Page 5 of Take Me Home

“Your nephew? Little friend?” I offered.

Jake laughed. “I don’t take random kids out to restaurants, Darcy. He’s a kid I coach. His mom had an emergency so I took him out until she could pick him up.” He paused. “I realize that probably sounds like a lie, too. It’s not my policy to take any of the kids I coach anywhere, but it really was an emergency.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “What do you coach?”

“Little League.”

“A coach with no kids, huh?”

“I love baseball, and they’re pretty fun. 9- and 10-year-olds. They’re sweet kids.”

The floor was clean again and I smiled down at Jake, trying to make up for how cold I’d been to him. I held out my hand for the wet towel. “I’ll take that. Thanks again for your help.”

“Given that I terrorized you, I’m not sure how much I helped. I tried,” he said with a quiet laugh.

“I’m glad you did,” I reiterated, softening my voice again.

“You know, I almost came back into the bar after Jaxon’s mom came to get him,” Jake said, expression curious.

“Oh yeah?”

“I wanted to talk to you. Get to know you. Maybe get your number,” he said, stepping closer to me, eyes flicking over my whole figure.

“Oh,” I said, sweat starting to bead between my breasts. Of course, I was interested in this stupidly gorgeous man standing in front of me. My throat felt tight as I allowed myself to feel the almost magnetic pull to his body as he approached me. Call it pheromones. Call it desire. Jake was attractive, and I was attracted to him. Heat passed through me as I thought about how easy it would be. I could reach out and touch him, feel the warmth of his skin. Get a whiff of the manly smell of him. Feel his hands on me. Be touched in a way that I hadn’t been in months.

But he worked for me. And though it wasn’t his kid with him at the bar, I still wasn’t fully convinced that he wasn’t trouble. The conversation reeked of fuckboy. I cleared my throat.

“Well, now I’m your boss, so I guess you have my number that way.” I gave a nervous laugh that was supposed to sound casual. “Let’s get back to work.”

3

DARCY

Eli and I sat on the side porch, the afternoon sun having passed over the holler.

“What am I supposed to do with them?” I asked Eli. “Do I have to feed them? Change their sheets? Put ointment on their sore bottoms?”

“That last one is up to you and them, but I don’t think you have to do any of it,” Eli said, a laugh dancing in his tone. “They’re grown men, Darce. You don’t need to be their mom.”

He was right, but it seemed so weird to have two people living so close to me and not really interact with them after a certain hour.

“It just feels so…feudalistic,” I said with disdain.

“They’re getting free rent for the summer! That’s not feudalistic. Or are you lonely and hoping one of those strapping young men notices you?” Eli teased.

I prayed my cheeks weren’t heating because yeah, one of those young men had noticed me and I liked it a little too much. I shouldn’t have liked it. Jake seemed like a very bad idea. But dammit was he charming. And hot.

The Hallmark movie tropiness of it all wasn’t lost on me: a big city slicker girl moves home and falls for a hunky, magically humble, and unproblematic farm boy. That didn’t mean it still wasn’t appealing. There’s a reason there are a million of those movies.

But all of it was a pipe dream anyway. I wouldn’t date someone who worked for me. I’d experienced the fallout of getting too close at work before.

“At least if someone wanders up from the road, they’ll meet those strapping young men before they come murder me. I don’t like being alone out here,” I scoffed. “Speaking of, Jake’s your friend, right? Is he a bit of a creeper?”

Eli laughed. “Creeper, like how?”

I tossed my head from side to side, considering how to put it. “You know, like a womanizer. Playboy?”

Eli’s brow furrowed as he considered the thought. “I don’t think so. He’s always seemed like a pretty good guy. I haven’t known him to be dating anyone. He did ask me if I knew anyone for him at one point. Did he hit on you or something?”

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