Blitz (Blast Brothers #3) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,64
lingering glance. Her head was down, so I couldn’t see her face. But I could see her blonde hair shimmering in the late afternoon sun. It was still in a ponytail, but the ponytail was loose, and stray tendrils fluttered in the afternoon breeze. Every once in a while, I'd get a whiff of her shampoo, the one I'd come to associate with nobody but her.
By now, we'd nearly reached the barn, and it wasn't lost on me that she still hadn't told me what she'd been thinking. One way or another, I decided, she would before the day was done.
She just didn't know it yet.
When we reached the wide double doors of the big red barn, Mina let go of my hand and fumbled in her purse, saying, "Hang on, let me get the key."
Obviously, she meant the key to the old-fashioned steel padlock, darkened with grime and rust. The padlock was secured through a thick metal chain looped through each of the two door handles.
When Mina pulled out the key, I held out my hand. "Here, lemme get it."
"Why?"
I glanced at the padlock. "Because it's dirty as hell."
Mina laughed. "Trust me, I've seen dirtier."
Dirtier, huh?
Oh, man. Everything she said was getting me thinking. And nearly every thought was leading to the same place.
It had been this way for weeks now. At first, I'd blamed it on my sexual hiatus. But then, I'd come to realize the absurdity of my own theory.
During these same weeks, I'd been around plenty of attractive women, women who'd made it crystal clear they were available.
I'd wanted none of them.
None except Mina.
And today's tour – it hadn't been needed. Rather, it had been a last-minute decision on my part, when I couldn’t stomach the thought of waiting until next week to see her.
And yet, I hadn't asked her out.
I wasn't even sure why.
Was it because I'd told her up front that I wasn't interested?
I'd been such a fucking idiot. If I were a different kind of guy, I might tell her so.
I might even apologize.
But that wasn't me.
I was good at a lot of things, but apologizing wasn't one of them. I'd had no practice and didn't plan on acquiring it any time soon. But I could make it up to her.
Now that would be fun.
When Mina declined to hand over the key, I reluctantly stepped aside and let her give it a try. I watched for maybe thirty seconds as she struggled to turn the key in the slot. Finally, she stopped and gave me a sheepish grin. "I think it's rusted or something."
Silently, I claimed the key and went work. Yeah, the lock was rusted, but not so bad that I couldn’t twist the key. I had the lock sprung in two seconds flat.
When I returned the key to Mina, she smiled. "Show-off."
"Hey, if you like that trick," I said, "I've got plenty more where that came from."
I was talking about my way with tools, but the blush on Mina's cheeks made me wonder if I wasn't the only one having a hard time keeping everything clean.
And I didn't mean with the lock.
I reached out and slid open the barn doors. Beyond them, I saw a cavernous space, filled with nearly nothing.
After we moved into the barn, I turned back and slid the doors shut behind us. And then, I gave the barn's interior a good, long look.
There was an old-fashioned red tractor in the far corner, along with a big rustic trailer. The trailer had fence-like slats all around the perimeter, with wide gaps between them and a white wooden rail along the top.
As we moved deeper into the cavernous space, Mina said, "And there's the tractor for the hayride."
"Are you sure?" I teased. "I don't see any hay."
With a laugh, she pointed up toward the ceiling. "It's up there."
I looked up. There was no hay on the ceiling, but I got what she meant. "A hayloft, huh?" I knew they existed, but I had never seen one in person.
On the far end of the barn, I spotted a ladder leading up to the second level. The kid in me was curious. "Care if I take a look?"
"Why not?" she laughed. "You're the one paying for it."
I knew what she meant. The hayride was among the many events being sponsored by Blast Tools. Technically, this was a business meeting, and I was here to see what I was getting for my money.
But somewhere along the way, a funny thing had happened.