Page 27 of Echo
“I own this place now.”
“Really?” His head fell to the side. “Ole boy, Eddie, put in an order this morning and paid up the account for the next few months.”
“That’s weird.” I frowned.
“Maybe he’s trying to help you get on your feet.” He smiled kindly and kept throwing the feed bags.
“He was pretty upset a couple of days ago. I wouldn’t expect him to cool off yet. He’s got a lot going on, hurting my feelings probably wasn’t even on his radar.”
“You are a sweet and considerate woman.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I can feel it in my bones.” Ranger walked up to him, and the guy reached down to give him some pats. His yellow lab barked in annoyance from the cab. The way Ranger let him love on him was strangely attractive.
“I bet he’s a good boy.” The guy gave him a couple good scratches that Ranger rubbed into it like he couldn’t get enough. He smiled at me when he noticed my preoccupation. “Keep your mouth open like that and you’ll catch flies.”
I laughed. “He doesn’t let men pet him. Or anyone really.”
“If I passed his test, does that put me in a good position to ask to let me cook you dinner?”
“It does.” I winced. “But I’d need to pass, I’ve got to get my shit together.”
“I respect it.” He tossed the last feed bag like it weighed nothing, and I wondered if he’d throw me like that.
I hadn’t had a passionate night of love-making in a hot minute.Oh, Madison, stop.
No, it was more than that. When I left Aurelio, it was to find a man like this. A kind, hardworking man who’d cherish me without all the blood and gore.
He reached into his back wallet and handed me his card. “For when it’s time to schedule your next delivery. Or when you feel like letting me make you one of the two meals I can cook.”
I laughed at the joke. “You bet.”
He froze again and became preoccupied with the dirty cement floor of the barn. But I could see him watching something out of his peripheral vision. Ranger growled and barked as the hair on his back stood straight up.
I went to turn, and he put a gentle hand on my elbow. “Don’t. Pretend it’s not there.”
“What is it?”
He shrugged. “No clue.”
“This is normal?”
“Definitely.”
“So I’m not going crazy?” Wild thing to ask a stranger, but after all the weird shit, I needed someone to see what I saw.
“Definitely not. Pretend it’s not there, and it will go away.” He smiled. “And don’t whistle or do anything to get its attention.”
“That seems like a wild solution,” I whispered.
“My ancestors have survived hundreds of years with that solution.” He grinned.
“Fair enough.” Tough thing to argue.
His smile wiped away, and he ripped his hand off my elbow. “I’ve got to get to the next delivery. Have a good one.”
He jumped in his truck and sped off so fast he almost hit a tree.
