He leaned in close, then closer, and before she knew it, warm lips pressed to hers with a mighty need. The hairs of his beard prickled her cheek as he showered her with desire.
“Shit… hold up…” he muttered as he abruptly pulled away, casting his sights at her fishing pole. “The bobber is moving! You’ve got somethin’, Lauren!” She flailed her arms and giggled, then grabbed the pole. “Raise it up! Fast!”
She did and on the end of that line was a big, silvery fish, its tail flapping back and forth in the air. Aries took the pole and reeled it in. Awe and excitement took over, heightened by the fact her mouth was still tingling from his kiss.
The fish put up a mighty struggle but soon, he won the battle and made quick work of removing it from the hook like the expert that he was. “It’s a trout! Nice catch, baby!” He held it up for her to see like some big prize. Before she could utter a word, he thrust the wet, flopping thing against her chest and she swallowed a scream. With his free hand, he took his phone out of his pocket and began to snap pictures, wearing a big ass grin.
“He’s big. Are we keeping it?”
“I’ll leave it up to you.” He winked at her.
She thought about it for a spell.
“Let’s throw it back in.”
She watched as he gently placed the creature back into the water like a doting father, and then it swam away. The trout had fought death and won. It was truly free, at least until the next fisherman enticed it with a tasty morsel.
“Aries, I have an idea.”
“What? You wanna go to Red Lobster where no skinning is required?”
She burst out laughing.
“No, silly. But, you’re on the right track. I think you should come over tonight after work for dinner. I can cook you something real nice. Also, how about we go to all seven of these properties, together? The ones listed on that piece of paper from Benjamin? Make it like a field trip. I’ll be fun, and I’ll help you. It shouldn’t take long because they’re all local. Together, we can see if the letter can be found anywhere. A scavenger hunt with just me and you.”
He put his hand on his hip. “Help me clean up. I wanna get you home. I know you’re busy, and I gotta get back to my shop, too. Taking the morning off was enough.”
She wanted to keep talking, to force him to answer, but decided to let the matter go. To allow him to flip about and swim away upstream. About ten minutes later, they were back in the truck. She slid the black scarf off her head and shoved it in her pocket, then looked at the time. Two hours? It hasn’t seemed that long at all. Felt more like fifteen minutes. He turned on the music as he kicked the truck in reverse. ‘Woman Like You’ by Lee Brice was playing. As he got onto the main road, he pointed at the glove compartment.
“Lauren, can you get me a wet wipe outta there?” She obliged and he cleaned his hands, keeping his eyes on the road as he drove. Another song came on, and the quiet got under her skin. Just as she was thinking of broaching the subject once again about dinner and such, he spoke. “Two things, well, three that I need to talk to you about before you get outta this truck.”
“Yeah? What are they?”
“One, let’s go to the estates together. Honestly though, I don’t think it’ll help, Lauren, just like the Druid Hills visit, but I see no harm in it. His ranch has been sold and the closing will happen next week, so it’ll be officially gone soon. We better get this out of the way. Secondly, I want to take you up on your offer for dinner tonight. I’ll need some time to get cleaned up first, then I’ll be over. Just let me know what time you prefer.”
“All right, sounds good.”
“Thirdly, the building your store is in is all yours. ‘Kindred Spirits’ is not just leased to you anymore. You own it.” She gasped. Certainly she must’ve misheard the man. “I know you don’t have the money for it right now. That building is worth a lot, like you said, and I confirmed that the other tenant has already moved out. You’ve taken real good care of it. The inspection went well,