Page 26 of Flirting With Fire
My heart rate kicked up a notch at the thought of him turning the cottage down. “That’s a pretty good price for around here. I don’t think you’ll do any better in town.” My mind frantically searched for something beyond financial considerations. “I’ve kept the place up. Oh, and you’ll have plenty of privacy. I’m rarely back here.”
I gritted my teeth as soon as the words flew from my mouth. He paused, his eyebrows arching as he finally made eye contact.
“What?”
I lowered my chin, fiddling with the brim of my hat as I toed a rock on the dirt path, dust kicking up in a puff before being chased away by the breeze.
“What I mean is that you won’t have to worry about me lurking in your yard.” I cleared my throat. My mouth kept working, but clearly, my brain had screeched to a halt. “Anyway, it’s around the corner of the barn.” I pointed. “Impossible to see from my place. No way for me to know anything about what you’re doing.”
He snorted. “What exactly is it that you think I’ll be doing?”
I frowned. He was intentionally poking me, and not in a good way. “How the hell should I know? I don’t care what you do or who you do it with.”
His jaw went slack as if I’d slapped him. Shame surged through me. I’d never wished so hard for a time machine in my life. One minute. That’s all I needed to roll back so I could remove my status as the biggest asshat ever.
Meyer crossed his arms, his lips pressed together as he stared me down. “Look, if there’s a reason you don’t want me to stay here, I’ll gladly go somewhere else. I’m tired of this snippy back and forth between us.”
I scrubbed my face with one hand. Why was I such a chicken shit? I should get everything out in the open once and for all instead of acting like a toddler. Even if it dug up old hurts, and I felt stupid, we needed to clear the air.
“Oh man, I’m sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I don’t mean to be so hostile. I guess…”
My gut clenched at the thought of confessing to him my silly high school crush. What if he thought I’d been pining away for him all these years? That maybe I hadn’t pursued the few guysI’d had time to date because none of them could ever compare to him.
Nah. No point in making my humiliation even more brutal.
“I guess,” I continued. “That I’m still getting used to the idea that someone else besides me will be living at the ranch again. But that’s no excuse. I’d love it if you stayed here.”
His eyebrows shot up again, but this time, there was a quirk at the corners of his mouth. I kept my mortified groan to myself. I had no idea why I couldn’t pick a middle ground between irritated and swooning when it came to Meyer.
“Um, so anyway…” I fumbled with the keys, my hands shaking as I took three passes at unlocking the door before getting it open. “Here we go. This is the main room. Kitchen.” I gestured to the right. “Bedroom and bathroom back there. Plenty of space for a single guy.”
I ducked my head, rubbing the back of my neck. Why I’d felt the need to add that last comment was beyond me.
“Well, that’s a relief.” Meyer’s lips twitched. “Now I won’t have to worry about moving all those other men in.”
I chuckled uneasily, pondering whether I should use his response to inquire when he’d switched teams and why he couldn’t have done it back in high school. But the unrelenting grip of fear over the possibility of humiliation took hold, and I bailed on the idea before I managed to throw myself under the bus.
“Good to know.”
I chuckled again to make sure he knew I was definitely joking and not at all interested in his relationship status or whether he’d mind if I dropped by on occasion to bounce on his dick.
Meyer hadn’t stopped smirking, and I noted how his gaze traveled the length of my frame.Is he…?Before I had the chance to wonder whether he might be interested after all, he pointed to the small archway leading to the kitchen.
“Mind if I take a gander?”
I gestured for him to go ahead. “Gander away.”
I silently reprimanded myself for not double-checking whether my housekeeper had given the place the once over recently. I’d told her not to bother to clean more than once a month since no one had been living there.
Meyer reappeared from the tiny kitchen then made his way to the back where the bedroom was. He called out, “Would you mind if I replaced the curtains with some blinds?”
I ignored the stupid butterflies fluttering around in my stomach at the thought Meyer would be moving in and headed to the room. Right as I was about to cross the threshold, I ran into him, the momentum enough to make our belt buckles and other parts crash together.
“Oh shit, sorry!” I jumped back like I’d been stung by a scorpion. “I didn’t know you were… I thought…” I coughed into my fist as my face heated. “Sorry.”
Did I say sorry twice?That had always been a terrible habit of mine, one that Kayla kept reprimanding me over. I glanced up to discover Meyer holding his hand over his mouth. I wasn’t sure whether he was trying to keep from vomiting or laughing. At this stage in our relationship, either one was possible.
Meyer finally removed his hand with a loud snort. He sucked in a deep breath before speaking. “No apology needed. But…” He pointed to the floor behind me. “You lost your hat.”
