I was used to jumping out of bed as soon as my phone woke me, racing against time to get to my shift. Here, I’d woken naturally. I could hear Cal moving around but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get me up. I could just stay there, warm and snuggled. The freedom of it was glorious.
I was going to get up, though. I was curious: I wanted to see the outside of the cabin in the daylight. I wanted to see what life here was like. And I wanted to help. But first: I sat up, lifted my arms overhead and gave a fantastically satisfying yawn and stretch, arching my back and looking up at the rafters.
When I looked down again, I saw Cal standing across the room, those blue eyes catching the light as they watched me. A hot throb spiraled down my body and detonated in my groin. I was suddenly very aware of my breasts, under the soft t-shirt, and how the stretch had made everything lift and move. My hair was tangled, I wasn’t wearing any make-up...and from the look he was giving me, it didn’t matter at all. I swallowed. “Good morning.”
He just nodded, his eyes eating me up. “Breakfast’s done,” he said at last. “If you’d like some.”
Breakfast was thick slices of salty bacon, carved off a slab and fried in the skillet. There were eggs, the yolks richly yellow and sticky, and hunks of his crusty homemade bread to mop them up with. We ate outdoors, sitting side-by-side on the front step of the cabin, looking out at the forest. I couldn’t get over how clean the air tasted.
After breakfast, he collected the dishes, like the previous night. But I stopped him on the way to wash them. “I want to help,” I said. “There must be stuff I can do. Chores.”
He blinked at me, then looked down. I realized he was looking at my hands, so soft compared to his. Like he thought I was some sort of princess who shouldn’t sully herself with such things. “I can do it,” I insisted. “I want to do it. I need to...pay my way.”
His eyes caught mine and for just a second, they sparkled and went molten with lust. My face flushed hot as a vision seared my mind: Cal’s big body between my thighs, his hard ass rising and falling as he drove into me—
Both of us looked away. Of course he didn’t expect me to pay with my body. Cal was the most honorable man I’d ever met. But underneath, I could tell he was thinking about it, fantasizing about it...just as I was.
“I can do chores,” I said firmly, my face scarlet.
He nodded slowly. “You can feed the chickens. Toss them a handful of corn. Bucket’s in the barn.”
I found the tin bucket and walked over to the coop. There were six chickens, some rust-brown, some gray and cream and some a mixture, all with bright red crests on their heads. I unlatched the gate and slipped inside the coop. “Okay, now do you get some each or do you all—”
They swarmed me, clucking and squawking and circling my legs. “Wait! Okay, okay, it’s coming—” I dug my hand into the bucket but before I could throw some, they were pecking it out of my hand. Others had their heads in the bucket. Another one had thrust its head into the rolled-up cuff of my jeans and wasn’t going to stop hunting until it found the piece of corn that had dropped there. Six chickens felt like fifty. I was being overrun! I panicked, tossed a handful of corn to the far side of the coop, and, as the chickens raced to get it, I made my escape.
Through the window, I could see Cal watching as he did the dishes. It looked like his shoulders were shaking with laughter. And I smiled too. I wondered how long it had been since he’d laughed.
There was a lot to do. He showed me how to haul water up from the well and then we spent the next few hours weeding and watering the vegetable garden. There were carrots and potatoes and cabbages, beets and squashes and pumpkins. Raspberries and blackberries grew on canes and there were bushes full of plump, succulent blueberries. “How long did all this take you?” I asked in wonder. “How long have you been here?”
“Six years.”
Six years?! He’d been out here, living completely by himself, for six years? Why? My chest contracted in sympathy. But I didn’t push. I had to hope he’d open up, given time. “What next?” I asked instead.
“We need some milk.”
Still in city mode, I prepared to run to the store. Then I followed his gaze to the cow, who’d been let out to graze.