Page 8 of Jewel in the Rough

“I haven’t murdered him yet.”

“Aww, you like him,” she gushed. “I knew he was perfect.”

Teagan automatically protested. “Ciara, the guy has zero experience working on a farm. He’s a walking disaster.”

One that Teagan, inexplicably, had not told to pack his bags and leave. This was because at some point his disdain for Benny had morphed into something else,liking?A prickly slightly confusing emotion akin to what he thought was attraction—as he and Tristan had talked about so many years ago.

“He does, however, have a lot of experience working with difficult people. Hint, hint. And confess, Gee-Gee. he’s making things more fun for you, isn’t he?”

Teagan was not confessing anything of the sort to his sister, as she would crow about it for years if he did. And Ciara using the childhood nickname he hated wasn’t softening him up.

“Let’s go with interesting.”

He could practically hear her eyes roll at him.

“Why are you really calling? Or was it just to make sure I hadn’t done anything terrible to your friend?”

“Just letting you know some of the gang will be at the creamery tomorrow.”

“You’ve never let me know in advance before. Just admit you’re calling to check on Benny.”

At that moment, Benny chose to make his entrance. Freshly showered, his curly dark hair was still damp and long enough that he tucked it behind one ear.

“What about me?” he asked sweetly, his dark eyes full of humor. “My ears are burning.”

Teagan covered the mic. “It’s Ciara making sure I haven’t murdered you.”

“Nah, I’m too fast.” He padded past Teagan over toward the stove where he picked up the wooden spoon and began to stir the chili, the scent of his soap or maybe shampoo wafting after him.

“I gotta go.” Teagan clicked off. Why was he noticing the way Benny smelled?

CHAPTER6

Benny

He’s read all the James Herriot books and watched the show on BBC: he can do this.

“It’s a good thing he has all those muscles and is nice to look at. At least when he stops scowling for two seconds,” Benny muttered to Betty White a week after the zombie incident, low enough Teagan couldn’t hear him. He pushed a bucket underneath the cow. “Otherwise I’d be spending some time figuring out how to dispose of the body.” Teagan was a moody fucker. One minute he’d be almost smiling and the next, fully growling.

Benny’d been in voluntary servitude at Jewel Dairy for over a week. Other than the fact Teagan was nice to look at, the only thing keeping him there was the teensy little detail that, out in the big bad world, there were some not-so-nice people who possibly wanted to kill him.

Probably. Otherwise the cops wouldn’t constantly be leaving messages on his phone.

Fuck. Fine, yes, the Sureños gangwantedhim one hundred percent dead so he couldn’t testify that he’d witnessed one of their head guys doing some serious murdering. And Benny had nowhere else to go, anyway. The policehadbeen trying to get a hold of him, but Benny’d set his phone on silent, ignoring all calls. He wasn’t going into witness protection, and that was that.

Benny quickly glanced over his shoulder. Teagan was working on the other side of the building, organizing the coolers or something for Ciara. As Benny watched, he hefted a stainless steel container up and to the side, his muscles bunching and relaxing underneath his work shirt. A perk of the job.

It was likely—okay, probable—that the other thing keeping Benny at the dairy was Teagan Morrison himself. Yes, he was grouchy as fuck. But Teagan was still compelling, still managed to sneak into Benny’s nighttime fantasies. And Benny hadn’t missed him popping ibuprofen morning and night. Teagan had an injury that didn’t seem to be healing, and Benny was doing his best to take care of the chores that seemed to hurt him the worst, but he had so much to learn.

Chatty, Teagan was not—grunts did not count in Benny’s book. The lack of communication didn’t stop Benny from sneaking peeks, though, and Teagan didn’t need a speaking part to star in Benny’s dreams. The man was sexy AF and seemed to have no idea of his appeal. Whether he was gay or bi, Benny wasn’t certain. Mostly he was just…Teagan.

Teagan, whose endless pairs of perfectly worn Levis clung to his muscly ass like a second skin, whose worn-out flannel work shirts barely managed to stay fastened and made Benny’s mouth water as he tried get a glimpse of what he suspected was a broad and hairy chest.

Would it hurt the guy to take his shirt off every once in a while? It would make Benny’s exhaustion and the diet of canned food a tad more acceptable, the days upon days of cows and endless chores easier to endure.

Actually, it would be better if Benny was in Teagan’s bed, as The Pink Room’s twin bed would not hold them both. But that little fantasy was never going to happen, so it was best to pack it away. Crushing on Teagan just made his days a little more pleasant, okay?

Benny wasn’t used to quiet. He often ended up in a one-sided ramble with Teagan shaking his head or seeming to ignore him. But he had not yet told Benny to zip it, so maybe he enjoyed Benny’s observations about the cows and all the other ideas he had about the farm. He still thought they needed goats. Er, Teagan needed goats.

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