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“I thought you wanted me gone?” I test him a little and watch his face tense.
“Maybe you are growing on me.” With a soft look that might as well be searing, he turns back to the kitchen to finish prepping, and I take a sip of wine, watching him over the rim of my glass.
Tanner Whiteman is growing on me too.
19
VICTORIA
It has been a few days since I fell in the yard and my leg is almost completely healed. The new boots I now own are definitely helping. They are comfortable and not overly ugly, and they go well with my jeans.
Tanner has been in contact via text every day, which is nice, but I am still on guard. I haven’t seen him since the other night when he cooked me dinner. Instead, Jasmine and Lacy have been coming by, helping me where I need it. But really, we have just been enjoying wine nights and lots of giggles and too much online shopping for the house.
The other thing that has been consistent, though, is Josh. His calls are excessive. I continue to ignore them, which seems to have the opposite effect, because his calls have increased to almost hourly. I don’t want to talk to him; I don’t even want to acknowledge his existence, but his daily barrage makes me think I need to address this issue. Otherwise, I’m not sure if it will stop.
“I can’t believe you broke your leg.” Fiona huffs alaugh as I hold my phone between my shoulder and chin, cleaning up a bit.
“I just sliced it a little. It is perfectly fine,” I tell her, laughing at her exaggeration.
“So your sexy neighbor came in handy, then?” she teases.
“He cooked me dinner… helped me with the animals.” I ignore her remark about him being sexy, even though he most certainly is. I look out the back window at Garry. He is doing a fantastic job of chewing the grass down, but I am increasingly worried about his weight.
“Hey, do you think I need to be monitoring Garry’s grass intake?” I ask Fiona out of the blue.
“The goat?” she asks, confused.
“Yeah. He has a full pot belly. I wonder if goats can get bloated from eating too much grass. Is it a calories in versus calories out situation, like us humans? I wonder what his metabolism is like…” I bite my lip, watching my four-legged friend. “Do I need to be monitoring his protein and carbs? Does he need a diet of pellets or something?” I sigh at myself as Fiona laughs at me.
“I have no idea. But why don’t you ask your neighbor? I bet he knows exactly what to do.”
“Maybe…” I slump on the arm of the sofa, now back to thinking about the man who consumes my thoughts these days. Tanner is right; I have no idea what I am doing here, and I need to call the local vet and get a health status on the animals. Although the cow, which I have since named Marmalade, and the chickens seem happy enough.
“The images you put up of your new curtains got a lot of likes,” she mentions.
“I love them. My new shower screen and vanity have been installed too. Bob kindly came over and finished off the floor sanding that I had left, and between the two of us, we also managed to seal the floorboards with some gloss. The place smelled for a good two days, but now it is amazing.”
With the painting done and the floors complete, I now need to get new carpet arranged for upstairs, fix the fireplace, and get it into working order, plus order the new light fittings, furniture, and décor, and the two biggest items, the new kitchen and laundry.
“Ugh. Sounds exhausting,” she moans, and I laugh just as I hear someone shout.
“Hello!” Tanner's voice bellows from outside, and I jump a little in surprise. Walking swiftly to the front door, I open it quickly, surprised because I didn’t hear him drive up. Clearly, I was in my mind too much.
“I have to go. Tanner is here,” I whisper to Fiona.
“Ohhh, I want an update,” she whispers back, giggling.
“Later,” I tell her and end the call.
“Hey,” I greet, as he and another man who looks like every girl’s wet dream walk toward me from his truck. My breath catches in my throat at the sight, and I make a mental note to call Fiona back as soon as they leave and tell her to move to Whispers immediately. The status of men in this town is phenomenal. As my eyes flick back to Tanner, who’s looking relaxed in his standard uniform of blackshirt and jeans, I suddenly feel parched. His sleeves rolled up to his elbows show off his thick forearms, and his shirt is open at the neck, giving the slightest hint at his chest.
“How’s your ankle?” he asks, frowning as he looks at me. Straight into overprotective mode. I have come to realize that he does actually care about me. Because if he was just being nice to get my land, then he could just leave me here to fail. He isn’t doing that.
“I’m fine, just like I told you yesterday and the day before,” I tell him with a smirk, looking up at him as he doesn’t hesitate and walks straight up the porch steps to where I am standing. His furrowed brow doesn’t soothe as he looks down at my leg and back to my face again, and my breath hitches as I feel his hand curve around my waist.
“You shouldn’t be on it too much,” he says quietly, our heads close as the other man watches us. Tanner is immediately back into concerned mode, and if I could breathe, I would speak. But his thumb rubs up and down my torso slowly, and I feel the heat of flames flick across my skin that have left me speechless. This man. My God, he makes me weak at the knees. I shake my head, getting myself together.
“I’m not. Just because you haven’t been here to see it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” I bite back, and his frown turns into narrowed eyes.
