Southern Desire (Southern Heart 2)

“I got that.” I stand right behind her, so close I can feel the heat from her body calling to mine. “You’re a guest,” I say, lips next to her ear. She shudders.

“All the more reason I should help.”

“No.” I tap her hip with my hands to move her out of the way.

“I guess I should be going. Thank you again for inviting me and letting me crash here last night.” She looks down at her clothes and then back up at me. “I’ll wash these and return them tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to rush off,” I say. I sound desperate even to my own ears, but I can’t find it in me to care. I would love nothing more than to spend the day with her.

“I do. I have laundry to catch up on and I already promised Olivia that we would hang out today. I don’t see much of her during the week, with us working opposite shifts.”

“Let me walk you out.” I reach for her and stop myself. That’s slowly becoming a habit.

I grab her camera bag, which is sitting by the door, and hold the door open for her. We reach her car and I want to call Olivia myself and tell her there has been a change of plans. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“You too. I’ll, uh, see you around.”

I nod and step back from the door. I watch until I can no longer see her car.

“Dish!” Olivia says as soon as I’m through the door. She’s sitting on the couch eating cold Pop-Tarts.

“Good morning to you too. How was work last night?”

“Oh no, you don’t. I want to know how you left here yesterday for work and ended up spending the night with Aaron Mills, a feat too many have attempted and none have been able to do.”

Interesting. “First of all, I didn’t spend the night with him. I stayed at his house in McKinley’s old room. We were both exhausted, and he thought it would be better than me driving home and risking falling asleep.” I make it sound worse than what it was, but I don’t need to give her any more ammunition.

“Uh-huh.”

“Really. Call him and ask him if you don’t believe me.”

“I just might do that,” she taunts.

“Good.” I’m not worried about what he will tell her. I’m telling the truth. Sure, we both know I could have driven, but something tells me that Aaron is going to keep that to himself just like I am. “What are we doing today?”

“I actually have to go in for a few hours. I didn’t get to do the inventory and place the order for next week. Mike and I were both swamped. Sara had to go home early because her daughter is sick. Mike is helping Dad do something today. I have no idea what. I just know before I left last night he made sure to ask me if I could do the inventory and order today. I think they’re planning some renovations for the bar.”

“You don’t want to be involved in that?”

“Not really. That’s Mike’s thing. I like working there and I don’t mind helping him in any way I can. I can run it with my eyes closed, we both can. But I don’t want to. I’m happy with working my position and leaving it behind when I go home for the day.”

“I guess I could see that. They say being the boss is no fun.”

“Headaches. I watched Dad struggle with it for years and now Mike. No thanks.”

“Okay, well, have fun at work. I think I’m going to shower, get caught up on some laundry, and edit some of the pictures I took yesterday.”

“Sorry to cancel on our day.”

“No, really it’s fine. I got some amazing shots of the horses yesterday. I can’t wait to work through the edits.”

“I’m sure they are amazing. All right, I need to get my ass in gear.”

With that, she dashes off to shower. I exhale a sigh of relief that I dodged a bullet. I could tell she wanted to ask more questions, but for some reason she’s holding off—thankfully. I don’t know what else I can tell her. Aaron Mills is sweet and sexy. He’s throwing out all kinds of signals that are all over the spectrum, and I can’t find it in me to ask what they mean, because I don’t want him to stop. Call me crazy, but I like it.

A lot.

The last month has been hectic. Since Midnight Rain won first place, the phone has been ringing off the hook. I’ve had countless offers to buy her, and Joe has received several job offers telling him to name his price. Luckily for Evan and me, we know talent when we see it. He’s compensated well and we treat our employees like family. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been travelling to stock sales trying to beef up our cattle stock. I’m very particular in whom I buy from and what I buy. I learned that from Dad. You want to make sure the animals are healthy and have been well taken care of. Otherwise, you basically just bought yourself a huge-ass vet bill.

“That the last load?” Evan asks.

“Yeah, thankfully. I feel like I haven’t slept in months.”

“Me either, but at least my reason for not sleeping likes to cuddle.”

“Walker still not sleeping through the night?”

“No, but once he gets his belly full, he falls right back to sleep, so it’s all good.”

“Damn, poor Kinley. I bet she’s exhausted.”

“I help as much as I can. She pumps so I can help, but he usually just wants his momma. Not that I can blame him.”

“Come on, man. Little sister, remember?”

“Wife, remember?” he fires back.

“How are things going over at your place? You need any help?”

“You’ve helped a ton with buying that new stock last week. I hate to leave Kinley with both of the kids. I know I have to, but I want to limit that as much as possible.”

“Can’t blame you there, my man. You’re a lucky son of a bitch. So what are you doing here anyway?”

“I came to get the kids and see what Kinley wants to do for dinner.”

“I’ll walk over with you. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen my little sister, and my niece and nephew are in need of some Uncle Aaron love, I’m sure.”

“Lexi was asking for you last night.”

I hate that I’ve barely had any time to see them. I’ve seen the kids when I’m in the house to grab a quick bite and head to the next meeting or sale, but Kinley is usually busy in the studio or out on location at a shoot. She’s a little harder to track down. So is her employee. I will admit that I’ve thought about Whitney more than I should since the day we spent together at the show. Honestly, I thought some time away would help with that, but no such luck. She’s a fun girl to be around; I like her company. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Mills.