Page 11 of No Bed Of Roses

Levi and Hopper both stood as well.

“I can take care of that for you if you need.”

Such a gentleman. Isla shook her head. “That’s okay. I’ll do it. I’ll let you know what the vet says.”

Levi grinned. “How about I give you my number, then you can call me?”

Another tingle of awareness ran through her at the sparkle in his eyes. “Sure.” She told him her number, and he input it into his phone. Seconds later, she felt hers vibrate in her pocket.

“Now you have mine as well. If you need help, let me know.”

“You’ve already helped me a lot. Thanks again for setting up the windows. I’m not great at visualizing things like that.”

He leaned down to pat the dog’s head. The man really didn’t like to acknowledge his good deeds. “You be a good boy for the glass farmer, Hopper.”

Isla most certainly wasn’t imagining those big hands of Levi’s touching her with that kind of easy affection. Or with lust. Nope. Definitely not.

“Come on, Hopper. Let’s go see if we can find a vet to check you out.”

The dog trotted beside her for a few steps, then stopped and turned back as if realizing Levi wasn’t coming with them. “It’s okay, Hopper. Come on.”

Hopper looked between them, and Levi grunted. “I guess he thinks we belong together.”

That sent another thrill through her. Vermont was making her imagination soar.

“Go on, Hopper. Go with Isla.”

Isla called the dog and moved slowly. Hopper looked between them again and whined, but when she kept moving, he moved with her. “That’s it, Hopper. We’ll find out if you have a family waiting for you.”

Isla waved at Levi, who watched them with his massive arms crossed over his equally massive chest. He nodded to acknowledge her wave, and she turned back to her field. The man was potent.

Hopper leaned into her side as they walked, but kept looking over his shoulder. Isla tried very hard not to do the same.

Levi planted his feet into the ground in order to stay put. He didn’t need to follow the woman across the field. He wanted to, but he didn’t need to. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and the dog.

When she had to climb and then haul herself over the fence, he grinned. Despite her intriguing presence, his glass farmer was a tiny thing. If he’d followed her, he could have got his hands on that cute ass to boost her over. Hell, he could have tucked her under one arm and still hopped over.

Hopper slid under the bottom rail and looked back through the fence at him. With a sigh, Levi turned and headed back into the barn.

He had no business wanting to pick things up with his neighbor, and he’d do well to remember that. Now that she was out of sight, he could shove her out of his mind.

Although that hadn’t worked well last night. He’d always been an early riser. Farmers had little choice in the matter. But he’d been up earlier than normal and hadn’t been able to stop himself from heading over to set up her windows.

Everyone in his family loved puzzles. Jigsaws, word games, logic puzzles. All of them. They’d spent evenings and winter days in the living room trying to best each other and laughing. So many good times. He’d bet Isla had never had family time like that.

I know what it’s like to be alone and without a home.

Her words echoed in his head and had him wondering about her past. She appeared to be friendly and easy with both people and animals. Whatever wounds her past had caused, she kept them hidden.

With an internal sigh, Levi ordered himself to focus on the task. The barn on the property was a large one. Sean had taken the section nearer the house as the home base for his construction business.

Was there still enough room in here for both the room he would need for his farm and a brewery? How much room did a brewery take up? What was involved?

He didn’t need to know anything about the second question except for how it would affect him and his end of the business. The barn needed to serve a variety of purposes, or they’d need to build another structure, which would be a pain in the ass.

How much room in the barn did he need to be a hops farmer? What equipment would he need? A quick look online the night before had shown him that hops needed soil that drained well. They also required a trellis system to grow on, which wasn’t something he’d done before.

According to the internet, there were several hops farms around Vermont, so it was possible. He wished any of those farms were close, but all required a drive of several hours, and he didn’t want to spend that much time on it.

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