Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(85)

“All right, then. I’ll leave you to it, I guess. If you need me I’ll be in the barn.” Lily looked up at him, and he saw a trace of some emotion in her eyes. Hesitancy? “As far as I’m concerned, Lily, you can treat this as though it were your home, the same as at Clay’s. Make yourself comfortable here.”

Her amber eyes seemed to glow when she smiled at him. “I’ll bring you something to eat.”

Her words were innocuous enough, but just the sound of her voice, since picking her up earlier, was having a deeper effect on his body, and he worried that there was a chance he’d make a fool of himself.

He turned away from her, for the second time, feeling like a dumbass yet again, wondering if he should’ve stayed. But work needed doing outside. Were it any other woman, he would’ve followed his instinct to kiss her right then and there, but this was Lily and he was afraid of making a mistake, bowling her over, or scaring her off.

He beat his hat against his thigh as he walked out to the barn and got to work. Things were looking a little better around the ranch. He’d had to tear down one shed because the rotted wood made the structure unsafe, but the rest were coming along. He knew it was time to start looking for a hand to help him around the place. Once he had cattle on it, it would be a necessity, so he might as well break them in beforehand.

All the dust he’d stirred up was coating his throat when he heard her step into the barn. “Hello! Del?”

“Back here, Lily.”

He stepped out of the horse stall he was fortifying and saw her standing just inside the doorway, backlit by the sunset. The silky waves of her freshly cut hair wafted in the breeze and red highlights sparkled in the strands as she moved toward him. She stepped into a beam of light from an open window which shown through her amber irises, making them appear luminescent as she looked him up and down. His cock responded to her gaze, and he suppressed a groan. It was going to be hard to squat in that corner of the horse stall, hammering that board when his dick was ramrod stiff wanting to hammer her instead.

She grinned at him when he stood there dumbfounded and finally asked, “Are you hungry?”

Del noticed the covered plate, glanced at his watch, saw that it was almost six o’clock, and groaned in apology. “I’m sorry. I was going to come in to eat so you didn’t have to go to the extra trouble. I lose track of time out here.”

“That’s okay. It didn’t take long to prepare and I told you I’d bring it to you. Where would you like to eat?”

Del wasn’t sure how she’d respond if he answered from his heart. He knew he was hard up when he had to suppress another groan as he watched her walk to the workbench and set the plate down.

In just the last couple of weeks, she’d dropped a significant enough amount of weight so that her clothes were noticeably baggier on her. Even so, he longed to wrap his arms around her and grip her sweetly rounded ass and squeeze her up against him. His cock twitched as if agreeing.

She handed him a bottle of water and utensils wrapped in a paper napkin and looked around for a place to sit. Del smiled and walked up to her. She looked up at him with rounded eyes and squealed lightly as he gripped her waist and lifted her so she could sit on the workbench while he leaned up against it and removed the warm aluminum foil from the plate. There was a thick, juicy chicken breast, mashed potatoes, and green beans on the plate, along with a fresh, buttered dinner roll.

“Lily Bell, you could’ve just heated up something you’d already cooked. You didn’t have to go to all the trouble.”

“I wanted to. It was no trouble.” She giggled when his stomach growled ravenously. “Eat up. You must be starving.”

He was used to eating on the run, grabbing meals that were convenient while on the go. The fact that she’d gone to this trouble, on top of all the food she’d brought with her, touched his heart.

He cleared the lump in his throat. “Thank you.”

He hopped up on the workbench beside her and talked with her while he ate. She asked about the ranch, and he told her his plans to run cattle and maybe a few horses. Beyond getting things fixed and started, he hadn’t really given it a lot of consideration, but he could picture himself with a family, complete with kids and pets, running all over the place. He might even add on a couple of spare bedrooms to the house if they were needed. He could picture Lily in his home on a permanent basis and not just temporarily.

Reaching for his empty plate, she said, “Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Dessert is waiting for you on the kitchen counter when you come in. The kitchen is cleaned up so I’m going to work on the bedroom and then take a bath and turn in a little early. It’s been a long day.”