Page 12 of Make Her Mine
The shiny red hood of the truck they’d taken off in came into view, and I muttered, “Shit,” then took off inside of the house to hide.
With work still needing to be done, I decided to start cleaning the bathrooms upstairs in whatever bedrooms they slept in. They’ll probably stay downstairs for a while, talking to Mom and Dad about their plans.
Where had the guys slept? I searched for all the rooms with messed-up beds. When I failed to find not one bed unmade, not one room disheveled, I decided to look a bit harder.
There were six bedrooms in the residential wing upstairs. Six more downstairs, but Mom said she saw them going up when they left the dining area. But even close inspections of each attached bathroom didn’t provide a clue as to where they slept. Mom must’ve been wrong, so I headed down the stairs—and there was Brandon.
He held up one hand. “Better not topple down these stairs, Ella.”
Maybe it was my deer in the headlights expression? Shaking off the initial reaction, I spoke hastily, “Since you allowed me to drop the old-fashioned dress code your grandfather enforced, I’ve got on tennis shoes. Falling is highly unlikely. Too bad, huh?”
“For me?” he asked as we met halfway on the landing.
“Yeah, for you.” I didn’t look at him but noticed his eyes roaming over my body, taking in the jeans and t-shirt. “Since I won’t be falling anymore, you won’t have to fulfill your hero fantasy—or whatever has you thinking I’m a damsel who needs rescuing.”
“Excuse me.” He moved up the stairs.
Where are their rooms? “Hey, where did you guys sleep last night?”
Brandon turned around with a wide grin. “Why? You want to lie on my bed and sniff my pillows?”
“You’re seriously going to make me gag.” But the idea wasn’t all that bad. The man smelled splendid. “I’m the housekeeper. It’s my job to clean your rooms every day. In particular, the bathrooms. They can get malodorous.”
“We clean up after ourselves,” he informed me. “And we do a good job of it. Our dad made sure we helped Mom with the chores. It took us a while to find where to take the towels this morning, but we managed.”
“That’s my job.” I put my hands on my hips. “You want me to lose my job, Brandon Gentry?”
His look made me blush all over. “You’re mine, Ella.”
“Huh?”
“My maid. I’m your boss.” He laughed, then turned around again. “The only person who can take your job away from you is me. Come on, I’ll show you the bedrooms we picked.”
My legs, though shaky, took me up the stairs behind him. “May I ask what you have decided to do about the ranch?”
“We’re keeping it.” He stopped at the top of the stairs to let me catch up. “Looks like you’re going to be stuck with me, Ella.”
I walked ahead of him. “Who says I’ll be a maid here forever?”
“Not me.” He moved to pass me. “Mine’s this one here.” He opened the third door on the left. “I like the blue hues.” He pointed across the hallway. “Clayton’s is there, and Dyllan took the first one off the right.” He led me into his room, and I looked around.
“Um, if you put your dirty clothes and towels and stuff in the bathroom hamper, I’ll launder them each day. It’s been our practice to wash the sheets once a week, on Mondays. If that’s okay with you, I’ll keep on doing that.” Mom told me to behave myself, and I tried to conjure my inner maid to do just that.
“I rather do my own clothes.” He went to open the closet. “We’ve been doing our own laundry since we were fifteen. I prefer to wash my own boxers.” His eyes went wide as he looked at the massive closet space. “Whoa. This is nearly as big as the bedroom.”
“Yeah, there are some huge closets in these suites.” He didn’t have enough clothes to make a dent in the space. “You should go shopping. You know, fill this bitch up.”
“Not much of a shopper.” He closed the door, then turned to look speculatively at me. “Care to make a buck helping me do that, Ella?”
“Helping you do what?” I ran my dust cloth over the already-clean dresser.
“Shopping.” He came to me, took the cloth out of my hand, then tucked it into the pocket of my apron. A frisson of sensation sparked in me from his touch. “I have no clue where the stores are. I’ll pay you, of course.”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Since you already cleaned your own rooms this morning, that will be just another part of my job. I can help all of you. When do you want to go?”
Biting his lower lip, he seemed to be mulling it over. “Sometime tomorrow. It’s too late to go today.”
“The morning might be good.” We can get the shopping out of the way first thing. “Get with your brothers and let me know.” I turned to leave, but then felt his hand on my shoulder. Why my damn knees had to go weak confused me.
