Credence

I run my hand over my scalp. Whatever. If she’s going to make this easy for me, I won’t complain.

“Yeah,” I say, letting out a sigh of relief.

She rises from her chair, standing up right in front of me, but her eyes immediately land on my chest, and she quickly looks away.

I tighten my lips and pull my T-shirt out of my back pocket to slip it on. Hannes—who was born wearing a suit—and Brynmor—an education that’s comprised of same-sex classmates, I guess she’s not used to this. She’ll get her feet wet here, though.

“Where do you need me?” she asks, looking ready to be anywhere but the kitchen.

I hide my smile. “I have to…um, milk Bernadette,” I tell her as I turn around to grab a cup of coffee.

Her gaze falters.

“The cow,” I explain. “The horses need to be fed, and the stalls need to be cleared. Noah will show you how it’s done.”

“And then?”

And then?

I grip my mug, leaning against the counter. “We have work in the shop to get to, so if you want to do breakfast…that’d be a big help.”

I should’ve asked nicer yesterday.

She simply nods.

I start to walk past her but stop and look down at her. “The bacon exactly like you did it yesterday,” I say. “Got it?”

She keeps her eyes planted on the floor for another moment, but then she looks up and meets my eyes. “Got it.”

I stare down at her.

I wish she’d smile. I don’t expect it, given what’s happened to her, but I have a feeling she doesn’t smile a lot regardless.

She is pretty, though. I’d give her parents that much. Flawless skin that looks almost porcelain. High cheek bones, the hollows rosy. Eyebrows a little darker than her hair, framing long lashes and Amelia’s stormy gray eyes, more piercing that her mother’s because she has the same dark ring around the iris that her father had.

She’s more her mother, though. The slender neck, the curve of the waist, the spine and shoulders that made her seem statuesque sometimes. On Amelia, it looked cold. On Tiernan, it… makes you wonder how she’d bend and move in someone’s arms.

Someone’s.

My body warms, and I hold her gaze for a moment. Amelia and Hannes. Amusement tugs at the corners of my mouth, but I don’t let it show.

I don’t need her to stay. It’s no skin off my nose if she leaves.

But I can forbid her from leaving if I want to.

If for no other reason than to burn off my exceeding supply of frustration with her father. To make her work off his debt to me.

To fuck up her life just a little bit.

To make her…

She wets her pink lips, and my breath catches for a moment.

If I were a worse man...

Setting down my mug, I head to the closet and pull my Rockies cap off the coat rack, fitting it on my head. I need to get out of here. I’m not sure where the hell my mind is going, but it’s not right. She’s my responsibility. Not my opportunity for payback. Not to mention, she’s quiet, boring, and a little pathetic. I can’t torture someone who won’t fight back.

A moment later, I hear Noah’s footfalls on the stairs and watch him head for the coffee pot with his T-shirt slung over his shoulder and no shoes or socks on.