Page 46 of The Marriage Deal
He releases me, moves back to his chair and sits.
I don’t know how he can be so unaffected when I’m sitting here struggling to breathe under the weight of the man’s intensity.My goodness.
I blurt, “You don’t want to know why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why I won’t sleep with you?”
“I figure you have your reasons.” His disinterest is salt in the wound.
“I do.” I force indifference of my own into my words. “But you’re not curious?”
His eyes flick up to mine. “Do you wish to share, Lilah?”
I want to scream in frustration. The way he turns things around on me like that—it’s enough to spin anyone’s head right around. As it is, the man has me spinning like a top.
Biting into my bottom lip to keep my tongue from running. I mutter, “No.”
We finish our meal in silence.
Well, external silence, that is. Inside, I’m screaming curses at the man while wondering if there’s witchy magic buried somewhere in my lineage that I can pull from and aim his way.
The man is positively, absolutely, infuriatingly…well,infuriating!
19
LOOK AT THAT, SPEECHLESS
BRIGGS
Ipoint to the physical drawings Nash insists on using. “I want the resort away from the house.” I tap my finger on the papers he’s sprawled over the kitchen island. “Looking over the falls, here.”
“Noted.”
“And I’ll need a fence around the house.”
Nash cocks a brow. “The trees aren’t enough?”
“I’m going to have kids one day,” I say in answer.
“With the lunatic?”
I give him a look. “You know what this is with her.”
“Speaking of the little lunatic,” I don’t like him calling her that, but I don’t say it. Words give Nash ammunition and I’m not in the mood today. “When am I going to meet her?”
“Soon.” Now that he’s here in Sunset Falls, it’s not like I can keep her from him. I refocus my attention onbusiness. “There’ll be access to the personal property through the stables. I’d like what’s here to be added on. I’ll be getting more horses and offering access to the ranch in the form of rides.” I pause. “Maybe a petting zoo for kids.”
“You’ve got kids on the brain, man.”
I slice my gaze to my friend, ignoring the grin that stretches his lips. “This is a family town. It won’t do to alienate the kids.”
Nash lifts his hands in joking surrender. “All right. All right. I hear you.”
I stab my finger into the map of the land. A blueprint featuring plans and measurements. “I’ll do a u-pick here. That’ll create more jobs, easing the town into the idea of me shaking things up long-term.”
Nash stands back, hands on hips. “Anything else, boss?”
