FOURTEEN

Stone

This wasn’t a date.

It was a thank you meal because I’d built Harper that box that had meant so much to her.

So why did it feel like a date? And why was I considering kissing her?

Okay, maybe I knew the answer to that last question.

It was because that smart mouth of hers called to me like a siren’s song. And her curvy body looked like it would fit perfectly against mine as I gripped her hips and hauled her close.

I needed to claim those lips that she’d latched her teeth onto at least half a dozen times tonight, as if she knew that the move was driving me nuts.

“So, how did you like your steak?” I asked.

“It was great. Just like the one I had my first night here that I cooked under the broiler.”

I shook my head even as I let out a huff of a laugh. “Not gonna give that up, are you? Can’t admit I was right.”

“When and if you’re right, I’d be happy to admit it.” She smiled.

“Okay.” I smiled back. And fuck, I wanted her and her smart mouth more than ever. Drawing in a breath, I stood. “I’m just going to use your bathroom.”

Three beers had gone right through me. Besides, I needed to clean up. I’d picked up my rib eye to gnaw on the bone—I’m not shy at all but especially not when it comes to steak—and I needed to wash my hands.

“Oh, wait. You have to jiggle the handle after you flush. And then wait there for a minute to see if it’s running or not.”

My chin fell to my chest. When I finally lifted my gaze to hers, I asked, “That’s what you’ve been doing for a week?”

“Yes. It’s what Shalene told me to do.”

My cousin should know better than that. She lived here all summer jiggling a handle and waiting to see if it worked when she could have just called me to repair it?

I’d have to wait and deal with her later when she was home. But I could do something about the problem here now.

“Or, I could figure out what’s wrong and fix it,” I suggested.

She lifted her brows. “You think you can? I didn’t want to call a plumber without talking to Agnes. They’re so expensive.”

“You don’t need a plumber.” Grumbling and annoyed with Shalene and Harper for not having faith in my abilities I stalked across the kitchen. 

“It’s just to the right,” Harper called after me.

“I know where it is.” I’d been visiting Agnes here for as long as I could remember.

Five minutes later, maybe less, I was back in the kitchen. We’d eaten there at the little table for two instead of in the big formal dining room at the table that seated twelve. I approved of Harper’s decision in that, even if she’d lost some points with the toilet handle jiggling.

“It’s fixed,” I announced with not a small amount of pride.

“What? How? You didn’t even have tools or parts or anything.”

“I had my hands.” I held them up. The same hands I’d be using tonight to relieve this frustration building in me thanks to Harper.

“But how?” she asked again.

She was a question asker. Where another person might say thank you and move on, she wanted to know facts and details.

I drew in a breath, and launched into an explanation that I hoped would satisfy her and wouldn’t end in us hunched over the toilet tank gazing into the water.

“The flapper wasn’t making good contact so the water in the tank was leaking out and making it run. All I had to do was bend the arm that lifts the flapper slightly and now it doesn’t leak.”

“Wow. I could have done that.”

What to say to that? She could have. She should have. More importantly, Shalene grew up on a farm and was more self sufficient than most and she really should have been able to figure it out too.

I kept all that to myself and lifted a shoulder. “It was no problem. It’s done now. Don’t worry about it.”

She scowled. “I like to be able to do things on my own.”

I let out a laugh as I remembered her library creation. “Yes, I noticed that. But it’s okay to ask for help too. That’s what we do around here in Mudville. Help each other.”

“As long as it doesn’t involve kissing books and the town library,” she added, with a smirk.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I spied her cell on the table next to her. Face down so I couldn’t be insulted she was checking it while I was here, but within reach. I extended my hand toward her. “Give me your phone. I’ll put my number in there for you so if anything else goes wrong around here, you can text me. If I’m not busy, I’ll come right over and fix it for you.”

She frowned. “I don’t want you to have to bother.”

“It’s no bother. Besides, it’ll be nice for Agnes to come home to a house that’s in good working order. Won’t it?”

My excuse worked. Finally she nodded.

“Okay.” She unlocked her phone and handed it to me. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Just save it to my contacts as Steak Police, if you don’t mind,” she said.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her persistence, but I did as she’d said. Well, almost. I typed in Stone Steak Master as my contact name.

Still smiling I handed it back to her.

She rolled her eyes when she saw what I’d done. “I’m gonna change that, you know.”

“Go right ahead. I’ll still know the truth.”

Harper smiled and as usual, it lit her face.

She liked bickering with me as much as I did with her. I’d like doing something else even more . . .

And with that thought, I figured it was time to go. The dinner dishes were in the dishwasher. The pie was eaten. There was no more reason to hang around. My thank you dinner was complete.

“I guess I should be going.” I stood and she jumped up from her seat too.

“Oh. Okay. Well, thank you for coming. And thank you for fixing that toilet.”

“Sure thing. Thank you for having me for dinner. Everything was great.” Christ. Maybe this was why I always dove right in for a tongue-tangling kiss at the end of the night with a woman. My small talk game sucked balls.

“Well, you grew the corn and raised the cow for the steak on your farm so a lot of the thanks goes to you.” 

I sniffed. “Okay. If you insist, we’ll share the credit.”

We’d reached the front door. I turned. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yup.” She nodded.

“Thanks again,” I said.

“You’re welcome.”

This wasn’t a handshake kind of situation. But it felt too weird to just turn around and walk out the door. With one hand gripping her arm, I leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

At the same time, she leaned in too. But when I angled my face one direction to aim for her cheek, she turned her head the same direction.

Our mouths collided in an off center, awkward kiss that had my lips hitting the corner of her mouth.

Damn. You’d think I was thirteen and going in for my first kiss ever.

I dropped my hold on her arm and stepped back. “Okay. Thanks. Bye.”

I would have been out the door except the frigging locks took two hands and a locksmith to get open.

“Here. Let me help you. The locks here are ridiculous. I couldn’t get the front door open at all the first couple of days I was here. I’ve actually been practicing.” She babbled, probably just as appalled at that awkward near miss kiss as I was while we were trapped together in the three-foot wide vestibule between Agnes’s two sets of double front doors.

Finally, Harper got the outer doors open and I saw my imminent escape.

“Great. Thanks. See you.”

Yeah, I ran down the front stairs. No, I didn’t look back. Yes, I was going to remember that horrible kiss for the rest of the night. Maybe for the rest of my life.

Crap.