“You’ll want to stock up. Felicity’s General Store back in Blue Valley has a lot of the basics, but the hours and selection are limited,” she advised, all business again. Any hint at that momentary softening or camaraderie gone. She was the boss man—or woman, as the case may be. He was the lowly serf, paying her a chunk of change to tell him what to do.
They got to the grocery store, and she told him to get what he wanted while she looked around. They separated and Dan searched for all means of easy-to-prepare foods. Easy Mac. Frozen pizza. Yeah, he was really going to need some kind of workout plan if this was going to be his diet.
Maybe he could hire a cook. Maybe he could hire Mel to cook for him.
He happened down the personal hygiene aisle, the condom display catching his eye. It wasn’t like he was so certain he was going to sleep with anyone up here, but it couldn’t hurt to have some on hand. Especially if he hired a cook. Although that would probably be wrong.
If he was thinking a little bit about Mel, well, he was a guy.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Buying condoms.” He plucked a box off the shelf and grinned at her.
She made a kind of squeaking noise as her face went pink.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on using them with you. Unless you ask nicely.”
“Fuck off, Sharpe.”
“I’ll take that as a no. I’m good at reading signals like that.”
“You’re…you’re…” She took a deep breath, doing that “look up at the sky” thing she did when he really irritated her. Then she glared. A lesser man might slump down, shrink away, apologize, but he was not a lesser man.
“You’re trying to piss me off,” she finally said. “Possibly your natural state is trying to piss people off.”
“Possibly.”
“One of these days, it’s going to kick you in the ass.”
He could tell her it already had, because if he was the type of guy who hadn’t gotten a rise out of pissing people off, he’d probably have a few more teammates jumping to defend him.
Instead, he was on his own. His agent fought for him because, well, money, and Dad was mostly trying to avoid the situation, keep his nose clean. As he should. Dad didn’t deserve to be dragged into his crap. No one did.
“Can we go? It’s going to be dark by the time we get home at this rate.”
Home. Funny. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d thought of somewhere as home. But this very well could be his home now. A nice concept. A silver lining to all the other shit.
So, he smiled at Mel, dropping the condoms into the cart. “Sure thing, honey.”
“I’m waiting in the car,” she grumbled, stomping away.
Yeah, this potentially-being-home thing was a bit of a silver lining after all.
Chapter 3
Mel pulled her truck into the garage and sat there for a few minutes. She was starving, but the chances of Dad or Caleb having made something for dinner were slim. She was exhausted, but she’d have to double-check all of Caleb’s work today or she wouldn’t sleep.
Today had not gone at all like she’d anticipated. She couldn’t pin Dan down. Parts of him were exactly what she’d expected of a spoiled professional athlete. But parts…well, she could admit in the solitude of her truck cab that parts of him definitely got to her.
In not totally unpleasant ways. Luckily, she wasn’t stupid enough to go down that road. Just because something wasn’t unpleasant didn’t mean it was worth going after. Because nothing as shiny and loaded as Dan Sharpe stuck around Blue Valley for very long.
She hopped out of the truck, willing those thoughts away. Right now she needed to focus on food, chores, Dad, and then, if she was lucky, sleep.
Color was creeping into the valley even as it disappeared from the sky. A slow turn to green, hints of pinks and blues, riots of yellow, a big burst, and then gone again.
Usually it was her favorite time of year. The promise of warmth and life and color. Today she missed winter a little bit. The harsh reality of it. The grays, the biting cold.
“You are one sick puppy,” she muttered, pushing into the main house through the back door. She pulled her boots off and dropped them on the mat, trying not to cringe over the fact that Caleb’s weren’t there, which probably meant he’d tracked.
She stepped into the kitchen, where Caleb stood at the counter, still wearing his boots. But he smiled at her, and hey, he was the only one most days, so she gave him a smile back.
Dan smiles at you quite a lot.
“Pizza,” Caleb offered, a plate full of crumbs in front of him. “There’s one of those bag salad things you hate in the fridge.”
“You know, having a penis doesn’t make you incapable of making actual food.”
“Oh, and here I thought it was always flopping around, getting in the way.”
She shook her head and pulled open the fridge. A lot nicer fridge than Dan’s. Probably the only nicer thing she had than him—till he replaced it. “Men are pigs.”
“Beer in the fridge too.”
“Hallelujah. I’ll consider you a little less of one.” Mel rummaged around in the fridge until she’d gotten everything she wanted. “Dad eat?”