They walked into the yard and discussed all the problems Sadie mentioned. She’d learned early on not to share her ideas with clients, because it was giving away the milk before buying the cow. Sure, that saying referred to sexual encounters, but it pertained to interior design too.
She jotted some notes in her phone and then Reagan showed her indoors. The place sported old paneling, scratched floors that revealed the former uncle had owned a dog with overly long toenails, and outdated bathrooms and kitchen.
“I don’t think this place needs totally gutted, but a few things would help for sure. Getting rid of this wall, for one.” While her rule to never give too much away for free was a good one to stick to, she also found dropping hints such as this removal of the wall often made clients buy into her ideas.
After the visit, with many new ideas bouncing through her mind, Sadie shook Reagan’s hand again and traded phone numbers with her. Reagan said she’d be in touch, and Sadie gave her a smile and a wave on the way to her truck.
Bouncing into her seat behind the wheel again, she smiled. It felt good to be back in the game. In fact, for the first time since before Jackson died and her world flipped upside down, she felt closest to her old self.
She had a cute new hometown to feed the explorer in her. Great friends in Dom and Jada. Her schoolhouse was maybe the best buy of her life—better than those vintage Tony Lama boots she snagged at a flea market in Dallas.
And then there was Theo.
Whenever her thoughts even brushed the edges of the sex they had, her insides turned hot and clenching. There was one problem, though. Dirty-hot fun sex she was on board for. Intense, look-into-my-eyes-as-you-come sex? She was far from ready. Years from now, sure. She still had dreams of a family and hugging a husband when he arrived home from work.
But now? No way—and not with Theo. The cowboy might be great in bed—okay, fantastic—but he also worked on a ranch with big, dangerous, unpredictable animals. Something she promised herself she’d never want in her life again.
She shook her mind out of the knot it continued to try to pick apart. It was only sex. Nobody asked her to settle down or get serious. She was a young woman who didn’t mind a romp in the back of a truck now and then. Theo just happened to have the bonus of being hot as sin and a great lover.
When he left her around ten o’clock last night, and several orgasms later, he promised to return tonight to help with the start of those walls she wanted to add. She tried to suppress the butterflies that hatched in her stomach at the thought of seeing him again.
She located the hardware store and purchased paint and supplies. Then she stopped at Meyers Supermarket with the cute small-town touch of red and white banners crisscrossing the parking lot and flapping in the Georgia breeze. As she shopped for food that would fit into her small dorm fridge she picked up secondhand from a garage sale, she found herself thinking of what Theo might enjoy eating.
Dang it. This was one of her biggest fears. She liked taking care of a man. Cooking dinner for him and seeing his satisfied smile afterward and rubbing his shoulders when they were locked up with tension were only two of the things she missed about having a man in her life.
But Theo wasn’t that man. Never could be, in her book. Sure the confidence he carried himself with hit all the soft, willing spots in her body, and a smoldering look from him had her on fire, but she would never put herself into a situation that would leave her heartbroken again.
She passed up the steaks she knew he’d prefer to eat and instead purchased a small pack of chicken for herself.
But she loved steak too, dammit. She didn’t need to buy it for Theo’s sake.
She turned her shopping cart around and bought the steak. Two strip steaks would provide her at least two meals, she mentally argued. She didn’t need to take care of Theo by feeding him.
But she knew if he stripped off her clothes tonight, she wouldn’t turn him away.
She bit down on her lip to hold in the fizzle of excitement.
* * * * *
The damn kid was more trouble than Theo wanted or needed.
He jumped in his truck, thinking he should call Sadie and tell her he couldn’t work on the schoolhouse tonight because he was so far behind with chores on the ranch.
When he discovered Jordy missing, he thought the kid had cut and run. At first, Theo thought it might be for the best—then he realized what a dark, selfish turn his thoughts were taking, shook himself and started a search.
He looked in every hayloft and behind each stack of feed on the ranch. The thought of Jordy on his own in the world, without the basic necessities of life such as food and shelter, pained him.
After searching the entire morning, he’d almost given up. Then he looked across the field and spotted movement in the trees. There, he’d found Jordy waking from a late sleep.
At the moment he discovered the boy, he understood his parents a hell of a lot better. He wanted to pull the kid into a hug and then cuff him in the ear.
In the end, he yanked him in for a hug, roughly palming his head while warning him to stay out of trouble.
As he drove toward the schoolhouse, his mind clouded with the list of work he’d neglected this morning, which still needed caught up. If he didn’t get that shipment of feed put up by tomorrow, Cort wouldn’t be happy with him. Other neglected chores that were his sole responsibility formed in his mind, and for a minute, he thought about turning around and heading back to the ranch.
He didn’t have Sadie’s number, but he could get it easy enough by calling Dom. Of course, then his buddy would be asking a lot of questions, and Theo never was good at being put on the spot. At the party, he didn’t have a damn clue how to lie to his friend and keep from blurting out the truth—he and Sadie slept together.
Twice now.
He closed his eyes for a second, seeing her glorious and naked and burning for him. Then he opened them and focused on the road.
Today, he had to keep his hands to himself.
He couldn’t sleep with her. He had work to do, and he needed to find Jordy a better living situation—as soon as possible.
But the second he pulled up in front of the schoolhouse and saw her outside bent over with a measuring tape, Theo’s gut clenched.
She wore loose sweats and a baggie T-shirt, a switch from her country girl attire of jeans, fitted top and boots. He froze in his seat, unable to move as she bent over to measure what seemed to be the dimensions for the sidewalk, and then reached into a box, pulled out a metal post and pounded it into the ground as a marker.