Fall to Pieces (6 page)

"Well, I got your tractor up and running, and
Andy out to the fields," he said and took a sip of his beer.

"Hallelujah for that," Sadie said, and
clinked her glass of water with his beer.

"Can I get you a drink?"

"I wish." She shook her head. "I just came in
to get a bite to eat, and then I have to get back to work on a
project for a client. She wants a prototype by Friday."

"Oh yeah, what kind of project?"

She went on to explain that she was building
an app for a mobile device that would help the boutique owner
connect with customers. Apparently a large data management system
was involved, along with front end interface that would offer an
improved virtual shopping experience.

"I'm boring you aren't I?" She stopped with a
sigh.

"Not at all," he replied honestly. While he
didn't understand half the terms she was throwing around, he liked
the way her eyes lit up when she talked about her work, the obvious
passion she had for the project.

She shook her head. "Saying out loud all the
crap I have to get done is giving me an ulcer. With everything else
going on, I can't believe I agreed to such a crazy deadline."

It was then that he noticed the lines of
strain around her mouth and eyes, the faint circles under her eyes.
He fought the urge to reach out and smooth them with his
fingers.

"Do I have something on my face?" she said
her brow knitting as she brought her hand to her cheek.

"No, not at all," Dylan said, feeling his
cheeks burn as he was caught staring. "I—"

Fortunately her phone rang before he was
forced to come up with something glib, since the only thing coming
to mind was along the lines of "you're so beautiful I have a hard
time not looking at you."

She looked at the screen and wrinkled her
nose adorably. "It's June. I better take it."

He turned back to his beer as Sadie retreated
to a quiet corner of the restaurant. Molly wandered back over to
refill his beer and told him about a couple of places she knew that
were available to rent short term.

Dylan listened politely, knowing all the
while they were more than he was willing to spend.

"What's up?" Molly said as Sadie slid back
into her stool with a sigh.

While before she looked tired, now she was
pale on top of it. With nearly all the color drained from her
peaches and cream complexion, the smattering of freckles on her
nose and cheeks stood out in stark contrast. "That was June," she
said with a bright, pasted on smile. "Apparently Andy decided to
quit!"

"The guy with the brown teeth who kept
spitting tobacco at you?" Molly cocked her head. "I'd think you'd
be glad to get rid of him."

"We would be, if he weren't the last hand
standing as it were," Sadie said. "And with Dad still out of
commission, it's up to me and Pete to take care of the horses. And,
oh yeah, get the hay cut, baled, and stacked in time to get it
shipped out and keep up on all the maintenance."

"Can't you hire more people?" Molly
protested. "There's always hands looking for work."

"Fewer and fewer, what with the platinum and
palladium miners offering double what we can pay for unskilled
labor," Sadie said and rubbed at her temples. She looked at her
watch and grimaced. "I need to get back. Pete needs me to feed the
mares in the south pasture."

"I'll tell Brady to make your order to go,"
Molly said and headed for the kitchen.

"That sucks," Dylan said lamely.

"It's just for the summer," Sadie said with a
heavy sigh, as much as herself as to him. She stared glumly at the
bar for several seconds. She gave a humorless laugh. "Well, if
you're seriously looking for a place to stay, you could always move
out to the ranch with us."

###

Molly's stomach rumbled as she walked into
the kitchen, where the smells Brady McManus's cooking were much
more intense. Aromatic onions, grilled meats, simmering sauces made
her mouth water like Pavlov's dog, especially since she was
currently existing on a diet of salad and plain chicken since she
was still ten pounds too heavy to pull off the wedding dress she'd
fallen in love with.

Her gaze wandered over to the man responsible
for all of the deliciousness that came out of Adele's kitchen.
Talk about mouthwatering.

Molly tried to smack the thought out of her
head, but engaged though she might be, she didn't think there was a
straight woman in the world who could look at Brady and not feel
her insides go a little melty.

With his back turned as he worked at the
massive, eight burner stove, Molly was offered an unobstructed view
of broad shoulders straining the soft cotton of his black t-shirt.
Underneath the fabric she could see the shifting and bunching of
his back muscles in time with the motion of his arm as he stirred
something in a large sauce pan.

The arm in question was ropy with muscle and
covered with tattoos, one of many things that made him decidedly
not her type. But hell, you couldn't blame a girl for looking.

Especially, she thought as her eyes drifted
to where his back tapered into narrow hips and lower, when there
was so much to look at.

"What do you need?"

Her eyes jerked up at the gruff voice,
meeting the full force of his silvery gray gaze. With his dark,
shaggy hair, striking eyes, and rough-hewn features, Brady's face
was the perfect match to his body. Hard, chiseled, seemingly
designed specifically to make women go weak in the knees.

Most women,
she corrected herself.
Unlike most of the women who felt the impact of Brady's
impenetrable stare, Molly did not feel the urge to drop her panties
and invite him to join her on the nearest flat surface.

She appreciated him from a purely aesthetic
standpoint, she told herself as she straightened her shoulders and
lifted her chin. Because from what she'd seen in the eight months
they'd been working together, that was about all there was to
appreciate.

"I just wanted to let you know Sadie needs
that order to go."

He grunted and turned back to the stove.

Her shoulder muscles bunched in irritation
and she took a few steps closer. "Am I supposed to take that as a
yes?"

He mumbled something and turned suddenly,
brandishing a spoon in her face. "Taste this."

The spoon slid into her mouth before she
could react, and any protest she might have offered died the second
the concoction hit her tongue.

Savory, sweet, creamy, warm....
Bliss.
Okay, in addition to being hotter than a four alarm fire, Brady
McManus could cook his too fine ass off. Ever since he'd taken over
as head chef and designed a menu focusing on the freshest, most
local ingredients he could find, Adele's had gone from serving good
solid stick to your ribs fare to offering food that could be served
in a four star, New York restaurant.

She closed her eyes and swallowed. "Oh, my
God, what is that?" she said with an ecstatic sigh.

"Corn chowder, made from the corn I got from
Askey's farm. Does it need anything?"

He grabbed a clean spoon and dished another
bite into Molly's eagerly parted lips.

Her lids drifted down again and a little moan
erupted from her throat. "Not a single thing."

She opened her eyes to find him staring
intently at her, his eyes narrowed slightly as a grin pulled at his
full lips. "What?" she snapped, her own eyes narrowing.

He gave his head a little shake. "If that's
the look you get on your face when I feed you I can only
imagine..."

"You're disgusting," she snapped, but
couldn't stop the shot of electricity that sizzled through her.
"Anyway, the soup is great. Maybe I'll have you make it when you
cater my wedding."

His grin faded. "Yeah, let me know if you get
that on the calendar sometime this century," he said and turned to
the grill to flip Sadie's chicken panini and then went to the fryer
to pull out the basket containing her side of onion rings.

"Very funny," she snapped, and handed him a
cardboard to go box.

"How long y'all been engaged again? Two
years?"

Actually it was three.

"Seems to me," he continued as he slid the
sandwich off the griddle, sliced it neatly in half and deposited it
into the box, "that if a person really wanted to get married, he'd
have done it by now."

Molly felt an ache in her chest as Brady
voiced her greatest fear. That despite their years together and the
diamond on her left ring finger, Josh didn't really want to marry
her after all. She shoved it aside, not about to let Brady see even
the smallest hint of doubt. "It's not as simple as that. Josh has
been really busy, growing his business."

"You mean Daddy's business." Brady said as he
put the onion rings in with the sandwich. He closed the box and
handed it to her.

While it was true Josh worked for his
father's insurance brokerage business, in the past year he'd taken
on more responsibility. "His dad has scaled back, and Josh has had
to step up. And he's taken on a dozen new clients in just the past
few months."

Brady held out the box, his deadpan stare
saying he didn't buy any of it.

"Why am I explaining myself to you?
Especially when from what I've seen any 'relationships,'" she made
air quotes with her free hand, "don't even last through the
weekend."

He cocked a dark eyebrow. "You keeping tabs
on me?"

She rolled her eyes. "You wish." She turned
on her heel an smacked open the door that led from the kitchen to
the dining room. As she walked over to the bar she could feel her
cheeks flame as she was forced to admit to herself that yes, she
did notice whenever he sauntered out of the kitchen to flirt with a
customer who'd caught his eye.

Told herself it was disdain—nothing else—that
she felt whenever she saw him out with his current flavor of the
week, laughing, teasing, following her with his hot silver
gaze.

She could feel that same gaze trailing her
even now. And told herself it didn't thrill her to her very
core.

###

"Move in with you?" Dylan repeated in a
cautious tone.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Sadie
said, cringing inside at his reaction. Was the idea of being so
close to her so horrible? Someday, somehow she'd get through one
conversation with Dylan without totally putting her foot in it.
"What I meant was now that Andy's gone, we have a free cabin."

"June used to live there," she continued,
"but she had to move back to town with her mother. We let Andy move
in, hoping that would help make up for having to work with Pete,
but..." she trailed off.

"Anyway, it's not much, but it has a separate
bedroom and sitting area, and you'll have your own kitchen. It's
even wired for satellite TV and wifi."

"Won't you need it when you hire someone
else?"

She shook her head. "We're not going to find
anyone, not before you leave anyway.” Tension pinched at the back
of her skull as she tried not to dwell on what that might mean for
her in the next few weeks. "We'll be lucky if we can find someone
part time to help Pete with the hay harvest." Although she knew as
of now, she was going to have to brush up on her tractor driving
skills.

"What's the rent?"

She shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned you
can stay for free."

"I can afford to pay rent," he said, his eyes
darkening.

"I wasn't saying you can't," she held up a
hand at his harsh tone. Clearly she'd hit a sore spot. "It will be
empty, and it's not like I'd rent it to just anyone."

His shoulders relaxed. "So you're saying I'm
special," he said, his teeth flashing in a playful grin. And just
like that he was the old charming, easy-going Dylan who made her
blood simmer with a single look.

She had a little moment of panic, wondering
if she could really handle having Dylan living so close.
Of
course you can, you idiot. Your humiliating turn on the dance floor
aside, you're a grown woman, not a spastic sixteen year old. And
maybe, just maybe, if he's living close enough for long enough,
you'll be able to erase his memory of that awkward teenager all
together.
Of course, it would help if her face didn't turn beet
red at even the thought of trying to use her relatively newfound
feminine wiles on a seasoned pro like Dylan. "Are you interested or
not?"

"Very," he said. Yet his tone was almost
reluctant.

Molly appeared and handed Sadie her food.
"Thanks," she said to her friend and turned back to Dylan. "Great.
Give us a little time to clean it out, and consider it yours."

"You really don't have to leave," Damon said
as he loaded a box into the back of Dylan's truck. It hadn't taken
long to pack, as he didn't have much.

A pile of books, a duffel bag full of
clothes, his toolbox and his laptop were all that he'd taken back
to Big Timber.

"You and Ellie need your space. That was
clear even before I caught you doing the nasty on your dinette
set."

Damon shot him a sheepish grin. "Still, it's
been good having you around."

"It's not like I'm going far," Dylan said as
he shut the tailgate. "This way you have your privacy and I don't
feel like a freeloader. It works out better for everyone."

He texted Sadie to let her know he was on his
way, left his brother with a back smacking bro-hug and headed out
to the ranch.

Ten minutes later he pulled up in front of
the cabin where Sadie was sitting on the front steps waiting for
him. The small wood structure sat a dozen or so yards away from the
big house on the other side of the creek. She stood as soon as she
spotted his truck, and he couldn't help but admire her long-legged
stride as she walked over to the car. Once again she was dressed in
slim fitting jeans. Today she'd paired them with a vintage concert
t-shirt that clung to the curves of her breasts and showed off her
slim arms.