Just Want Somebody to Love (Bella Warren Book 1) (15 page)

As grumpy as her oldest brother, Tate, could be, she supposed she should count herself lucky that by the time she started dating, he was already at college. Not that she would trade her brothers in for a different pair for anything in the world.

She lowered the trailer on the back of Wade’s truck, snapped it in place, and plugged the lights in. She didn’t have a lot of time to burn if she wanted to make it back by lunch before Justin finished the corn.

A grin stole over her cheeks. If he stuck around after lunch. Chances were, she didn’t even have to go on this lumber run, but he wanted to make it up to her, so she planned to at least get a full day’s work out of him. Sure she could leave him to plant all day where he’d earn the mother of all backaches, but something about that just didn’t seem like enough.

She’d gotten a backache sitting in the diner waiting for him when he never showed. Then there was all the extra stuff thanks to Maddy Booth running her mouth that she’d been stood up on a date. Seems reasonable that since she got extras on top of the backache, he should too.

And the fact that it might make him somewhat of a laughingstock for putting scarecrows up at Chester Farms, well, that was too much to resist. Eye for an eye right there. Not like he lived in town and had to live the reputation down. Being she orchestrated all this, consider the pity looks and so-sorry-she got-stood-ups a thing of the past.

She got her order in for lumber and waited as they loaded her trailer.

Now she just had to get through the rest of the day with a focus on taking her revenge and not so much on taking off his clothes. She cleared her throat and cracked the window to let in a little cool air before she had the cab steamed up.

* * * *

Whitney pulled up her drive and parked. Time to suck it up and get her game face on.

She never in her wildest hopes believed she could return revenge on Justin. He had to like her enough to care first, and she wasn’t sure he was capable of that. With a pinch in her chest, she got out of the truck as Wade crossed the yard to her.

She pointed at the truck. “Is it fine to leave this parked here?”

He nodded. “Yeah. He’ll have to carry the posts from here to the fields, though. The rows aren’t designed wide enough to hold my truck.”

She dusted her hands. “Even better. How’s he doing?”

“He’s got three more rows of corn left.”

“Sounds like I’m just in time.”

“Mom and Kara said lunch will be ready in about an hour or so.”

“Good. That’ll give me time to get him finished with the corn.”

“I know I wasn’t a fan of this idea of yours before, but he plants faster than you. Are you sure you don’t want to just leave him planting and forget all this scarecrow stuff?”

Great. Just what her cheerleading vagina wanted to hear. “Look at you. I bring you extra help, and you’re trying to take more from me. That’s why I don’t work hard.”

He trapped her in against his side and scrubbed his knuckles across her hair.

She shrieked and pushed at him. “Stop. You’re messing up my hair.”

“It didn’t look that great to start with.”

“I won’t forget you said that.”

He let her go with a chuckle.

She stopped by the greenhouse and picked up a pair of gloves. Head. On. Straight. She repeated it over and over as she walked to the back rows. It wouldn’t be long and small plants would grow tall and thick, concealing the grounds to individual rows.

She approached slow. “I hear you’re working hard.”

His amazing blue eyes pinned her. “I was starting to wonder if I’d see you again today.”

“I’ve been busy.” She flicked hair off her brow. While the lights in the diner lent him this certain bad boy appeal yesterday, there was nothing quite like a man with the sun on his cheeks and wind in his hair. Like a sexy man on a beach. As if he needed more appeal. “How many have you killed so far?”

His brow lifted. “None, I’ll have you know.”

“None?” She narrowed her eyes and looked at his row. Nice. Straight and everything. She didn’t blame Wade too much for liking the guy. “I’m not sure I believe you.”

“Believe it. Pretty good considering my coffee disappeared.”

“Did it now? You have to watch it out here.”

He eyed her and she just grinned through it. He slipped gloves back on, used the rod to measure a length, and started on the next hole. “Since I did this for you, what have you been doing today?”

“I went shopping.”

“About right. I come to work to get you ahead and you spend your time shopping.”

She put her hands on her hips. “It’s almost lunch. I came to help you out, but if you think I shouldn’t…”

“Only teasing you.” He waved the small shovel at her. “You dig?”

She grabbed his shovel. “I’m guessing I’m digging so not to risk killing any?”

“You found me out.”

She stepped to the other side of him and worked on the next few holes. “Is working here as exciting as you thought it would be?”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it hasn’t been bad. Being secluded is nice, since it’s quiet.”

“I like it here. For the quiet, so I don’t have to talk to people and pretend to be happy when it’s seven in the morning and we’re up and at ‘em or something equally stupid to keep spirits up. And you can do anything back here.”

“Like what?”

Heat filled her cheeks. “Whatever you want.”

“Sounds like that could be interesting.” He finessed another plant out with the same care and attention he’d once shown over her. “How often do you work the corn and whatever else goes back here?”

She glanced his way; she shouldn’t talk about this. Not with him of all people. He was too tempting. If he asked to replay history, she wasn’t sure she could say no. If he was a donut, he’d be glazed, chocolate topped, and have just enough sprinkles to keep it interesting but not crunchy. “Not as much as I used to when I was a teenager.”

“I bet a lot of boys in the neighborhood worked the farm, didn’t they?”

She laughed. Bunch of suck-ups. All of them. “Only the stupid ones worked on the farm.”

“Really?”

“Between my dad and two older brothers, the boys didn’t get near me. I often got sent back here to be far away from them, and the boys were right by my family. They got to hear about my daddy’s shotguns. The boys who didn’t come here would wait inside that tree-line for me.”

“I see.” Amusement filled his eyes. “Didn’t anyone notice your rows weren’t planted?”

Motivation to see boys caused her to be sneaky. “I divided the plants in half. I did the ones closer to the house. Whoever waited in the trees for me grabbed the ones farther away, so they could jump in the woods and hide if they needed to. We figured out a pretty good system after a while.”

“Sounds like you were a handful.”

“I never got caught.”

He laughed and the sound was rich. “Never? Even I got caught every now and then.”

“Nope. My best friend, Kara, of course knew. She would help run defense for me.”

“Can’t believe she wasn’t going with you.”

Ha. Whitney always wondered that too, until Kara revealed last year she’d been crushing on Wade for years. Then it was less strange that Kara always wanted to stay and plant while Whitney snuck away. “Kara likes all this stuff with farming and cooking. She’s weird.”

“Thought she was your friend?”

“She is. She’s also weird, and I’ve told her that. She thinks I’m weird too, so we’re even.”

“We grew up in east Texas in a town kind of like this one. Small and all that. Our neighbor had a corn field. It was easy to sneak away unnoticed to do whatever you wanted there. I don’t find you weird.”

Oh, oh, that grin on his face was pure something that did a tickling spin master thingy in her stomach. It had been a long time since the spin master thingy had happened. Like the last time he was here. And before that? God, she was probably a teenager. “And what were you doing in all that corn?”

“Anything a girl would let me.”

Well, they would have gotten along just fine as teenagers. She cleared her throat. Not going there.

He stuck another plant in the ground. “I guess you’ve lived here your whole life?”

“Yep. Few years back, Momma moved to south Texas on the coast. Me and Wade shared the house for a while. He built his house last fall. Now the main house is mine, and that’s always been home and always will be, I guess.”

“That explains why you’ve never had a man in your house before.”

Oh boy. It was getting warmer over here. “Yep.”

His brow cocked at her, and oh yes, he was remembering too. He dropped her gaze and returned to planting. “You never wanted to go anywhere else? Dream of doing anything?”

Whitney paused as she stuck her shovel in the dirt and let his words sink in. She always knew she’d be here with the farm. Tate had always wanted to leave and dreamed of getting away from the field, but she didn’t know. “I dreamed of more, but I didn’t put a lot of faith in those dreams coming true. Kind of how you dream of having a talking dog.”

“That would be pretty awesome to have.”

“Yes, but not at all realistic.”

“You just knew you would be needed here?”

“I think it was more of, I wanted to be here.”

He stopped and glanced her way again. “But you act like you hate the planting.”

Okay, true. “But I love being close to my brothers and friends I’ve had for years. Planting season happens once a year. This farm is my childhood and life. I can’t imagine leaving it and never did. Besides”—she scooped up a handful dirt and held it out to him—“smell.”

He eyed her offering and didn’t lean forward. “I’m sure it smells like dirt.”

She leaned a little closer. “No. It smells like more.”

His skepticism remained. “Are you going to mash it in my face?”

She laughed. Now that was tempting. “No smashing, just smelling. Promise.”

At that, he leaned forward and inhaled. He lifted a shoulder as he sat back on his heels. “Smells like dirt.”

She brought it to herself and smelled then. Earth, home, freshness, family. “It smells like my life and childhood. Can’t get that smell anywhere else. You’re from a small town. You should know that smell.”

He popped out another plant, stuck it in one of her slots, and patted it down. “No. I had my bags packed for Dallas a week before I graduated high school. Home to me smells like steak.”

“The meat?”

He laughed and pushed more plants in the ground. “Yeah. I work in a restaurant. So, the smell of steak cooking and that sizzling sound of it smacking a grill is what I miss.”

“Sounds like work, not home.”

“Aren’t they the same?”

“God, I hope not.”

His brow lifted. “Says the girl from a farming family who calls the smell of dirt home.”

“You got me there.” Except her dirt didn’t remind her of working in the fields and the pain of planting season. After spending Christmas with mom at the beach and all that salty air, the scent of the farm recalled days of running with Kara through the rows and climbing the tree in the front yard. She lifted a shoulder and continued with popping out more holes until she got to the end of the row. She fetched a flat of plants and set them in place, and pressed the dirt around the base of her last plant as he did his.

She dusted her hands and sat back on her heels again. “There. All done.”

He studied the field. “That means I get to take you somewhere for lunch, since we’re done early now?”

She laughed. Yeah, right. Not with the plans she had for him. She ignored that guilt doing its best to pinch. He could be a nice guy, but not enough for her to cancel the next step. “Done with the corn. We’re not even close to being done for the day.”

“How long do we stay out here?”

Was that a hint in his voice that he was ready to quit? His smile stopped her from calling him a quitter and goading him to staying longer. Nope. Better to deliver a direct attack on his manhood. She had a feeling a few choice words would be enough to push his arrogance into doing all her bidding. “You can leave when you want. Nobody’s going to come after you.”

“How do I talk you into going with me?”

She collected the empty flats and planters scattered along the row, and Justin did the same. “You don’t because I’m family. But no, seriously, when you get tired or if you have something to do, you can go.” She considered her words. “We stay all day, but we’re used to this kind of work. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

He made a face. “I’ll be fine.”

Ba-bam. Nailed it. “I know you’re also here to see your brother, too.”

“He was grumpy last I saw him.”

“I can’t imagine that.” She could, but she wanted to know more. Discovering he was married? So many questions. Kara was right. It was just plain wrong to live in a small town with secrets.

“You should start. It’s his state of mind eighty percent of the time I talk to him.”

“I took him for a little shy.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No. Pure grump. He wasn’t always that way, or I’d never be in business with him.”

Finally. Some clues. He talked about one guy and ended up talking about himself in the process. Not that she needed to know details about his life to extract her revenge in the most extraordinary of ways. But damn curiosity. “What happened?”

“A woman.” He made circles around his head with his fingers. “They get in there and make you crazy. Men are lucky to come out alive after you women go through.”

She laughed. Like men were a picnic to figure out. “We’re not that bad.”

“I’m sure you all have your moments.”

“Once a year or so when we’re feeling extra nice.”

He laughed. “When does your brother quit working for the day?”

“Good question. I can stop faster than he does without getting glared at, but I’m also going in to clean up for supper and help set the table. We eat together and that happens around dark or just before. Wade is the last person to leave the field. Don’t feel like you have to stay until he’s done.”

“I don’t mind. If I’m going to be here, I want to do it right.”

Good. She stopped at his cart and tucked her empties on the lower shelf. “Just don’t overdo yourself. It looks easy, but your knees on that hard ground for a long time is tough. I go through a couple bottles of ibuprofen every year.”