LIAM COUNTED HIS EXHALE AS he walked away from the woman he wanted and the dog who’d bested him. He really thought the fries would have given him the advantage. He couldn’t fault the little guy for being scared or for his impulse to protect Andy. He shoved his hands in his pockets, tugging his jacket closed in front of him. And as soon as his blood flow went back to the normal places, he might be able to muster some gratitude to the furry chaperone for keeping him from taking Andy up against the wall of her office.
He’d had her legs wrapped around his waist and his cock wedged into the hot vee of her body before he’d had a chance to consider what it would mean to her if someone saw them. Her office was public space, and he hadn’t even bothered to close the door before he pounced on her. She felt so damn good in his arms and tasted so damn sweet. She responded to him like she’d been waiting for his touch and when she kissed him, she broke through the walls he erected like they weren’t even there. He couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for what happened, but he was enough of a grown-up to realize how difficult it would make things for her if one of the other guys caught them mid-act.
His new mission became how to get Andy alone—without her furry companion—somewhere private with a bed and enough time to figure out at least a half dozen ways to make her come. His cottage would do, although he was a little worried about the spindly bed being strong enough for his plans. Didn’t matter; he’d improvise. Or buy her a new one if the old one didn’t make it. Either way, it would be worth it. He’d figure out a way to get her alone after dinner. There wasn’t enough cold water in the world to get him through another night without being inside her.
Counting the hours until dinner and dark, he headed for the shed. He doubted he could dig up the tools he needed to fix the popping noise the four-wheeler’s carburetor made, but he’d noticed the stop block on the door was missing. It should only take a couple of minutes to fix it and then he could go see the goats. He hadn’t gotten to spend time with the animals and he was curious.
Jake was working on plowing the front field. Liam didn’t want to push things after their talk earlier anyway. Better to give the guy a chance to think about what he’d said than beat him over the head with it, and maybe Mike could use a hand. Liam was pretty sure he milked or something around this time of day. A couple of hours with an unfamiliar job was just what he needed to keep his mind off Andy. Or at least keep him from turning around, shoving the dog in a desk drawer and reconsidering the sex-in-public thing.
The phone vibrating in his back pocket pulled him out of his thoughts. He glanced down and saw the Southerland Security logo on the screen. For the first time, instead of the rush of adrenaline he usually got seeing the emblem, he felt a thin ribbon of worry. If Emerson said it was time to go back, he wasn’t ready. And it wasn’t just because of Jake; it was because of Andy. He wasn’t ready to call it a relationship, and he hadn’t changed his views on white picket fences. Although if he were ever going to settle down, it would be somewhere like Andy’s peaceable kingdom. He felt the regret and maybe the loss more deeply than he had before, but he’d take a look at that later when he didn’t have his boss waiting for him.
“Rogers,” he answered, waiting to hear what direction his life would take next.
“Hey, man,” said Gabe on the other end of the line. “How’s life on the farm? Meet any hot sheep yet?”
“Fuck off.” If it had been Emerson or anyone else, he would have couched his language, but he and Gabe had been friends since high school. “What do you want? Aside from talking about your sexual preferences.”
“I’m going to tell Berlin you said that.”
“I still can’t figure out what that woman sees in you.” He smiled. He’d had a front-row seat to watch the powerhouse PR lady knock his friend on his ass. It had been a beautiful thing, watching Gabe get twisted up by the petite woman who owned him heart and soul and even better seeing the way his friend found true love. Even Liam’s cynical heart couldn’t deny there was something real and strong between the two of them. Berlin sure as hell made his friend a better person, and he had a feeling Gabe made her a happier one.
“Me either but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she keeps seeing it.”
“Did you just call to chat or is there a purpose?”
Despite their friendship, Gabe wouldn’t bother him unless it was important. And while he was happy for him, thinking about his friend’s happily ever after might have shortened his patience. Not that he had all that much to begin with after the incident with the furry defender.
“Hey, I did you a favor. Emerson asked me to look into your farm lady and I found some stuff. Doesn’t matter to me if you don’t want to know.”
“Wait,” said Liam, suddenly worried Gabe would be a dick and hang up. When he’d asked Emerson about Andy, he hadn’t really expected the other man to look into it, but it made sense. Part of their business was turning over every stone they could find. Even the innocuous-looking ones. Those were often the ones hiding the snakes that came back to bite them in the ass. “What did you find?”
“Her name’s Andrea. Andy’s a nickname. She looks like a real ballbuster. First female stock trader to hit the million-dollar mark and one of the youngest too.”
It sounded like he was reading from a list, but Liam’s brain had skidded to a stop attrader. He was having a hard time reconciling the woman who spent her days in jeans and work boots and drove a piece of shit car covered with hippy bumper stickers with the financial shark his friend was describing.
“I don’t understand,” he said, more to himself than to Gabe.
“She was a dynamo. Made a fucking fortune, although she’s blown through a sizeable chunk of it in the last couple of years. She was on track to be the top earner at Bench and Stern before she quit.”
“Why?” None of what his friend was saying made any sense to Liam except the money part. If Andy—he couldn’t think of her as Andrea—had money, it would explain how she was able to keep the farm open and the vets paid. It didn’t explain why she’d want to, unless she had some kind of messiah complex. When he arrived at the farm, he’d expected that, but as hard as he’d looked, he hadn’t seen any evidence. His Andy seemed to genuinely want to help the people at Sourwood. For their sakes, not hers.
“No clue. The deal for the farm is one of the last ones she did, and then she dropped off the radar. She didn’t resurface until almost a year later once she had the farm up and running and then it was as Andy, not Andrea. She’s rarely interviewed and even more rarely photographed. She seems to be laying low on purpose, but I haven’t figured out why yet. Does that help?”
“What? Yes,” he said, catching up with the conversation.
“I’ll send over what I found. Let me know if you need anything else. I didn’t find anything hinky. Not beyond what you’d expect for someone who had that much pull in the financial industry. If she was dirty, it was way less than most of her peers. Why did you want to know? Do you suspect something?”
“No, just curious,” he said, trying to integrate the new Andy in with the old. Gabe’s info blew a hole in his preconceived ideas of the woman but he wasn’t sure what to do with it yet and he didn’t want his friend asking any more questions. “Any news about Gustaf?” If he changed the subject, maybe Gabe would let the Andy thing alone.And maybe Mike’s goats would learn to fly.At least it might buy him some time.
“Crazy bastard. Emerson briefed you?”
Liam murmured his agreement.
“Our best intelligence has him fronting Giacometti’s normal gigs. No one has seen him in public since a week ago, but that’s not all that surprising given the shit going down with the trial. A body showed up in the river a day or two ago. Cops ID’d it as one of Giacometti’s captains. It looks like they’re doing some inside housekeeping. You getting bored with all the farmer stuff?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. He couldn’t imagine getting bored with Andy around, but with Gabe’s new information he wasn’t sure what to think about anything.
“I’ll call if Gustaf reappears. Watch out for the cows and shit.” Gabe laughed into the phone, more amused than the play on words warranted.
