“She’ll be fine.My parents are used to five boys running around.Kit will be a breeze compared to that.”
Parker looked dubious as she walked toward the back door.“Kit can be a handful when she wants to be, but you know your parents better than I do.”Smiling, she walked down the porch steps, following Travis as he made his way into the orchard.“I can’t imagine having five kids let alone five boys.”
Travis chuckled.“Not for the faint of heart.”He paused for a moment and looked over at Parker.“That mean you don’t want any more?”
The question was far too personal for him to be asking, but he couldn’t help himself.Even though he’d never thought of himself as good with children, that hadn’t stopped Travis from wanting some of his own all the same.Not that he would be having them withher,but it still felt like something important hinged on her answer.
Parker shrugged and slapped the big floppy straw hat she’d been holding onto the top of her head.“I do want more, as long as it’s with the right person.”She looked up at him from under the brim of the light brown hat, her eyes saddened.“Haven’t really had the inclination to look for him though, nor the time.”
Travis nodded, his feet shifting towards her.“Can imagine it would be tough to date with a kid.”
Parker nodded.“Tough to do a lot of things.”
They stared at one another, the silence stretching between them not awkward, but completely comfortable in a way he’d only ever felt with his family before.Travis stared at her face, taking in the gentle slope of her cheek and long eyelashes.When his eyes traveled south, he noticed the clothes she was wearing fit a lot better than those from that first day, and he felt his cock thicken at the sight of her hips and ass on display in the tight jeans she was wearing.Needing to focus on anything else, his eyes found hers again, seeing a lightness that hadn’t been there before.
The gingerbread irises searched his a moment longer before she smiled softly.“Should we get to work?”
Travis nodded.“Yup,” he said breathily.Coughing into his fist to clear his desire from his throat, he subtly adjusted himself in his pants and walked over to the storage shed to grab a fruit picker.Passing the harvesting basket over to her, Travis nodded toward the middle of the orchard.“Starting with something easy today.”
Parker stared at the contraption in her hands, shooting a bewildered look his way.“I didn’t think the apples were ripe yet.”
“They’re plenty ripe.”Travis tried not to roll his eyes at her lack of knowledge.She was here and willing to learn after all, which was more than he could say for most people.Wanting to try to be better, he turned to her, making an effort to keep his features soft.“What made you think otherwise?”
Parker spun the wooden pole in her hands as they walked.“The ones we camped by were smaller and didn’t look very heavy, but I guess I was wrong.”
Travis stumbled a bit as he came to a stop.The back of his neck felt hot with shame for having judged her when she was actually right.Rubbing at it to try and hide his embarrassment, he gave her an approving smile.“No, you’re right.Pink ladies won’t be ready until mid-October.”Slapping the trunk of the tree next to him, Travis nodded at Parker to come closer.“We’re harvesting the galas today.They’ve just become ready.”
Parker looked around at the other trees, noticing the few other workers on ladders, their hands reaching up into the trees and grabbing two or three apples at a time before placing them into a canvas bag.“Shouldn’t I be doing that too?”
Travis smiled and shook his head.“Picking by hand takes finesse.Want to see how you do with this first.”He held his hand out, chuckling when Parker tried to pass the harvester back over.“No, uh...”His palm opened and closed a few times as he struggled not to touch her, grasp her elbow and pull her near him before he nodded toward the tree.“Come closer.”
“Oh.”Her cheeks turned pink with a blush as she moved next to him.It was hotter than Hades outside, but the temperature seemed to go up another ten degrees the moment she placed her body in front of his.“What do I do?”Her voice was slightly husky, the sound going straight to his dick.Shifting his hips so there was no way Parker would feel that, Travis placed his hands over hers and guided her toward sticking the picker up near an apple.
Travis moved their joined hands together, ignoring the way his rough palms felt against her smooth skin.“Position the basket around the fruit, gently pushing it off the stem.Back away at any resistance.Means it’s not ready just yet.”They did the action together, Parker letting out a happy sigh when the apple popped right off the stem.“Lower it to the ground, place it in one of the small barrels at the base of the tree.”Travis wasn’t needed for that part, but he justified keeping his hands on Parker’s by arguing that she might have bruised the fruit had she put it in the barrel too forcefully.Once the apple was securely in the barrel, he reluctantly backed away and nodded approvingly.“All done.”
Parker beamed up at him and reached the fruit picker back up into the branches.“Can I do another one?”
Travis smiled at the pleasure she’d taken from the simple action and how it reminded him of how much he loved performing even the smallest job for the orchard.It was another way in which he was starting to feel a closeness to Parker, and it was both thrilling and frightening.He’d often hoped the perfect woman would magically appear on the farm one day and it sure looked like that was what had happened with her.Only now that she was here, he wasn’t exactly sure what to do about it.
“Be my guest.”Travis stood back and watched as Parker repeated what he’d shown her, taking extra care to place each apple in the barrel with more love and attention than anyone he’d ever seen, maybe even himself.After ten minutes or so, the barrel was nearly full and he stopped Parker with a shoulder on her arm.“This one’s full.We’ll take it to the storage shed.”
Parker nodded.She handed the fruit picker to Travis before leaning down to try and grab the barrel.The wooden bucket didn’t budge an inch and he tried not to chuckle as Parker tried to lift it again.
Collapsing back into the dirt, she shook her head and rested her elbows on her knees.“Damn, that’s heavy.”
Travis nodded and handed the harvesting tool back to her.“About seventy pounds, give or take.”
Leaning down, he grabbed the barrel and hauled it up into his arms with ease.Years of working on the farm doing just that had given him bigger muscles than even his brother Beckett, and that man worked out at the fire station almost every day.Travis didn’t think much about his body most of the time, just happy that it hadn’t given him any trouble yet beyond the occasional twinge in his knee, but as Parker gazed at his straining arms admirably, his chest puffed up a little with pride in his physique.
Travis hoped she could see the smile in his eyes since he was unable to form one on his face, too confused by her seemingly being attracted to him to do more than stare.“Ready to go?”
Parker nodded.“More than,” she said.Her eyes widened at her words and her cheeks turned pink again.
The meaning behind those words wasn’t lost on him, and while he was pleased that she seemed just as attracted to him as he was to her, he had to remind himself to remain professional.Her presence there was temporary and about keeping her and her daughter safe, and as much as he wanted to see if there was even a chance for them to be something more than what they were at that moment, he knew it wouldn’t happen.He’d been let down before and with his gruffness and tendency to sequester himself at the farm, there was little for her to find appealing beyond his big muscles and farm boy good looks.
“Let’s go then.”Travis said it a little more surly than he’d meant to, and the flash of hurt in Parker’s eyes had him feeling the tiniest but guilty, but it was for the best.He wasn’t meant for anything more in life other than what he had already, no matter how much he might wish it were otherwise.
