Page 25 of The Back Forty
“What?” I ask, grabbing one of the paper bags and fishing out a sandwich.
Cash raises his brows like I just said something unbelievable. “I think Dani’s sister might be into you.”
“Oh.” I shrug. “Didn’t notice.”
“Too busy staring at your new Vice President?” he shoots back, biting into his sandwich with a smirk.
I freeze mid-chew, eyes narrowing. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Colt chuckles under his breath and wisely stays quiet, focusing on the float again.
“I’m just saying,” Cash continues, mouth full of food. “Dani’s amazing at her job. Better than anyone I’ve got employed at the egg farm. If you mess it up, I might need to steal her.”
I glare at him. “I’m not messing anything up. I intend on keeping her. I just promoted her, dammit. There will be no stealing.”
“Maybe you should promote her onto your dick so that you can stop pining after her,” he mutters under his breath.
I whip my head around. “Watch your mouth. Don’t talk about her like that.”
Cash just lifts his hands in mock surrender, grinning like the jackass he is. “Touchy.”
“She’s my employee,” I growl. “I’d never screw that up by crossing a line.”
“Sure, sure,” he says. “Just saying. You’ve been looking a little tortured lately. We all like her. What’s the harm in having a taste? She ain't no Rae, but she's pretty and funny, and fuck she's witty and aggravates you. That's probably the best part. Watching you get all flustered when someone challenges your ideas.”
“The harm?” I scoff, tossing the sandwich wrapper in the trash bin and stepping closer to the float because now my appetite is gone. “The harm is that it’d be a colossal fuckin’ mistake.”
He blinks. “Why? You both respect each other. You get along. You clearly think she’s hot—”
“Don’t.”
He smirks. “You do.”
I grit my teeth. “I have rules.”
“Yeah, well. Rules change.”
“Not this one.”
Because if I ever crossed that line with Dani, it wouldn’t be just one time. That’s what scares the shit out of me. Having Dani one time wouldn't be enough. And does he really think that I haven’t considered it? That I haven’t imagined what it’d be like? That at times I've wondered if we hadn't known each other's names, how she would have sounded moaning when I sunk inside of her inside the bar's restroom?
Hell, I thought about it. Thought about how her lips would look wrapped around me, how she’d sound if I pinned her up against the back of a hotel door when we’re traveling in the middle of nowhere.
But then I found out who she was. What she wanted. What she was made of. And I’ve told myself every day since that I needed to stop thinking about it. And I have.
Sort of.
Because the truth is—I’ve been thinking about it for damn near 365 days and Cash's taunting me is only making it harder to resist.
Chapter 10 – Dani
“Okay, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be,” Catalina says as we slide into a table atWhitewood Creek Brewery and Restaurant.
Her lips curve into a half-smile, the kind that tells me she’s not entirely sold on small town living but at least open to the idea of visiting Isla and I more often. That’s something. Catalina’s not the type to hop a cross-country flight just for the scenery. And while she hasn’t said it yet, I know she didn’t come all the way from California, leaving behind her demanding job at the hospital and everything she loves, just to hang out with Isla and me in the middle of our quiet, woodsy town.
She likes her life out there—where the groceries are all organic, the Wi-Fi is fast, and the sunshine doesn’t come with a side of humidity. I used to feel the same way and swore I'd always be a Cali girl. But somewhere over the last year, North Carolina got under my skin in ways I didn’t expect.
There’s something about seasons, real ones, that slows you down and makes you feel like you’re actually part of something.
