Page 61 of A Little More

Heat flamed Nash’s face. “O-kay.”

Lexi grinned. “I do want to date you, even without all the amazing sex.”

“That’s nice to know.”

“But, I’m not just scared of my job. I mean, if this gets serious, what are we going to do about location? Me in Atlanta. You down here. You can’t leave the farm again. I know that.” She picked at her jeans, scraping her nail along her thigh. “And Julien mentioned there was a possibility of me moving to Orlando to help start a new location. That’s almost four hours from here. I looked. We’d only see each other occasionally. Is that going to be enough?”

No. It wouldn’t.

“Then, we keep things as they are.” He picked up her hand, kissing the back of it before threading his fingers with hers. “We’ll focus on round four instead of the future?”

Her quick grin, a little mischievous, lightened his heavy mood. “I think I’m up for it if you are.”

He put the truck in drive and started down his driveway to force them to leave the house. Three rounds with Lexi Caden had almost killed him already, but he’d be happy to die attempting a fourth. “Later, baby.”

“Where are we headed?”

“That was the other thing worrying me. Last night, it looked like most of the foundation of the store was underwater.”

Her face shifted from flirty and fun to serious businesswoman. “How deep?”

“I couldn’t tell. I only had my headlights shining on the field.”

She relaxed back into the seat. “So, it could have receded, right? We did the landscaping to let the water drain away from the building.”

“Yes, but we’ve gotten fourteen inches of rain. Not to mention what they got north of us is flowing this way.”

“Hell.” She stared out the window at the fields that were underwater. Granted the store was at a little higher elevation, but it still couldn’t handle that much rainfall.

He’d dealt with floods before like Dewey had said. After they stopped at the store, he’d take her with him to investigate the fields. It’d be nice to have the company on a gloomy, depressing day when he had to estimate his loss of revenue. If he could even see his loss of revenue.

Insurance would cover some, but not all of it.

He turned onto the highway, one truck sat along the side of the road across from the shop.

“Oh my,” Lexi muttered. Turns out Nash’s optimism didn’t help. The store’s foundation stood under a solid seven inches of water. It’d gradually runoff, but not before some serious damage could be done.

“What does that much water do to the foundation?”

“I’ll need to get out and see.” She unbuckled her belt, but Nash set a hand on her thigh.

“Let me check it out.”

“Nash, I’ve lived on construction sites for the past thirteen years.”

He put the truck in park, keeping her in place with his hand until he turned his truck off, the diesel engine rattling to a stop. Then he kissed her, regretting the action immediately when she scooted away.

“There are people here.”

He’d never get used to hiding Lexi away.

Two men turned as Nash stepped out of the truck. Junior and Dale. The second man was old enough to be Nash’s grandfather. Dale didn’t have much else to do except ride around and look at the damage. Probably compare the floodwaters to back in ninety-four. Seventy-eight. If he had to guess, Dale would remember the flood of fifty-eight as well.

Junior looked at Nash like he was competition. Probably due to Gina. He could have her for what his thoughts on the subject were worth.

Lexi stepped around the truck and marched straight toward the men, ignoring Nash completely. And this was the part he hated. The on and off again aspect.

“Hi, there,” she called out. Dale snatched his hat off his head. When Junior didn’t do it quick enough for the old guy, he snatched it off for him and shoved it into his gut.

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