Chapter 19

I spent half the night fighting sleep and half the night losing myself in Joelle. I felt a little crazy, like I couldn’t get enough of her, and then when she passed out, I had to get away from her.

I fucking hated it.

Every time I walked away from her, I found myself right back in bed, waking her up with my fingers or my mouth on her body, sinking into her until the desire was satisfied for a few minutes. She passed out again every time, leaving me to flee.

When she got up and found me in the kitchen drinking my third cup of coffee, she smiled and poured herself a cup. She sat across from me at the tiny table in my kitchen.

“Good morning,” I said.

“Good morning. Did you get any sleep?”

I exhaled a laugh. “A little. Sorry I kept you up.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t mind a bit.”

I grinned, feeling a stir in my chest. A tightening. Something not good. Something too good. I already knew I was in love with her, but the idea of her staying was making it harder to resist telling her, and I couldn’t do it. I needed to stop hoping for more. Keep some separation.

“What are you doing today? You said you’re not working, right?” She peered at me over the rim of her mug.

“I need to go check on my employees,” I blurted.

“Oh. I thought you said they were good.”

“Yeah, they should be fine, but I still think I need to touch base with them. They’re new. If they have any issues, I want to make sure they know they can be in touch with me.”

“Okay. What time do you want to take me back to the Inn?”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

She stared at me for a second, then drained her mug and stood. “Let me get dressed.”

I nodded, watching her go. I felt the loss of her presence as she left the room. I didn’t want her to go. I wanted to spend the day with her. To push away all the worry about her moving to MacKellar Cove for me, even though she said it wasn’t for me, and then hating me for it and leaving.

Molly nudged my hand, nipping me softly.

I looked down at her and rubbed her ears.

She turned her back on me and followed Joelle out of the room.

I sighed. I finished my coffee and set my mug in the sink. I leaned against the counter and listened to Joelle get ready to leave. Water ran, doors opened and closed, and after a few minutes, she reappeared.

“Ready?” I asked.

She nodded, her gaze not meeting mine.

Fuck. I had to fix it. I wanted to see her. I wanted to be with her. I fucking loved her. I was just… terrified of losing her. I knew it would happen. It was inevitable.

I needed to find a balance. To lose myself in her at night but not spend all day with her every day. Not fall even harder for her and lose myself when she left.

“I don’t know how late I’ll be tonight, but what are you doing tomorrow?”

She lifted her gaze to me with a question in it. “What… Um, I usually go with Zoey and Piper to book club. Why?”

“Monday?”

“I have no plans Monday.”

“Can I take you to dinner? Make up for changing our plans for today?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

I moved closer to her and took her hand. “I want to, Joelle. I was looking forward to spending today with you, but I feel like I need to be there. It’s only been two days since I hired them, and it’s the first time they’re on their own with my equipment.”

“I don’t know what you want from me, Andre.”

“I know I’m giving you mixed signals, and it’s not my intention. I’m enjoying spending time with you. I want to keep doing that. I didn’t think about how I would feel leaving two basically strangers to work for me, represent my business, and act like nothing was going on. It’s harder than I thought it would be. It’s why I couldn’t sleep, why I was up this morning.” I hoped she believed the lie.

“I understand that.” She smiled, one that looked true.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “I do. I don’t own a business, but I get that it’s important to make sure everyone in your business is doing things the way you want them done.”

“Yeah. That’s… Thank you. So, will you let me make it up to you on Monday?”

“Yes.”

I pulled her in for a quick kiss. I was happy. I wanted to spend time with her. I enjoyed spending time with her. But I knew I had to put up walls. Protect myself.

Molly followed us out to the truck and curled up on Joelle’s lap as I drove through town to the Inn. Joelle didn’t say much, watching the town go by.

MacKellar Cove was quiet with few people up and moving. Another festival was happening later, but with graduation weekend a week away, the height of summer and festival season hadn’t arrived yet.

Sebastian waved from the porch when I pulled up in front of the Inn. He was on his way inside and didn’t stick around. I hadn’t spoken to him much in the last few weeks. Not since he warned me off spending time with Joelle.

“I hope everything goes well today,” Joelle said, reaching for the door handle.

“Me, too. Does six on Monday work for you?”

She nodded. “I’ll be ready.”

“I’ll see you then.” She went to climb out, but I caught her hand and tugged her in for a kiss that had me wishing I hadn’t brushed her off. My cock surged against my zipper, and desire washed over me.

She pulled back, licking her lips and blushing.

“I hope you have a good day.”

She nodded. “Thanks.” She climbed out of the truck, letting Molly slide to the seat and giving her a quick rub on the head before closing the door.

Molly looked up at me and meowed, then curled up on the seat again.

I pulled out of the lot and headed toward the school. It was strange seeing my trailer and equipment in use. Gail was on the mower, and Carson was using the trimmer near the high school.

I climbed out of my truck and walked over to the edge of the yard. Molly stayed next to me, not running off to where the work was happening. Hands on my hips, I watched them work.

Gail made a turn on the far side of the property and saw me watching. She continued closer, whistling for Carson as she turned off the mower.

Carson looked over and stopped what he was doing, setting the trimmer down as he jogged over to me.

Both wiped sweat off their foreheads and waved as they drew closer.

“Morning, boss,” they said together.

“Morning. How’s everything going?”

“Good, so far. What can we do for you?” Gail asked, her voice dipping with concern.

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to check in with you guys and see how everything’s going.”

They exchanged a look of worry.

“Okay. Would you like to see how I’ve done?” Carson offered, gesturing toward where he left the trimmer.

I shook my head as he started to walk over. “No, no. I’m not really here to check up on you guys. Like I said, this is new for me. It’s not that I don’t trust you guys. I don’t really know what I should be doing.”

They exchanged another look, then Carson waved me over. “Let’s talk about a few things.”

I followed Carson to the trimmer, Molly trotting along with us.

“One of the tough things with this property is the amount of manual stuff that needs to happen. We have to go all the way around the building, all the buildings, and then the fields and stuff. We can run right over the sidewalks with the mower. They’re level with the dirt, so Gail can go right over there. The hand work is what takes forever.”

I looked around as the lawnmower started back up. Gail waved as she continued the path she was on before. Her head bobbed with whatever music was playing through her earbuds.

I evaluated what Carson was telling me, seeing where the work would take a lot longer than I expected. I blew out a breath. “Do you two take turns?”

Carson nodded. “Yeah. It’s tough to do all of this. When my forearms get tired, we swap until she’s tired.”

“How did you handle it when you were working with Karl? Did he have other equipment?”

“He had two trimmers, so when the grass is done, we could tackle it together. We typically go around the buildings every other week, or every third week. The tennis courts need to get hit every week because there’s always a team playing. With the issues last week, we didn’t get this part done, so it’s a lot today.”

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

“No, sir, you don’t have to do that.”

“Carson, we’re all in this together. And I need to know what the job is like so I can help out. I don’t mind pitching in.”

“Okay, well, if you want to help, can you run the edger around the tennis courts?”

“Absolutely.” I took off toward the trailer and grabbed the edger. I carried it to the tennis courts and walked around, checking for anything I needed to be aware of before I got started.

I felt better with a piece of equipment in my hands. I let the work soothe me. My mind shut down, and my body did the work I loved. I didn’t think about Joelle moving to MacKellar Cove or being a part of my life for longer than a few weeks, then leaving. I just worked.

When the mower turned off, I looked around and saw Gail and Carson trading places. A minute later, everything started up again.

The sun warmed my back, and before long, my shirt was sticking to me. I thought about the day Joelle walked out of the Inn and stole my tee. I smiled to myself, then scowled.

I didn’t want to think about Joelle.

I focused on the work again, shoving thoughts of Joelle away.

Gail and Carson worked seamlessly together, going through everything as if I wasn’t there. They stopped at the same time, taking a break and talking near the truck. Their laughter reached me when I turned off the edger.

They were good. Their work was exceptional, and they had a sixth sense for each other. As I worked, I watched them, seeing the way they did everything together.

I definitely needed to find more for them to do. If I didn’t, I’d lose them to another company. The one thing I learned watching them, above all else, was I could trust them to handle any project I considered taking on.

When they were finished with the school property, they loaded everything up and checked in with me.

“Thanks for your help, boss,” Carson said.

“This is a big project. I don’t know how you two knocked it out so quick.”

“We’re used to it,” Gail said. “We’ve been doing this for a while.”

“You’re good at it, and you work together like you can read each other’s thoughts.”

They chuckled and swapped a look.

“We’ve been told that a lot,” Carson said.

“Especially by dates,” Gail added.

“They always think you’re together?”

They nodded.

“No one gets that we’re like siblings,” Carson said.

“If we were siblings, it wouldn’t be weird to anyone that we get along so well, but it’s always an issue for everyone,” Gail said.

Carson shoved her, and she slugged him on the shoulder.

I laughed at them. They really were like siblings. Gail was white with red hair and brown eyes, and Carson was Black with brown hair and eyes. No one would mistake them for biological siblings, but they definitely acted like siblings. “My brother and sister and I are the same as you two.”

“See? You get it,” Gail said.

“I do. But I don’t think I could work with my siblings as well as you two work together.”

“I couldn’t work with mine either,” Carson admitted. “My brother and I aren’t that close, though.”

“Family can be complicated,” I said, my mind once more going back to Joelle and her family. She said she didn’t have a good relationship with her mother. That was why she was leaving DC. What would she find in MacKellar Cove?

“So, is there anything else you need us to do?” Carson asked after a minute.

I looked around. “Not right now. I have a few other projects I can get you two on. I’ve been talking to some people who need landscaping, and I know you’re both ready to work—”

“Yeah,” they said together.

“I don’t want to waste your time. I have a pretty full schedule right now. The free time for you two to handle new projects… I’m trying to figure all that out.”

“Yes, sir,” they said.

“If you’re willing to work with me a little and give me some time to make sense of all of this, we can make it all work out.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you both for all this. For trusting me to figure it all out and come up with a plan.”

“Thank you, sir,” Gail said.

“We won’t let you down,” Carson added.

“I know you won’t. I’ll get you my schedule for this week and we’ll work on what else we can do.”

“Sounds good,” they both said.

I laughed. They were so similar, even saying the same thing multiple times. “All right. I’ll see you guys soon. Thank you.”

“Bye!” they said, waving as I headed toward my truck.

Molly chirped as she ran behind me, beating me to the truck and waiting for me to let her in.

I rolled down the windows as the truck cooled off, blasting the air conditioning. Molly stuck her head in front of the vent, letting the cold air blow over her.

I snorted and shook my head at my weird cat.

At home, I took a shower and fixed something for Molly and I to eat, tossing pieces of chicken to her when it was done.

I grabbed a beer and settled in for the night and absolutely did not think about Joelle and what she was doing.