Page 36 of Fire in My Heart

“Let me know when you need me to help with set up for the festival. I’m usually here in the evenings, but I offered to help a friend with some home renovations.”

He’d been here all weekend, and I hadn’t given his hours much thought before now. “I’m here to increase revenue, so maybe you can hire a few more people.”

Teddy waved me off as he headed down the drive. “We’ll see.”

For the first time, I noticed that he hadn’t driven. He’d walked from his place. Did he not want to leave his truck in front of my cottage? Was he worried that his family would notice?

I watched him until I couldn’t see him anymore. Then I closed the door and went to the backyard to put out the fire.

But I couldn’t let it go. Teddy didn’t do anything unless there was a reason. He might prefer walking, but I didn’t think so.

He didn’t want his family to see his truck parked at my house. Why would that be? Unless he was attracted to me too?

CHAPTER 10

TEDDY

I’d recently discovered my brother Axel was home after being discharged early from the military. When he insisted his discharge papers were delayed, I got suspicious and called his commanding officer to check in. When he’d said he was discharged and had already moved home to Maryland, I’d been shocked. Thankfully, I had the wherewithal to ask for his address.

When I went to check on him, I’d walked in on him and his neighbor in the hot tub. Or at least that’s what I thought they were doing. When I arrived, the neighbor was wrapped in a towel, and they were both dripping wet.

Axel said he needed time to decompress after his service, and I could respect that. I understood how difficult it was to compartmentalize my job. I wasn’t sure the rest of our family would see it that way.

So I volunteered to help him renovate his house when I had free time. It had the added benefit of avoiding time with Charlotte. If I spent more time with her, I’d do something I’d regret, like kiss her.

I was working so closely with her on the farm, then we’d shared dinner, and it had messed with my head.

It was supposed to be a work thing, but it felt like a real date. I hadn’t brought flowers or wine, but I’d showered, and she’d looked nice. I helped her clean up after dinner, and then we sat around the fire talking about things not related to work.

I wouldn’t ordinarily ask a woman about her future plans, especially when it came to building a family. I wasn’t sure what had possessed me to ask her. I was just curious about her, especially since I’d learned about her parents and upbringing, first through Cole.

It had explained a lot about his character. Cole knew what it was like to have an absentee father, and he quickly bonded with Izzy. I was curious to see how it had affected Charlotte.

She was younger and was left alone while Cole spent more and more time with their cousins. Had that changed her in some way? Had it made her less trusting or more vulnerable? I couldn’t get over how positive she was despite her upbringing.

She was realistic when it came to having children. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea with her background. I wanted to reassure her, but I was in uncharted territory. I had no business talking about those things with her. We weren’t dating, so it was none of my business.

When I had realized my overstep, I got the hell out of there as fast as I could, hoping Charlotte didn’t read anything more into my visit than what it was: a business meeting between coworkers.

In the evenings, I spent time at Axel’s cabin, helping him tile the bathroom and kitchen. Charlotte had sent me several messages asking when I could help her with the festival setup, and she wanted me to try on the Santa suit to see if it would fit. I couldn’t avoid her forever.

I’d purposely volunteered for traffic duty this week so Icould hide in the cruiser with my radar gun and not talk to anyone. I was grumpier than usual, and it had everything to do with how Charlotte made me feel.

I wanted to talk to her and get to know her. I had no business doing any of those things. But my mind and my body couldn’t forget the way she’d felt in my arms when she’d tripped. My heart had skipped a beat, then immediately began to race.

Charlotte fit perfectly into my arms, and I wanted to know how it would feel to have her straddle my lap. I could fuck her in that chair in the kitchen. I could see her rising and falling. Her gorgeous body on display.

A car sped past me, and the radar gun beeped. I was supposed to be working. I had a reputation as someone who didn’t let anything past me. But I’d lost focus this week. I couldn’t concentrate on anything besides how Charlotte made me feel.

The time and distance hadn’t done anything to dull the emotions. I was all mixed up inside, wondering how I could possibly be intrigued by this woman who I’d complained drove me crazy.

Instead, I wanted to strip off her clothes and drive into her, getting to know her from the inside out in a more intimate way than we had on Sunday night. There was no guarantee that she wanted me. She’d tried to scramble out of my arms almost immediately after falling into them.

But I couldn’t avoid Charlotte tonight. We had to get the barn area ready for the festival, and I’d enlisted my brothers to help with moving the tables.

Charlotte booked the food trucks and vendors. I let her take lead on this project because it was not my area of expertise. I wanted to know what was going on at the farm and with the festival preparations. I couldn’t avoid her forever.

I refocused on my job and wrote out a number of tickets mysupervisor would approve of. After my shift, I stopped at home to check on the renovations. I’d finally gotten approval to replace the floors and the roof. The roof was scheduled to be completed next week, but the flooring hadn’t been delivered yet.

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