Kate Hoffmann - The Mighty Quinns - Dermot-Dex

Dermot leaned over the edge of the tub and cupped her cheek in his hand. A moment later, Rachel was caught inside a long, lingering kiss, one that made her head spin and her body tremble.

She wanted to stop him, but she’d lost any sense of who or what she was. Every ounce of her attention was focused on the taste of his mouth, the feel of his lips against hers.

When he finally drew away, he met her gaze. Rachel forced a smile, then went back to washing his back, but he grabbed her hand. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just a gray day. And I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Tell me.”

Rachel shook her head. “It’s nothing.” She paused, then drew a deep breath and let it out. “I’m just trying to figure out my future and you keep getting in the way. Not that I don’t love having you here, because I do. But it just makes everything so much more difficult.”

“I don’t want to do that,” Dermot said.

“I know. But so much of my happiness right now is because I’m… you know.”

“Well satisfied?”

“Yes, that, too. But I was going to say relaxed . Less worried. The list of things that need doing on the farm is getting shorter and shorter every day. And it makes a life here more attractive. Which makes my decision more difficult.”

“So, what do you want me to do? We could spend more time in bed and less time working.”

“I hired you to work, not to… pleasure me.”

“I can multitask. I’m very good at that.”

Rachel smiled, well aware of his abilities both inside and outside the bedroom. “I just think that it’s going to take me a lot longer to figure this out.”

“I think it would help if you’d take your clothes off and get in the tub with me. A hot bath always helps me focus.”

“You take baths?”

Dermot shook his head. “No. Never. But I’ll say just about anything to get you in the tub with me.” He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. “Come on. You’ll see.”

Rachel slowly undressed, then stepped into the tub and settled herself against his chest. He took the washcloth and sloshed water over her breasts and shoulders and she closed her eyes and relaxed into the warmth of his body.

“Let’s talk about your choices,” he said. “You can stay and run the farm.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Or you can sell it,” he continued.

“Those are my only two choices.”

“Could you lease it out? Find someone else to run it until you’re ready to make a decision.”

“I never really thought about that. My sister and brothers want to settle the estate. They want it sold.”

“All right. Would it make you feel better if you got the right kind of people to buy it? Maybe find a family who wants to continue the same type of work your father did? Would that help?”

“Yes,” she said. Rachel thought about the notion for a long moment. “A family, with kids, who want to raise goats and show them at the fair. With a mother who likes to garden and a father who wants to work for himself. This farm works best for a family.”

“Then maybe we need to find a family like that,” he said. “Can you think of anyone that you know?”

Rachel closed her eyes again and Dermot wrapped his arms more tightly around her. There were plenty of family farms in the area, but they were all struggling. Still, if she could offer a family a stable income, there would be buyers.

“I’m so lucky you came into my life,” Rachel said. She turned over and smoothed her hands over his chest, pressing a kiss to his damp skin.

Dermot kissed the top of her head. “I think I was the lucky one.”

“When you first met me, how long did it take before you knew you wanted to sleep with me?”

He smiled, nuzzling her temple. “I think it was about six or seven… seconds. I went through all the pros and cons on the ride to the farm. And then there was that kiss and it was game on from there. Since then, I can’t seem to stop myself.”

“Do you ever wonder if it might have been a mistake?”

He shook his head. “How could anything that feels so good be a mistake?” He laughed. “Are you really thinking it was?”

“Do you know what today is?”

“Wednesday?”

“You’ve been on the farm for exactly three weeks. That means that your time here is half over. In three weeks, you have to go home.”

His grin faded. “Really? It seems like I just got here. I don’t want to think about leaving.”

Rachel shrugged. “When you walked up to my truck, I thought you’d dropped out of the sky, like an answer to my prayers. But the longer you stay, the harder it will be to let you go.”

“I know,” he said. He kissed her again. “I know.”

As the water in the tub began to cool, Rachel knew they ought to get out. It was a perfect metaphor for the relationship. How long could they continue before it became impossible to let go? She was coming perilously close to the point of no return, to the point where his leaving would cause permanent heartache and unresolved regrets.

She wasn’t in love yet, but everything pointed in that direction. Dermot Quinn was a man well worth loving. And if she didn’t take that step, then another woman in another place and another life would. And he would be lost to her forever.

THE HEAT OF THE AFTERNOON was oppressive, the humidity thick in the air. Dermot reached for another bag of feed and hoisted it onto the back of the pickup. Harley and Sam, the two farmers he’d met his first day in Mapleton, sat on the porch of the feed store, watching him from beneath the brims of their caps. A few seconds later, another farmer joined them and they chatted, pointing in his direction.

Dermot sighed softly, then braced his gloved hands on his hips and turned toward them. “If you boys have any questions I can answer, just let me know.”

They seemed shocked that he’d called them out. “Nope. No questions,” Sam said.

“No?” Dermot asked, walking toward them. “I can see something is worrying you. Just spit it out.”

“We were just speculating on how much longer Miss Rachel was going to last on that farm,” Sam finally said.

“What difference does it make to you?”

“She’s got a nice piece of land there,” Harley told him. “And there are folks that are interested in having that land for themselves. In fact, there’s probably going to be quite a little bidding war if she ever decides to sell.”

“Well, she’s not going to sell,” Dermot said. “So you can let all those interested folks know that they can stop being interested and find themselves something else to do with their time.”

“Seems like you’ve made yourself very… comfortable over at Clover Meadow,” Harley observed. “We’re all taking bets on how long you’ll be staying.”

“Who knows?” Dermot said. “Maybe I’m not going to leave at all.”

He strode back to the pallet on the loading dock and tossed the last three bags of feed into the truck, then jumped down and got behind the wheel. He had dropped Rachel at the post office and they planned to do the grocery shopping after that. But Dermot was beginning to feel that this small town was just a little too small for him.

Maybe it was natural that people were curious about what was going on at Clover Meadow Farm, but he still didn’t care for anyone drawing conclusions about his relationship with Rachel. Yet why should it make him angry? Dermot cursed beneath his breath.

She’d have to live here after he was gone. People would talk, and gossip was never good for a woman’s reputation. Hell, he’d been the one to put all that at risk. Maybe she would have been better off with that Danny guy from the county fair. At least he was geographically available.