Page 10 of Bailey

“Thank you,” she said, hearing the note of gratitude mingled with surprise in her own voice.

“And I want you to eat,” he said. “So maybe you can make a call, and then have a bite, and then do another call.” He handed her the computer and plugged it in before he turned to the ottoman and picked up a TV tray. “Steak isn’t that great cold.” He extended the tray toward her, and Bailey reached for it.

He’d sliced her steak and fanned it alongside a healthy pile of spaghetti Alfredo, the scent of garlic and Parmesan meeting her nose and making her stomach growl. A little pile of broccoli came with it, and he’d laid out a napkin, fork, and knife, and given her the bottle of steak sauce.

“Thank you,” she said, looking up at him and watching as he moved back to his spot on the second couch and picked up his TV tray. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

He started to lift his footrest and settle back into his seat the way he wanted. “Oh, I’ve been living on my own for about twenty years,” he said. “You learn a few things about how to keep yourself alive.” He smiled at her, but Bailey tilted her head.

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-six,” he said.

Her eyebrows went up. “And you’ve been living on your own for twenty years?”

His gaze sharpened, and his dark eyes seemed to shoot midnight flames at her. “Probably about twenty-five, actually.” With that, he focused on his food, picked up his fork, and swiped a bite of steak through some A1 sauce before he put it in his mouth.

Bailey’s curiosity pricked at her, but she told herself she didn’t have to know everything about this man in the next twenty minutes. After all, it sure seemed like they would be rained in here together for the next several hours, and she could space her questions out appropriately.

CHAPTER

FIVE

Surprise cut through Reeves when Bailey didn’t ask another question or press to know why he’d been taking care of himself since the age of eleven. Of course, he hadn’t quite said, “I’ve been feeding myself since I was eleven years old,” and he cut a quick look over to her while trying to decide how he was going to handle her next question. But it didn’t come.

Bailey cut into her own steak, swiping it through some sauce and twirling a little pile of pasta on top. He glanced away before she looked at him again, though he felt her gaze on the side of his face as he focused on the TV. For now, they still had power, and a seething restlessness kept him keyed up as he ate while a sitcom played softly in front of the two of them. He sat directly in front of the TV, but she sat on the couch off to the side.

Reeves held out his plate for Sir and Pansy to lick, and he decided to use them as an excuse to go downstairs and get his videos started. Truth be told, he had a routine he liked to keep, and that included doing all his filming, cleaning everything up, and heading straight into his office to get the videos uploaded. That could take a couple of hours, depending on how long he’d been out filming, but today’s should be short.

He wished he would’ve gotten even a few seconds of him driving the four-wheeler in the rain back to his house, Bailey’s fingers curled around his bicep. At the same time, he was glad he’d kept that private. He sometimes hated how he was constantly thinking of having to record something, but he reminded himself that this was his job, and it paid for his lifestyle and his ability to be in this small Wyoming town, where he’d finally found a measure of happiness.

Reeves wouldn’t necessarily say he was completely happy or fulfilled, but every day he lived was his own, and he got to choose how to spend his time. No one hurled insults or fists at him, and he supposed a man could find a measure of happiness with two dogs and a farm.

Having a good woman at your side would definitely help. The thought surprised Reeves, and he wasn’t sure it even came from his own mind. Somehow it existed there, though, and he let it rotate around while Bailey finished eating.

He lowered his footrest and got to his feet. “I’ll take your plate,” he said.

“Thank you.” Bailey quickly wiped her mouth and set her fork on her plate, then piled the napkin on top before lifting the whole thing up to him.

“Do you need anything else from downstairs?” he asked. “I’ll let the dogs out and can bring up anything else you want.”

They hadn’t lost power yet, which, in Reeves’ opinion, was a real miracle.

“Only if you have mint chocolate chip ice cream.” Bailey smiled at him, and she really was a stunningly beautiful woman, with her hair down out of the ponytail he’d seen it in before, and that soft crinkle around those brilliant blue eyes.

“I’m fresh out of that,” he said, but he made a mental note of it for later.

What later? he asked himself silently. He wasn’t quite sure, and since it had been a long time since Reeves had flirted with a woman or dated anyone, he simply piled her plate on top of his, nodded at her, and turned to leave.

The dishes and the dogs gave him a great excuse to go downstairs, where he would let them out and fill the dishwasher, but he’d also be able to get a bit of footage of the torrential rain to add to his video. He’d get everything processing, grab any frozen treats he did have, and be back upstairs in fifteen minutes.

“Come on, guys,” he said over his shoulder to the dogs, and they both came with him without further argument.

Reeves had never minded how they shadowed him, and in fact, quite enjoyed their company. Downstairs, he put the dishes in the sink and started the running water, pushing the handle all the way back to make it hot. He didn’t want Pansy and Sir sniffing around in the backyard or going further out onto the farm more than necessary, so he went into the garage first and collected his camera gear from the back of the ATV. He took that inside to his office, where it would be out of the way, and hopefully Bailey wouldn’t see it.

He pulled out his camera and looked down at the canines. “All right, guys,” he said. “It’s your turn. I just want you to go out, go potty, and come back.”

He looked at them sternly, and Sir sat down, always so eager to please. He grinned at the dog. “Go potty, and come back.”