Page 24 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Not on the floor per se. But those in the storefront and offices. Lots of sisters or in-laws. Things like that.”

“Must make for some tricky situations then,” he said. “Not everyone can be the boss and someone is bossing around a family member or friend of a family member.”

“Believe it or not, I haven’t witnessed too much of anything other than siblings bickering but never about work. Just life in general but in a fun way. Nothing serious.”

“That’s rare,” he said.

“Very,” she said. “My last job. Good lord. I’m over unions. My father is a supervisor for a utility company. He was a lineman for years and now he manages them.”

“Which is still a union,” he said, smirking.

“Yep. But he has a great deal of respect from his men. Maybe because he was one of them.”

“It’s a different and sometimes an old-school mentality.”

“I bet you’re not like that.”

“No,” he said. “There is always something that needs to get done and work piles up faster than I can sometimes manage.”

Easton wasn’t talking about Cooke Landscaping, but she was most likely reading into it.

He didn’t think he was being deceptive. She didn’t ask much about his job and it was just casual conversation.

Their drinks came out, they placed their food orders, then chatted in general about the changes made to the place from when he was a kid.

He picked up a wing and put it on his plate along with some nachos. For someone so put together, Laurel didn’t seem to have a problem getting messy with food.

He took a bite and watched her do the same. The pale pink of her professionally done nails got some sauce on them, but she licked it off and grinned at him. There wasn’t a ton of makeup on her face but enough for him to know she knew what to accent to work the best.

Not that he felt she needed anything because her hazel eyes were bright and clear against her brown eyebrows and black lashes. Her hair was darker at the roots but not black and there were several shades of blonde and brown blended in.

When she’d taken her jacket off and hung it on the chair, he admired her black silky shirt tucked into the same jeans she’d had on earlier, but this time she had black pumps on her feet rather than sneakers.

He liked that about her. She could turn something simple into sexy rather quickly.

On one hand, she could come off as high maintenance and on the other so easy to be around and not afraid to get dirty.

It was a huge contradiction for a man whose last relationship was with a woman who screeched over an ant on the floor and had him running to protect her from an alien invasion only to have to grab a tissue and take care of it.

“I know that feeling,” she said. “But I’ve learned I can’t do it all at once. I need to pace myself and not rush. When you rush, you miss the important things around you.”

“Yeah,” he said softly. “You do.”

9

LIVING THE FANTASY

Laurel knew when a man liked what he saw. Just like she was trying to keep the drool from her lips over how well he wore his Levi’s.

She’d never thought she’d be a sucker for that, but here she was living the fantasy.

Didn’t Aunt Helen tell her that once you found a man that made you stare at his ass in nice fitted jeans, the rest didn’t matter?

She’d thought that was hilarious, but now she wasn’t so sure it was as funny as it came across.

Laurel had a few nachos and took in Easton’s words and looks.

“Can I ask why you said that and the reason you did?”

---